Today we’d like to introduce you to Theresa Marschik.
Hi Theresa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My mom died on my second birthday; my dad remarried within a couple of years. My older brother, my step-sister, and I watch many people leave our lives by death and other circumstance for the next several years. Also, by the time our parents started having children together, our younger siblings, they were also fostering teenage boys. By my formative years, we all lived in a “family group home” with 12 beds. Dealing with my own, as well as watching others deal with grief and loss, abuse and neglect, and other social and emotional difficulties, brought me a desire to heal. My desire to heal was initially for myself, but it quickly broadened to other people, as well as social systems.
I realized as an adult, my desire to heal was an expansion of my desire from early in life. I wanted to feel happy and help other people find happiness. At age 18, the age at all children must leave our family group home, so another could have “the bed”, I ventured outside of the family norm and attended college. I was the first in the family to attend. Starting early in my adult life, I sought out healing methods, including therapy, while concurrently raising my own three sons. Today, I have two master’s degrees, own my own therapy and healing business, and am working on building a foundation for children who age out of foster care. I also work part-time in local emergency rooms doing crisis assessments.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been struggles, along with successes. What better way to learn about yourself and life than to go out into life and try things, often failing the first time around? You only know what you know, until you learn and discover something new to add to your skill set and understanding. My hardest life failure and life struggle was my marriage. I watched so many people come from homes where parents could not stay together or even keep their children safe, that I vowed to have the best possible marriage and home for my children. That was definitely easier said than done. I eventually left my marriage with a much clearer understanding of the dynamics of relationships and how both people contribute to positive and negative experiences. Even though in that example, there appears to be a failure, I am much better for the experience. That is how it is with struggles, in my opinion. My struggles, although I would not purposely choose to have those struggles again, have given me an awareness, growth, and understanding that I would not have without them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Center of Love and Acceptance?
The Center of Love and Acceptance (TCLA) is a private practice that provides individual therapy for adults, as well as a plethora of other healing services. Services include healing touch, clinical supervision for social workers, a women’s support group, and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), to name a few. This business specializes in mental health from both a traditional and nontraditional standpoint in relation to healing. The premise is that all healing, individual and group, takes place in an accepting and loving environment, which is promulgated by myself and any other therapists or healing touch practitioners “walking the walk” by being on their own continuous healing journey. The second premise is that we feel better, happier, and are more likely to heal when we have an honest and authentic connection to others who care about us.
All the services at TCLA, along with the monthly short educational blog, can be found at https://www.thecenterofloveandacceptance.org/. Here is an example of one educational blog: https://www.thecenterofloveandacceptance.org/post/grief-effects-on-body-and-mind
What do you think about luck?
I personally don’t believe in luck, per se. I don’t mean that it is “all hard work and no luck”.
Instead, I believe we are all lovable, deserving beings; we all deserve “luck”. In the course of life and learning to love ourselves, we often experience the opposite of unconditional love, by ourselves or others. We learn to believe we do not deserve unconditional love. In a way, this keeps love or “good luck” from us, so as we open to healing and love, we experience more “good luck” than we previously did. These days, I experience mostly “good luck” and see the serendipitous in most experiences.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thecenterofloveandacceptance.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerofloveandacceptance/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Center-of-Love-and-Acceptance-LLC/100051205008381/
