Meet Erin McShane of Truly Being Therapy in Capitol Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin McShane.

Erin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a life-long learner, I have tried many paths to find freedom and wholeness. Some of these paths did not align with my true self. This has included leaving my family’s business to make a leap of faith into the field of counseling, leaving relationships in which I was losing myself, taking time away from my career for six months of spiritual care and recovery, turning away attractive job offers, and most recently, moving to Denver to be closer to the mountains. The pain of living an inauthentic life is one I will never forget, and it inspires me to trust my wisdom and stay true to myself, even when it is not the easy choice.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master’s degree from Lewis University and a Certificate of Alcohol and Drug Counseling from Loyola University. I started my counseling career working the night shift at a hospital in the inpatient substance use disorder/detox unit. I then found my “home” at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Chicago for five years. There, I learned firsthand the importance of using a chronic disease model and recovery management interventions to treat addiction. I love working with special issues including shame, perfectionism, self-compassion, spirituality, and radical acceptance.

I created Truly Being Therapy when I moved to Denver because I became aware of a shared pattern between myself and my clients. We often feel unworthy and separate from others, which leads to suffering including addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, relationships, and work. We stay busy to avoid our pain, and as if driven by a motor, we do more and more to prove we are worthy. We have become “human doings”, not human beings. My mission is to provide healing with presence and passion. By truly being ourselves, we can reclaim a free and joyful life.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My journey has been challenging to say the least. In hindsight, I know that I was strengthened by the resistance. While I was working at my family business, a General Manager called me into his office, pounded his fists on the table and yelled, “YOU HAVE FAILED!” That day was a turning point for me. I had been working on my master’s degree and had considered not finishing it. After all, what good was a master’s degree in counseling if I was going to run a manufacturing company? In reflection about my “failure” in the business world, I decided to put my full effort into finishing my degree. I updated my resume and applied like crazy to find my first job in the counseling field. I also started talking to anyone who would listen about my vision and goals. I treated networking like it was my full-time job.

When I finally entered the field, I had to work my way up from the bottom. I learned humility and how to connect with people and build rapport quickly. Some of my clients challenged me and made me a better therapist. I also had some tough coworkers who were competitive toward me, and a boss that attempted to cross boundaries with me. I learned to value myself and to prioritize authenticity instead of competition. I stopped responding to other people’s hooks to “prove my worth” and I began trusting in my intuition.

I moved to Denver thinking that I had a job lined up. I was to become the Clinical Director of a startup treatment center. Along the way, the plans kept changing, which led me to an emotional breakdown and a spiritual breakthrough that it’s my time to start my own business.

Truly Being Therapy – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Truly Being Therapy is a private practice that focuses on healing the most important relationship we have: the relationship with self. Often when we have suffered from addiction, grief, trauma, or other mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, emotions are misinterpreted as unsafe and we’ll go to great lengths to avoid them. Some call this avoidance, numbing, or escaping. In the process, we lose our essential connection to ourselves and we need a guide to recover.

At Truly Being Therapy, clients experience genuine understanding in a caring, supportive environment that makes recovery exhilarating instead of terrifying. With mindfulness and self-compassion, one can experience the freedom of truly being.

I am most proud of my clients. It takes tremendous vulnerability and courage to come to therapy and to surrender all of the coping strategies that no longer serve them (e.g. addiction) in hope of living a better life.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success as living in alignment. There have been times in my life that I was successful on paper, yet I was suffering. I try not to attach my definition of success to how much money I make, how many clients I have, or how others perceive me on the outside. Who I am is more important than what I do. Attaching too much value to metrics is a tricky thing for me and is typically a sign that I am in fear or not trusting myself or my Higher Power. “Success” for me and for my clients is about finding meaning and connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.trulybeingtherapy.com
• Phone: 720-548-1794
• Email: erin@trulybeingtherapy.com
• Instagram: @trulybeingtherapy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trulybeing/

Image Credit:
Happy Hour Headshot, Photographer: Alisha Light

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