Meet Sandy Elliott of Rain Into Rainbows, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandy Elliott.

Hi Sandy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up under some challenging circumstances. From as young as I can remember, I got strong messages from my mom about always being able to stand on my own two feet and never being dependent on anyone else as an adult so that I would never feel stuck in a bad situation. This subconsciously drove a lot of my decisions as I got older, and I had no idea how much that advice would eventually pay off. Although I was a first generation college student and had no knowledge of how to navigate the world of higher education, I was motivated to complete my doctorate in clinical psychology. In early college, I met the person who would become my husband. We were determined to reach our goals together and we did. Our journey took us from Colorado to the East Coast and we ended up settling in Virginia Beach after completing our educational goals. All of the pieces we had worked so hard for felt like they were finally falling into place. We were both succeeding in our careers and had bought our first house together. Things were great and I thought we were on the brink of transitioning from years of hard work into realizing many of our dreams. Then, at the beginning of 2019, I uncovered years of secrets and lies. I ended up finding out about extensive infidelity that likely had been happening to various degrees throughout our entire marriage and 17 year relationship. This became the biggest turning point in my life. I abruptly moved out and had to simultaneously wrap my head around realizing I had never really known this person that I thought I was so close to, and keeping my full-time, solo private practice running. During that time, I used every skill I had as a clinical psychologist to keep going. I recall feeling so thankful that I had the coping mechanisms and was literally an expert in how to process something like this. I couldn’t imagine having to make sense of this and find my way forward without having that psychology background. Six months later, I ended up moving myself and my private practice back to Colorado where my family lives and starting over here. This journey eventually led to the creation of Rain Into Rainbows, LLC, which is a business focused on empowering women and helping them to heal as they go through the end of romantic relationships. I wanted to take my combined personal experience and professional knowledge and use that to help other women.

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?
No, it has not been a smooth road. There have been many twists and turns, but I am thankful for where they have led me today. My experience with college and graduate school involved a steep learning curve. No one in my family had ever gone to college and I was pretty much guessing about the process as I went along. After graduating with my doctorate and getting my license, I dove into creating a private practice. Again, I had no idea what I was doing regarding the business realm, but I knew how to learn things, so I just took it one step at a time. By far though, the biggest bump in the road came at a time when I thought there was finally smooth road in front of me, and that was the sudden collapse of my marriage. That shattered everything I thought I knew about my life from the past 17 years. Wrapping my head around that while having to show up at work every day and not let my clients know what was happening took a lot of emotional energy. I had worked so hard for this career; it was imperative that I managed to process and heal from what was happening in my personal life without letting it negatively affect what I had worked so hard for professionally. There were a lot of big decisions to be made during this time. One of them being whether to stay in VA where my business and close friends were, or to pick up and move everything back to CO where my family was. I ultimately decided to move back home, which held hope and excitement for me, but there was also a mourning process about everything I was leaving behind. I transitioned my private practice and now see clients in many states. The newest struggle for me involves putting myself out there in a more personal way. As a clinical psychologist in private practice, my personal life remains mostly hidden and I have never used social media for my business. Rain Into Rainbows is a very different business and involves me being more transparent about the personal side of my experiences. I am now starting to venture into social media use for that business and it is intimidating and feels very vulnerable to put myself out there.

As you know, we’re big fans of Rain Into Rainbows, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Rain Into Rainbows is unique in that it combines professional knowledge with someone who has personally lived through the experiences. I am not just reciting what I have learned as a psychologist about break-ups, divorce, and relationship dynamics; I am speaking as someone who also knows what it feels like to go through these things. I wanted to share that unique lens with other women. Not everyone has the time or financial resources to engage in weekly therapy when going through a break-up or divorce, and this is where Rain Into Rainbows comes in. My hope is to help fill the gap for women going through difficult times and to provide a variety of resources. I currently offer on-line courses in the format of digital workbooks to help women navigate these difficult experiences. I also provide other resources on the website, such as blog articles, and recommendations for books or podcasts. The emphasis is on healing and empowerment for women. I focus on helping women to go through these tough times with their self-worth intact and to grow in their confidence and ability to trust in themselves. Rain Into Rainbows also includes resources to help teach people about what makes a healthy relationship, as well as how to be happy single. This business is fairly new, so I will be continuing to add many more courses and to grow the resources section of the website. I eventually also hope to provide some in-person services that help women to connect with each other and find a sense of community.

How do you think about luck?
I am not sure whether I would describe it as luck, or more as social support; it was probably a combination of both. I was fortunate to have a strong support system when I was going through my divorce. On the luck side of the equation, a close friend had a little bungalow rental property that was sitting empty right at the time when I discovered all of the infidelity. The bungalow was half a block from the beach and was going to be torn down later that year so a new property could be built. In the meantime though, this enabled me to move into the bungalow the same day I found out about everything. I felt so lucky to immediately have a place that felt safe and where I could start to heal. It was extra lucky that it was located so close to the beach. I lived there for the next six months until I moved back to CO, and almost every day after work, I took a sunset walk on the beach. Even though it was winter most of the time that I was there, I took long walks on the weekends and just bundled up in a coat and scarf and rainboots, so I could walk in the edge of the water. These beach walks felt so grounding and peaceful to me. I made some of my hardest decisions while on these walks. There was something about the awe of the ocean that created healing, peace, and hope. I feel very lucky that this was available to me during that time.

Pricing:

• The on-line courses vary in price from $99.00 to $199.00 depending on how large the course is

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rainintorainbowsllc.com
• Instagram: RainIntoRainbowsLLC
• Facebook: Rain Into Rainbows LLC