This month we are featuring Nourish Your Mind Specialist Lara Demberg Voloto! Lara has blended her passion for yoga and mental health to offer a brilliant combination of mind-body support to her clients. Lara currently sees clients at all THREE Nourish Your Mind locations!
We’re excited for you to meet Lara in her own words:
What is the most important thing you have learned in the last five years?
That simply showing up is the hardest and most important work you can do.
What is your favorite part about working for Nourish Your Mind?
Being able to be useful to clients and building meaningful relationships.
Tell me how you first got involved in with Mental Health . . .
As a yoga teacher, I realized that there was a deep connection between experience, ability to handle stresses, growing strengths, and how satisfied we are with our lives. By adding mental health training to my knowledge, I felt that I could be the most useful to clients under my care. In addition, I began my parenting life by needing to learn quickly about attachment issues and how to best support a growing child with specific needs. As I learned how to best support my child, I began to see how this knowledge could benefit future clients.
What are your hopes for the future of the Mental Health Industry?
I hope the industry will continue to research and expand its knowledge of trauma-informed treatments and integrate them as best practices for all clients.
How would you describe your style as a Therapist?
I would describe myself as a blend of experiential and psycho-analytic styles.
What do you feel makes you unique as a Mental Health Counselor?
I’ve taught yoga for 17 years, and that experiences has helped me to see how we hold all of our life experiences in our bodies and cells. I am interested in how we experience and embody our lives and how we can use that to thrive.
What might someone be surprised to know about you?
That I make very intricate paper snowflakes to hang on my windows during the winter.
Motto or personal mantra?
“What are you going to do with it?” We’ve all been thrown a set of circumstances, many out of our own control. These things can’t change. But we do have choices as to whether we want to engage in our own growth from whatever starting point we begin.
What are two career lessons you’ve learned thus far?
Being authentic is the most important part of being useful as a therapist.
Staying present to the therapeutic relationship is far more beneficial than almost anything else I can do.
What would you tell someone who is thinking about seeking counseling services for the first time?
Come as you are. There are no requirements for “how” to show up for sessions and there’s no right place to start except where you are right now.
What do you do when you aren’t working?
I spend time with my family, rock climb, and garden. Being outside recharges me for the rest of my life.
What is an ability you wish you had?
I’d love to be able to fly!
If you were an animal what would you be? And why?
A big cat of some sort. Their ability to pendulate between absolute stillness and action has always fascinated me. Also, cats always find the best sunny spots in which to nap.
What children’s character can you relate with most? And why?
Probably Pippi Longstocking. She displays a strong, big personality, and never apologizes for it. She balances moxy and introspection in such a fun, real way. I see her as a model for self-acceptance and for embracing the opportunities and facts of our lives.
Request your appointment with Lara at NourishYourMind.com/Appointment