Today we’d like to introduce you to Katy Dumont.
Hi Katy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I co-own a mental health practice in Lakeland, Florida – the idea of the practice was based on the experiences my business partner and I had in our own lives that required resilience, strength and steadiness. These words are some of the meanings of “Atala” – also a local butterfly that was once thought to be extinct but now this butterfly is thriving in our local area.
Personally, I was born in Bartow and adopted into a loving home, but one filled with the grief of parents still mourning the devastating loss of their newborn.
I grew up knowing pain and loss intimately, witnessing my parents grief and experiencing mine own with the loss of a childhood friend when I was very young. I always felt somewhat “in between” – not with my birth family, but also not quite feeling I belonged with my adopted family. I was later rocked by my parents divorce at age 7 and devastated by my mother’s slow descent into alcohol use. There were other traumatic experiences throughout my childhood and adolescence that caused significant pain and distress.
Later, as a young adult, I was grappling with what direction to take professionally when a co-worker died by suicide the day after asking all of the other co-workers to lunch. I knew then that lack of community, lack of connection and loneliness contributed to their desperate act and I carried the guilt with me for a very long time.
My professional path was decided.
But I had to pursue the required education and my tackle my own personal therapeutic work first.
It took years of therapy – often off and on to acknowledge the feelings of abandonment, the narrative of earning others’ love.
And facing my own behaviors of defensiveness, personalizing perceived slights – sometimes altering relationships beyond repair.
Then, ultimately arriving at processing my traumas to feeling more peaceful.
Professionally, I went to school and gained as much experience as I could.
I worked in hospitals, an intensive outpatient program, the corporate world and hospice before bringing my education, personal experiences and work knowledge to private practice.
I have now been in private practice for 10 years and continue to learn new things – each client brings their own unique perspectives and experiences to their sessions and enlighten me daily.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Owning your own business is never smooth. But it is interesting. You never know what the day will bring.
Sometimes a transformer blows and there are no lights and you have to pivot in order to continue to provide care, sometimes a client is in deep emotional pain to the point of considering suicide and the typical business hassles of the day or week seem trivial.
The real struggles are always the concerns about clients – maybe the one who reached out at 1 am, messaging on the portal while you were sleeping and now you cannot reach them, the victim of domestic violence who has a plan in place but hasn’t yet left the relationship, maybe the DCF report you made because of reported abuse. These things will pull at your conscious – always running int he background of your thoughts – wishing and hoping that your clients are safe.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a therapist, I specialize in seeking to connect with and understand others first and always. I hope to establish relationship and safety before using any sort of particular modality or tool.
I work with individuals and couples who are experiencing grief, anxiety, depression, have trauma or relational conflicts or concerns.
I am particularly proud of my recent work with families of trans individuals – those who have had difficulty processing, understanding or honoring their child. As a parent of a trans adult, I have lived experience and sought the additional training to offer guidance to this population and it has been remarkably rewarding.
I think what may set me apart from many others is simply the amount of time I have trained and worked in various parts of the field. It has allowed me the flexibility to pull from many different modalities and tools (CBT, DBT, ACT, EMDR, Gottman, ERP, I-CBT, IFS) that I have been taught or trained in over the decades.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is that eventually, my clients don’t need to keep seeing me.
I hope that they have learned how to cope and manage on their own – perhaps I have taught them some valuable tools and /or we have worked together to minimize their distress and they have arrived at some peace. For couples, I hope they have found their way back to one another in a deep, meaningful way – able to see past the daily annoyances and truly cherish the beauty that exists when there are committing partners walking through this life together.
Pricing:
- Individual – $150 – initial session
- Individual – $125 – ongoing sessions
- Couples – $175 – initial session
- Couples – $125 – ongoing sessions
Contact Info:
- Website: https://atalacounseling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atalacounseling/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atalacounseling/
