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Meet Rachel Thomas of Therapy With Heart in Scottsdale

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Thomas.

Rachel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started providing therapy over twenty years ago in San Diego, California. As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I have always worked from a model that approaches mental health from the framework of relationships people are in. I quickly became trained in providing supervision to new therapists as I am passionate about building the profession with solid, authentic, and quality therapists. I worked at San Diego Hospice as the Bereavement Therapist and Supervisor and along with my work with clients who had experienced a death in their family, trained and supervised 20 new interns each year. When my little one was born, we decided to move back to Arizona where I grew up. Within a year of starting my practice in Scottsdale, Arizona I found and fell in love with the model Emotionally Focused Therapy. I quickly realized my dream of opening Therapy With Heart in 2008 which is currently the biggest EFT center in Arizona and also supports therapists in training and learning this model under my supervision and mentorship. I’m a therapist first and a business owner second and have been constantly striving to provide the best therapy possible as well as providing a place for therapists to feel supported as well.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I have always felt supported in my work as a therapist, although I would never say it’s been a smooth road! When I first came to Arizona, I had already been practicing for over seven years but had to navigate some licensing challenges. Ultimately, these challenges provided me the opportunity to teach and lead the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Ottawa University. In this role, I began to understand how important it was to support and train MFT’s in Phoenix. I also worked hard to become Certified in EFT and it took many years of training, supervision and yes, even tears to obtain that certification and ultimately now I hold the Certification as an EFT Therapist and Supervisor. Building and growing a business while raising two children and staying connected to my husband has had bumps along the way. I remember one night my son hid my phone because I was still working and he wanted me to spend time with him. That memory brings tears to my eyes even today. Many struggles to find balance between work and home for sure and something I continue to work intentionally to do.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Therapy With Heart is a place for people to get support in their relationships. We see relationships as pivotal in feeling fulfilled and special in our lives. We work with individuals, couples, and families (12 and older) from a place of safety, compassion, and authenticity. We specialize in working from the model, Emotionally Focused Therapy which is the most effective, researched form of couples, and relationship therapy. Relationships can be challenging and sometimes having a third person help navigate the conversations can be so helpful. My colleague, Jason Linder, PhD did a great job describing the model here:

With romantic partners especially, emotionally charged exchanges can evolve so fast and become so chaotic that it’s too easy to miss what actually happened and how partners could have reacted differently to prevent them. They can become deeply distressing to where it feels like your life is on the line. Our needs for close relationships and the powerful emotions accompanying them tend to arise sharply and suddenly. Focusing on the content (i.e. who forgot to close the garbage door) of arguments misses the forest for the trees from an EFT perspective. EFT therapists build an understanding of the dilemmas underlying the content struggling partners bring to therapy. What fights are really about is the emotional safety in the relationship, partner’s’ subjective sense of the other’s caring from them, and fear they will get hurt in the relationship(s). In this sense, the EFT relationship solution is accessibility and responsiveness, and the therapist actively collaborates with partners to rebuild accessibility and responsiveness. In doing so, emotions are the targets and vehicles of change.

At Therapy With Heart, we pride ourselves on being a center where you can get quality and effective therapy regardless of your sexual orientation, race, religion, and background. It’s so important that you feel safe and accepted to do the hard work of creating change in your life. We have a diverse team and that provides a framework for people to find the best fit for them. We now offer telehealth or in person sessions. Our specialties include:
Relationship/Marriage Therapy
LGBTQ+
Sex Therapy
Grief/Loss
Adolescent/Family Therapy
EMDR/Trauma

What were you like growing up?
I have always been a “go-getter”. Growing up, I was primarily into music and band, and now have two teenagers that play drums/percussion (15-year-old daughter) and trumpet/Bass guitar (13-year-old son). I was driven and ambitious but that is always matched with my sensitivity and heart. Growing up, I was more extroverted then I am now but I absolutely still thrive in my connection with others.

Pricing:

  • Therapy ranges from $70 – $175 depending on the therapist experience and training

Contact Info:

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