Why did you form your business?
When I decided to create Nspire Today, LLC it was because I was frustrated. I was tired of watching people get mediocre therapy and treatment services. I wanted to ensure the individuals I worked with always got what they were looking for, not what others thought was best for them. I try every day to Nspire everyone I come in contact with. I want to Nspire clients to be all they choose to be, students to push the everyday boundaries, and supervisees to be willing to do what is right, and not just what they have been told to do. This is my intent and my motivation.

What's your favorite thing about what you do?
My favorite thing is watching people find themselves and witnessing what can happen when they lean into life with courage and show up authentically to the full spectrum of experience.

In the past, what have been your biggest obstacles in business? What helped you overcome those obstacles?
My biggest obstacle in business was the fear of failure. I didn't overcome the actual fear of failing, but I accepted it as an option and trusted I could figure it out if I did. Being open to failure allowed me to take the risk.

What lessons did you learn from the challenges created from the pandemic?
All people have shadows, and it takes real courage to look at them, learn from them, and do something different.

What's been the best career advice you've ever received?
Just jump.

And finally, do you have a favorite passage that has meaning for you?
"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you share to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own. Without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can hear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes!' It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments." --Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Thea Wessel, LPC, LAC, MAC, NCAAC, ADS, is a PhD student, therapist with Nspire Today, LLC. She specializes in mental health counseling with an integral and transpersonal approach in support of her clients’ whole-person development and has over 10 years of experience in the mental health field. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a M.A. in Forensic Psychology from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Thea has additionally completed all coursework and is currently working toward achieving a Ph.D. in Integral & Transpersonal Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where her research focus is centered on the impact of moral injury as related to behavior and substance use.