Hey, I’m Olivia.
You and I are more alike than you might think.
Similar to you, I have felt lost, hurt, confused and a bit (or a lot) like I would never be good enough.
My story is meant to show you that we’re all still in progress. You’re more than your depression, codependency, spiritual wandering or singleness.
We’re in this together.
Olivia is not accepting new clients at this time. If you would like to work with Olivia, learn more about doing a counseling and coaching intensive in St. Petersburg, FL with her.
“Olivia will impact anyone she is around in a positive way through her infectious smile and encouraging words. She sympathizes with those who are struggling, and points them in a new direction towards hope and lasting change.”
Here’s the situation.
I am #4 out of 5 kids from a conservative home that has deep, deep roots into Texas history (like, I’m really into it). I function like a first born (shocking, I’m sassy and my mom had to use a leash when I was little just to keep up with me because #wildchild. You should also know that I was #homeschooled until 6th grade and then balled my eyes out when they told me I was going to go to private school -- the horror of hanging out with those girls. Growing up, I struggled to make close friends with girls, it just felt easier and simpler to be besties with the guys. When I left home and everything I knew to attend college in northwest Georgia, I was filled with both excitement and fear. A goal had always been to play basketball in college and to help people and that was exactly what I was going to do. Holla.
I was not prepared for the verbal abuse from the basketball coach nor was I ready for college Biology (side note: highschool biology is NOT the same..oops). At the beginning of my second semester as a freshmen, I found myself in the counseling office. A place that I never knew existed muchless what a counselor even did. “I should go to who...and they do what?” It didn’t take my counselor, Steve, long to figure out my codependency patterns, very strong empathetic feelings that had been repressed (hello, childhood trauma), and a work ethic that reduced my worth to my level of productivity. By the end of my freshmen year, I was reeling from a codependent friendship that had wrecked me, no longer playing basketball, and had zero clue what I was going to major in -- cue existential crisis.
Everything Seemed To Fall Apart.
To be honest, life did get a bit better over the summer and going into my sophomore year. I felt less depressed, less anxious with a touch of deep shame but overall, yeah, better. The power of community surrounded me as I dove head first into all the reading and trying to better understand where I had come from and how I got to where I was. The women I lived with that year showed me a kind of fierce love and tenderness that I am eternally grateful for.
In the midst of incredible growth, with the tremendous help of Steve, I got a phone call that changed my life forever.
Olivia Has Contributed Work and Appeared On
My brother had suddenly died and everything I thought I knew became undone.
The details are not as important as the themes that would present themselves over the next several years. To be honest, you don’t ever get over the death of a loved one. You simply discover a new type of normal. I would go on to dig more and more into my story with the help of Steve, hop into various leadership roles until therapy as a career eventually found me out much to my own chagrin. Therapy seemed too hard and too tied to my spirituality and something that I could never possibly get “good” at. For this enneagram 3, it felt like an impossible task but nevertheless...I couldn’t escape it.
Getting my masters in mental and clinical health counseling forever changed me. Sometimes, it felt -- back then -- for the worst like “omg, why did I think this was a good idea?” Honestly, getting my M.A. in therapy was a severe mercy. You know the feeling -- when you feel small and everything around you feels overwhelming and all-consuming. You wonder if you’ll ever wake up and feel “normal” again once your eyes have been opened to more and more of your own bulls$i!.
Why Does Any of This Matter?
It matters because it is the very fabric that makes up the very essence of who I am in the context of where I came from and how I got to be here, in this space with you right now. Discovering deep seated patterns of striving to be enough, the darkness of shame, being faced with codependency that wrecked not only myself but also significant relationships. As a licensed mental health therapist, I am no expert sitting off in the distance pontificating about what life must be like for you. No, in fact, I am very much what Henri Nouwen coined as a wounded healer. I am no better than you, if anything my own bull$hi! has simply become more sophisticated and tricky thus requiring an incredible therapist, a willing and honest heart and a strong desire to continually grow into the person I have been created to become.
There is no “arrival point” and while we are always evolving, growing and learning (hopefully), I absolutely find so much joy in doing this alongside others just like Steve did for me all those years ago. As a therapist, I specialize in helping people who feel insignificant, broken and beaten up from life discover significance and meaning not only in relationships but ultimately in themselves. In short, therapy is an invitation to better understand how you got here and what you want to do about it.
Think of it this way -- each therapy session you are given a canvas. In the beginning, we approach the canvas with curiosity and compassion wondering what each of the strokes mean, how and why they were painted in that fashion.
Eventually, we will get to a place of making new brush strokes, creating a different story altogether. This is the work that was gently given to me all those years ago that I hope to turn around and give to others.
When we experience healing in our stories, it is not meant simply for us to hoard it and keep it all for ourselves. Rather, our healing is meant to be given away. With this in mind, our healing has a much bigger affect into our friends, family, and local communities. As human beings, we were created to belong to one another, intimately and intricately connected through authenticity and connection as Brene Brown calls it.
As I see it, therapy is highly relational and we have to understand who you are in the context of where you came from so we can know why you are in this space and where you ultimately long to be. The “typical” person who most enjoys working with me has often been in and out of therapy throughout their life but has struggled to really connect with their counselor. If you’re looking to make some significant changes in your life and ready to stop messing around, let's have a chat. I’m grateful that as I have learned to hold space for the dark seasons, spaces and emotions I have experienced, I will gladly enter into those spaces alongside of you. Your darkness does not scare me.
Schedule a free first session down below 👇🏽 and let's see if we might be a good fit for one another.
Curious what experts have to say about newlyweds and couples moving in together? Olivia Pelts contributed to an article that lays out some helpful things to be mindful of - read here.
Olivia is not accepting new clients at this time. If you would like to work with Olivia, learn more about doing a counseling and coaching intensive in St. Petersburg, FL with her.
Olivia Pelts Specializes In
Professional Bio
Olivia Pelts is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who
has been working with adults and teenagers for over the last decade in various settings both domestically and internationally. Olivia is the founder of Sunshine City Counseling and is passionate about helping individuals step into their full potential. Olivia can be found co-hosting The Nasty Girls Podcast where she and Amy discuss all things fitness and health-related as well as SCC’s podcast, A Safe Place To Land.
Olivia specializes in helping people who want something more, something bigger from life. She is here to help you discover and recover the potential you were created for in life.