Today we’d like to introduce you to Steph Blick.
Hi Steph, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Singing came first. When I was fourteen years old, I was signed to a record label in Germany under the name “Stephanie D” (D is for my middle name, Davis). I released an album (Walk This World) and toured, and even though I was living my childhood dream, I was unhappy.
I felt like a puppet and had very little control over my art. I turned down a second album deal at seventeen and studied music at two prestigious music schools (Jazz Vocal Performance at The Frost School of Music/University of Miami and Songwriting at Berklee College of Music) before changing my major to Psychology and finishing up undergrad at Florida State University in 2010. After that, my life went off the rails for a little bit. At the time, I had no plans to go to grad school like my parents wanted me to. I wanted to make music and go adventure. I hit the road and embarked on what I now call my beautiful nightmare.
It started with intentional, nomadic living; camping in National Forests (google Rainbow Gatherings), and exploring new places with friends I met along the way. I learned how to survive outside the system, literally. I was a traveler. I panhandled and gas-jugged my way across the country and back. It was fun at first, and then it turned dark. During this stage of my life, I was not a healthy human. I allowed for my involvement in toxic relationships and I sought to escape, excitement, and relief through substances. My adventure led me further down that road, away from Nature and into places where dis-Harmony and dis-ease festered.
I ended up getting arrested for the last time back in my hometown of Orlando, Florida in the fall of 2012. At this point, I had had enough and was ready to receive help. I was incredibly fortunate to begin my healing journey at a treatment center near Nashville, TN that incorporated indigenous spiritual practices into the milieu. Had it not been for this, I do not think that my life would have recalibrated so effortlessly. I remembered this deep and incredibly special connection that I have to the Earth and the Universe. I began growing roots into my purpose and reinvigorated the flow of Love into and out of myself.
I decided to move to Nashville, TN. I had family here at the time and knew Music City would be an ideal place to give my music career another shot. Life flowed in another direction for a while. After a couple of years, I began working at an alcohol and drug treatment center and eventually became licensed as an Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselor (LADAC-II). I went to grad school and earned a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I loved the process of guiding people back to wholeness. I love the “providing therapy” part of being a therapist. The “behind the scenes” part of being a therapist? Not so much.
In short, the “behind the scenes” part of being a therapist exposed a profit-driven Eurocentric system that I no longer wish to support through my career. I worked in a nonprofit treatment facility, a prison, briefly in medication-assisted treatment, and a group private practice; giving me a firsthand glimpse into our country’s healthcare, mental healthcare, correctional, and legal systems, as well as the world of alcohol and drug treatment. I do not like what I saw and experienced behind the curtain, and I do not like how people, who are in need of care, can be treated inside these systems.
The personal growth that I experienced during my education and career as a therapist was invaluable. Graduate school was akin to two years of intensive self-exploration, and I was blessed to have several professors and supervisors who provided therapeutic containers that affirmed my authenticity, intelligence, and potential to succeed. I was encouraged to apply to Ph.D. programs for psychology and attempted this for a couple of years. Ultimately, I learned… Just because you should, doesn’t mean you will. Rejection was a hard pill to swallow (fifteen hard pills to swallow over the course of two years to be exact) after spending an exorbitant amount of time and energy on earning high GRE scores, writing dozens of admissions essays, soliciting academic transcripts and letters of recommendation.
The Universe said, “No.” During my second Ph.D. admissions cycle, I began working at the Tennessee Prison for Women (TPFW). When I started, I believed it would be a brief stopping place before moving off to some new place to begin my doctoral education. I ended up managing the substance abuse treatment program at TPFW for thirteen months and eight days. The experience shook me to the core. It illuminated a component of our society that is kept intentionally hidden where mass incarceration serves as one of the mechanisms that maintain systemic inequalities. The discriminatory laws that haunt felons for the rest of their lives make it incredibly difficult to escape the revolving door of recidivism. I worked with an incredibly talented and passionate team that incessantly challenged the administration to do the right thing.
The prison was infested with drugs; the women experienced every form of abuse, and it appeared that the corruption of correctional staff and leadership perpetuated this. Seeing this firsthand broke my heart and set it on fire. It led to a new awakening within myself. I developed an astute sense of what is right and what is wrong when it comes to the treatment of people, especially in the professional realm of helping. I became grounded and confident in my ability to use my voice and speak the Truth. As a result, I guess I’ve become a bit of a rebel. It’s ironic that it seems one must take that route in order to “do the right thing” these days. I was deeply moved and inspired by the Women inside those walls.
They are precious. They are People. Just like you and me. They deserve to be treated with respect and have their basic needs met. They deserve to have the opportunity to heal and receive help, just like I did. The difference? After I got arrested, my parents had the means to pay for my attorney and send me to a nice treatment center. My felony drug possession charge was dropped because they were able to do that. These women, and most of the incarcerated population, especially when it comes to drug charges, do not have that luxury and privilege.
When I reached a place of acceptance around the Ph.D. thing not happening, it was as if the world opened up to me again. I realized that for years, I had been neglecting my creativity, and was pursuing a life that would continue to sideline that part of myself that is so integral to my being. When I resigned from TPFW, one of my intentions was to focus on my music again. I began seeking collaborative opportunities to co-create with other musicians. I was connected to Grammy-award winning producer, Paul Ebersold, who agreed to work with me and develop me as an artist. I had dozens of songs I wrote and had loved for years and felt a bit deflated when he challenged me to start from scratch.
It turned into a huge opportunity to grow and hone my craft. Paul put me through lyric writing boot camp and helped me discover new routes to melody formation and song creation. I am influenced by jazz, pop (#britneyspears), soul, classic rock, hip-hop, trip-hop, EDM, reggae, and world culture. I love hand percussion, dark moody melodies, and spacey atmospheric soundscapes. I love to dance. These influences all show up in my songs in one way or another, creating the uniqueness and genre ambiguity that I was after. Half a lifetime after walking away from a record deal, I finally released new music in March of this year (2021), a four-song EP called “It Is What It Is.”
You can find it on all download and streaming services. I am currently working on more music, and Paul has challenged me again – to produce the songs myself. I’m starting to get the hang of it and am excited to broaden my creative horizons musically. Like many people, the energy of 2020 caused me to reflect, question, and challenge myself and my choices. How can I be more fully myself? How can I blend my Artist and Healer/Helper sides? How can I distance my work from systems that undermine my values? How can I achieve greater satisfaction with my life? How do I move closer towards my Purpose?
Go your own way. Follow your Heart.
Set yourself Free. Be who you truly are.
So, here I Am. In August of last year, I decided to retire from my counseling license. I am grateful that I arrived at a place where I was able to let the ‘prestige’ of being a therapist and the extra letters behind my name go. Bye-bye! I get to discontinue my involvement in another broken system and move closer to actualizing Freedom; whatever that means. In many ways, “Therapist Steph” felt like a role that asked me to filter my authenticity, color within the lines, think inside the box, and tone it down. Now, people can come to me because they want to, not because they have to. Even though it’s the hip title of the day, “life coach” doesn’t really capture what I offer to my clients; it’s just a piece of it. I call myself a “Creative Healing Artist” because that’s what I am.
I consider my method of helping people a form of art because I co-create each client’s experience based on who they are and what they are seeking. For some, I serve as a mentor or spiritual consultant. Some of my clients prefer active sessions, and we meet outside on local greenways or hiking trails. I believe in the healing power of creativity, and incorporate art, music, writing, and movement into sessions with certain clients. I am a highly sensitive and intuitive listener for those who work through something in a more traditional ‘talk’ session. I am also a Reiki practitioner. All of this, my background in mental health, and my commitment to my own authenticity have allowed me to show up for people in a really unique way.
It’s been a little over a year since I’ve started, and I’m excited to see where this path leads me. I have a beautiful home office in Nashville and offer my services virtually as well. My older sister and her family, and my parents, live in Knoxville. I visit frequently and would be more than happy to make arrangements to serve clients in the Knoxville area. I have several passion projects that I plan to further develop in the future. The first is my TRIBE (Therapeutic Refuge for Inspired Balance and Expression) Wellness Model that could provide an alternative path to healing from addiction and mental health issues. I would also like to open a community healing arts center (TRIBE Center) based on the model.
You can learn about it on my website (www.stephbinspired.com/t-r-i-b-e). The second is LadiesUnlocked; a platform to empower incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women with an emphasis on advocacy and arts-based business development for women released from prison (www.ladiesunlocked.org). Finally, I am in the process of writing a book about my experience working in the mental health field. I hope it will shine a light on the aspects of the profession that are in need of improvement.
Along the way, I’ve had to learn that you can’t do everything at once, so I am approaching these big goals with grace and trusting that things will unfold when the time is right.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road, by any means. I touched on some of this in my bio, but the biggest challenge I have had to face has been making the decision to walk away from so-called successes. I have chosen, on multiple occasions, beginning when I was a teenager, to “give up” my ‘achievements’ in order to maintain my dignity, integrity, and authenticity. They were dreams and goals that I wanted very much, but when I arrived – a dream fulfilled, goal accomplished; I discovered – this is not how I thought it would be.
And not only that; I discovered – wow, this actually sucks. I don’t like this. I don’t like doing this. I don’t like being this. I don’t like representing this. I don’t want to do this anymore. So, I stopped. I walked away. I let it go. There were times along the way where the Universe made the decision for me; for something to end. I used to fight it, but now I understand – that’s how it was supposed to go. It couldn’t go any other way. Now, all that being said – there were very difficult experiences that I went through that ultimately led to me choosing to go in another direction. And even still, they were not easy choices to make. I’ve experienced a lot of hurt, rejection, and betrayal in my professional life, which began in my teens with music.
The beautiful thing about life and its challenges, though, is that those experiences are what brought me to where I am today. The obstacles were placed in my path to steer me in the direction of where I am right now. And even though my business is still in its beginning stages, it is “my” business. For the first time in my life, professionally, I get to call the shots. Currently, my biggest challenge is marketing. I am not a huge fan of social media and there’s something within me that has little desire to say, “Hey! Look at me! Look at what I’m doing! Come to me, come to me!” I may have some fear around doing that that I need to work through, but the truth is – I don’t want to coerce anyone into paying for my services.
Marketing tactics, especially in the realm of life coaching, feel yucky to me. I don’t purport to “have the answer” to anything. I’m a helper. When someone seeks my help, I show up. This probably isn’t the best business model, but I’ve settled into being okay with that for now.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Touched on this in my bio as well… I call myself a “Creative Healing Artist.” Business name is “Steph B. Inspired.” I am a Healer, Artist, Mentor, and Spiritual Consultant.
As a Creative Healing Artist, my areas of expertise include:
-Overcoming addiction issues
-Managing mental & emotional wellness
-Extensive knowledge and experience working with mental health disorders
-Committing to healthy habits and a more balanced lifestyle
-Career-related goals
-Healthy communication and boundary setting
-Increasing self-worth, empowerment, self-care
-Spirituality
-Creativity & Inspiration
-Earth Connection
-Music – singing & songwriting
-Challenging cultural and societal constructs
-Discovering Intuition
-Reiki
-Providing a safe container for emotional expression
-Living authentically & aligning with one’s Truth
-Encouragement, Support & providing Accountability
I help clients to:
-Make peace with your past: Identify lessons, find acceptance, and be free to move on
-Become more grounded in who you are and what you want out of life
-Improved relationship with self – learn to be your own best friend and supporter
-Increased spiritual connection; increased Earth connection
-Identify your fear-based limitations, where they came from, and rewrite core beliefs
-Commitment to greater authenticity and life fulfillment
As a “life coach,” the fact that I am a former licensed therapist and a spiritual intuitive set me apart. I have invested a lot of time into my own healing, personal and spiritual development. I am most proud of my commitment to my authenticity and willingness to walk away from professional affiliations that have not aligned with my values.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I think many people work for companies because there’s a sense of safety in having a set salary and/or guaranteed clients. In my experience, though, companies are designed to make a profit and have little regard for what is best for their employees and even their clients. If you’ve had this experience, and feel the call to go out on your own, my advice is to develop your exit strategy and then take the necessary steps to go your own way.
Listen to your heart and follow its direction. After several horrible professional experiences as a therapist, I had to ask myself, “Am I going to keep banging my head against the same wall?” I had to own that I simply did not fit into that professional box. I am a uniquely shaped being and I deserve to design a career that reflects and supports that. It takes a thorough look in the mirror, believing in yourself – who you are and what you have to offer, and giving yourself permission to walk away. The status quo doesn’t like people who threaten to pull out the block that makes their already teetering game of Jenga fall to the ground.
If you are someone who speaks up, speaks out, holds your ground, and maintains your integrity in sticky professional situations – be ready to face opposition! You have to be secure in your mission, resound in your values, know who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing. When you take the leap into professional freedom, buckle up and be ready to take a pay cut. Be okay with learning as you go.
There’s no way you can have everything figured out on the front end. We learn through mistakes and mishaps. The only guaranteed failure is never giving yourself the opportunity to try. In time, you will figure it out.
Contact Info:
- Email: stephbinspired@gmail.com
- Website: www.stephbinspired.com
- Instagram: @stephbinspired
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephbinspired
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCvoz7audpvoDkYa3IuCvYqw
- SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/stephblickmusic
Image Credits
JFlow Photography
