In episode 351 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Stephen Hall.
Stephen is a qualified therapist and a Member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society, providing walk and talk as well as online therapy for his clients.
Based in Cumbria, Stephen is also the Founder of Stand Tall Empower C.I.C, a social enterprise which organises events and activities outside in nature and helps men step out of survival mode and reconnect with themselves and others.
Prior to becoming a therapist, Stephen had a very different career in teaching, where he spent over 20 years as a secondary school English teacher and housemaster.
11 years ago in 2014, Stephen left teaching after having a mental health crisis. He had an identity crisis after no longer being able to do his job as a teacher, which had shaped most of his adult life, and tried to take his own life. At his lowest point, he was sectioned and placed in an in-patient facility.
However, his mental health state did not improve and he experienced delusional psychosis.
The turning point came when he was able to access EMDR therapy, which helped start his recovery and he used it to address decades of suppressed childhood trauma.
After this, Stephen began his recovery. He tried starting several businesses, which unfortunately failed and then during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was spending time online in several men’s groups and doing a lot of mentoring to fill the void left by teaching.
One of the men in that men’s group encouraged him to become a therapist, and the rest as they say, is history.
In this episode we chart his professional journey across teaching, therapy and everything in-between.
We also discuss his mental health crisis, the pain of having to leave teaching, carving out a new career and landing as a therapist, building the business, and why looking back, he needed a male therapist to suit where his mindset was and to make him feel comfortable.
We finish by discussing how and why he operates walk and talk therapy sessions in the nature of Cumbria and North Yorkshire, and the Empower events for men to reconnect with nature outside of a traditional therapy setting too.
As always, #itsokaytovent
You can find out more about Stephen’s work here.
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