New Website, New Blog, and New Career
Hello! I am glad you are here on my new website and my new blog. Let me start out by sharing a little bit about myself.
My name is Anjolina (Angie) Bates and I became a Licensed Associate Counselor and a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist in 2020. This is my second career; previously, I had an IT business that I started way back in 1991 in Conway, Arkansas. I also was a Network Manager for a federal government research facility for eight years.
A few years ago, I went to therapy for the first time because things felt like they were falling apart internally. I struggled to concentrate on anything and it felt like I was in the biggest funk of my life. I had no idea what I was doing when I first googled “therapist” but figured things out pretty quickly. As luck would have it, the therapist I chose had an opening that afternoon due to a cancellation.
Those few hours of waiting felt like a lifetime!
First Therapy Appointment
I will unashamedly admit that I was scared and had no idea what to expect. I did, however, believe that I would show up, dump everything out, and the therapist would be able to pinpoint exactly what the problem was and then I would be on my way. Looking back, I was very naïve about therapy! What did happen was I dumped a lot of stuff out along with a lot of tears, and there were only about 2 minutes left in the session. The therapist drew a picture on her clipboard and summarized what she had heard. She mentioned words like pain, big and small hurts, and unhealed wounds. It was right then that I realized this was not going to be a one-and-done type thing.
Career Change
One of the biggest things I came to realize in therapy was that I no longer loved IT the way I once did. I was bored, miserable, and unhappy with everything. I had joked with my therapist several times that I was an unlicensed therapist for my friends and always had been, until one day she asked me if I had considered going back to school to become one.
After saying I was too old and it would take too long, I finally decided to give it a shot. I went back to college and finished my undergraduate degree with a dual major in Sociology and Criminology. Next, I applied to John Brown University’s Marriage and Family Therapy program and graduated in the Spring of 2020, after interning the last 1.5 years. I passed my licensing exams to become dually licensed and started my practice in late December of 2020.
Today
Well, that brings you up to date on how I went from owning an IT business to becoming a licensed therapist. I am very passionate about what I do and have a tremendous amount of compassion and understanding for others because I have been there!
I enjoy working with people and their relationships, whether it is in individual counseling, couples counseling, or family therapy. If you are thinking about therapy and are uncertain of how to proceed, please give me a call or shoot me an email and we’ll figure it out together!
Until next time,
Angie