Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Stone.
Hi Emily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was raised in Southeast Tennessee in a very conservative, small town community in which you were known and grouped by where you went to church. A huge part of my life was playing tennis so I was at one of three places if I was not at home: school, church or the tennis courts. Due to an unexpected sequence of events I ended up at boarding school for high school about an hour from my home. The experience expanded my worldview, challenged me in all the best possible ways, and introduced me to friends I am still in contact with today. I ended up choosing to go back “home” for college to attend and play tennis at Lee University, which was located in my hometown. My parents had just divorced and some part of me longed to be around people and places that felt familiar. After completing a BA in Psychology I ended up pursuing back to back graduate programs, first a Masters of Divinity at seminary and then a Masters of Arts in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling at Fresno Pacific University in California. From that point in a span of about 16 years I had my first child in California, moved to Prague, Czech Republic where I had my second child, moved back to Tennessee where I finished a PhD in Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee and had my next two children, moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where I taught full time for a graduate program in counseling and got divorced. I have lived in Austin, Texas with my wife and our blended family of six kids for seven years. Austin has been a great place for my family to live. Throughout my career I have been two things: a therapist and a teacher. No matter where I am or how different it looks, those two positions have stayed constant. I love my family and my work. I am so grateful for how I am experiencing life right now.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Well, you can probably read between the lines in my origin story that things have no always been smooth. No life is. All great stories have chapters that are hard to read. No main character avoids struggle. It is what makes the story a great one. We all have those chapters that are darker than others. Growing up in a small town with a dad who was one of the first couples and sex therapists in the area is its own special kind of hard. I was proud of him and also knew that his work was different than what other people did. If you are old enough to remember watching Growing Pain where the dad is a psychiatrist and has his office in the house where clients come and go, that is how it looked in my childhood. My dad’s office was in the house with a separate entrance. I knew not to engage with whoever was coming and going as I rode my bike in the driveway or made “perfume” out of flowers in our yard. My mother struggled with mental health challenges for some years and then my parents divorced, which was a challenge for me to understand as a teenager. Becoming a mother is a crisis of identity that demands growth in ways you never could anticipate. My exhusband was a pastor and then we both left our conservative church when our beliefs no longer could be accommodated within its structure and rules. I finally came out and lost friends and a church community that had been my world. I also was given support and love in ways I had never experienced and from people I would have never expected. I did and am doing the work of blending and building a family with my wife. I have had my own mental health struggles. I have done a lot of work…emotionally, mentally, relationally, spiritually and physically to get to a place where my nervous system feels the healthiest it has ever been. All of these experiences have expanded my heart and mind…creating space and capacity for every person I love and for every person I work with as a therapist. I am proud of my story and grateful for all of the murky, difficult places because of the depth and understanding they have brought me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a small, boutique practice with a group of professional therapists and spiritual care providers who seek to provide genuine, confidential, safe, and healing space for the person or couple who feels stuck in life. We focus on individuals and couples working through relationship struggles, symptoms of depression or anxiety, recovering from trauma, navigating life transitions, coming out, dealing with family dynamics, spiritual questioning, or anything that makes them feel stuck or trapped in their current circumstances. I am really proud of how open, humble, respectful, sincere, nonjudgmental and authentic each of our providers are. I am also proud of our curiosity and desire to never stop learning. As therapists we specialize in couples, relationships and individuals. I am extensively trained and experienced in a variety of approaches for working with couples and individuals including EMDR, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Systems Theory. I enjoy working with individuals and couples from all areas and ages of life. In recent years I have enjoyed working with more clients who are same sex couples, couples who experience neurodivergency in their relationship, and individuals/couples who are working through significant life changes including changes in belief systems. I offer groups on a variety of topics throughout the year. Right now I am about to start my group for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents (based on the book by the same name) and I am running a support group for navigating family stress in the holidays. I am also a board approved supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and enjoy supervising therapists in the process of becoming licensed.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People usually find reach out to me using my email emily@unstuckgroup. org. They can also find me online in a few places such as:
https://www.instagram.com/dremilystone/
@dremilystone
Or listen to my podcast, Letters from a Therapist on substack here: https://substack.com/@dremilystone or on spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BC942WFx0ZpzQ1fGeMb63 where I write and talk about relationships, mental health, and culture.
They can more about our practice and make inquiries on our website at www.unstucktherapygroup.org or check out our facebook and instagram pages:
https://www.facebook.com/UnstuckTherapyGroup/
https://www.instagram.com/unstucktherapygroup/
Pricing:
- In the practice, pricing varies by provider
- For working with Dr. Stone it is $180 for individuals, $200 for relationships and $60 for group sessions
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.unstucktherapygroup.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dremilystone/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnstuckTherapyGroup/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-stone-phd-lmft-30337620a
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@unstucktherapygroupemilyst2703/shorts
- Other: https://substack.com/@dremilystone
