While I was in my master’s program at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary (known to me as MBBS) I had a dream. I wrote and sketched the dream out. it was a dream I was passionate about and have carried with me since then in the “one day” part of my thoughts. While I was an intern, my focus was similar to the bit by Seinfeld about scuba diving, “don’t die, don’t die, there’s a fish, there’s a cliff, don’t die,” except it went “don’t die, finish those hours, there’s a client, there’s a couple, don’t die.” The intern years are full of intensity. I worked incredibly hard gaining hours and working in different settings to gain perspective, experience and a multitude of supervisory feedback. It was excellent and exhausting! Every day as the nerves of being new to the field dwindled and the confidence grew I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Then I turned 30. I call it the “the year of ideas.” The more I would allow myself to dream, the more ideas would come.

Then I turned 31. I started to test out some of these ideas. I created a preventative mental health initiative for the school system and had meeting after meeting to try to get it going. I spoke at the ATTACH conference and did a few trainings for a variety of audiences. So far I have had no luck with the school initiative and my experience as a trainer has been a rollercoaster. For awhile this felt like a failure on my behalf and wasted time. But then, as I realized how much I learned from the experience I was able to see the gift that this year was.

Then I turned 32. Becoming a supervisor and taking on an intern literally fell into my lap one morning, hence the dream that started in my master’s program of a clinic began. A few months later I am CEO and clinical supervisor of Zimmerman Marriage & Family Therapy, INC and have one licensed therapist (Beverly Herndon) and one intern (Roy Moore), who I am so proud to work with. Currently we are in the launching phase and by this time next year we will have a new name and website.

So as I continue on this year in launching a clinic, developing a group practice and discovering what it means to be an entrepreneur, I will Go forward and walk in faith.

If you would like to contact Stephanie, please feel free to contact her at stephaniezimmerman.lmft@gmail.com or 559-492-6511.