Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Schmick-DiStefano.
Hi Victoria, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, I’m Victoria. I was born and raised in Florida with over 10 years of providing counseling and coaching services. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and am Qualified as a Clinical Supervisor. I obtained my Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling at the University of South Florida and completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Tampa.
Growing up, I was actively involved in multiple sports, competing at the national level in Gymnastics. At 16 years old, along with winning nationals, I underwent my third major injury. At that point, I knew I had to stop. The risk was no longer worth the reward. Through personal experience and clinical training, I’ve seen first hand how intertwined our physical and mental health is. When one is not working to its best ability, the other will start to fail. I strongly believe in our power to overcome obstacles and to reach our goals. Whether those obstacles are physical or mental, they can be overcome and this is ultimately what lead me to where I am today. I started my career working in the community as a case manager and therapist working with children, teens, and their families as well as individuals and couples. I have also worked within management, health insurance, and recruiting arenas within the medical field. No matter the field, I knew my passion was people and the innate strength and resiliency. Through a collaborative counseling and coaching process, I found that people can do amazing things they never thought possible and felt impelled to share that with others. I decided to enter private practice after I found myself feeling weighed down by the things in my life and mind that didn’t make me happy, from working long hours, being inactive, not finding the time or the ability to do the things that I enjoyed. Spending time with loved ones, family, friends, animals and taking care of ourselves are just a few of the things that in today’s busy world we can’t seem to find time for, yet these are also the things that we work so hard for. Together with my clients, my mission is to help my clients not only take the first step towards improving their life but create a plan where all of the steps actually lead to a destination of happiness.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t say the road wasn’t a little bumpy, but I think those bumps help you to really figure out what really matters to you and what you will work hard to continue moving forward towards. While understanding and accepting that if you do all you could and it still doesn’t work out, it wasn’t meant for you in the first place. Although I’m 35 and have over ten years of counseling experience, I’ve started and stopped many different career paths from management, health insurance, and recruiting arenas. These fields may seem to differ, but they aren’t too far away from my passion for people. Every minute of my experience has helped me get to where I am today. The challenges you face when deciding to start your own company are similar across the board from one company to the next, but the difference within the counseling/coaching field is the need for you to make money. There’s not a product you are selling that can be sold online while you sleep (or is there?), to start, at least YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! Once I realized this, it changed my perspective on what I wanted my company to be and my direction and am continuing to take with my practice. How can I be the product unable to make copies of myself, yet still grow a company. I’d say I’m still in the early stages of this part, and the obstacles are not all overcome. Still, I think I’ll always feel a little bit like this as I hope to always be growing mentally, emotionally, and professionally. *A few hints within my field at least, create curriculum, sell your curriculum, train on your curriculum and most importantly, always keep in mind your true goal. Mine and Inherent Strengths goals/missions are basically the same as I am the product/company. To continue to help others to live a more fulfilled life by encouraging and motivating them to always keep moving forward. Creating a road map to success isn’t easy, but it’s not that hard, and I can help almost anyone do it. But the doing, now that’s the hard part, if you keep doing, you will keep moving forward.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a Life & Relationship Coach for professionals who desire to take that next step in reaching their full potential. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, which allows Inherent Strength to incorporate Evidenced Based Counseling & Coaching Practices into the coaching process. We coach men and women in discovering and reaching their goals based on their core values and strengths. Together with our clients, we create an action plan and start setting and taking steps in motion towards long-term life-changing solutions that allow you to create and live the life you want to live Every Single Day! Life & Relationship Coaching at Inherent Strength sheds new light on the idea of our struggles. We can help clients reach their goals through a calculated approach recognizing and understanding the factors that are prohibiting them from reaching those goals and developing a plan of action to eliminate those hindering factors one by one to navigate through life’s transitions and achieve your objectives. Life Coaching can give you that road map to help you navigate and excel through the changes ahead. Consider me and my team your personal Life Coach that will help you… -Define Your Values, Strengths & Goals -Create a Personalized Goal Achievement Strategy -Maintain a Positive and Healthy Mindset -Stay on Track Through Accountability Support -Strategically Reach Your Goals We offer life-changing support and solutions to help you start living and leading the life you’ve always wanted. With next generation coaching and counseling services in and out of office sessions, options are available to reduce any stress that comes along with time constraints. Choose a session by session approach or opt-in for one of our life coaching packages.
Although we are “next generation,” if you’re looking for a traditional Mental Health Counselor in St. Petersburg, we’ve got you covered with traditional in-office counseling settings. Inherent strength is all about counseling and life coaching that assists you in identifying, utilizing, and growing your Inherent Strengths to overcome all obstacles and reach your goals. Our individual therapy sessions will put you on the path to finding the strengths within you to live your best life. When your mind and body are aligned, great things can happen. However, when your mind is led by negative thoughts and reactions to those thoughts, we can lose sight of how to take control of our lives. This can range from motivation to make small changes to major life decisions. Affecting not only our own bodies and lives but those around us. We also offer great couples and family counseling services for those who are looking to get on the same page and work towards a healthier future with loved ones. While we sell the Hit Your Goals Workbook on our website and Planner (coming soon!), you have the option of purchasing this and going it alone or working through this with your coach at Inherent Strength. The options are endless and the results are amazing because you make them happen!
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Check out Inherent Strength Blogs and Hit Your Goals Workbook at www.inherentstrength.com and don’t forget to sign up for our email list to get all the freebies, including our Goals Mapping Sheet, available for free on the website now! Hit Your Goals- Course Digital Workbook Goal setting is a huge part of finding alignment and happiness in life. By understanding what we value most, where we are in life RIGHT NOW, and where we want to go, we can then start to define what our next steps are in order to bridge that gap and finally get to where we want to be. If you already know how to create and hit SMART goals, great! You are off to a fantastic start. However, the reality is that over 90% of people abandon their goals just a couple of weeks after creating them. This is the exact workbook that I use with my clients. And if you’re a self-starter with a clear understanding of why goal setting is important, this workbook might be exactly what you need to help you achieve your goals. This workbook and my Hit Your Goals course is all about creating balance and alignment in your life. So you can expect to start diving in and organizing your goals for all areas of your life with this workbook, including Health, Financial, Business, Relationships, Social, Fun & Leisure and more.
Contact Info:
- Email: victoria@inherentstrength.com
- Website: www.inherentstrength.com
- Instagram: @inherentstrengthlifecoaching
- Facebook: @inherentstrength
- Youtube: Victoria DiStefano
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/inherent-strength-st-petersburg-3
- Other: https://inherentstrength.com/product/digital-workbook/
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