Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Tarshis.
Hi Megan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hi there, My name is Megan Tarshis and I am a clinical social worker. I specialize in stress management and work with people individually and in groups. I graduated from Smith College School for Social Work. There I learned that people are a function of their circumstances; their families, their communities, their minority identities. No person lives in isolation from the realities that shape their lives. Part of the reason I became a social worker was because I wanted this idea, that people are a function of their environment, to be central to the work I do and to let this inform me in how I help others change.
Additionally, I have long been interested in the mind body connection and have observed that many clients experience stress physically. Common reactions to stress are rooted not only in our early life experiences, but also in evolution. The stress response was designed to be protective, but because the body reacts to, say, a difficult conversation in the same way it reacts to a physical threat, the stress response can be overactive and reactionary. What was once evolutionarily advantageous can be disadvantageous now.
My learning continued when I completed a fellowship at Emory University, where I later went on to work. I helped create and supervise their Stress Clinic, which supports students in understanding their stress response and to learn skills to address it. My understanding of early life experiences and subsequent learning about the stress response was a lovely pairing. I find that using this combined model of the impact of early life experiences with techniques that calm the body and mind is most effective. This combination of support leads to both short and long-term relief.
What I find most rewarding about my work is watching people learn about themselves and using this understanding to better their lives. I believe that each person has the potential to heal. Whatever the circumstances that led a client to engage in therapy, there is always hope for them to have a more balanced, manageable, and happy life. It takes work to explore and uncover what needs to change, but the healing potential is always there. I find that people know what this change looks and feels like on an unconscious level; they just need to bring it to the surface, nurture that knowledge, and let it help lead to change.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My path to becoming a licensed clinical social worker was not easy. Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be a mom, and from the time I first learned that being a therapist is a job, I wanted to do that. My empathy and curiosity about human nature aligned with both goals. I never knew that trying to do both things simultaneously would challenge the very nature of my being.
After completing my graduate program, I needed to complete 3,000 hours of training to become licensed and to work independently. Shortly after starting my first job, my attention was drawn away from work to the realities of having a growing family. Ever since then, my work life balance has been a delicate dance. I felt as if I always had four pots on the stove, never knowing which ones to keep up front and which to have on the back burners. I felt as if I was constantly trying to figure out the right combination, adjusting temperatures and changing pot sizes.
I was unwilling to give up on either dream. I would think to myself, “I teach work life balance, but why is it so hard to achieve”. I have learned through hard fought experience that there is no magic answer, no perfect combination that will make my life serene. It is more like a messy, always changing process that requires constant pivots and adjustments, a fine tuning really.
I gave up on it looking pretty and instead focused on things one at a time. There were days when I thought the exhaustion would never end and others in which I was certain not all necessary tasks would be completed. I learned to adjust my expectations of myself, to move with the ebb and flow of it all. I am so glad that I focused on both dreams and held both as precious. Now that I have recently dropped a child off at college, I did not come back to an empty nest, but to a full life. Pots that were simmering can now have the heat turned up and new pots can be added. After the drop off, I sat in my office and was thankful for the career I fought to have and for the memories of motherhood I will always cherish. I am glad I allowed myself to trek up ice cream mountain as well as sit with clients as they learned to navigate their own harrowed paths, because it has made me who I am today.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I work with individuals and groups as a licensed clinical social worker. I specialize in stress management.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I have had supervisors and peers with whom I consult that have helped me along my journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://megantarshis.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad7VZadacOQ&t=4s
- Other: https://zencare.co/provider/therapist/megan-tarshis
