Her Story
About Katherine
I didn't even start off when I started college with a counseling track in mind. I started as pre-med when I went for my bachelor's degree. I always knew that I wanted to help people. I thought it would be by being a pediatric surgeon, but it turned out I'm not as great at sciences as I thought. When I was in high school, I took a psychology class, and so when I became a pre-med, I had my minor set as psychology, and eventually I moved psychology up to my major. I graduated with a bachelor's of Science in Psychology, and later went on to a master's in mental health counseling. My main passion is working with children and their families, focusing on attachment and family connection. I currently run Whispers of Wellness through Sondermin, which I started in April of 2025, and I also work as a clinician at Kids Crossing here in Pueblo, a foster care placement agency. I counsel children and families both online and in person, helping them navigate the foster care system, home reunification, parenting skills, and family attachment and connection. I'm currently looking at a daycare in my community on Eastside Pueblo to work as a clinical consultation individual to help the teachers better serve children with different developmental disabilities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Katherine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I had a lucky start to life, and I say lucky start because I see so many people that, no matter what drive they have in them, they get a start that doesn't really help feed that. My lucky start is that I have parents that still very much so act like they're kids in high school, still very lovey-dovey to one another and very open communicators. I've seen them both work very hard for everything that they have, and at the same time, never take a single piece of it for granted, because they know the hard work it took to get there, and they know the hard work it takes to contain it. So I've grown up with that role model from both my mother and my father. They've always pushed me to be all that I can be. I was the first to fully complete a college program, let alone a master's, on both sides.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell her, you know, you need to study a lot, but you also need to make sure that you're not just gonna be book smart here, but you're people literate, is what I call it. This industry is, well, it is an academic industry. A lot of the time, it's knowing people, it's loving people, and being able to work with all walks of people, even those that you don't agree with their values. They're still a person who deserves to be here and enjoying their life, even if their values misalign with your own. So you really need to be people literate and understanding and empathetic, and that's one of those core values that we still teach, is empathy. Learning how to talk to people is the very big key here.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The normal challenge you'll hear from any clinician is trying to keep clients in counseling. We've got clients who are unsure, they're not ready, and we can't really help anyone if they aren't really ready for it, especially working with kids. You get a lot of kids who just don't want to be there, and parents who are pushing the agenda. It's the difficulty of maintaining client interaction sometimes, maintaining the facility sometimes. It's also the challenge of the stigma of mental health today. A lot of people still very much so stigmatize it, even though we're advancing. That stigma can drive a lot of people away from ever even trying counseling.
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