Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Riddell.
Hi Leah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was (admittedly too young) an adolescent, I was obsessed with show “Talk Sex with Sue Johanson”, which would come on TV late night. I was inspired by her lack of judgement, and the wealth of knowledge that I was learning. Growing up in a rural, religious, small town in central North Carolina, conversations about sex weren’t had, and the ones we did get in school were definitely NOT about pleasure. I made up my mind by the time I was 14 that I wanted to be a sex therapist. In many ways I even acted in that role for friends at school – constantly sharing knowledge and educating others. It felt natural and I tend to gravitate often to information sharing.
I left my familial home early, was homeless for a while in my elder teens, couch surfing and sleeping in the WalMart parking lot. I eventually started slowly paying my way through Community College in Nash and Wilson counties, and then was able to transfer to ECU with the same goal in mind.
While at ECU, I volunteered for the National Crisis Line and the Veteran’s Crisis Line, where I fell in love with trauma work. This volunteering steered me to eventually apply for a Masters in Clinical Counseling with a certificate in both Substance Abuse Counseling and Military & Trauma Counseling.
I worked at many different types of counseling and therapy formats – inpatient substance use, where I was hired for counseling with pregnant women who were detoxing inpatient prior to birth, to working short-term and longterm detox, inpatient acute care in the ER, and eventually outpatient mental health.
My company began because all around me I saw burnout – doctors and treatment teams uncaring, making medical decisions based on money and financial gain, overworked doctors and nurses missing important details and insight into these patient’s lives, and I wanted to change that in what little way I could. I didn’t see a single LGBTQIA+ celebratory practice in my sliver of central/eastern NC. I didn’t see one that took folks as they were, publicly and loudly. So my mission began through frustration – as many of our passion projects do. I wanted to create a place for myself and my team to be the best therapists they could be, without burning out and being underpaid. I wanted to create a system that was as fair as it could be under capitalism. I wanted to create a place where the team is happy, fulfilled, and free to be themselves.
I hope that I have done justice to my team and our mission. Everyday I try to be the best I can do for them and for myself.
We now have a team of 15 amazing and badass therapists. I couldn’t be more proud of the work we accomplish everyday and the great strides our clients make in their lives!
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?
It has been mostly smooth, and I credit that largely to the amazing community of therapists here. in North Carolina. We have a large community that supports one another, shares business/legal information, and builds eachother up. In grad school, we don’t receive coursework on how to structure or run a business, so we have to rely on eachother, our layers and CPAs. I can definitely say that North Carolina’s therapist community is amazing, and I would not be as successful in my endeavors without its support and openness.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Origins Counseling & Wellness, PLLC?
We are a mental health counseling practice based here in NC, and we can also see folks in or traveling to SC, FL, VT, MD, SD. All of our clinicians live in North Carolina. We accept BCBS, Aetna, and United Health (Optum) insurances. We offer care for folks ages 4+, including couples, families, and friends therapy. We provide autism & ADHD assessments for adults, and they’re offered by providers of lived experience.
Brand wise, we are at our core and affirming & celebratory practice of queer folks and neurodivergent folks. We are trauma therapists, OCD specialists, and cover expertise in many different areas. We wanted to be the go-to practice for mental health in central/eastern NC. We now have clinicians available in person in Raleigh, Durham, Greenville, Boone and Asheville.
I am so proud of our team and their skills. I think what sets us apart is our authenticity and the wide range of services we can provide. If someone is appropriate for outpatient care, we can typically get them onto a calendar in less than a week.
Our team is incredible diverse in life experience, neurotype, gender orientation, race, and modalities. We all come together and genuinely love learning and working with our clients. And I am incredibly proud of the work/life balance our team creates. We prioritize travel and time off while balancing our caseloads, which is hard in healthcare! We also offer intensives for folks who aren’t interested in a weekly hour, but maybe 3-4 hours once a month or 5 hours every 2 months. We try to be flexible in our offerings.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I think I was incredibly annoying for the average kid/classroom. I received many comments on report cards about being too talkative, too loud, too fidgety. I now understand all of this a bit differently, but then I didn’t know how to relate to other people other than being chatty or a teachers pet so they would give me extra tasks to do. Classrooms and social circles moved too slow for me when I was young. I was an avid reader and then videogamer. I still love reading and videogames and chatting. I grew up as an only child, with two elder siblings much older than me and already out of the house. Our house was quiet, and that was always uncomfortable for me. I still struggle with feeling safe in quiet spaces.
My love to knowledge gathering has never wavered, and I love being someone with a random fact!
Pricing:
- $1000 adult autism & adhd assessments
- We accept BCBS, Aetna, United/Optum insurance
- We offer Intensives
- Couples/friends therapy is $200 per hour
- $200 an hour for therapy outside of insurance, and we work at a high standard of confidentiality for all of our clients, especially those in high-visibility jobs, or who do not wish to use their insurance plans.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://originscounselingandwellness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/originscounselingandwellness
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OriginsCounselingAndWellness
