Today we’d like to introduce you to LaTia Guyton.
Hi LaTia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Many years ago, I began my professional life as an educator. For 16 years, the classroom was my world. I loved the work, but I carried a persistent sense that there was something more I was meant to offer, something I couldn’t yet name. Eventually, burnout pushed me to pause long enough to listen. That pause led me back to school to pursue clinical mental health counseling at Regent University.
When I graduated, I expected to feel ready. Instead, I froze. I had completed every requirement, passed every course, passed the exam, and still the final step of submitting my licensure paperwork felt impossible. So, I stepped away.
From 2013 to 2019, my life expanded in unexpected ways. I left teaching. I traveled the world. I launched businesses. I earned my Life Coaching certification. I started working with clients. And still, I avoided the very thing I was equipped and called to do. Looking back, I see that season differently. What felt like running was actually gathering the tools I now use every day to help people move through their own stuck places.
But the freeze didn’t go away. It followed me quietly, reminding me that unfinished things have a way of rising again.
In 2019, life pressed in so tightly that I could no longer ignore what I was meant to walk toward. I reached a personal low that felt deeper than rock bottom. Every part of my life felt depleted. I returned to teaching, and it was there that someone encouraged me to revisit what I had been avoiding for years. The calling had not changed. My courage had.
I logged into the board’s website, uploaded my documents, and in minutes the thing that once felt impossible was done.
From there, my path unfolded quickly. I began in a virtual role for a major corporation, then moved through community mental health and eventually into private practice. Each setting taught me something invaluable about my clients, about the work, and about myself. I learned where people felt safest with me, what patterns emerged, and what tools created real movement.
Talk therapy was powerful, but for clients holding layers of trauma, I saw where it reached its limits. I did not want clients to reach a wall they could not move beyond, so I sought out additional training.
I trained in EMDR, Brainspotting Levels 1 and 2, and Internal Family Systems Level 1, with Level 2 to be completed in January. These modalities did more than sharpen my skills. They aligned with the intuitive way I had been working all along. To be both gifted and trained in this work has been unmatched.
This past year, the referrals have grown significantly. That is humbling. It also means the stories I hold are more layered, more tender, and more complex. But with every person who finds relief, clarity, or release, my confidence deepens. Not in myself alone, but in the work itself. The work I once tried so hard to run from.
I now understand that nothing was wasted. Every detour, every delay, every moment of stuckness became part of the way I sit with people today.
And today, I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
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?
This road has been everything but smooth. The freeze I experienced earlier in my journey eventually led to a deep sense of depletion. I was running from the very well I was meant to drink from, and the further I ran, the more disconnected I felt from myself and from the work I was called to do.
I also struggled with my own insecurities. No matter what I accomplished or how well I performed, there was a quiet voice inside insisting that it was not enough and that I was not enough. Insecurity has a way of holding up a faulty mirror. It shows a distorted depiction of who you think you are instead of a true reflection.
And then it judges you for believing it.
For a long time, I had to drag that insecurity with me as I moved forward. I did not wait for it to disappear. I carried it while I learned, while I healed, and while I took the steps I had avoided for years. Over time, the weight of it changed. It no longer dictated my direction. It simply became part of the story that now helps me understand the people who sit with me.
The road was not smooth, but it shaped me in ways that now serve the work I do today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Our Story Counseling PLLC?
My practice is built on the belief that people do not come to therapy to be fixed. They come to be understood, to be met where they are, and to be guided toward the parts of themselves that still know how to heal. My work centers on helping individuals move through the places where they feel stuck, disconnected, overwhelmed, or weighed down by experiences that their minds and bodies have not fully processed.
I specialize in trauma, relational wounds, emotional stuckness, and the patterns that repeat when parts of us are still trying to protect old pain. I am trained in EMDR, Brainspotting, and Internal Family Systems, and these modalities allow me to work beyond talk therapy. Together, we tap into the deeper layers that words alone cannot always reach. Clients often come to me when they have tried traditional approaches and realize they need something that goes deeper and honors both the story and the nervous system it lives in.
We are currently expanding our offerings to reach people in new and meaningful ways. We are booking workshop engagements for organizations and community spaces that want to expose people to what healing can look like, especially when they feel weighed down by something they cannot seem to release. Along with workshops, we will also be offering therapeutic intensives. Intensives are unique because they are designed for people who may not prefer weekly therapy but can benefit from concentrated time. In an intensive, someone sits with me for four hours on a Saturday, and together we address the recurring pain points that keep their life feeling like groundhog day. Once we move through that material, it no longer loops. It becomes history instead of a present experience.
What sets my work apart is the blend of skill, intuition, and presence. I am trained, equipped, and highly specialized, but I am also deeply grounded in who I am as a person and a therapist. Clients often share that I see them in a way they have not felt seen before and that the room feels honest, safe, and transformative without being overwhelming. My approach is warm but direct, compassionate but clear, and always centered on helping people reconnect with their own internal wisdom.
Brand wise, I am most proud of the reputation my practice has earned. A significant portion of my clients come through referral, which speaks to the trust people place in the work. After being a teacher for 16 years, I truly love sitting with educators. They are carrying the weight of their world and trying to manage the world of the precious ones they are impacting. It can get overwhelming. My brand reflects depth, integrity, and emotional safety. It reflects the belief that healing is possible, even when people feel tired or unsure, and that therapy can be both sacred and practical at the same time.
For readers, I want people to know that my practice is not a place of quick fixes or surface-level strategies. I help clients connect to the root of their experiences so meaningful change can take place. Whether someone is seeking weekly therapy, a workshop experience, or an intensive, every offering is designed to help people understand their emotional patterns, heal from trauma, strengthen their sense of self, and move through life with more clarity and confidence. My work is about helping people return to themselves, and that is the heart of my brand.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I believe that anything worth having requires a level of risk. I also believe that risk should be thoughtful and calculated, but there are moments when your determination will take you further than the math ever could. A significant part of the work I do with clients involves reshaping their relationship with failure. Many people assume that trying something once or twice should be enough. When it does not work, they interpret that as a reason to stop rather than a signal to reassess.
In therapy, I often use the concept of what I call famous failures. These are individuals whose names are now known everywhere, but their journeys were full of setbacks, rejections, and long stretches where nothing seemed to be working. Their stories remind clients that failure is not a verdict. It is an invitation to recalibrate. It is information, not identity.
My own perspective on risk is shaped by the depth of belief a person carries. When you study the people who eventually succeeded, you find that many of them attempted their vision hundreds of times. Some pitched their ideas 300 times, 500 times, even thousands of times before anyone said yes. Their belief allowed them to see their idea finished long before it became real. That kind of vision makes risk feel less like danger and more like part of the path.
Risk involves exposure to loss, discomfort, or uncertainty. But when your belief is anchored in something deeper, those things become temporary. They serve a larger purpose. They shape your capacity, strengthen your resilience, and confirm what you value most.
So while I would not call myself someone who takes reckless chances, I am someone who understands the value of stepping into the unknown when the conviction is strong. Every meaningful step I have taken in my career required the willingness to be stretched. And each time, the outcome has reminded me that risk is often the doorway to what we are meant to become.
Pricing:
- 225 for sessions.
- We accept Aetna, BCBS and United Healthcare
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.OurStoryCounseling.com
- Instagram: @OurStoryCounseling
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/ourstourycounseling
