HelloHealth Team Member Spotlight – Whitney Smith
We are excited to shine the spotlight on one of our newest team members, Whitney Smith, M.Ed., LPC, GCDF.
Ms. Smith joins the HelloHealth team as one of our counselors, specializing in solution-focused and integrated approaches to help clients with anxiety, depression, stress, workplace issues, career and life transitions, and personal and professional development. Ms. Smith joined the HelloHealth team in December 2021 and has been seeing clients through HelloHealth since March 2022.
Having spent over eight years in higher education, providing career counseling and coaching, delivering presentations, developing programming, and collaborating with campus and community partners to enhance career readiness for traditional and nontraditional students and alumni, Ms. Smith certainly understands the stress and uncertainty that surround career and life transitions. Her belief that career health is intrinsically tied to physical and mental health makes her a perfect fit for HelloHealth. She continues her work in higher education as the associate director of the Career Development and Advising Center at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Ms. Smith loves that at HelloHealth we have an integrated approach to health care and that we are constantly learning from one another. Our collaborative approach leads to “amazing opportunities for education and growth on all sides, which ultimately makes us a strong team,” she says. In her mind, the fact that we view physical and mental health as of equal value is crucial in what sets us apart from other health-care providers. “This team truly cares about our client wins, whether big or small, when making the necessary changes to live healthier and more fulfilling lives,” she says. That focus on integrated care, the emphasis that mental and physical health are important to career health and development, is something that has resonated with Ms. Smith in her short time at HelloHealth so far: “It really has shed light on how critical it is to be aware that my mental and physical health should not be viewed as separate issues outside of my career.” The interweaving of these health strands “affect how I work and ultimately how I lead,” she says.
As a result of her time at HelloHealth, Ms. Smith’s own self-care has been transformed. “Dr. Carmen Mohan and Dr. Kristen Prewitt have shown me where I tend to overlook or at times undervalue my own self-care,” she says. Their emphasis on the fact that we have control over the decisions we make when confronting unhealthy habits really speaks to her. “These women have such a unique way of getting the message across,” she states. “I have been taking steps to live a healthier life myself. I am truly celebrating my own small wins.”
That HelloHealth is passionate about seeing and serving the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community is something else that drew Ms. Smith to HelloHealth. “They see the need for support,” she says. “They are aware of the issues this community faces and how these experiences affect every area of their lives.” It’s important to Ms. Smith that, especially within the BIPOC community, HelloHealth is actively engaged in reducing the stigma of “getting help” because empowerment is something she’s exceptionally passionate about. “I want people to be aware of the level of power they hold and how they can choose to use it to navigate life,” she says.
Helping people find their empowerment, learn about their strengths and growth areas, and discover the possibilities open to them is one of Ms. Smith’s favorite things about what she does. She would love to see HelloHealth grow to a point where we’re serving clients and professionals across the country. “We have so many people in the world who are in need of support and are simply operating in survival mode. Some are ashamed, unaware, or unsure of what to ask or even how to ask for support, and HelloHealth has a clear way of allowing people to see the remedy,” she says. It’s why when COO Meagan Davies first approached her about serving on the HelloHealth team, Ms. Smith says she “couldn’t believe that such an opportunity existed for me to jump in and get to work in a way that is so important to me, now more than ever.”
To learn more about how Ms. Smith or HelloHealth can help you achieve your own health and career goals, visit our website or contact us today. Not quite ready to make that jump? Consider signing up for our monthly newsletter, full of short, concise information on all aspects of physical, brain, and career health.