Source: https://voyagebaltimore.com/interview/exploring-life-business-with-heather-tydings-of-own-your-evolution/

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Tydings.

Hi Heather, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.

Hello! I’d love to introduce myself. I work as a psychotherapist and life coach living in the vibrant and mountainous Frederick, Maryland. The fun stuff: I’m a travel loving foodie, lifetime vegetarian, triple Capricorn, mama bear, wife, friend, and fun maker. What lights me up is connection with others, adventure, and experiencing places and new things.

I graduated with an undergrad degree in Psychology in 1996, moved on to gain my master’s degree in 2001. After 3000 hours of supervised practice, I’ve worked as a licensed certified social worker-clinical (LCSW-C.)

While working on my master’s degree, I worked full-time on a trauma unit for teens in a residential treatment facility. After graduating from The University of Maryland, I worked in hospital settings, first in the cancer center at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and then in an Emergency Department providing psychiatric assessments.

I opened my psychotherapy and life coaching practice, Own Your Evolution, in 2012 while also working for a behavioral health managed care company that offered sensitive and complex mental health services to the USPS, the federal government, and many other companies nationwide. I worked 5 pm – 1 am and worked at my private practice during the day. I had to knit my “new net” slowly so I could leave the world of managed care and offer health and mental wellness services in a personalized and thoughtful way.

Post graduate school, I sought additional trainings to become a Certified Martha Beck Life Coach and an Ayurveda Wellness Coach. I was educated in Energy Psychology- Reiki and Emotional Freedom Technique and EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.) This summer I am going to do an intensive training in Internal Family Systems (IFS.) In my field, there is no end to learning and growing professionally and personally.

My practice now primarily serves women and teen girls who are motivated to process, feel, heal, and move forward from painful and challenging situations/pasts. My sessions offer a hearty dose of therapy in the form of warmth, hope, wisdom, resources, and ass-kicking if necessary. My clients would say one of the reasons they choose to work with me is my down-to-earth (sometimes irreverent) collaborative nature. They would also say (sometimes through gritted teeth) that I nudge them into living the fullness of their lives even when they don’t believe they can.

I was raised by salt-of-the-earth parents and thus learned how to thrive and heal through eating whole foods, using supplements, and other complementary treatments. When an opportunity arose to learn the basics of Ayurvedic medicine, I enrolled and learned the underpinnings of whole-person treatment. I often weave old-world knowledge into current-day healing modalities to guide, refer, and treat the “whole person” versus just addressing mental health.

In 2024, I am adding events and VIP coaching/psychotherapy intensives, where clients can get a potent dose of all the above in a short period of time. I will also be offering retreats for women who are ready to simplify, energize, and expand their bodacious lives.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Absolutely. It’s been both. I personally struggled with anxiety and a scarcity mindset. I was raised in an uber-religious home and community. Being pious and going without was insidiously encouraged. Thus, developing an abundance mindset and accepting and sitting in success has been a growth journey. Growing up, I did not have models of accomplished women asking for what they were worth in their lives or careers.

Additionally, I had times when I felt raw from having a front-row seat to trauma. Part of my work at the managed care company involved providing critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) after national crises. Providing debriefing for those devastated by Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon shootings as well as the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas (and many more!) left me feeling depleted and anxious. Leaving that position after 13 years was sweet relief.

Now, I implement daily routines and practices to keep my central nervous system humming. I have a solid morning regime that grounds and nourishes me so I can be an inspiring, centered love bomb for others. I take time for myself unapologetically and encourage others to do the same.

We’ve been impressed with Own Your Evolution, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I mostly work with women and teen girls on issues like perfectionism, relationships, anxiety, boundary setting, depression, self-esteem, body image, life transitions, mother-daughter relationships, and “joy finding.” Essentially, my work involves de-pathologizing clients; helping them find their way back to their true, beautiful nature.

In essence, I get the privilege of offering clients connection, safety, trust, and hope. My schooling taught a more removed way of interacting with clients, however, I found people heal and change from authentic connection. Education and clinical training are crucial but if a client doesn’t trust or connect with you, it’s more of a cerebral process, not a soul-deep one.

The more I show up as a real and relatable human and hold accepting space, change happens. I am a champion, supporter, and advocate for my clients. This is my life’s work; knowing I am part of another human’s healing journey lights me up and keeps me moving forward in this often harsh world.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.

I’ve had incredible luck in my life and business. I possessed keen intuition from a young age; which has been my navigating system. Listening to my internal guidance likely looked like luck but was really a process of tuning in and feeling how my body and spirit reacts to people/things and responding accordingly.

Where I have experienced luck in spades is in my relationships; I’ve known my closest girlfriends for 20-30 years. There have been many decades of joys and challenges which has forged unbreakable bonds. Then there is my husband. The deep gratitude I have for him is immeasurable. We are oddly and wildly compatible. He is kind, generous, smart, and adventurous. We work hard but travel and play harder. And my sensitive and kind teen son; who has taught me more about life than anyone or anything else. He’s my heart.