The Power of Perseverance: Licensure Struggles to Professional Breakthroughs

Explore Shara's journey from facing repeated licensure exam failures and personal hardships to becoming a licensed clinical social worker and successful entrepreneur. Gain insights into how she founded "Journey to Licensure," a consulting firm dedicated to guiding others through the licensure process, and learn the crucial roles of mindfulness and self-care in overcoming professional challenges. This episode is a testament to the power of resilience, offering invaluable lessons for anyone navigating their own path to professional licensing and beyond.

Episode Highlights

• Shara's journey from facing personal and professional challenges, including failing her licensing exam multiple times, to becoming a successful entrepreneur and licensed clinical social worker
• Launch of "Journey to Licensure," a consulting firm created to support social workers on their licensure journey, inspired by Shara's own challenges.
• Emphasis on the importance of mindfulness and self-care to enhance effectiveness in helping professions.
• Advocacy for aspiring social workers and therapists to prioritize their own well-being and seek support, highlighting the often-overlooked need for self-care within these professions.

About Shara Ruffin:
Shara is an independently licensed clinical social worker and former psychotherapist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She holds a Bachelor's degree in social work from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree in social work from Howard University School of Social Work. Shara has specializations in grief, personality disorders, family trauma, compassion fatigue, military counseling, mindfulness meditation, ADHD, and anxiety.  Shara is a Board Certified Tele-mental Health Provider. Shara is also a 5x-Amazon Best-Seller of a social work journal called, “90 Days of Prayer”. She is the author of her second best-selling social work journal “90 Days Of Inspiration”, which is a study companion for social workers taking their licensing exam. Currently, Shara is the Founder and CEO of a consulting company called "Journey To Licensure". Her company combines wellness, clinical supervision, and professional development coaching to support social workers through licensure examinations. Shara's company "Journey To Licensure" was featured in Business Insider, USA Today, and Success. Shara is also a LinkedIn Advisor and was most recently awarded "Top 15 LinkedIn Expert in Philadelphia in 2023", and the “LinkedIn Top Voice” award.

Connect with Shara:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shararuffin/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharadruffin/
Podcast: Journey to Licensure Podcast

Connect with me!

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizherrera1/
• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/lizcareercoaching/
• Website:  https://www.lizcareercoaching.net/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerreraLiz27
• Email: lizcareercoaching@gmail.com

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Sound from Zapsplat.com
Artwork: Joseph Valenzuela Design

Transcript

Shara, I'm delighted to have you as a guest today, as I believe that your story of resilience and perseverance. is going to profoundly inspire those listening today. Thank you so much for having me on. So I'm looking forward to the conversation. Yes, absolutely. So you are a licensed clinical social worker, a bestselling author, and CEO of a consulting company called Journey to Licensure.

You have an incredible journey. And I was hoping that we can start off with you sharing a little bit of your backstory. And how it has influenced your purpose today. Oh, yes, that is a loaded story. Yes. Um, I would definitely love to share and hopefully, uh, that story will inspire other people to just keep going in their journey.

So yes, I am a licensed clinical social worker, been a clinically licensed for about three years now. Um, but I've been in social work for about 20 years. So time kind of goes fast when you're having fun. [00:01:00] Um, during till licensure was born from my story of having difficulty getting licensed. So, um, post graduate school at Howard university in 2011, I took my first exam and I failed it by three points.

So that was the first part of my story that I told on LinkedIn. And for several years after that, I had several things happen. I went through a military marriage divorce. Um, had a stillborn daughter, uh, when my ex husband was in Kabul, Afghanistan. Um, then we had another child, Jaden, who was born with a life threatening kidney, um, illness and abnormality.

When he was six months old, he had to have robotic surgery. Um, this was during the time that I was working at a stressful, but loved my job, um, as a psychotherapist at an outpatient hospital. However, it required about almost two and a half To almost 3 hours of public transportation, didn't have a car, couldn't afford one, was going through a divorce, um, it was very stressful [00:02:00] and then taking care of a child.

Anytime he got sick, because I was on 2 buses to the train, I would have to go back and forth with him, um, on top of being a single mom and being solely his financial provider. It was a hard time for me, uh, about six or seven years I spent in that hospital, uh, cultivating my practice and therapy as well as managing, um, single motherhood and I got out of there.

I'm scared. Um, I did go through a period of depression when I was working because I could be a shadow therapist until five o'clock rolled around and I had a hard time functioning, living with family at times, and then just trying to just find my way. I felt like my life after five o'clock rolled around was kind of in pieces because it was trying to heal from the divorce and trying to still rebuild my political career because it was at a standstill and I was a Military spouse.

So having to rebuild that, manage a [00:03:00] child, get my clinical hours. It took another 67 years before that happened. And when I finally decided to, um, move on from my job, it was right on the breath of my son becoming a kindergartner. He no longer had a lot of emergency hospital appointments, which he was in and out of hospital, even after surgery for 5 years.

I'm continuously, um, dealing with a lot of stressors that, um, I'm telling everyone. And when I decided to leave that job, I was like, I'm going to go take my clinical exam, which took me exactly nine years to get to. Well, I take it in November, 2019, and I miss it by two points. I was pretty devastated because it took almost 10 years to qualify.

This is an exam that takes usually two years. And I was really just upset. I was going to retake the exam March, 2020 rolls around. I lose my part time job that I was doing to kind of lessen my stress level. Um, I'm at home with, uh, three kids at home and I'm depressed for about good eight or nine months.[00:04:00] 

Playing video games and taking care of the kids and hoping that I can get out of the debilitating mindset that I was in because my colleagues were dying because they were out in the field. I was home with the kids. I was afraid to work at the time because I didn't know what was going on with this thing that was going around and it was killing people.

I just lost hope. So I started getting on LinkedIn and I started sharing actively that journey from the time that I lost my job to failing the exam. Every day I would start, um, doing video on my mental health, on how I was feeling, um, with my son, whether I was cooking, cleaning, didn't matter what I was doing, but I wanted to share with people the process that I was struggling because on my LinkedIn profile, most of my community knew me as the therapist giving a lot of mental health advice, but what they didn't know is that.

I was on food stamps, um, medical assistance, and I was really just struggling with my mindset of, uh, feeling at a standstill in my career. So when I finally did pass my exam a year later, it blew up to over, [00:05:00] I think it was like over 100, 000 views at the time, uh, which was the most AK, so called viral post at the time that I had.

Um, and it was because people, We're able to see that journey from, uh, me failing the exam to going through the motions in real time with it. Like every day, they were like, like, what is she up to today with her kids? Um, especially my youngest and when I passed my exam, clubhouse was a big thing as the social audio app.

I started getting on there and doing free study groups. For social workers that were struggling because I found that a lot of people could relate to my story now. I never thought about doing anything else for private practice and therapy, but I realized that was not my purpose. I spent 6 months on clubhouse doing study groups for free.

And it just got bigger and bigger over time. And then I turned it into a business after a consultation coach told me that you, you know, sorry, you have to leave. You have something you need to go ahead and sell. I was like, no, I'm [00:06:00] just trying to help. And what I realized it was, I was kind of a scare that mindset that I'm trying to help people at the same time.

I didn't realize that, um, the gift that I have of combining my experiences, my clinical knowledge, Um, of going through testing and having ADHD and anxiety and depression and a learning disorder would birth a company, um, a methodology that can help social workers pass their board exams. My company went from no money to six figures in seven months.

This was 2021. It's now, um, an evaluation of over 500, 000 in three years, but that wasn't my goal was the money, it was more so me just wanting to help when that post went, um, out on LinkedIn, I thought nothing of it, I just want to inspire people to stay with their journey, no matter what it related to. So many other people I found even beyond social workers, uh, going through all those things, even from a monetary standpoint and building a A brand or a [00:07:00] puppy out of a story, and it was not my intention at all.

It was just to share with people what I went through and hopefully help somebody. But me helping and spending as much time as I did on one study group, one clubhouse, uh, pivoted into, uh, Um, a consulting company that I've been in three years now, and it's been, uh, primarily very successful to help social workers pass their board exams, um, helping them to build their brand around LinkedIn as well, and helping them to pivot in their career choices, whether that's private practice or kind of just finding their identity and professional footing.

I'll pause it there because I know I've said a lot. I'm actually very impressed because I have no caffeine in my system. So hopefully, um, people can take what they will from that story. There are a lot of moving pieces to it. But I think what people really responded to is watching me go from really very broken, feeling very stuck and not knowing where to go and pivoting from a career that [00:08:00] I had been in for a long time.

Um, at the time it was 18 years. So pivoting to entrepreneurship was not an easy journey, but it was a very natural fit for me. I think in terms of just the creativity that came out of it, the, uh, willingness to learn and to, um, apply my skills in a different way that I hadn't done before. Wow. I, you know, I, I'm just in awe and admiration of, of your journey and where you are today.

I find that. A lot of times when people see successful entrepreneurs, it's like, oh, it happened overnight, right? It's like this glamorous thing or they see things on social media, but I think for you, you were going through such life challenges, right? Being a single mom, going through a divorce, uh, the financial constraints that you were experiencing, depression.

And, you know, trying to pass this test, but you were also sharing everything as it was kind of happening and you had no idea [00:09:00] that it would come to where it is today. And I think that's what resonates with people. It's like you were just being vulnerable and just sharing your, your story and your experience as you were experiencing it.

And the other thing I want to point out is that. You know, as a social worker, you're a psychotherapist, right, earlier on, and you're in a helping profession, and so you are having to be on, and you're supporting other people emotionally, while you're going through all of these personal things yourself. I know this is a very difficult question to, to add, to answer, I imagine, but for people who might be in that position.

space right now. What are some maybe words of encouragement based on maybe what helped you survive that experience or go through that experience? That's always a, um, interesting question because I often have to put myself back in that place, um, emotionally to remember what I was going through. Um, historically for me, I would say it's a more pathological question because, um, from what I've been told in [00:10:00] my family, um, being the oldest, I was always the one to be the go getter, to be the resilient one, as my mother would call it, the strong one, as she would say, despite some of the things I grew up with, um, the violence and growing up in a environment that wasn't very conducive to a child's um, upbringing, even though my parents did, you know, what they could.

But I had, I felt that I always had this push to want to move forward despite whatever was in front of me. Going from such a housing growing up to pushing my way through college and then grad school. I was always trying to figure out how I could push my limits and no matter what happened, I always try to find optimism.

Even in the, in the midst of the darkest moments, I can think of losing my daughter. I remember that specifically because I was still studying for my master level license. And mind you, after having her as a stillborn, I went right back to [00:11:00] studying and pass the exam. That was my, that was many years ago.

But remembering what I had to do to disassociate is a gift and a curse. Um, compartmentalizing. I think the brain does that sometimes when we go through traumatic moments. I think the best advice I could give to anyone is to know that life is always going to throw stuff your way, um, is the old saying goes is how you respond to it.

Um, I've had so many, even in my business at the height of success, uh, a year, almost a year and a half to two years ago, my stepfather ended up having lung cancer. I had free metastasis. My youngest brother was killed in the midst of my business, blooming in 2022. He was 18. And he was six blocks away from my house and he got killed.

And so he's left my mom house. When I think about some of the ways I've cultivated resilience, I always say that it's a process. Um, it's, Some children are [00:12:00] born with that resilience depending on their environment. And there's so many things that I think for me growing up in an environment where I knew I had to make something out of nothing, how was part of that journey.

So now it wasn't always easy. And I don't want people to think that because of where I came from and some of the experiences I had, they have definitely shaped my, my, uh, backbone. Um, but I did have times where I was in my mind get captured by my, my mindset. It wasn't always easy having to fight off those thoughts of, uh, depression or almost giving up my son for adoption in the midst of, um, taking care of him.

Because that. Almost did happen. Um, there are many pieces that I can go back and think of where I almost broke, but I kept going. Um, I think knowing that every day isn't the same, even your feelings can change from one moment to the next. Um, that it's good to just sometimes sit with [00:13:00] it. Even in the midst of that storm, knowing that it will pass eventually, you won't feel the same way you did yesterday.

Those things always tend to help me, but everyone's capacity is very different for coping. Um, and mine's range. Sometimes I would get stuck, um, and I would just sit with it and just, you know, I think, oh, well, I'm just gonna keep going. Uh, no matter what. And sometimes give up in the midst of that. I want people to know that there were times where I definitely did in my mind.

Um, and I felt it in my body, especially when I was at a part in my career where I was. Taking care of my son, and my whole world is falling around. My husband has a baby outside of our marriage. Um, that was a devastating blow that I found out later, but when I think of all those events that have shaped me, they very much became kind of the force to keep me going.

If I got through all that, I can take whatever the next [00:14:00] thing is that's coming my way. I think when you think of what you've already been through, in retrospect, you've probably been through worse, but sometimes we forget that when we're in this stuff, what feels like a horrible, uh, moment in time, it, it passes.

It does your willingness to learn from those experiences as you have them is key. Um, mindfulness has been always been a big, uh, player in my life in terms of emotional regulation. So I would say, hang in there, but it does pass. It's hard as hell when you're going through it, but it will not last forever, no matter how bad it feels.

That's probably what I would say. I know that was a mouthful. No, that was very, no, that just hit so deep and I know that it's going to resonate. With a lot of people and I think that's really what I appreciate about you is your transparency and that you're willing to share some of these very personal things that you've experienced [00:15:00] and even just your thoughts right like even how you're like well it's a little difficult to kind of go back but then you go there and were you like I was just ready to give up or you https: otter.

ai When you say, when you said, just sit with it. And I think sometimes it's okay to do, to do that. It's like, you know what, I'm just throwing my hands up. And, but then, you know, it's like the next day you feel different and using those feelings to propel you. And it sounds like kind of, you were just taking it day by day.

Going through the motions, there was some driving force, something I guess intrinsic that kept pushing you, but also at the same time, you're, you know, while you're healing and going through your journey, you're also impacting others, and you mentioned mindfulness. I, you know, I was hoping you could talk a little bit about how you practice mindfulness and how that has influenced your professional practice, uh, and your personal life.

Yes. So I discovered mindfulness, I want to say back in [00:16:00] 2018, um, 2017, 2018, I remember that was a turning point in my, I think in my career, in my personal life, uh, it was a year before I. Um, left my job. My son was turning four, I think at the time. Um, and I'll never forget there was a silent retreat that I went to.

I was learning how to do meditation myself so I could not only practice it, but I was trying to learn it so I can incorporate it, um, as a, um, Group in coaching practice at work. Um, so that was my motivation. But this silent retreat at the end of the, there was a retreat at University of Penn. They have a lot of mindfulness practices, community groups, and I joined up for about, I think it was like a six, seven weeks.

And at the end of there was a silent retreat that we had beautiful campus that I was on. But It allowed me to start to understand some of the experiences that I had, um, not being able to talk to anybody for a day. You're surrounded by people and having to, [00:17:00] um, make friends with your thoughts, um, and really pay attention to how many thoughts you have in a day, how they impact your daily behaviors really allowed me to just, um, learn how to just be, um, mindfulness is really about being present.

Uh, people think of just the meditation part. That takes time and practice, especially for someone that's not used to being still. I was not, uh, me having ADHD, I'm used to moving all over the place, but for me, it's been an impactful way to work on emotional regulation, um, and being able to be less reactive to situations that, um, probably doesn't deserve my energy or time.

Um, and mindfulness really impacts the way you perceive yourself. But mostly managing and help you regulate those emotions have been key for me in terms of managing so many moving parts and wearing so many different hats in my personal and professional life. Um, it's been a godsend in terms of just me pulling back and [00:18:00] realizing what is it that I need to do to function when I was going through the unemployment, the pandemic, practicing mindfulness was very, very important for me to, um, just be able to sit with those, um, those emotions.

Emotions that were often uncomfortable. Yeah, I really appreciate, you know, the concept behind mindfulness and I feel that especially when you're more of an established professional, rather that you have your tools. I was like to think of that. It's like you have your tools and things that you can tap into to get through challenging situations, or I really appreciate what you said.

Like there are things that do not it. You know, merit, my energy, uh, you know, that deserve my, my time and energy or just getting upset. And I mean, that's just the day to day human interaction, life situations, circumstances, and just knowing to have this type of practice. Do you have any recommendations of where people can learn a little more about mindfulness or maybe any [00:19:00] apps, any, any type of resources?

Well, one that I really love, I love Headspace. Headspace. I learned about how to speak during the pandemic because they had a special type of like free membership at the time for healthcare providers during the pandemic. I was like, Oh, let me try this app. And I started using it as a way to start working on my breathing.

Because that was one of the issues I used to have on my exam is, um, it's a four hour exam. So having to sit there and read and reread and getting tired and losing focus, especially with having ADHD, I find ways to control that with my breathing. What's key doing mindfulness meditation every day, learning to sit with it longer.

Um, not everyone likes doing that. There is also mindfulness walking. You can do even listening to music. Being aware of your surroundings, maybe having music on a little bit lower, or even just taking a walk. That's being mindful, being present with your, with your mind in [00:20:00] yourself. Um, it doesn't always have to be, uh, sitting, which takes some practice to do if you're used to moving around.

Headspace was one good one. That I love, that's very easy. They have different levels of practices that you can do. They also, I believe if someone has Headspace, a friend or a colleague, family member, you can actually do a free month trial, um, with them just to try it out if someone has it already. So, but that's one of my go to apps now.

And because it just reminds me to slow down because I find that when I don't meditate, I'm less. I'm not as capable or focused to being connect connection with myself. I'm kind of on autopilot. So whenever I'm able to kind of pull back and take a moment to figure out what is it that I need to be able to do the things that I do, it's helpful.

So I would just headspace is my first one. I keep thinking about raving about because that's one that I've used for the last three years. [00:21:00] Um, before that, depending on where you are in your city, there's All types of mindfulness retreats. I mean, Philadelphia, I love going to university. I'm in Philly. So University of Pennsylvania has a good mindfulness community program that I started just to learn about mindfulness and be able to learn how to acknowledge and look inward to my feelings.

Um, was very beneficial for me, so that would be like an easy just go to a, um, headspace is number one for me because they have a ways to start as a beginner. So you're not overwhelmed with trying to do higher techniques than what you're ready for. Yeah, those are good ones. I like to use, um, Calm. Have you heard of Calm?

Oh yeah, I'm a fan of it, yeah. Yeah, I like that one. There's some free features in there and, and sometimes when I am in those spaces and I'm like, oh, I need a little, maybe I can't go outside. I just put, pull up a, one of those short little videos and do some meditation. So that's been helpful too.

Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing [00:22:00] that. And so speaking of other resources, so you have, uh, 90 days of prayer and 90 days of inspiration, and these have been, they've been incredibly successful. Um, what inspired you to write them and what impact would you hope, uh, that they have on your readers?

Ninety Days of Prayer was the first journal that I came out with. It came out in early, I believe, January 2022. And then the follow up Ninety Days of Inspiration came out, um, two months, almost three months later. Back to back. I wrote them in three weeks, um, apart from each other. That's the ADHD power. And after that, I have written a book that, but, uh, yeah, I don't know.

It's like, when you have ADHD, the hyper focus is a gift and a curse. You lose sight of everything else, anything else, and you're hyper focused on what you're doing. One of the gifts that I have when it comes to creativity. So when I came out with those journals, it was a combination of a notebook that I used to carry from time that I failed my [00:23:00] exam.

I would write down prayers and, um, cause I couldn't afford my own therapist at the time. It was before I had a medical insurance. I would write down prayers from my Bible and I were in the old notebook of my sons and I would write down like little notes to myself to kind of keep myself encouraged. Well, um, it was filled with over 180 pages worth of information.

And I thought, well, I'm done with this part of my journey. I might as well, uh, turn it into something. And the more I thought about it, I was like, well, I'm done with this part of my journey. How can I get a piece of this to my colleagues who are in the same struggle? I was, um, and I came up with both of those journals based on.

A timeline of how long it would take to study using 90 days, I say, 2 and a half, 3 months, and I thought, well. I don't think there's anything out there for my colleagues that 1, keep them keep them focused on their mindset. And if they're spiritual, something that they can tap into, I grew up, I'm in a [00:24:00] Christian household.

So, um, even though I don't go to church now, but I'm still much, very much spiritual. So I wanted to create something for those social workers that lean on their spirituality. So that's where nine days of prayer came in that as they're studying each day, they could, um, look at a prayer request. They could look at a bib.

Biblical quote and reflect on our own thoughts or get those self damaging thoughts out on paper and Symbolic and get them out and get rid of them as they go through their own exam preparation Now 90s inspiration was a follow up to that where there's more so less spiritual We're so focused on mindset and they were, I didn't think they would be as popular as they were.

The first one hit five time Amazon bestselling status within, believe a couple of days. And, um, the second one within 24 hours, it became number one on Amazon and social work back then. So they were both hits and I never thought that they [00:25:00] would be, um, I didn't know that I was creating something very unique from that part of my life.

And it was very impactful for many social workers that appreciated having something for them. Almost two years later, I still have colleagues or prospects talking about that journal, um, and how it has helped them. That's incredible. And even the way that you just started writing and, and how you mentioned that you couldn't afford.

So you were just using your own internal resources and you were just figuring out what was going to help you along the way as you're going through the, the testing process or just all the things that you were, you were going through and that one day your own self created tools would help others. So it's like, I'm just hearing that things that you have been experiencing and, and.

As you're getting through them, you create these, again, these tools, these exercises, these, this processes, this mindset that you [00:26:00] captured, and now it's a, you're, I mean, the impact that you're having. And people that are going through a similar situation, I think, is, is just, again, it's admirable, and I think people are so grateful, again, that, that you're willing and that you're not afraid to, to share, or maybe you were afraid, but you just took the risk, and, and you put it out there, because there's a lot of vulnerability with, with sharing these types of things and stories, and even, even sharing, like, I couldn't pass the exam, You know, some people will feel shame or they wouldn't put that on social media, but you had the courage to do that.

Thank you. Yes. I, I, the power of stories. I think I realized when I first got on LinkedIn and LinkedIn back then wasn't a place where people were sharing. Um, but I started sharing because I wanted, I wanted that connection to people beyond what they would know me as. And as a therapist, a lot of times what I experienced in the hospital was, I guess I was helping people, but there were so many that won't even step into, wouldn't even step into place of where I've worked at.[00:27:00] 

And it's a constant thing that I would say. And that would be in my mind. And I would even think on my longest days at the hospital, one day, I don't know what I'm going to be doing, but I hope that I can help people that are outside of this white off the white paintings of the office. And I don't know if that was a seeding seeded thought, but maybe it was at the time.

Um, I always felt like At least the last couple of years, there was something nagging at me that beyond what I was doing to help my patients. There was something more than what I was doing at the time. Um, and that feeling had dissipated now, but it was, it's always interesting. When you have those experiences where there's something that's telling you nothing to go a certain direction, you don't always listen at first, then you keep getting the same experience over and over until you actually do it.

I felt like that's what happened to me in my willingness to want to just [00:28:00] bring people along the journey, despite what judgments or what may come out of it. And there were plenty of them that did, but I didn't seem to care. And having that freedom to be able to share. And feel unapologetic about it was something I did have to cultivate over time.

A lot of people that see me on social media are all over seven different platforms and not knowing that I'm an introvert. I am, but no one believes me when I say that, but I love connecting to people, but I also like my faith too. Um, but learning how to share stories. I always felt that was my, uh, connection to others.

And. I still do to this day. I just don't have the restriction of my license to do that outside of therapy coaching, which has given me the freedom to be able to connect with people in a way that I probably wouldn't have if I was still a therapist. What advice would you give to aspiring social workers or [00:29:00] therapists, especially those who may be facing personal challenges of their own?

Get help. Ask for help. As providers, we tend to be the worst patients. Whether you're, you know, no matter who you are in a medical, uh, profession, I've had many colleagues, um, that were nurses, doctors, um, all across the, the health field and we are the worst when it comes to taking care of ourselves, but that good old saying goes, you cannot help others.

If you can't help yourself first, you'll no good to no one else. And it's something I constantly, even now I have to remind myself of take care of you first. Then you can go ahead and take care of the next. but you can't give what you don't have. I echo that 110%. I, that for me also took me a while to adopt that in my own professional life.

And I do feel that when I take care of myself and I recharge that I come back more [00:30:00] effective, and I just feel stronger in the work that I'm doing. And so I think that is such an important thing to learn, especially when we, when you are in a helping profession. Uh, most definitely. Okay, Shara. So I want to kind of wrap this up in a nice bow here.

Um, can you talk a little bit about what you offer? Maybe talk a little bit about Journey to Licensure? Sure. Uh, so in my company Journey to Licensure, there are three honors to professional development of social workers, helping them, um, kind of cultivate or identify what it is that they want to, how they want to shape their career, their career, no matter where they are, Um, and their process, whether they're just starting out bachelor's level, college level, master's, or they're right, getting their independent clinical license, is really meeting them where they are.

Um, and that can range from sometimes working on LinkedIn profile, optimizing our resume, um, Um, helping them network, especially with LinkedIn, um, giving them LinkedIn training on how to use [00:31:00] LinkedIn when it comes to job searching, career building, professional development, something that social workers don't do a lot of, um, because we're always in the field.

Um, so helping my colleagues know that and shape their career in a way that maximizes their opportunities that they can get in their career, which is really what. Um, the professional development piece is about the exam coaching part, which most people know me for is helping, um, people pass their masters, bachelors and clinical exams.

There are a lot of disparities and social work regarding the exams right now, the last, I think, two years. So there's been a lot of changes that are supposed to take place to advocate for social workers. Getting a license so they can get out there and help the people that they need to. Um, so that's another arm of my business and.

The methodology I will say is more holistic. When people come to me, I usually let them know I am not a tutor, but there are some tutoring aspects of what I do, but having the background of a therapist, going [00:32:00] through, um, anxiety, having ADHD and learning disorder, those things have been a pitiful part of me coming up with a methodology to meet my social groups where they are and build it.

Tailored learning processes for them. So right now, the main modes of studying is a study guide or self study or a tutor. Um, I built study processes for people, depending on how they learn best. So, uh, which is a little different than a one size, but I'm really like, they're on call study partner. Uh, they can call me, um, outside of their session really there to help them kind of.

Maintain focus on their studies, but also I'm checking on their mental health at the same time. So it's very holistic in that sense and unique because it gives more of a, um, holistic view of not only exam, but the mind and body and someone's lifestyle that can impact their ability to even [00:33:00] pass an exam.

Most people like all all of that, like, Okay. You know, they should just be able to pass their exam. That wasn't my process. And I have had many colleagues that have had so many different stories or different walks of life that they're struggling to pass their licensing exam and how much it's impacted their mental health, their family, um, and their way of life.

So helping them to, uh, fulfill that purpose has been something, um, that I've been loving to do for the last three years and it will continue. So. That is kind of where I'm at in my journey right now. I hopefully will get into speaking a little bit later on, but so far I'm like, I'm going to stay. I'm staying where I'm at.

God keeps giving me signs that every time someone calls me crying or saying that I passed my exam, it says, okay, I need to stay where I'm at, you know, but I love what I do. And, and so far it seems like it's showing that I do. Um, it's been three years and I can't wait to see what the [00:34:00] next. A couple of years will be like, and how, um, my vision will pan out.

No, I, I can't wait to see it either, but I think, you know, like taking it in, right? Like, You put this out there and you're enjoying it taking it in being in the present before starting the next venture because I think sometimes as an entrepreneur, you just kind of like keep going, going, going, right? Yeah.

Uh, so I think that's such an essential resource and service that there is a there's a gap and there's a need for. So I think it's incredible that you were able to create something and you are a testament of that journey that people may be experiencing in trying to get that, you know, past that test.

And, and I just love the idea of that holistic approach of how you serve through, through this, um, consulting, uh, organization. Okay. So for people who don't already. Follow you on all your social media. How can people connect with you? Well, I'm not too hard to find. Um, I'm on [00:35:00] at least I think six or seven platforms.

So if you Google me, you probably will see my name come up because I'm SEO optimized. Um, but yeah, so. Journey to licensure. You can find me on, um, LinkedIn. I have two different profiles, personal and professional. I have my YouTube channel. I have a podcast called Journey Licensure, which is now on season two.

I have Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. I'm on every platform you can think of. I , I can't even remember them all, but it's about seven of 'em, I think total. So, um, not too hard to miss. in terms of, um, finding me. But yeah, um, whatever platform you live on, that's where I'm at. That's incredible. Well, it was such a, such an inspirational conversation today, uh, Shara, and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day in life to share your story and some insight and your wisdom.

It was so great connecting with you. [00:36:00] It was great connecting with you as well. Thank you so much for having me on.