Help Angela Create Peace in the Household

Peace begins in the household. The more I work with clients in my mental health coaching practice, I know this to be true. Where we grow up, matters. How we talk to the people we love, matters. How we are reflected by those around us - originally our families - matters. 

I’m Angela Mulligan, a full-time mental health coach who has always aspired to higher education because I love learning and stretching. At first it seemed cost prohibitive to continue my learning and become a more established professional in the field, but I’ve decided it is worth the financial risk to become a leader in my community and offer therapeutic services to individuals and families who are bravely working through their own traumas and triggers to become better family members. 

Photo Caption: Currently I am reading Inside Out and Outside In, Psychodynamic Clinical and Psychopathology in Contemporary Multicultural Contexts. 

I’ve been accepted to Capella University’s Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy program, and have started the multi-year journey of working towards licensure in Hawai’i to become an LMFT with my first course starting January 2021: Foundations in Marriage and Family Therapy. 

Capella University estimates that it will cost $35,064 to complete this degree, including courses, residencies and materials. In order to not rely on loans and the extra expenses they add, I am planning on taking one course per quarter while working full time, applying for merit-based scholarships, and asking you for help. 

Photo Caption: Capella's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy.

Healing and preventing adverse childhood experiences  by creating a warm, loving and supportive home has the capability of reducing substance abuse, incarceration rates, development disorders, mental health disorders and perpetual abuse cycles. 

My clients inspire me to become more adept and skilled at supporting them through their bravery to talk about traumatic past experiences and origin moments for limiting behaviors and beliefs. 

By becoming a LMFT I hope to be able to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children, parents and partners in service to creating a world with more connection, more understanding, and more love. Everyone I have met through this work shares the longing to be seen and understood. 

I invite you to think about your own family, the ways that they supported you, and the ways that they were not able to support you because of their own challenges. What would be possible for you if there had been a supportive therapist holding each of you in your emotional experience? What would be possible if your family had help navigating conflict so that each of you could get your needs met? What would be possible if someone witnessed your painful memories and helped you make sense and meaning of them now as an adult?

I grew up living with my mom as an only child and saw my dad regularly during the week when he was in town. In respecting their privacy, I won’t say more than it was a challenging triad to be a part of because of disagreements, value schisms and communication breakdowns. Children are sensitive to and hold a lot of their parents pain, and they shouldn’t have to. With more people accepting the role and releasing the stigma of attending therapy in their lives, we have a chance of creating a world that is more peaceful, whole and healed. 

To learn more about the accredited degree program I am enrolled in, click here .
To learn more about me as a professional, you can visit my website . 

You are making this possible for me and are contributing in bringing peace to the household, and to the world. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!

Photo caption: Radiating gratitude for your support and for the opportunity to do this work. 

Photo caption: Second from the left is my great grandma Angela, who I am named after.  She gave birth to 8 children, including my maternal grandmother.  We are impacted by the lives and relationships of our family members for generations.