Meet Christi Chisum | Mental Health Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christi Chisum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christi, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
You need to have a business plan to start a business. I started without a plan in place. I just knew I wanted to help people on a deeper level.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart of from others is that I haven’t let fear hold me back, and I believe in myself. I have a drive to improve myself and do better. I have always had short term goals and long term goals to work towards. This has kept me motivated and on track.
After getting my teaching degree and moving from North Dakota to Colorado, I started my teaching career in Fort Morgan. I quickly set a goal of working towards a master’s degree. While this was definitely challenging to do while working full time, I kept my goals in mind despite hearing lots of people telling me I was crazy for doing this and was it really even worth the effort. This motivated me even more to work hard and keep on believing in myself!

After being in the classroom for seventeen years, I knew I was ready for a change. I once again worked towards a master’s degree in counseling, again while working full time, but this time balancing a busy sports family. Again, people commented and asked why I was doing this. And once again, this motivated me to work even hard and keep pushing. After spending some time in a school district as a school counselor while working part time as a mental health therapist, I took a leap of faith, left my position as a school counselor, and opened my own private practice. Looking back, I probably should have been scared or worried, but I wasn’t! I had my belief in myself and my family and friends supporting me. That’s not to say there haven’t been days where I have had a few doubts, but I also have a supportive family and network of friends who keep me motivated. And of course, my belief in myself keeps me moving forward and not giving up.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Fort Morgan is a small town in northeastern Colorado, but it offers so many fun little hidden gems. FM is known as the boyhood home of Glen Miller, big band director during and after World War II. Our town library has a museum dedicated to his life here as well as telling the story of the history of our town. This would be a must see! I would invite our local historian, Barb Keenan, to take us on a tour of the library as well as point out historic places around the town of Fort Morgan. During the summer months on Thursday nights, our library also hosts Music in the Park where local and statewide bands and variety acts entertain our community.

A couple years ago Fort Morgan won a Home Town Challenge makeover contest sponsored by HGTV. Hosts Ben and Erin Napier and Dave and Jenny Mars made over several businesses and homes in our community. We would spend a day visiting renovated Mosqueda’s Ice Cream shop, Crown Lanes bowling alley, the Queens Lounge, and tour around to see other sites.

We would take a day to travel thirty miles or so north of Fort Morgan to visit Pawnee Buttes and hike the buttes. This area offers outdoor lovers a chance to take in the beauty of the eastern plains and spend a day exploring the buttes and all they have to offer.

Fort Morgan offers a variety of amazing food options, and these places would be “must visits” on the list. Little Bamboo is a Chinese restaurant that does not disappoint! Mexican restaurants such as Acapulco Bay, Casa Patron, and Santiagos offer a Colorado take on Mexican food. The local brewery, Kukaro Brewing, is a great place to try out new beer flavors and enjoy brick oven pizza.

While our little town is small, it offers many fun and interesting places to keep visitors busy!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family and friends are my biggest supports. Without them supporting and encouraging me, I wouldn’t have had the courage to make a career change and take a leap of faith to start my private practice.

Website: http://www.christichisumcounseling.com/

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Image Credits
Lacee J Photography