Meet Kathy Mackechney | IFS therapist who specializes in working with adoptees

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

Hi Kathy, what do you attribute your success to?
I believe the most important factor in my success has been following my heart and doing what I love and feel called to do. I believe I am on purpose, as in living my purpose, in serving the niche of people I serve. I got clear about that and followed it despite someone’s telling me early on that they thought my niche might be too narrow. It wasn’t.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I decided to become a therapist who specializes in working with adoptees as a result of my own experiences in therapy as a young adult. I kept having to educate the therapists I saw about the issues adoptees commonly face, and I saw a niche for people who get it and understand the lived experience of being a relinquishee-adoptee (someone who was relinquished and adopted). I knew I had the personal experience, but I had to get the educational and professional training I needed to become a licensed therapist. So that’s what I did. And as I did that, I continued to grow and learn about myself personally, which is always ongoing and further helps me in my work with others. Perhaps the biggest challenge has been remaining close to my heart. Whenever I start losing touch with what’s in my heart to do–what I most want to do–I start getting signals that I’m off-track. So I return to my heart and ask questions such as, What do I most want to be doing right now with my work? How do I most want to do that? That helps me access my clarity and get back on track.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Depending on whether it was my best athletic friend, best shopping friend or best foodie friend, I’d trend more in one direction than another, but I’d split my time between the metro area and the mountains. In the summer, I’d take my athletic friend up Maroon Bells Road outside of Aspen. We’d either bike up, enjoy the views from Maroon Bells Lake and ride back down, or take the bus up the road, make the short hike to Crater Lake at the base of the Bells and ride the bus back down. Either way, it would be followed by dinner at Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen. In the summer, I’d take my athletic friend to one of the small ski areas where not as many people go. In the metro area, we’d go shopping at some local boutiques, followed by a meal at Vital Root, Somebody People or just sitting on my deck with a homemade grilled steak, baked potato and salad while enjoying the view of the mountains.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, my fellow adoptees, as well as all the other therapists who came before me in going into private practice

Website: adopteetherapy.com