Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Pardy.
Emily, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I founded Ready Nest Counseling in 2016, shortly after my third daughter was born. The most common thing I hear from older moms is, “I wish I’d had this place when I became a mom!” Me too. I never intended on building a business. I just wanted to create a safe space for new parents to turn for help as they navigate the milestones of pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, loss, and early parenthood.
Having a baby is an epic landmark in the cycle of life, and anyone who has survived that journey can attest to the challenges that come with it. When my husband and I were considering starting a family, we returned to our premarital counselor for guidance. How do you know you’re ready to have a baby? We were eager to learn all we could to help us make the most of this season of life.
I was shocked to find very few resources at the time and annoyed at how “natural” this disruption was supposed to feel in life and in marriage. A couple of years later, we had our second baby and I wrote a book called “For All Maternity” about just how life-changing parenthood had been.
As new moms started to find me through my blogging, I felt called to get more credentials in my work, so we moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where I pursued my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. Today, Ready Nest Counseling has multiple counselors and locations that serve the growing community of young families in Middle Tennessee.
It’s my joy to counsel, educate, and spread love to couples navigating the precious season of building a family.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There are always detours on the road to building a business. I started Ready Nest Counseling with zero clients and only one day a week in an office. As the client load increased, it became clear that I needed to make a choice about growing the practice.
To me, it was less about professional development and more about offering a solution to the problem of a gap in the system. How could I help more people if I’m limited to only so many hours in a week? (Also, I have four daughters and a husband I love, so I wanted to maintain my sanity and a semblance of balance!).
I was one of the first in the country to become certified in Perinatal Mental Health (that’s a fancy word meaning before/during/after childbirth) and it’s important to me to maintain an extremely high level of quality mental health care for our clients. So, over the years, I’ve learned how to ensure our counselors have the same beautiful mix of passion and education that serves our clients well.
There is so much need, we do our best to meet the community with ways in which they can get help a multitude of ways. We offer Free Support Groups and a Sliding Scale, but we also work to connect our clients to other resources in our community.
Listening to the needs of our community has been central to developing ways in which to educate and help them, no matter what journey they’re on.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since 2016, Ready Nest Counseling has been helping individuals, couples, and families transition through the life stages of conception, pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, or loss.
Caring for your emotional and relational wellness, Ready Nest Counselors are specially trained in maternal mental health and marriage and family counseling to provide evidence-based, unbiased therapy to help our clients make the most of this season of life.
We offer one-on-one private therapy sessions, as well as a variety of Free Support Groups for new parents as well as lost parents. We have in-person locations in Hillsboro Village and Franklin, TN. We can also see clients virtually throughout the state of Tennessee.
Whether you are contemplating parenthood, hoping to conceive, just found out you are expecting, suffered a loss, or already brought the baby home, Ready Nest Counseling can help you navigate the next phase of your life.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
You are not alone. The pandemic has left many people feeling isolated and alone. The power of togetherness has never been so vital as in the last couple of years.
When we had to shift to meeting our clients virtually, it developed a greater skill set for our clinicians to engage over screens with their clients. While many prefer to meet in person, this challenge also offered unexpected gifts of convenience and insight into the homes of people we would otherwise never see.
Covid has taught us to encourage one another to seek help early and preventatively, and eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@readynestcounseling.com
- Website: www.readynestcounseling.com
- Instagram: @readynestcounseling
- Facebook: facebook.com/readynestcounseling
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCy4dW6YmKKTma7IQwdaCp6Q
- Other: www.readynestonline.com
Image Credits
Sarah Beatty of Emily Pardy only
