Meet Kristen Hornung | MA, PhD, LPCC#2071

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

Hi Kristen, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I first started practicing therapy, I worked for large nonprofit organizations in a variety of different settings, including school-based mental health and community mental health clinics. I really enjoyed the training opportunities that these larger organizations provided, but over time, I realized it wasn’t financially sustainable for me to make nonprofit wages and support myself and my family. I also liked the idea of being liberated from the paperwork and policies that often come with working for large organizations. When I was deliberating starting my own private practice, I thought seriously about how much income I needed to generate and what policies I needed in order to have a sustainable, healthy business. I thought about my desire to help other people who have experienced trauma and to provide gold standard mental health care. I also considered my strengths and weaknesses both as a therapist and as a person. I realized I needed to learn a lot about marketing because it was a subject that hadn’t been covered at all in my education or training.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I began writing poetry when I was a child and it’s been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. Poetry helps me reflect on my experiences and my world view. It also helps me contain really difficult or intense emotional material in short form. I’ve found it easier to express myself with imagery, metaphor, and story. I recently published my debut poetry collection, Too Jagged to Hold, which is inspired by my long arc of trauma recovery. My collection includes poems I have written over the last twenty-two years. Writing poetry has helped me practice mindfulness. I’ve learned that to write well I have to be willing to be vulnerable and courageous. I practice letting go of my perfectionism. I have also learned a lot from submitting my writing (both short stories and poetry) for publication. I am grateful to have been published traditionally, but I have also learned a lot from experiencing rejection and criticism from others. I chose to self-publish my debut poetry collection, Too Jagged to Hold, after I realized that finding a publisher for it would be difficult and time consuming, and I would prefer to maintain creative control of my collection and share it with the world sooner rather than later. Self-publishing has allowed me to learn more about the business side of writing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would begin with a trip to Pavlos Tacos in Encinitas (formerly known as Rico’s) to get a taquitos or taco combination plate with guacamole and extra red hot sauce. Then we would drive to downtown Encinitas and start with a walk through the Meditation Gardens and then a stroll down towards Swami’s beach. For dinner we could eat at Plumeria Thai, a vegan restaurant, then walk to Moonlight Beach to catch the sunset. I also love taking people to the San Diego Botanical Gardens and the San Elijo Lagoon. If it’s hot out, going to Barnes and Noble or a Cinepolis movie theatre can be a nice way to get out of the sun. The Encinitas Library off of Cornish Drive is also a great place to see local art installations and enjoy the ocean view from the back patio (it’s family friendly and there is always some activity on the calendar). Something that might get overlooked is the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation Discovery Center in Carlsbad. It’s a cute place with native animals (plus some cute furry hamsters and a rabbit) where kids and adults can play and learn.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am grateful to the community mental health organizations that I have worked for in the County of San Diego and the people those organizations serve. I feel like I could write a list a page long of different mentors, supervisors, and managers that taught me skills I use regularly today. One book that I found very helpful is Dissociation Made Simple by Jamie Marich, PhD, because they draw upon their personal experience and professional experience in their work, which has encouraged me to integrate more of my own identities and experiences into my professional life.

Website: https://kristenhornung.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kghornung/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-hornung-5a842893

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kristenhornung

Other: My author website: https://kghornung.com/

Image Credits
The cover design for Too Jagged to Hold was by Jessica Cvilo