Emily Rein: Changing the Stigma of Mental Illness

Emily lives in New York

Emily Rein, LMHC, and owner of Silver Lining Counseling in Rochester, New York. Emily Rein is a licensed mental health counselor in Rochester, New York. She and her husband have an 8-year-old son and 3 cats. Emily’s M.S. in Mental Health Counseling is from the University of Massachusetts. As a therapist, Emily worked at a college, urban mental health clinic and then opened her own practice in 2012. She has experience providing individual counseling to adults and adolescents; leading therapy groups; speaking with students about various mental health topics and community advocacy for ending the stigma surrounding mental illness.
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Emily shares with us her powerful story of the moment she stepped into her truth and owned being both a therapist and a woman who suffered from mental illness.

After the birth of her first child, she found herself in a downward spiral of panic attacks, depression, and insomnia. While working through her emotions in regular therapy, she had the incredible realization that part of her healing would need to include more vulnerability. Listening to Emily own that she was tired of pretending to be fine when everything was falling apart really struck a cord with us!

As a mental health professional, Emily had been vocal online, educating and advocating for change for years but taking the next step to be more transparent brought with it a lot of fear and uncertainty. She knew the ways that mental illness is still stigmatized. She had always held back on going deeper and telling her truth because knowing those stigmas and judgment that still surround women’s mental health, she feared judgment from her peers and potential clients. But Emily felt deep down that sharing her story was an incredible way to work to change that narrative.

She stepped into her power, owned her current truth and shared it with her world through a Facebook post. And as it turned out, the truth helped set her free. It made an incredibly huge impact in her own healing, her relationships, connecting with her family and friends, as well as fostering an authentic helping relationship with her clients. She has seen firsthand how more authenticity about her issues has had a positive impact on some of her clients’ lives.

Being vulnerable and telling her story more openly has been worth it for Emily. She isn’t sure what the next chapter will bring, but for now she’s happy she wrote the beginning of this one by saying:

“I’m a therapist. I have a therapist. I suffer from anxiety and depression. I had severe postpartum depression. I have issues just like everyone else. I hope knowing this helps you feel less alone.”

Read her powerful article here.

Listen to Emily’s powerful story on the Soul Lift Podcast.