Counselor Entrepreneur Spotlight: Linda Hoenigsberg, LCPC, LMFT, DBTC

When Linda’s story came across my Twitter feed, I knew I had to share it.  I thought about it a lot, I was amazed by the severity of her story and the strength she must have possessed to overcome these circumstances and share her story with the world.  I read the story a few times but I did not immediately share this amazing story of tragedy, hope, strength, perseverance, and triumph.  I wanted the timing to be right.  The right time came, the day I was contacted by a soon to be counselor with some challenges of their own…  

Becoming What I Might Have Been

by Linda Hoenigsberg

As I passed my 50th birthday, I wondered if I would ever be able to complete some of the dreams I had carried with me for decades. So many things had happened to me. I had been sent to juvenile hall at fourteen, got myself kicked out of school by fifteen, and married by sixteen. We had our firstborn son when I was seventeen, and my husband abandoned my son and me by my eighteenth birthday. Thing went downhill from there. I experienced abuse and trauma. After a gang-rape by six young men I turned to drugs to try to cope with the emotional pain.

By the time I hit my twenties, I was seriously mentally ill. Soon I would lose a brother and three years later, a father, to suicide. I went through another abusive marriage and divorce.

But I worked very hard to recover. These events changed me, but I grew as a person and changed my life. I eventually married a wonderful man. My children grew and became husbands and wives, with families of their own. I had the joy of a house full of grandchildren. My Christmases were no longer the nightmares of drunkenness of my childhood, but instead full of light and peace and the sweet laughter of children.

But now I had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken my neck! It seemed as if life was over.

Then one day I saw a quote by a woman named Mary Ann Evans. She used the pseudonym George Eliot because in her era women authors were not well received. She said, “It’s never too late to become what you might have been.” Since this quote was on an illustration in a magazine, I snipped it out, framed it, and hung it on the wall above my desk. Could I dare to think I still had time to make my dreams reality?… CLICK FOR FULL STORY 

**FOR A LIMITED TIME!!  You can read the extended version of Linda’s life, that chronicles the trials she overcame to become the wonderful counselor she is today. See the below link.  It will take you to Linda’s old blog site.  She is writing a memoir and this site will be coming down soon. **  

http://lindalochridge.com/free-fall-2/ 

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