A widow and single mother at the time, Stone volunteered to facilitate writing circles at a New York City-based drug and alcohol treatment center for women.
Seeing how the participants found strength and connection through sharing harrowing stories of survival led Stone to ponder her life’s purpose.
“With story, clients can examine their life’s narrative and craft their next chapter.”
“I began reflecting on how I wanted to show up in the world, and a big part of that was helping people to become their best selves,” Stone said.
In 2015, nearly 30 years after departing student life, Stone took her first steps toward a counseling career by enrolling in a master’s degree program at New York University.
“Much of my writing was self-help, but to help people more directly, I needed theoretical grounding,” Stone said.
Now a psychotherapist with a focus on trauma treatment, Stone helps individuals and couples navigate life’s obstacles and seize new possibilities. She also runs expressive arts workshops using story to fuel personal growth, efforts informed by MSU journalism studies and a professional writing career that highlighted the transformative power of story.
“With story, clients can examine their life’s narrative and craft their next chapter,” said Stone, who relishes seeing clients gain self-awareness, set boundaries and choose new paths. Stone looks to soon open her own practice— centered on story, culture and community—in the city’s Harlem neighborhood.
“It was a stretch to go back to school in my 50s, but it’s been positive, fulfilling and worthwhile to show up in this way,” she said.
