Smashing Stigma & Glass: A Mental Health Meet-Up Like No Other

What happens when a group of RGV therapists get together? We added baseball bats, broken printers, and a whole lot of flying glass.

That’s right, we took self-care to the next level at a recent Therapist Meet & Greet at a local smash house! Because even the healers need a space to release, reset, and just let it all out.

This incredible event wouldn’t have been possible without the vision and leadership of Valerie Rivera, a powerhouse in the Rio Grande Valley mental health community. Valerie started these therapist meet-ups as a way to bring us together beyond the office walls and treatment rooms, and it’s blossomed into something truly special. Her passion, authenticity, and boldness have been such a personal inspiration for me. Watching her create space for connection, collaboration, and growth has motivated me to chase even bigger dreams in my own career.

What started as a casual gathering has grown into a movement. Many of us came to that first meetup as strangers, and now, some of those faces have become lifelong friends, business collaborators, and sources of constant support. We don’t just share best practices, we share birthdays, breakthroughs, and burnout recovery. And now… we share rage therapy stories, too.

There’s something healing about being in a room full of people who “get it.” The emotional load, the boundaries, the compassion fatigue, it’s all real. But in that smash room, we screamed, laughed, broke things (safely), and reminded ourselves that therapists are human, too.

Stepping back from intense clinical trauma work has allowed me to truly shape Wisdom’s Wellness & Consulting LLC into what it was meant to be…a space for holistic healing. Rather than focusing solely on diagnosing and treating symptoms, I’ve shifted toward helping the body return to its natural state of balance and function. I do this with intentional autonomic regulation of the nervous system. When we support the body from the ground up, we often find that the diagnoses and symptoms begin to fade. This is the power of a bottom-up approach to mental health that Wisdom’s Wellness & Consulting LLC stands for. It’s rooted in restoring, not just managing.

We’re grateful for this community. We’re grateful for Valerie. And we’re grateful for the opportunity to keep showing up, authentically, joyfully, and sometimes with a sledgehammer in hand.

Here’s to smashing stigma, building bonds, and creating a new kind of self-care culture. We’re just getting started.