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| Kristopher Walton |
Most therapists don't end up being in private practice. Social work is usually focused on community mental health. Walton agrees that he doesn't fit into that mold, but he's been working with clients for 30 years. “I'm an entrepreneur, I live my life in the entrepreneur business perspective with business ideas mixed with therapy ideas and that's fun,” he explained.
Walton showed his entrepreneurial spirit early in his life when he became an inventor. When he was 15 years old and in 9th grade, he invented the candy pen. On his own, he found a patent attorney, and with $1,000 in a bag, he hired him. The patent attorney told him, “There's nothing like that out there do you want to put something together?" He went ahead and had drawings created with the mock-up of the pen. Once this was complete he took a bus to Salt Lake City and met the investor, alone, at the library. The investor said he had $100,000 in cash to invest. Based on advice his father had given him, Walton demanded 51% of the company. The investor wasn't too excited about that and said, “Young man you are 15 years old. There's no way I'm going to give you 51%.” Walton held to the advice from his dad and kept replying that “my dad said”. Believing that he'd get nothing without having 51%, he walked away from the deal and his invention didn't go anywhere.
“Life is an opportunity versus a missed opportunity and we have to figure out how to innovate and create ourselves from the opportunities we miss out on,” he said.
As a therapist, Walton said he really loves his career. “I love being able to maneuver in life versus being stuck,” he said. “I see business owners being afraid, especially in the world of COVID. If you look at it through the lens of fear, it's going to cause negative reactions,” he explained, “What is the opportunity of COVID?” He advises looking at your business through a lens of opportunity. He believes that envisioning your future and creating the system will get you to your goals. “The biggest part is to have faith, hope, and belief that it will happen,” he said.
Understanding that receiving therapy can have a negative stigma, Walton works with his clients to make sure he's the right fit and works hard to work on helping clients grow rather than focus on the past. He gives a one-hour free consult to make sure his potential clients feel that working with him is the right decision.
Walton is a published author and the name of his book is Navigating Your Mind – Achieving a Life of Peace, Joy, and Happiness. “When we reach out and tell people how we think, feel and believe, a lot of times those people don't necessarily understand how we feel and so we pull inside of ourselves and we internalize a lot of fear, and that creates disconnection,” he says about his book. He teaches in the book how to overcome embarrassment and shame so individuals can deal with their pain and heal. “My main demographic is 14 years old to 45 years old,” he said.
Walton has also started a podcast called What We Don't Talk About. This show is focused on the complexities of young adult life. “I talk about helping women and teenage girls how to be strong independent people. Outside sources do not have women in mind in order for them to be valued,” he said. He explained that this is seen in all aspects of life and he is using the format to educate and to help women create happy lives with boundaries and healthy relationships.
Having anxiety himself, the training that he has had has helped him be able to manage that himself. “We have to learn how to get rid of our stinky thinking,” he said, “I'm a huge person on facing fear.” One of his fears is skydiving, so to overcome that he has skydived several times. “Once you face your fear there's so much less to be afraid of and you can become what you want to be,” he said.