08/19/2026
Hi, I’m Brenda. I’m one of the owners of Unbound Counseling.
Something you probably don’t know about me is that I dropped out of college.
Multiple times.
So many times, actually, that it took me more than 10 years to earn my undergraduate degree.
I was a nontraditional student, a veteran, usually one of the oldest people in the room, and pretty regularly felt like I was behind everyone else.
I didn’t know how to use a Google spreadsheet. I didn’t always know what people were talking about. And frankly, I was a little wild growing up and was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be tied down to any particular career anyway. Lol.
My path was definitely not linear.
Eventually, I finished that degree.
Then a master’s.
Then a PhD. Pretty much out of spite.
Somehow, the college dropout who spent years feeling behind ended up teaching and training future counselors at WVU and other universities.
But I haven’t forgotten what it felt like to be the student who wasn’t sure she was going to make it.
There were naps on library floors.
Tears.
Doubt.
Confusion.
Dropping out and starting again.
There were plenty of moments when I wondered if I was ever actually going to finish.
And I don’t think I would have made it without having a neutral person to talk to along the way.
Sometimes I needed someone to call my BS.
Sometimes I needed someone to sit with me while I cried because I was convinced I couldn’t do it anymore.
And sometimes I just needed one consistent person who knew my story while everything else in my life was changing.
It took more than 10 years to get to the moment in this picture.
And that little girl beside me watched more of that journey than she probably realized.
Now, somehow, that same little girl is a college student herself, pursuing her own dreams.
Maybe that’s part of why college students have such a special place in my heart now.
I know what it’s like to take the long way.
To feel behind.
To change directions.
To wonder if everyone else got some instruction manual you somehow missed. To stretch those last twenty dollars and wonder how you might buy your next meal.
And I know how much it matters to have someone steady in your corner while you’re figuring it all out.
So whether you’re an 18-year-old leaving home for the first time, a veteran trying to figure out where you fit, coming back after stopping, taking classes online while working, or simply realizing the college experience isn’t quite what you thought it would be,
well, your path doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s. Nor do you have to enjoy it.
Mine certainly didn’t.
Sometimes the long way still gets you there. And maybe you need someone to sit with you as you try to figure all the pieces out, and remember you are supposed to still make room for yourself.
Holler at us. That is what we are here for. We love working with high school students, emerging adults and college students.
