Kimsey Counseling
Ilene Kimsey, owner of Kimsey Counseling, has over thirty years of education, insight and experience about the essence of being human. She earned an Undergraduate degree in Family and Child Development, a Masters in Human Development and a Doctorate in Esoteric Studies. For many years she worked as the director of a day care and in family education, which is the counseling of youth and adults. Stepping into her home office near downtown Baldwin City, one is surrounded with gracious warmth and caring comfort. Everyone deals with stress in their life and many times that stress is related to human interaction. Ilene counsels and guides her clients with the philosophy that a healthy relationship with ourselves enables us to then interact with other people in a healthy and respectful manner. Part of the process is teaching a client to become aware their emotions, thoughts and inner reactions. This is the beginnings step to a person controlling their appropriate response to any situation. Ilene guides her clients in making peace with the distressing parts and moments of life and meeting them with grace and dignity. One anonymous customer described their experience with Kimsey Counseling: “Working with Ilene can offer you an opportunity to discover and honor the beauty and strength within you and to care for yourself in a way that ripples out from you and affects every other aspect of your life.”
Why did you choose Baldwin City as the location of your business?
I value the size and character of the community. I grew up in a community where we had a family business and I knew who we did our business with. Being able to walk down the street and recognize people is significant to me as is being an active part of a community where I know people and can serve them with my skills.
How did you get started in counseling?
The awareness of how we develop as humans has always been very important and significant to me, as well as how we interact within families and social groups. That is all referenced from how we interact with our self. For me, seeing the significance of working on a one-to-one basis with an individual to support them in their positive, loving, joyful, creative relationship with themselves, makes a difference in the world.
What does Kimsey Counseling offer clients?
Holistic counseling. I respond to the person's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. I support people in re-establishing a healthy relationship with the whole of who they are. That in turn influences them in all relationships: family, work, and how they are in the world.
Who should become clients of Kimsey Counseling?
People who have a need to feel better about themselves or their life or need to experience life as more life giving. No matter what the worry, issue, challenge, excitement or new event is, I can support them in that and in bringing it into real time in their life.
What makes it worth your time to operate Kimsey Counseling?
Providing the space and time for people to experience the value of their life and the positive influence they make in the world.
If you could invent one thing to make your job easier, what would it be?
The possibility for people to feel or experience a counseling session before they come. Restaurants give out free samples. This would be sending free samples to people so they can intake it and feel and experience the comfort, the insights, the expansion that this “food” offers.
What is a valuable lesson you have learned through the years of counseling?
Each and every person is immeasurably valuable.
What has been a challenge in pursuing this career and how did you overcome that?
It's not about me; it's about the client. Early on, a person thinks everything is about them. Maturity clarified things.
What advice do you have for people starting their own businesses?
Be clear that it's what you want and be clear what it is that you want and why. Starting a business is about inspiration, not an idea. They come from two different places. Inspiration is integrated and an idea may just be in your head.