Turn Your Anxiety Into An Awakening

As a holistic therapist, I practice an integrative approach, addressing the mind, body and spirit.

Meghan Klein Toups

Licensed professional counselor & Lecturer of Psychology

a bit about my journey…

My work as a psychotherapist, researcher and professor has continually invited me to engage in my own self-reflection around who I am and why I do what I do. This reflection inevitably begins by engaging with this quote from Carl Jung: “What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits”. As children we are less influenced by the demands of our society, the cultural prescriptions we engage with in order to fit a particular mold.

Part of becoming who we want to be is unbecoming who others wanted us to be, and in turn, returning towards our original state of wonder with the world.

From a young age, I was always fascinated by the human mind and relationships with self, others and the spiritual world. My curiousities, and life experiences led me to pursue my Bachelor’s in Psychology and later, my Master’s in Professional Counseling, specializing in women’s issues, abuse survivors and mood disorders.

Over time, I learned about ways to heal anxiety naturally, utilizing ancient healing techniques like meditation, Reiki and acupuncture, as well as heal my microbiome, optimizing the gut-brain axis which is so key for emotional health.

Ten years after working as a counselor, I returned to academia and earned my PhD in Psychology from the University of West Georgia. With two little kids helping me write papers, I learned about the power of the unconscious and the healing potential in making the unconscious conscious. And I began to explore how our society and culture impacts anxiety in women, particularly mothers.

Inspired by my client work, and my own transition into motherhood, I began to ask questions: why are mothers so anxious, guilty, pressured, selfless? What’s going on here? Why did I also feel these things, even though cognitively I knew better? Four years later, my dissertation work began, exploring how collective values of motherhood affect our mental wellness.

I learned that de-individualizing human suffering is key to healing. We hurt - and heal - in relationships, and within (and despite) structures and systems…

My work is deeply rewarding and both serious and enlivening. I witness miracles of change through evolution and integration of all parts of one’s self. Importantly, I do not see anyone as broken; symptoms are messengers of the body and together we can work to decode them and make sense of them. I believe in the potentiality of each human, to reach towards growth, peace and consciousness. I wholeheartedly believe that one’s commitment to mind-body-spirit-relationship healing is a powerful avenue for facilitating social change and social justice on a large scale.

Working with my clients in this healing field is one of the greatest honors I have in my life.

Witnessing my clients take brave action and reflection is inspiring.

As we each commit to becoming more conscious, we can live in a more conscious world. My journey has evolved with the support of many teachers, friends, therapists, healers and guides; we do not heal on our own, but co-create our reality and path through and with others.

Credentials + Affiliations

PhD in Psychology: Consciousness & Society - University of West Georgia
M.S. Professional Counseling - Georgia State University
B.A. Major in Psychology - Loyola University New Orleans
Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Georgia
Certified Holistic Health Coach
Certified Reiki Master (Level 3)
Affiliations
- American Psychological Association - Member
- Association for Women in Psychology - Member
- Licensed Professional Counselor Association of Georgia - Member

Publications

Bertau, M.-C., Klein Toups, M., Larrain, A., Energici, A. (2021). Time, the Other, and the Collective Voice. Discernments from a Language Psychological Perspective with Three Dialoguing Voices. In Global Pandemics and Epistemic Crises in Psychology. Routledge.
Klein Toups, M. (2022). A sociocultural exploration of maternal anxiety. How dialogism and embodied voice can improve therapeutic outcomes.
Klein Toups, M. (in press). Imagining Dialogues with Cultural Voices as Means of Empowerment. In M.-C. Bertau, A. Karsten, & M.
Mamberg (Eds), Living Language & Living Voices – Theoretical and Empirical Studies.
Klein Toups, Bertau, M.-C. (in press). Speaking Objects, Attacking Voices. In M.-C. Bertau, A. Karsten, & M. Mamberg (Eds), Living Language & Living Voices – Theoretical and Empirical Studies.

Courses

Dr. Meghan is a Lecturer of Psychology at Kennesaw State University where she teaches and helps support students in their research and professional aspirations.