Today we’d like to introduce you to Teneka Miles.
Hi Teneka, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
As early as I can remember, I have been fascinated with relationships. I married very early, at the age of 18. This was due to extensive family trauma. Somehow, I found refuge in a relationship at a very young age. I did not understand at the time, we both would have our own journey of healing that would be taken. After trying several careers (cosmetologist, phlebotomist, banker, teacher’s assistant), I decided I was going to school for psychology. With my own marital problems, loving relationships, and wanting to know who they truly work, I knew this was the right path. Not taking the traditional route, I did not attend college full-time until I was 29 years old. I had a few semesters here and there as I was deciding who I wanted to become. So off to “Armstrong” now Georgia Southern, I went. Because I believed I was so old to be attending college, I had a lot to prove. I completed a four-year BA degree in Psychology with a minor in education in three years.
After all of that, I went to work at a bank because I could not do much with that degree. It was there that a social worker came in to make a business deposit for her counseling firm. We began to chat because I was interested in counseling, but no one would hire me, I asked about her career path, and she stated she had a master’s in social work. The first thing I said was, NO, I don’t want to take kids (growing up in a traumatic environment, I knew all about social workers). She smiled and said social workers don’t take kids, and there’s so much more you can do with a degree in social work. She shared some of her career experience and left the bank. I was so intrigued, so I went home and investigated the field of social work. She was right, there was so much you could do with a master’s in social work. That morning I applied to Savannah State University, and that fall. During my academic journey, I was sure I wanted to help mothers who lost their children due to abuse or neglect (because this was my experience). You will find most healers are attempting to heal their unresolved issues. Having an internship at Chatham County DFCS made it apparent that I was NOT to take that path. All of my trauma emerged. I immediately got into therapy to start working through my issues.
After graduation, I worked for a hospital briefly and began working for the hospice division of a healthcare company. I was there six months and thought, “this is not for me”. It wasn’t the death part; it was not feeling useful. I couldn’t figure out how to be useful to families. I felt like I just sat with them while they cried. Now I get how profound that is but at the time, I truly felt I was wasting my time. About a year in, I start to research how to support people through their grief. I started developing teaching material for other social workers who were starting and didn’t know how to connect with grieving families. We had a training team, but they were responsible for 4 states and over 300 service providers. I remember they finally got around to training me (a year later), and I provided them with all the training I had developed and told them I would love to travel and train other social workers. Within 6 months, one of the trainers left, and I was asked to apply. I applied and got the position. I stayed in that training position for 2 years before I was asked to apply for the Director of Quality-of-Life position in their Long-term Care division (nursing home). I was there for a year, and I heard what I believed to be God’s voice say, it’s time to leave. Now I was making 6-figures and doing work I loved. I had so many perks. Why would I want to leave. Six months prior, I started my counseling business but hadn’t seen a single client. I was wanting to do that part-time for house down payment. Well, I never got a single client. Fast forward six months, I hear in my heart, “It’s time to leave.” Of course, I ignored that voice and kept earning a good living. It wasn’t a month later I lost my job due to the company downsizing. I received a nice severance package but had no job.
For some reason, I had peace because it was like I knew this was coming. I had already received a warning that the gig was up. I started promoting the private practice, and a client or two starts to trickle in every month. By month three, I had a full caseload, and this is how I started my practice. Also, around that time, I started teaching Master level social work classes at Savannah State. I also started being asked to speak at several workshops and conferences (something else I love to do). Now to bring this full circle, remember I love relationships and learning about them. Well, I started the private practice in 2014 and named it Covenant Counseling Services. My idea was to partner with people on their journey of healing and transformation (hence being in covenant/partnership with them). After a few years, I noticed I was counseling tons of couples. They would all say the name of your practice is what drew us to you. I never thought about “covenant” as in marriage covenant, but my clients saw it that way.
Now I have been in private practice full-time for 8 years, and my expertise is relational trauma. I utilize a holistic approach to healing and work primarily with Christian clients. Something else I did not expect, but again the name drew in those of Christian faith. As a believer in Christ, it all started to make sense for me. I now get to wake up as serve people with a gift God has given me. I am currently working on my doctoral degree and will officially be Dr. Teneka Miles in May of this year.
I have also self-published two books in during my journey.
~Wholeness: A journal of healing meditations
~Nothing Missing (pictures included)
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The greatest struggle was always becoming who I was meant to be. I took lots of faith to believe I was worthy of the life I live today. I have to become the message before I could deliver it to others. Opportunities would come, and I would be afraid I would fail. I had to overcome fear every step of the way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Covenant Counseling Services, LLC?
Before I share what I do, I will share what I am most proud of.
As a person of faith, I am so grateful I get to serve people of faith. Therapy is such a taboo subject for people of faith, and they have significant trauma like most, if not more. I find that they use their faith to suppress their trauma and not allow for it to be processed and healed.
I want people to know that healing has to emerge spirit, soul, and body for true transformation to take place. We can’t neglect any parts of ourselves. I also want to make it clear that my work is more intuitive and spiritual than religious. If people want to use their religion as a strength towards change, we do, but the work is a spiritual work first.
Now to what I do: I will post my psychology today profile info; it will be helpful.
“Today can be the start of a new journey, and I am here to partner with you. Helping individuals and families successfully meet their relational, mental, behavioral, and spiritual health goals is why I am here. Covenant Counseling Services, LLC. was founded to create a platform where partnership to promote insight and empower whole-life transformation is paramount.
Specializing in relational trauma, we utilize an array of therapeutic approaches that suit the diversity of individuals I am privileged serve. Approaches range from Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Trauma Focused (TF), Solution Focused (SF), Recovery Models (RM), Spiritual Transformation, and Faith-Based Counseling.
We help individuals heal from past relational wounds, discover their identity and purpose, empower them to have healthy relational attachments, and effectively function in their homes, workplace, and society. “Relationships are the vehicles in which we are often wounded by but is the same conduit that powerfully provides healing.” Your healing starts here!”
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I must be free of my own pain to become a channel of healing for others. So as my clients are doing their work, so am I.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thecovenantcounselor.com
