Just Be in the Room: Existential Therapy and What Makes a Good Therapist

Before her first session as a therapy intern, Lindsay was terrified. She went to her supervisor and asked what she was supposed to say. The answer: “I just need you to be in the room with this person.”

That one sentence changed how she does therapy.

In this episode of The Art of Being a Therapist, hosts Ashley Charbonneau and Morgen Villegas sit down with Lindsay Colegrove, a social worker (and Ashley’s sister) who took the long way into the field. Her path ran through school psychology, early childhood education, and a few years managing a restaurant. Along the way, she learned to walk with her self-doubt instead of fighting it.

Today Lindsay works through an existential lens. She helps clients explore identity, purpose, grief, love, and belonging. These are the parts of being human that no assessment can measure.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Why sitting with uncertainty can matter more than having the right intervention
• Why the “blank slate” therapist is a myth
• How one hard session taught her about boundaries and therapist safety
• The gaps grad school leaves new therapists to fill on their own
• How she blends policy advocacy with clinical work

Do you wonder if you’re the only new therapist who feels this lost? You’re not. Lindsay interviewed 15 interns for her capstone project, and every one of them felt it too.

Guest Bio:

Lindsay Colegrove, M. Ed., MSW, SWC, ADDC, started her career in early childhood education. There, she saw how social-emotional and developmental challenges affect children and their families. That led her to graduate training in school psychology. In 2023, she moved into social work to better address the systemic and social factors that shape mental health.

Today, Lindsay’s work centers on advocacy and policy. She’s especially passionate about LGBTQ+ mental health, anti-oppressive practice, and advancing equity through an intersectional lens. She believes healing happens when people feel truly seen, heard, and valued. Her approach is warm, relational, and strengths-based. She brings creativity, curiosity, and connection to her work with trauma, identity exploration, grief, anxiety, and life transitions.

https://beecounseling.com/lindsay-colegrove-msw-swc

Your Hosts:

Ashley Charbonneau, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, evaluator, clinical supervisor, consultant, and educator. She works with people affected by the legal system, with a focus on offender accountability, survivor healing, and restorative justice. She trains professionals across the country on restorative justice, addiction, clinical supervision, sexual offending, therapy boundaries, and mandatory reporting and is the author of The Resilient Therapist (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Supporting Clients of Sexual Trauma (PESI, 2026). Learn more at https://www.ensopllc.com/

Morgen Villegas, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, consultant, EMDRIA Consultant, and author of Shadows to Light. Through her practice, Vida Idílica Therapy & Consulting, she specializes in helping women heal from trauma, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and the lasting effects of overfunctioning and caregiving. Morgen also provides consultation to EMDR therapists seeking greater confidence and nuance in working with complex trauma. You can reach Morgen at https://www.vida-idilica.com