Today we’d like to introduce you to Lakesha Roney.
Hi Lakesha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My Journey to Founding Heart and Practice Inc.
I grew up in Dinwiddie County, Virginia — a small, tight-knit community where the ties between neighbors were genuine, and families’ needs were real. It was there that I first witnessed what compassionate, accessible mental health care could mean for a person, for a household, for an entire community. That early witnessing did not simply inspire me; it planted a seed that would quietly shape every decision I made in the decades to come.
My education became the soil in which that seed took root. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Psychology and my Master of Education in Counseling from Virginia State University, and then completed my Doctor of Education with a concentration in Counseling Psychology at Argosy University. Each degree was more than a credential — it was a deeper dive into the complexity of human experience, a widening of my capacity to understand people not in fragments, but wholly.
I became a Licensed Professional Counselor in 2005, a milestone that marked not an arrival, but an acceleration. In the years that followed, I also earned recognition as an ACS-approved clinical supervisor and a Registered Supervisor for LPC, LMFT, LSATP, and CSAC licensees in Virginia. More than twenty years of practice have shaped not only how I work with clients, but how I walk alongside the emerging counselors who will carry this work forward.
My career has never followed a single lane. I have worked across outpatient and inpatient psychotherapy, case management, residential therapy, administrative and clinical supervision, program leadership, curriculum and policy development, accreditation, training design, and multidisciplinary team collaboration. Each role expanded my understanding of what it truly means to serve people — not just in the therapy room, but at every level of the systems that shape the room’s very existence.
In 2007, I founded Inner Self Counseling and Consulting LLC, a practice born from my conviction that authentic healing begins from within. It became my first opportunity to translate values into structure — to build something that reflected the integrated, whole-person approach I had always believed in. That organization became the proving ground for everything I would eventually create at scale.
My commitment to the profession extended beyond my own practice. I served as President of the Virginia Counselors Association from 2024 to 2025 and continue as Past-President through 2026. I also co-founded Virginia Counselors for Social Justice — because I have always believed that advocacy and equity are not supplemental to good counseling; they are inseparable from it.
Heart and Practice Inc. is the intentional convergence of all of it — the roots, the education, the years of service, the leadership, and the deep belief that effective counseling, supervision, and consulting must be grounded in both technical mastery and genuine human connection. In heart and practice. Through clinical supervision, consultation, training, and professional development, Heart and Practice Inc. serves counselors, organizations, and communities with a commitment to social justice, trauma-informed values, and an unwavering respect for the dignity of every person. This work is not a conclusion — it is an open door, and I intend to keep walking through it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I was born to teenage parents — a beginning that shaped my earliest understanding of love, resilience, and the weight that young people can carry long before they are ready. I was raised by my mother and my maternal grandparents, who gave me roots, structure, and a sense of belonging even when life was complicated. They showed me that family could be a foundation even when circumstances were far from simple.
My father struggled with substance addiction and was incarcerated during my formative years. Rather than defining me by his absence, I learned early to sit with complexity — to hold space for someone’s full humanity even when their choices created pain. That lesson did not arrive with language or clarity at the time. It arrived as feeling, as a quiet capacity to hold two truths at once. That capacity became foundational to how I practice today.
Growing up, I also witnessed the effects of untreated and undertreated mental health challenges within my family. I did not yet have words for what I was observing, but I felt it — the weight of unspoken things, the ripple effects of pain that had no outlet, the longing for something to name what we were all carrying. Those early experiences planted the first seeds of my calling, years before I knew what to call it.
For much of my academic life, I struggled — without knowing why. I was not identified as a student with ADHD, and my performance was average in a system that too often mistook effort and potential for ability. I worked harder than many of my peers, but the results did not always reflect that effort, and I carried a quiet uncertainty about my own intelligence for years. What I know now is that the struggle was never about capacity. It was about access — access to understanding, to diagnosis, to the kind of support that changes everything.
One of the most pivotal moments of my journey came when a school counselor advised me against pursuing college — citing my academic performance as the reason. That moment could have stopped me. Instead, it ignited something. It crystallized for me precisely what happens when young people — especially those from marginalized backgrounds — are met with low expectations rather than high investment. I carry that moment with me every time I step into a supervisory or educational role. It is the reason I lead the way I do.
I pursued my graduate education entirely on my own terms and on my own dime. While earning my degrees, I worked full time and part time simultaneously — not because the path was clear, but because I refused to let financial barriers be the end of the story. There were no shortcuts. There was commitment, exhaustion, and an unshakeable belief that the degree on the other side would matter — not just for me, but for every person I would one day be trusted to serve.
Starting a private practice brought its own set of challenges — the business realities, the isolation, the vulnerability of building something from the ground up with no seed money and no financial safety net beneath me. In 2007, I founded Inner Self Counseling and Consulting LLC not because the conditions were right, but because I refused to let financial barriers be the ceiling on my vision. I built it through resourcefulness, determination, and a deep belief that the people I was called to serve could not wait for circumstances to become convenient. Turning vision into structure, and personal experience into a vehicle for serving others, I learned that nothing I had faced was wasted — every hardship had sharpened the clinical lens I brought to that work.
And still, I was not finished. While simultaneously building Inner Self Counseling and Consulting LLC and working full time, I pursued my Doctor of Education with a concentration in Counseling Psychology. I was not simply a student. I was a full-time professional, a business owner, and a doctoral candidate all at once — holding each of those identities with care, moving forward when forward was the only direction I allowed myself to consider.
Then, in the midst of completing my dissertation, I became pregnant. I navigated the demands of doctoral-level research and writing while carrying a child, refusing to let either journey be diminished by the other. Both mattered. Both were mine. And I honored them both.
When my son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at age three, my world shifted in ways I could not have anticipated and could not have prepared for. That experience deepened my empathy in places I did not know still needed deepening. It expanded my understanding of neurodiversity — not as a clinical category, but as a way of being in the world that deserves to be met with curiosity, respect, and fierce advocacy. It made me a better clinician, a more grounded supervisor, and a more present mother. It also gave me a more personal stake in the systems that either support or fail families navigating complex diagnoses — and renewed my commitment to being someone who works to make those systems better.
Approximately six years ago, I made a deliberate decision to take control of my physical health. Through intentional changes in diet, consistent exercise, and a sustained commitment to my own wellbeing, I achieved significant weight loss — but the transformation was never only about the physical. It was an act of self-love. It was a reclaiming of my energy, my longevity, and my capacity to show up fully for the work I was called to do. I had spent so many years pouring into others, and this was my reckoning with the truth that sustainability requires tending to yourself with the same care you offer everyone else.
Then, at 50, I made another bold decision: to reinvent myself — publicly and on purpose. I stepped into the world of social media with intention, building a presence that reflects my voice, my values, and the full weight of my expertise. And I launched the Heart and Practice Podcast — a platform through which I extend my reach beyond the therapy room and the supervision suite, speaking directly to counselors, supervisors, and mental health advocates who need to hear that excellence in this field can coexist with authenticity, lived experience, and wholeness. Reinvention at 50 is not a detour. It is the destination.
Heart and Practice Inc., the Heart and Practice Podcast, and the presence I have built in public spaces are not separate chapters — they are all expressions of the same arc. From a little girl in Dinwiddie County who was told what she could not do, to a woman at 50 who decided to show the world exactly who she is. This work did not emerge from a straightforward path. It emerged from a life lived across systems — as a child navigating family complexity, as a student dismissed by the very people paid to believe in her, as a professional who built herself up one credential, one client, one community at a time, as a mother, as a survivor of her own becoming. I did not arrive at this work despite my story. I arrived because of it. And it is that story — messy, real, layered, and full of hard-won grace — that makes the work of Heart and Practice Inc. not just a service, but a calling. There is more to come. And I am just getting started.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, licensed since 2005, an ACS Approved Clinical Supervisor, and a Registered Supervisor for LPC, LMFT, LSATP, and CSAC in Virginia. Since 2007, I have led Inner Self Counseling and Consulting LLC, and I am the founder of Heart and Practice Inc. — two organizations I built with vision, intention, and an unwavering belief in this work. My career spans outpatient and inpatient psychotherapy, case management, residential therapy, administrative and clinical supervision, program leadership, curriculum and policy development, accreditation, and multidisciplinary collaboration. I specialize in clinical supervision, organizational consultation, training and professional development, counselor education, and program development — and I bring a deep commitment to social justice, trauma-informed practice, and equity to every level of the work I do. I hold a B.S. and M.Ed. from Virginia State University and a Doctor of Education in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University. I have served as President (2024–2025) and now Past-President (2025–2026) of the Virginia Counselors Association, and I am a co-founder of Virginia Counselors for Social Justice. At 50, I launched a bold public presence as a social media personality and host of the Heart and Practice Podcast, extending my reach to counselors, supervisors, and mental health advocates across the country.
What I am most proud of cannot be measured in credentials alone. I built two organizations from the ground up with no seed money. I earned a doctorate while working full time, running a private practice, and navigating pregnancy. I am raising a son with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and he has made me a fiercer advocate than I ever imagined I could be. I reclaimed my health through intentional, disciplined lifestyle change, and at 50, I chose to reinvent myself — publicly and professionally — because growth does not have a deadline. What sets me apart is this: I do not just know this work theoretically — I have lived it. I am a child of teen parents, raised in part by my grandparents, who watched mental illness and addiction shape the landscape of my family and made a decision to become someone who helps break those cycles. I was told I was not college material. I earned a doctorate. I built a private practice with nothing but will and vision. I have sat on both sides of the systems I now consult with — as a client of circumstance and as a senior clinician and leader — and that intersection of lived experience and professional mastery is rare. My work is not performative; it is personal. I show up with my full self in the therapy room, in the boardroom, on the podcast, and online. What sets me apart is not only what I have accomplished — it is who I had to become to accomplish it.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
My son makes me happy! I am so glad that he chose me to be his mom. He has come so far in his development since being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and he is definitely his own person. I learn something new from him everyday.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heartandpractice.com/
- Instagram: @heartandpracticeinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581813935336
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heart-and-practice-inc/?viewAsMember=true
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeartandPracticeInc
- Other: https://www.innerself-counseling.com/
