Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Williams.
Hi Brooke, 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?
I didn’t begin my career with a clear sense of where I would land. I started with an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems, working in the financial industry as a business analyst. This is where I learned how to think in systems and solve problems in structured ways. At the time, I assumed that was the direction my life would continue.
Becoming a parent – and navigating significant behavioral and emotional challenges with my own child – quietly changed that trajectory. I was introduced to the mental health world first as a mother trying to advocate, learn, and survive. Over time, that lived experience led me back to school to become a professional counselor.
Early on, I was certain I wanted to work with children and families who had been through similar experiences. I spent years in behavioral health and agency settings, working with kids, families, and later with other marginalized communities, including unhoused individuals and single mothers. While the work was meaningful, I also became aware of the limitations of those systems and the toll they can take on both clients and clinicians.
Eventually, I transitioned into private practice, once again with a clear idea of who I thought I would serve. I expected to work primarily with new mothers navigating stress and overwhelm. Instead, I found myself increasingly drawn to relational work, particularly couples. I was compelled by the complexity of two people trying to stay connected through conflict, rupture, and betrayal. That work felt honest and deeply human, and it became the core of my clinical practice.
As my practice grew, another unexpected passion emerged: working with graduate students and early-career clinicians. I loved supporting people who were thoughtful, capable, and full of vision – and who, like I once did, felt certain they knew what they wanted, while still wanting someone to go first and help translate vision into reality. That mentoring and supervisory work became one of the most meaningful parts of my professional life.
Both Better Way Counseling and Better Way Counseling Collective grew out of these parallel interests. My clinical practice allows me to work deeply with couples and individuals navigating some of their most vulnerable seasons. At the same time, the collective exists as a space where clinicians don’t have to figure everything out alone, in their businesses or in their clinical practices. Together, my hope is that these two spaces reflect the same values: thoughtful systems, honest relationships, and support that makes growth more sustainable.
Today, my work continues to live at the intersection those values. I see clients, mentor clinicians, and build environments that make hard work feel less isolating.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. A recurring theme in my career has been tension with systems – both the limitations within them and the risk involved in stepping outside of them.
Early on, I struggled with the gap between what clients needed and what existing structures could realistically provide. In agency work, that tension showed up in resources and policies. Later, in private practice, it appeared in more subtle ways, like rigid ideas about what therapy “should” look like and how clinicians “should” operate.
One of the more personal challenges has been learning to stay flexible with my professional identity. I was certain, at multiple points, that I knew exactly who I was meant to be and who I was meant to serve. Each time that certainty shifted, it required humility, openness, and a willingness to release an earlier version of myself. That kind of growth can absolutely be uncomfortable, but it’s also the same flexibility and courage I ask of my clients as they navigate change in their relationships, and the same openness I challenge emerging clinicians to develop in their work.
There has also been the challenge of going first. When I launched my practice as primarily telehealth-based in 2017, I did so intentionally. With a background in business and technology, I was paying close attention to the research even then, which supported telehealth as an effective and ethical option for many clients. My goal was to make therapy more accessible for busy mothers who might not otherwise seek care. Despite that, I heard repeated warnings from more traditional voices that telehealth was unethical or inferior. That narrative shifted dramatically in 2020, but being early meant holding steady in the face of skepticism before there was widespread validation.
Building Better Way Counseling Collective has carried a similar tension. Its structure doesn’t follow a traditional group practice model, and there aren’t many established templates to rely on. Taking those kinds of risks can be deeply fulfilling, but also isolating. There are often people cheering from the sidelines, but fewer who are positioned to offer meaningful feedback or take the leap alongside you. Continuing to build in that space requires the same discernment, resilience, and willingness to tolerate uncertainty that I encourage in both clients and clinicians.
Overall, the road has required a willingness to tolerate ambiguity. It means I often have to trust discernment and evidence over consensus, and to keep refining what feels ethical, sustainable, and aligned, even when that means standing somewhat alone. It hasn’t been smooth, but it has been honest.. and that honesty is something I try to carry into every space I lead.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work centers on relationships and systems, both at the clinical level and within the profession itself. As a professional counselor, I specialize in working with couples navigating high-conflict seasons, rupture, and betrayal. I’m drawn to moments when things feel fragile but not beyond repair, and where growth requires honesty, accountability, and a willingness to stay engaged rather than avoid discomfort.
Alongside my clinical work, I mentor graduate students and early-career clinicians. I’m especially interested in transition points, like when people move from theory into practice, or from vision into something that actually has to work in real life. Much of my focus is on helping clinicians build ethical, grounded practices that don’t depend on burnout, chaos, scarcity or overextension to survive.
What sets my work apart is a systems-oriented lens. With a background in business and technology, I tend to look beyond individual behavior and ask how expectations, roles, and structures shape outcomes. In my couples work, that shows up in lots of different ways, one of which is integrating frameworks like Fair Play to make invisible labor visible and reduce chronic resentment. In my work with clinicians, it shows up in conversations about workload, boundaries, and business models that are realistic, not aspirational on paper.
At the core of all of this is a simple mantra I try to live by: be a resource. For me, that means modeling the same growth, flexibility, and accountability I ask of my clients and the clinicians I work with. It means sharing what I’m learning in real time, being transparent about what works and what doesn’t, and creating spaces where people can access support instead of having to reinvent everything on their own. My hope is that this way of working ripples outward through the clinicians I serve, the families they support, and the communities we’re all part of.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I’ve had support in many forms along the way, but in the cheesiest and sappiest way, the full truth is that the person who deserves the most credit is my husband of 20 years, Brandon. He has been a steady, grounding presence through every pivot, risk, crazy idea, open door, closed door, and uncertain season – often long before there was external validation or clarity. His belief in me, willingness to shoulder practical and emotional load, and trust in my judgment have made it possible for me to take thoughtful risks and build work that aligns with my values. Quite simply, much of what I’ve done would not exist without his support.
I also believe deeply in the importance of doing my own therapeutic work. Having my own therapist has been essential – not just for personal growth, but for ethical practice. Therapy has given me a place to process uncertainty, challenge my blind spots, and stay grounded as I take on leadership, risk, and responsibility. I don’t think it’s possible to do this work well without being willing to be on the other side of the chair.
Professionally, I’ve been shaped by a wide network of colleagues, mentors, and peers – not always through formal mentorship, but through conversation, challenge, and shared reflection. Sometimes that support came as encouragement; other times it came as thoughtful disagreement that sharpened my thinking.
My clients have played a significant role as well. Working closely with couples and families over time has continually refined my understanding of what actually helps people change, and what doesn’t. Their willingness to stay engaged in difficult work has influenced how I practice and how I think about ethics, accountability, and sustainability.
The same is true of the graduate students and other clinicians I work with. Their questions, honesty, and curiosity consistently push me to think more clearly and lead more responsibly. In many ways, the work is reciprocal. I may go first a lot of times, but their growth and feedback shape the direction just as much.
Ultimately, what I’ve built has never been a solo effort. It has been shaped by partnership, accountability, and community, and by people willing to support the work both behind the scenes and alongside me as it continues to evolve.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.betterwaycc.com
- Instagram: bwilliamslpc
- Other: https://www.betterwaycollective.com
