Behind the Name “Terracotta.”

There is a unique pain in selecting a name for your therapy practice. You want it to capture the growth, healing, and transformation you hope to facilitate. You want it to say something about you. You want clients to see it and say “Yes! That’s the place for me!”

So you try out a bunch of phrases that have something to do with nature. Roots? Branches? Butterfly? Then you switch to warm and fuzzy words. Connection? Authenticity? Joy? You whisper a bunch of word combinations to try them out and text nonsensical options to your spouse.

At least, that’s what I did. I remember sitting in my bedroom, overwhelmed by the whole process. I was overthinking things. How could I encapsulate all I wanted to say in just a word or two? In exasperation, I cast aside my laptop and glared at my wall. My terracotta-colored wall. Terracotta. I pulled the laptop back onto my lap and set off on a deep dive to learn about terracotta.

Turns out, the perfect name had been staring me right in the face.

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“Terracotta” translates to “baked earth.” It comes from the ground and is made beautiful through heat. Its unglazed, rusty red coloring speaks of warmth and authenticity. The surface is porous, allowing it to transmit life-giving water. It is raw, useful, and graceful all at once. 

That’s what being a woman and a mother is for me: natural, painful, warm, authentic, life-giving, useful, graceful. 

So often we lose our connection to ourselves. We expect to be someone or something different. A large part of our work together in therapy is helping you see what’s covering up your true self and identifying the you that is natural. Warm. Life-giving. Graceful. Terracotta.