Community Highlights: Meet Christopher Robinson of Therapy by Rob

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Robinson.  

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Chicago, IL, and moved to Battle Creek, MI when I was starting kindergarten. I’ve always did well in school academically but had a lot of behavior problems as I was a rebellious kid. This eventually led to me being expelled my junior year from Battle Creek Central High School. I was part of a protest in one of my classes, and they said I was “the ringleader.” Although there were about 30 students that participated, I was the only one that got any consequence. I knew I was singled out due to my rebellious attitude, and my school was looking for a reason to not have to deal with them. I used this as motivation to still graduate with a 3.8 GPA and was accepted into MSU. During my first year of college, my girlfriend at the time got pregnant with my first child. We were not ready for Chris Jr, but we stepped up anyway. This lead me to seeking food assistance and section 8, so I could take care of my family while still going to school. We were able to manage with school refunds, taxes, food assistance, and my small part-time job at MSU. 

As soon as I thought we had things figured out, my daughter was conceived at the beginning of my junior year. Things became overly stressful as she was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, and we were told she really had not chance of surviving. We were encouraged to get an abortion but decided against that. We prayed and decided to leave it up to God. Aalesia was born on 10-9-2005. The doctors gave her no medical treatment for over 8 hours as they continued to tell us, “We only do comfort care in these cases.” As young parents, we did not know we had the right to demand care, but after the 8 hours and support from my mother, we posed the question. Battle Creek Health Systems immediately sent us to Sparrow, where they placed her into intensive care. She would go on to fight the odds (although with many health issues) and survive the next 4 months in the hospital. At that point, we were allowed to take her home and told she had about a 5% chance to survive her first year. We spent the majority of her first year of life in U of M Motts Children hospital as she had major heart and brain surgeries. Long story short, Aalesia will turn 18 years old this year. My miracle baby. That was my toughest period of my life trying to emotionally manage, commute to school from the hospital, pay bills, and take care of Chris jr who was 1-2 years old. 

I would go on to graduate with my bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2007. I started my career in Juvenile Justice, working with adjudicated young men. This led me to going back to school to get my master’s in social work. While working full-time and being in school, I would go on to have my last two children, Cameryn and Brielle. I was able to complete my Masters in 2014 while working full-time. I would eventually go on to work for MDHHS as a School Mental Health Coordinator (still employed today), start my own private therapy practice in 2020 (Therapy by Rob), and publish my first book “Mastering Your Process, Creating Habits That Lead to Successful Outcomes” in 2023. 

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?
Not at all. Some of the most difficult moments were my daughter Aalesia’s medical issues. I have been told at least 20 times that she was not going to make it home from the hospital. This has created a significant amount of resiliency within myself as I no longer lose faith when things get difficult. 

Going back to school with 4 children and trying to make ends meet was very difficult. There were many days where I did not get more than 2 hours of sleep and wanted to quit. I remember vividly days of me going to work in the morning, rushing to MSU campus for night classes, coming home to kiss my kids in bed as I had missed most of their day, read 3 hours of schoolwork, wake up and do it again feeling like I was on fumes. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Therapy by Rob?
Therapy by Rob is a private therapy practice and consultation business. We provide individual, family, and couple therapy. Some of the most common issues we treat include relationship problems, anxiety, depression, and adjustment issues. We used strengths-based approaches, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing techniques. We also provide training and public speaking services throughout the country. Topics range from trauma-informed practices, benefits of therapy, Motivational Interviewing to working in Juvenile Justice, engaging fathers, and positive communication strategies. We were established in April of 2020 and have continued to grow since that date. We published our first book called “Mastering Your Process, Creating Habits That Lead to Successful Outcomes” to try to get some of the principles used in therapy into the hands of the masses. There is currently a huge need for mental health services in Michigan, but a huge shortage in Mental Health providers. Therapy by Rob wrote this book to try to have more of an impact due to the shortage. 

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think we are all risk-takers, but I consider myself a “calculated risk-taker.” I think it is important to take risk as this is the only way to maximize your potential in any area. Before engaging in risk-taking, I think it is important to evaluate a few things by honestly answering the following questions. 

What is the worst that could happen? 

What is the best thing that could happen? 

What is the likelihood that the worst-case scenario will happen? 

What can I do to decrease the risk? 

Pricing:

• “Mastering Your Process” book for sale on Amazon: 9.99 for paper copy. 5.99 for an ebook.
• Public speaking/training events vary from 500-2500 depending on the topic and logistics.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therapybyrob.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapybyrob/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therapybyrob/ 

Image Credits
Ronald Rogers