Community Highlights: Meet Ria Megnin of Oak & Willow Counseling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ria Megnin.

Ria, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My career as a therapist really started at my first job out of college: working as a reporter for a weekly community newspaper in New England. That’s where I learned how to hold space for people so they could find the meaning in their own stories.

In my many roles since then — teaching, strategic planning, martial arts, community leadership, social justice — the common thread was always to build safety for people to find their own strengths and purpose. In my late 40s, I started a career in social work to tie it all together!

After earning my dual master’s in social work and public policy from The Ohio State University, I joined Equitas Health, Ohio’s largest provider of medical services for LGBTQ+ folx. I received phenomenal training and mentorship with some of the best colleagues I’ve ever worked with — although my best teachers were always my incredible clients. My years as a mental health counselor at Equitas gave me immeasurable gifts in both professional development and the opportunity to understand my own lifelong queer identity.

I left Equitas to help a colleague launch a queer-focused therapy center in Dayton in 2022. Six months later, I founded my own LGBTQ+-focused therapy business, Oak & Willow Counseling.

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?
Support has always been strong, and I love my business tremendously. The only struggle is knowing I can’t do enough to protect my clients from the very real challenges they face today.

Social workers pay attention to the broader factors that help shape our clients’ mental health and identities. Unfortunately, that means paying attention to the historically destructive times we live in.

Many of the systems that protected middle class Americans — including voting rights, the New Deal’s federal financial & worker protections and social security guarantees (created by social worker Frances Perkins!), and civil rights for people of color, queer folx, and women — have been actively dismantled over the past 40 years. Why? As they say, follow the money. Since Reagan’s made-up “welfare queen” campaign played on racist, misogynist tropes to distract from his more unpopular financial policies, more than $50 trillion was “redistributed” from the middle class to the top 1% — and that figure was calculated all the way back in 2020! (https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america)

This shift leaves the vast majority of Americans stuck in a cycle of poverty, losing more and more access to basic needs, let alone the resources that helped earlier generations thrive. Worse, the scapegoating continues as the powers of our society become increasingly corrupted. The media, religious institutions, financial systems, the judiciary, and political leadership have dehumanized and sought to destroy the most vulnerable people in America: transgender folx, unhoused and undocumented workers and their families, people with disabilities of all kinds, and more. I am devastated seeing my clients & colleagues targeted with such naked cruelty.

What keeps me moving forward is the courage and compassion they show each day. Queer people and our allies keep taking the hits, grieving the losses, patching each other up, and then showing up to make signs for rallies, call their Ohio and U.S. representatives, and create found communities to fill in the life-threatening gaps created by hate-based legislation. They even find joy! Their creativity and resilience give me hope that we will not only survive this moment in history, but emerge in a few years, decades, or generations with our humanity intact.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Oak & Willow Counseling creates opportunities for people to explore their mental health, gender identity, sexuality, and relationships in a supportive and informed environment. My goal is always to encourage clients to find their own inner power and build a safer world for themselves and their communities. I offer individual and partner counseling primarily to marginalized adults, along with community-wide potluck and group events, and professional trainings focusing on personal empowerment and public advocacy.

How do you think about happiness?
It’s a cliche, but my favorite moments are when someone I’m supporting gains a new understanding and self-connection. They light up. They forgive themselves and the world, and free up so much energy they just vibrate! They can’t wait to go share this experience of joy and compassion. As that moment ripples outward, it generates so much more healing, love, and creativity for them and everyone they touch. I know they’re about to go change the world.

Pricing:

• Sessions are the standard rate for southwest Ohio of $120/hour. Self-pay only. HSA cards accepted; sliding scale rates are available.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oakandwillowohio.com
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/ria-megnin-kettering-oh/1194062