My name is Kimberley Manuel, LPC-A & I am the owner of Momentum Counseling under the Supervision of Loren Riedel, LPC-S. Momentum is a counseling service for children & adults who may be struggling with the various aspects and pressures of high-achievement & athletic environments.

I am a lifelong athlete who played many competitive sports in my life including: soccer, cheer, golf, gymnastics, basketball, track, and my ultimate love - softball. I had the opportunity to commit to play Division 1 softball when I was 15 & began personal training with an IFBB Pro-Bodybuilder around the same time. In addition, I was a violin/piano player, & heavily involved in musical theatre in my school. Needless to say: I have been in a lot of competitive environments & always considered myself an athlete (and perfectionist/high-performer) at heart.

My freshman year of college, my mental health plummeted as I tried to navigate being thousands of miles from home, experience college for the first time, missing my friends/community, & trying to maintain the fast-paced reality of managing academics + athletics at a new level. I was so used to being the “big fish” and now I was drowning.

I ultimately decided to end my collegiate career after one year & return to Texas to focus on my future career & academics. In some ways this fixed my mental health, but on the other hand, I felt even more lost. I realized who I thought I was (essentially, my entire identity) was now gone. If I am not “an athlete” then WHO am I?

This journey of self-discovery has taken me many places, but the most incredible has been my venture into the world of therapy + counseling. Through my own therapy, I reclaimed who I was & realized there was a way to continue to be ME without burning myself out, disregarding my own mental health/needs, & needing to please others by performing constantly. I began a newfound relationship with exercise/sports that didn’t compromise my personal + spiritual + emotional health. I realized who I was - a human being who was always trying to simply be better, one step & day at a time.

THIS is the spirit of Momentum Counseling:

• Trying to feel, act, & be better without the pressure of perfectionism

• Learning to create a relationship with yourself that isn’t rooted in impossible expectation, anxiety, or negative self-talk

• Navigating life transitions that cause us to re-evaluate our time, energy, & self-image