From Finance Guy to Therapist

By Tucker Robinson, LMHCA, NCC, MaED

For a long time, I thought my body was something to ignore. Now I see it’s my greatest teacher. You see, I was one of those young men who was taught from an early age to bypass my body, to punish it even. No pain, no gain right? That’s the message. And I bought it hook, line, and sinker, until it collapsed under the weight of the pressure. 

I was a finance guy and fraternity kid at Arizona State University in college. I was an athlete too. I’m a big dude, 6-3. My father was part of a successful financial services company in Texas and I was the “heir apparent.” My whole life was laid out for me and I recognize I had an easy path when compared to others. 

But my body had something different to say. 

In 2019, I hit a wall. I had been working in finance, following the path laid out for me, but I was struggling. My body started breaking down, and I ended up in the hospital. The pain was intense and constant. Doctors gave me opioids, but that only made things worse. I isolated myself and shut down. I didn’t know how to explain what was happening or how to ask for help. And it wasn’t just physical, it was emotional. I had no tools. I had no language. I had been trained to ignore my body, and now it was screaming at me.

Around that time, someone close to me suggested I see a therapist. I wasn’t excited about it and I didn’t think it would help. But that session changed my life. I didn’t get a fix or a quick answer but for the first time in my life I got a chance to talk and feel without judgement, shame, or somebody trying to give me a motivational speech. 

For the first time, someone helped me name what I had been going through. That’s when I started to believe in this work and that’s when I found the quote from Viktor Frankl: “Suffering ceases to be suffering the moment it finds meaning.” That line still guides me. That first session opened up a whole new world for me, it gave meaning to my suffering. It gave me a new direction where I was able to set down those old stories about what it means to be a man, or successful, and discover something far deeper.

Today, I work with adults, teenagers, people with chronic illness, and anyone who feels stuck in stories that no longer fit. I use somatic therapy, IFS, mindfulness, and simple presence to help people come back to their bodies, the same way I had to. 

I don’t believe in fixing people. I believe in creating a space where they can feel safe enough to stop pretending. Where they can listen, maybe for the first time, to what their body has been trying to say. 

This work isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about being willing to stay in the room when things get real. That’s what I needed. And that’s what I try to offer now.