Therapist inspires own daughters to follow his career path

The path to becoming a licensed mental health therapist is not an easy one. It requires years of undergraduate and graduate school, competency exams, hours and hours of supervision and client contact, and the passing of a state or national licensing exam, along with continuing education to maintain licensure.

But for some, a more daunting challenge is the process of introspection that is required. There is a misconception that therapists are perfect or lead near-perfect lives — that’s far from the truth.

What typically separates great therapists from average therapists is the amount of work that they’ve put in to understand their own brokenness.

One therapist’s journey

Arguably the most talented therapist I know, Las Vegan Jimmy Monaghan has lived a life that could well inspire a smash-hit Netflix documentary.

He was exposed to a lot as a child, including deep-rooted traumas that led him to develop vices such as substance addiction. Addiction led him down dark paths, including brushes with the law. However, he clung to hope and his faith, along with an incredible wife who stood by his side.

Monaghan today is a licensed clinical professional counselor and supervisor, and a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor supervisor. He is also an executive director for Olive Crest, a community-based agency that focuses on developing strong families and safe kids. The abbreviated licensing credentials listed after his name could form an alphabet.

But on top of being a great therapist and mentor, his greatest legacy is his family. The Monaghans have eight children (four biological and four adopted). Aine and Rory Monaghan are their oldest, and both are following their father’s career path.

Filling a critical need

At age 19, Aine became the youngest person in Nevada to be certified in trust-based relational intervention, or TBRI. Now 20, she currently works directly with kids 17 and younger in foster care and caregivers as a TBRI practitioner with the agency Foster Kinship.

“We focus a lot on connecting with the youth and empowering their bodies along with their minds and focusing on teaching them the right way of doing things rather than discipline,” she says. “We believe that interrelational trauma can only be healed in a relationship, so it is important we target the parts of the brain where the fear response is prevalent.”

Rory, 22, works as the youth program case manager with the Leadership Academy, a program under The Just One Project. Her role is important because she works primarily with an age group that is often underserved, 16- to 20-year-olds.

“We have a 17-week program, which is student-centered that functions on three program pillars: providing access to mental health, career and education skills, and civic engagement through volunteerism,” she shares. “After assessing the needs of each youth, we connect them to wraparound services and expose them to what is out there to help instill the joy that was taken from them back into their lives.”

Both programs are helping to fill a critical need in our community.

Destined to serve

For many, the desire to serve others takes shape around adulthood. For others, that ambition develops during adolescence.

Aine and Rory both knew at an early age what their calling would be.

“My parents took foster kinship classes through my current job to get licensed and to receive assistance while fostering my siblings. That really touched on my heart, the help my parents received, and it opened my eyes to how much we could help others, so I felt called,” Aine says.

Children are typically inspired by their parents, and that inspiration can take many forms. Rory wants to be a therapist one day just like her father.

“It touched my heart volunteering in the church and growing up seeing my dad doing the work he was, helping within his clinics and providing therapy,” she shares. “Along with his role at Olive Crest, helping youth aging out of the child welfare system, that really inspired me to step into this space.”

Jimmy Monaghan conveys a message as a loving father, calling his daughters “a testament to change, perseverance, hope, love and ultimately to the power of how one person, caring about another person, can ultimately create positive change in countless lives and generations.”

It is considered a luxury to put our own interests first. It is an honor to put the interests of others before ourselves. Thank you, Jimmy, Aine and Rory, for serving our community.

Sheldon Jacobs, Psy.D., LMFT, is a licensed mental health professional based in Las Vegas. Contact him at drjacobs10@hotmail.com. Follow @drjacobs33 on X and Instagram.