In this episode of the Empower You Podcast Authorship Series, host Kenston Henderson interviews Dr. Terah L. Henderson, a mental‑health professor, former international student, and self‑published author. Dr. Henderson introduces her book, The Couch: Where Life Happens, explaining that it uses the metaphor of a therapist’s couch to explore generational beliefs, emotional immaturity, and unmet expectations in friendships, relationships, and spirituality. The book is aimed primarily at women—originally ages 18‑35 but resonating with all ages—who want to become more intentional about their emotional health and maturity. Dr. Henderson describes how the idea originated from women’s events she hosted in Atlanta and how the writing process was hampered by internal barriers, chiefly self‑doubt and perfectionism. She overcame these by committing to daily short writing sessions, creating urgency, and treating the project as a priority. Her key advice to aspiring self‑publishers is to recognize that someone may be depending on you to finish, to prioritize follow‑through, and to treat the finishing stage with the same discipline as the start. The book was released in July on her birthday after a seven‑year development period, and listeners are directed to purchase it at www.livewithlife.com/thecouch.
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So welcome to the Empower You Podcast Authorship Series, brought to you by Live With Life. In each episode, uh, we talk to a self-published author to talk about their journey to becoming an author and to reveal tips to help future authors release their story to the world. I'm your host Kenston Henderson, Chief Empowerment Officer, Live With Life. And today, today's episode, we have as our featured author no one other than the amazing, great, uh, beautiful Dr. Tierra Henderson. Dr. Tierra Henderson is a former international student turned international educator who currently resides right here in Columbus, Ohio. She is a mental health professor who loves to teach master's and PhD students how to be the best mental health practitioners internationally. She received her doctorate in counselor education and supervision from Mercer University and is a licensed professional counselor. And a national certified counselor. Above all, as much as Dr. T enjoys teaching, she is foremost a wife— mm, thank you, Lord— and a madre who happens to absolutely love coffee shop hopping in her spare time and watching HGTV and Criminal Minds reruns. So I am a witness of that. All of that is true. So her life work is to help motivated women get unstuck and achieve their goals and find personal success. Women, I hope you heard that. Her life work is to help motivated women get unstuck, achieve their goals, and find personal success. And so Dr. Tira is the author of The Couch, the book The Couch: Where Life Happens. So Dr. T, tell us about this book. Come on, what's going on with the couch?
So The Couch was actually released, um, July, on my birthday. And, um, this book is really, um, I'd say it helps loosen the tight grip on generational beliefs that many have held, you know, as it relates to emotional immaturity. So in this book, it serves as an invitation for women to really have those necessary conversations about unmet expectations. So that's one of the key things that I jump into, um, whether it's unmet expectations as it relates to friendships, relationships, even in your spiritual walk, that can actually show up. So I talk a lot about that. And the thing about it is when you think of The Couch, it's funny how this name came up. When you think of The Couch, you know, me being a therapist, a counselor, all of that good stuff, um, you know, that's indicative of an experience. So for me, um, what I do in this book is I move the couch from being a tangible object into an intangible object. So think about the, the women, the people that you shared your couch with. Um, think about the stories that were shared, you know, the most vulnerable moments that happened on the couch. And that's why I even attach where life happens because on my couch, you know, as a single woman, even as a married woman, now the most in-depth deep conversations happen there. And that's what you'll find in this book. You— it won't be cookie cutter. Um, there will be some taboo things that are discussed, you know, um, but then there will also be key elements where you can zoom in on those things that you are currently working through emotionally. So yeah, it's a deep dive. I mean, I'm just saying.
I mean, now tell us, tell us, was there something that, that sparked in you that says I need to write this book? If there was, what was it?
Well, this book actually started off, um, when I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and I, you know, hosted a few women's events. Um, there was a year where I just spent writing. I just poured out what was on my heart in the moments, um, that I experienced. So in the moments of, you know, adversity and that kind of stuff, I wrote. So one of the, uh, things that I really wanted to highlight is that it started off in this space where Um, I had Room for 30. So that was the first installment of the couch. Then it moved over into, well, okay, Tira, you made Room for 30 and all of that, you did your blogs, but what is the purpose? What is the intention behind it? Um, so yeah, that's where I ended up. I ended up in that space where, um, it had to get done. It had to get done.
So, so is there a specific audience that your book is, is, is meant for?
I would say women. Um, at first I, I stated, well, you know, between the ages of 18 and 35. However, I've had women of all age brackets that have purchased this book and found much meaning in it. So I'd say it's really for every woman, honestly, who's— who wants to be more intentional about their emotional health and their emotional maturity.
That's good, that's good.
So, so women who want to be intentional about what Emotional health and emotional maturity.
There it is, women, women, if you ready for that journey. Yeah, yeah, you know what to do, you know what to do. Now, what barriers— tell us, tell us, because you know about the book writing process, but what barriers did you face that you had to go through, climb over, bust through? What was it? What were they?
Well, if I'm completely, uh, honest 100% on it. The barrier was me.
So you said who?
The barrier was me.
It was you?
It was me.
Oh my goodness.
Um, and I think the reason behind that was I, you know, got caught up in the mindset of, well, what are people going to think? Oh my gosh, is this too vulnerable? Is this, you know, like it was all in my head. So once I got over that barrier and, um, I didn't tell anyone about it initially, so I just had that level of consistency with myself. So I said, Tigger, you're going to wake up, you're going to show up, you're going to write for 20 minutes, you're going to write for 30 minutes, whether it sounds good, you're just going to get it out. So I think in those moments, that's what really birthed the, the process, you know? So it didn't start off with some big grand outline. That came later. And for my perfectionistic individuals out there, it's not going to always look neat and tidy. Honestly, that looks like a lot of Post-its. On the floor for me sometimes. That looks like just picking images every other day, that kind of stuff. The key is really to start. Get out your own way.
That's good. Y'all heard it, audience, straight from the mouth of Dr. T. Just get started. That's all we got to do is move forward. And so what's a nugget of advice that you would give to those who are looking to release their story to the world? Because we understand that there's a lot of people out there who would like to share their story to the world. And we believe that definitely you can reach one person, you can help one person out. What's the nugget that you would share with them?
Whoo! Well, here's the thing. Someone is depending on you to finish.
Uh-huh. Hold on, hold on. Say that again. Say that again.
Someone is depending on you to finish. You can start, but it's the finishing part too. So your follow-through game really has to be tight in that way, you know? So the nugget is, if it's you that you need to get over, if it's the fact that you need to reach out to other self-published authors, if this is the route that you're taking, you need to do just that. And you need to make it a priority, because if it's not a priority, then it'll always fall through the cracks. It'll be years. It took me 7 years.
Woo!
To get to this space because I kept on saying, oh, I'll write a little bit, I'll do this and do that. And then life happens, you know, there will always be something, always. So once you make room and you add that concentrated time and say, well, hey, this is what I'm going to do, I have to get out. When you have that sense of urgency, it— for me, I had to get that sense of urgency for me to finish. I was good starting, but for me to finish, so yeah. Right, right.
And so with this, and if you've been watching all the previous podcasts, if you, if you're not on Anchor, get on Anchor, watch the rest of our podcast as we're interviewing other self-published authors. You know, we're— they're saying all similar messages. And so we want to light a fire underneath you to do it, release that story to the world, that someone else, uh, especially if this is one of those books that's going to help you get out or help others get out of a situation that's not a positive situation, you need to, to go ahead and birth that book. That's all we're gonna say.
And even with that, I'll add to that, in the beginning of my book I had to apologize to the readers because I had to apologize. I said, I'm sorry that it took this long. Wow. Because you might have needed this book much sooner than when I released it. So I had to apologize because again, I was the barrier. I was the utmost barrier at that point.
So that's good. Okay, that's good. All right, so, so where can people find your book?
Oh yeah, absolutely. So www.livewithlife— that's L-I-V-E-W-I-T-H-L-Y-F-E— .com/thecouch. That's how you can purchase the book.
So folks, get the book, uh, support self-published authors, especially this one. I'm not gonna be biased, but especially this one. I guess I am a Just a little bit, just a little bit, especially this one, um, definitely, because there's, there's a word in it for you women. Uh, support this as you will be, uh, you'll be greatly impressed. And I was gonna say blessed too, so that's what you, that's what you will be.
