When you meet Moriah Holland, you immediately sense her blend of warmth, wisdom, and purpose. As the founder and owner of MPowered Counseling Services, LLC, Moriah has dedicated her career to helping individuals and groups navigate life’s challenges with a human-centered approach that prioritizes compassion and authenticity. A Licensed Professional Counselor and Board-Approved Supervisor in Virginia, she has worked in the mental health field since 2014—equipping her clients to see the strengths, skills, and gifts they already carry within.
For Moriah, empowerment is more than a professional philosophy—it’s a mission. She believes in meeting people exactly where they are, dismantling the stigmas surrounding mental health, and creating space for Black women, in particular, to feel seen, valued, and supported. Her journey has been shaped by faith, family, mentors, and an unwavering refusal to give up, even when challenges arose. But it was motherhood, she shares, that truly reshaped her path, awakening a new sense of confidence, clarity, and purpose.
In our conversation, Moriah opens up about the pivotal moments that led her here, the role of faith and family in her success, and why she is determined to foster self-love and worth in every client she encounters.
Where did you grow up? Summarize your childhood in four words.
I am always proud to say that I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York! I don’t know if it’s that I feel like I get “street cred”, or what! What I will say is that growing up there is definitely not for the faint! I’d describe my childhood into these 4 words: Loving, creative, challenging, accelerated.
How did you get to where you are today? When you look back, what time period of your life do you consider the starting part of your journey and why?
There were multiple factors that helped me to get to where I am today; my parents always encouraging, affirming, and believing in me, my hard work, dedication, and refusal to give up even when things got tough, my husband of 8 years supporting me as I followed my heart and dreams, my 4-year old son’s radiant and joyful personality which brightens my world each day, the people that were put along my path who motivated and inspired me such as friends, colleagues, mentors, and therapists, and most importantly, my faith and witnessing of God’s power in and over my life!
There were many pivotal moments in my life, but I would say becoming a mother has been the most influential because it caused me to almost have to rediscover and even recreate myself in many ways. I found myself having less capacity to deal with situations and people that were draining my energy and time, and more of a yearning and motivation to figure out who I was without all my “titles” and “roles”. It led me on a personal path of discovery that’s hard to really put into words, but it was an awakening on many levels (spiritually, emotionally, mentally, socially, physically, etc.). Motherhood has made me more confident and even more purposeful in everything that I do, which wasn’t something I expected, because quite frankly, motherhood can be exhausting! It’s a constant learning experience, and just when I think for a second I have it “down pack”, another curve ball usually shows itself! Yet, and still, I feel more evolved each time, and seeing my son grow up and flourish into the beautiful being that he is, inspires me to keep growing and moving forward myself.
What do you think sets you apart from others in your field and makes you stand out?
I think it is the combination of traits that I am blessed to have, which sets me apart from others in my field. I am driven, passionate, empathetic, dedicated, humorous, empowering, genuine, intentional, thoughtful, reflective, spiritual, loving, creative, meticulous, fashionable, inquisitive, friendly yet reserved, intuitive, sensitive, prayerful, intellectual, and this list continues to grow and unfold as I evolve.
I believe most, if not all of these qualities show up in everything that I do and people tend to expressly appreciate that about me.
Tell us about a time you felt overwhelmed. How did you pivot over or around this hurdle?
During the first year of the pandemic, like for most, it was a tough time. We suffered a lot of losses. We were completely distanced from family, which my side in particular already lived quite far from us, hours away. I became pregnant with our first and currently only child and was severely sick almost the entire 9months with no ability to see an obstetrician until many months into my pregnancy due to Covid precautions, experienced my first hospitalization where I had my first ultrasound done, and was unsure of my baby’s health and wellbeing and terrified for my baby’s life, all while not being able to have my husband by my side due to the much needed COVID protocols at the time. I was also in the process of completing my residency to eventually become licensed as a professional counselor and practice independently when the pandemic hit, and naturally this also shook the outlook of my career. And of course, again like most, there weren’t many “outlets” in terms of coping…at least in the ways that some of us would typically choose, such as regularly going to the gym, faith-based organization for fellowship and/or worship, or seeing a friend/family member. Grief was an understated word at this time, in most of our lives. It was evident that a pivot was necessary in many ways, and we saw this occurring right before our eyes, such as with virtual healthcare being more of an option. My pivot, however, was in a shifted mindset. In my mind, I couldn’t afford to be severely depressed, or too anxious, or have a complete meltdown, because I felt this overwhelming need and desire to protect the human that was developing inside of me. So I focused on what I could control. I still cried when I needed to let out a good cry, and then I prayed, and meditated, and began to practice being more vulnerable and opened up to my support system—which made me so grateful for technology during this time, as I could still connect virtually with others! The way I saw it, it wasn’t just my life that depended on me being well during this time, but that of my firstborn son. And I wanted to meet him in good health! While there was a lot to be sad, stressed, and overwhelmed about during this time, I knew that remaining in such a state wasn’t going to help me, my baby, or those I served. I had to find creative and healthy ways to still stay sane, and relatively well, and I did just that, with the help of the LORD!
How do you balance your professional career and personal/family life?
Whew child! Let me tell you! This is a DAILY challenge in my life, because every day looks different for my family with a busy-bodied 4 year-old boy and my husband who’s a Longshoreman with a work schedule that’s almost non-existent in the sense that there is no set schedule from day to day, and my work as an entrepreneur and licensed therapist (with also other responsibilities and commitments that I actively participate in as well). I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it’s tough; however, what I have learned is to relinquish the control I think I have over everything and to simply control what I actually can control. This helps me to prioritize what needs my focus from moment to moment within my day, and being flexible and gentle with myself when things don’t go quite as planned. For those who don’t know, I am very much a planner, so this was a BIG adulting adjustment to make, and I still have to remind myself of this daily. Of course, having support to lean on in the various areas of life also makes such a huge difference in trying to balance. I jokingly say to friends sometimes, “the juggle is real!”, because quite frankly, it is! I don’t think there’s a perfect balance, because everything constantly changes, but what can make a difference in the amount of stress you experience is controlling what you can, being mindful and self-compassionate through life’s process and your balancing act, and praying through it all!
What is one lesson you have learned along the way?
Without trying to sound like a missionary (lol!), I have to say I learned to always keep God first and at the center of my life. Ironically, everything tends to go awry for me when I try to control everything (notice a theme here?), and/or think I can handle everything on my own. When I give it to God through prayer, meditation, reading scripture, journaling, and singing songs (in my head and aloud!), I feel more at peace and I tend to have more faith, thus I become more optimistic, hopeful, and strengthened to take another step forward in the different things that I get to do as a wife, a mother, a therapist, a business owner, a friend, a believer, a child, a sister, a human being, and the list goes on.
At the end of the day, what matters most to you at your core?
What matters most to me at my core is love. I know it sounds very mushy, but I truly love love. And I’m not just talking about the romantic type of love; I’m talking about pure love. I feel deeply that love is what is missing in a lot of the world today, and that if we (as humans) had more of it in our hearts, we would have less hatred, less violence, less stress, less depression, less anxiety, less evil, less of all the things that are just simply not good for us. Love is something you can feel. Love is in action, and in the way we treat one another. Love is forgiving and kind. Love makes us want everyone to get along and be at peace. Love doesn’t mean that we always like everything about one another and everything, but it helps us to agree to disagree and still walk in peace. Love breeds patience. Love heals wounds. Self-love helps us to truly love others. And so, what matters to me is simply to love.
What do you want your legacy to be?
I want to foster as much self-love and worth as I can into people, so that they see themselves, love themselves, and thus show up healthier for those around them.
Particularly amongst black women, I see, feel, and have experienced the constant retraumatization that occurs just being in our skin, walking in our shoes, and particularly living in this country, and I want to be apart of the movement that sheds light on our worth, our value, and our being. I love helping black women to see and love themselves, because what happens is, despite the odds, we heal and then exude healing to all of those we encounter. So then, hurt people aren’t hurting people anymore, but instead healing and loving people. While this is something that can, and is to, be offered beyond just the black female population, I’m of the mindset that I have to start somewhere, and why not start with those who I feel called to focus on, and who happens to look like me?!
Thank you so much for this opportunity to share a little of my story and hopefully inspire others to share and walk in theirs!
Where can our readers connect online to support or find out more information about you and your business.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/moriah-holland-lpc-511b69357/
Official Bio
Moriah C. Holland, LPC is the founder and owner of MPowered Counseling Services, LLC, where she helps individuals and groups navigate life’s challenges with a human-centered approach. A Licensed Professional Counselor and Board-Approved Supervisor in Virginia, Moriah has been working in the mental health field since 2014. She believes every person is born with strengths, skills, and gifts, and she empowers her clients to recognize these assets as tools for growth. Known for meeting people where they are and guiding them toward thriving, Moriah is committed to breaking stigmas around mental health and helping Black women feel seen, valued, and supported. Find out more at mpoweredcounselingservicesllc.info
What an inspiring story to learn about Moriah’s journey and so encouraging!
I am incredibly grateful and honored to be featured in Connected Woman Magazine! Thank you for sharing my story! It is my prayer that women will continually be inspired, share, and walk boldly into their purpose! 💗🙏🏾