Author Q&A With Kimberly Glazier Leonte, PhD.
Kimberly Glazier Leonte, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in OCD, anxiety, and perfectionism. Dr. Leonte was initially trained at the world-renowned McLean Hospital’s residential OCD Institute in 2007. She is the Founder and Director of Clearview Horizons, an OCD specialty group practice, and Break The Cycle, an online platform that provides specialized OCD/anxiety and mental health-related self-help tools for individuals and resources for providers. She developed the OCD Awareness Scale, a free assessment measure used internationally. Dr. Leonte has authored four books and has 20 published research articles. She has also been quoted in top publications, including Cosmopolitan, CBS, and Newsweek. Dr. Leonte is passionate about helping others and reducing mental health stigma. Meet Kimberly:
You are an author, but is it your day job? If not, what fills your days? I love writing! Writing is such a powerful way to connect with people and share valuable information in a creative, compelling way. Writing is part of what I do. My primary focus (which I also love) is working as a clinical psychologist who specializes in helping people struggling with OCD, anxiety, and/or perfectionism.
Did you always want to be an author? My love for writing developed over the past two decades. From my experience working with clients, a common theme is their tendency to be self-critical and struggle to embrace self-compassion. This observation, along with the significant, positive impact of developing self-compassion, led me to write my initial book, Learning To Let Go Of Your Inner-Critic: Cultivating Change Through Self-Compassion. My venture into writing Children’s books began following the birth of my daughter. Experiencing her joy in reading sparked my desire to write playful, engaging stories that also convey valuable mental health messages. This led to the development of Billy Bear’s Journey To Dare: The Adventure Begins and Professor Peach Learns Something New!
What is your most recent book, and what inspired you to write it?
My most recent book is Professor Peach Learns Something New! This book was inspired by society’s tendency to unintentionally reinforce the unhelpful message that we should always try to be happy. For example, messages such as “Be Happy” or “Today is a Great Day” are found on all sorts of cute merchandise.
While there is value in embracing the positives, this mindset can also unintentionally make people feel that it is not okay to be sad, upset, or scared. Professor Peach Learns Something New, shares Professor Peach’s transformation from constantly trying to make his students happy, to seeing the beauty and power in allowing his students to feel all types of emotions.
How do you hope this book uplifts those who read it? I hope this book provides an empowering, freeing shift in how emotions are viewed. For parents, I aim to highlight the value of your child feeling all emotions and that it is okay and even helpful for your child to learn how to be with their sadness, anger, or anxiety, without trying to fix it right away. For children, my hope is that reading the book will help them learn to view all emotions as okay, rather than seeing certain emotions as good and others as bad.
What are you most excited about with this book? I love the book’s message. Learning how to embrace and not judge one’s thoughts and emotions is a core element of the therapeutic work that I do. The power in letting go of trying to control or avoid certain thoughts and feelings and instead accepting and being with whatever shows up is life-changing. I am incredibly passionate about teaching and instilling this message for all people, and doing so for children at such a young age is exciting.
What advice would you give someone wanting to succeed in your professional industry? Writing is an excellent way to express yourself, your creativity, your expertise, and your passions. Allow yourself to be true to you, versus doing what you think you should do. Another common challenge area for people with writing is trying to perfect their story. If this resonates with you, my recommendation is to notice the perfectionistic part of you, invite it to come along for the journey as a passenger in your car, rather than have perfectionism be in the driver’s seat. Allow yourself to write and let go of trying to make it perfect!
How do you handle setbacks and criticism? I honestly do value feedback from others; personally, I view people’s perspectives as just that, their perspectives, versus as criticism. Also, setbacks are bound to happen in any profession and in every day life. Viewing setbacks as part of life rather than failures has helped me feel comfortable and confident about putting myself out there and taking risks.
What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? I love my work. I love the wide range of ways that I can do what I love, which is helping people and being a mental health advocate. This includes working directly with clients, supervising therapists in my practice, writing books, developing self-help and training resources, and conducting research studies.
What book uplifts you? I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s Being Peace and his book Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames. They are such wonderful works about connecting with emotions and using emotions as teachers (versus things that need to be stopped or avoided).
Connect with Kimberly and learn about her practice and book via her website.
