Meet me!
Travis Bolin, LPC CLinical Director
Counsels: Ages 6 to 106
Focus: Divorce, Addictions, ADHD, Impulsivity, Oppositional Defiance, Anxiety, Depression, Children, Teenagers, Young Adults, and Adults
Hello! My name is Travis Bolin. I am the founder and director at Journey Towards Hope Counseling. Everyone is on a journey in this world and my prayer is that while you are on this journey you will have someone that will bring you hope and encouragement. I believe that during the good times and bad times you aren't supposed to do life alone. Everyone has the potential to get better in their mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Sometimes getting better takes help from someone while your on your journey. I want to share with you a bit about my journey.
In December of 1999, I graduated from Pittsburg State University with an elementary education degree and with a psychology degree. In August of 2000, I started teaching second grade at Harry S Truman in Webb City, MO. I loved teaching those seven- and eight-year-olds. There was never a dull moment in my classroom. I found out quickly that teaching second graders was much more than just teaching math, reading, and writing. Sometimes it was about teaching them how to tie their shoes, the importance of being kind to each other or sometimes even encouraging students who were upset because their life was shaking at home. Often, I would hold class meetings and my students had a mini counseling lesson. I remember thinking as a young teacher...I should be teaching math, but I am teaching my students the importance of being kind. Looking back now, I have realized that my students weren't able to be at their best academically if they weren’t at their best emotionally.
In 2008 I decided to go back to Pittsburg State University (PSU) to start working towards my school counseling degree. I remember driving to PSU on my first day of counseling school thinking, "Is this what I am supposed to be doing?" I really wasn’t for sure if I was making the right decision. After my three-hour class was over, I said to myself, "Yes, this is the right decision."
Although I was only halfway through the counseling program at PSU in 2011, I started school counseling at Carthage Middle School in Carthage, MO. I remember the first day of school as a school counselor was very quiet. I was used to the first day being hectic while teaching second grade. I found out quickly that the second day of school all the way to the last day of school was quite hectic. Somedays I never took a lunch or a break due to all the emotional needs that our students had as fifth and sixth graders. There was always a student to help calm down, counsel, talk to, listen to, and encourage. Every evening on the drive home I would thank God that he put me at such an amazing place in Carthage. I remember one day I had 22 students to talk to one on one and I felt a bit overwhelmed. That day I prayed and asked God what could I do to help our students better at Carthage Middle School. A few weeks later, I had an idea to start a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at Carthage Middle School. The first FCA had 55 students in attendance, the second meeting had 127, and the third meeting had close to 200. Over the next nine years our FCA grew to 600 to 700 students coming to FCA. Our school had 830 students (over 80% of our students were attending FCA...WOW!!)
During the pandemic I took my National Counseling Exam and passed it...YAY! I resigned from school counseling and joined Dr. Karl Wendt at Mt Hope Christian Counseling. I counseled at Mt Hope for two years. I learned so much from Dr. Wendt and I am thankful that God led me there.
In 2017 my daughter Amelia and I were in a transition. During that time, Amelia, who was 6, started making slime. She made slime almost every day at our home.
Amelia never outgrew her love of slime and at the age of 11 she asked me if we could open a slime business. Together, we brainstormed what that business might look like, and after looking at several locations found the studio at 2310 South Main, Joplin. Just 137 days after brainstorming our dream/ideas Journey Through Slime Event Studio & Scoop Shoppe opened October 23, 2021.
Journey Through Slime is a sensory-focused studio where guests can design and make slime , eat hand dipped ice cream, try our rolled ice cream creations and shop our fidget toys.
Journey Through Slime got its name because life can be really messy and slime is really messy. The more you work with the slime, the end result is this beautiful creation. That is how life is; the more you talk through the issues and get the help you need, life can start being beautiful. Our slogan at Journey Through Slime is slime makes you happy.
On Oct. 4, 2022, Journey Towards Hope Counseling opened. It has always been a goal (a dream) of mine to open a counseling practice. I believe that we have an amazing team at Journey Towards Hope Counseling. I counsel all ages from 7 to 107. I tend to use sensory focus counseling with my younger clients. I believe that God has given our senses (touch, taste, smell, hear, sight) to help get better emotionally, mentally, spiritually, socially, and physically. My clients who are children tend to be up moving and doing activities in my office to help meet their sensory needs. I do enjoy counseling all ages; however, I believe that recently my focus has been on teenagers, young adults, and adults. High schoolers and adults have so many stressors and they sometimes do not feel comfortable talking to friends or family about their stressors. My hope is that these clients open up during counseling and improve in their mental health.
Give our office a call 417.553.8000 to schedule an appointment with me. I look forward to doing life with you. Remember you aren't supposed to do life alone.
Travis