For Happier Living psychiatrist Stacey Heit, it was eighth grade – and eighth grade girls specifically – that put her on the trajectory for a career in psychology.

“There was the note writing and the different warring factions among the girls,” she remembers. “I came out of that year and had a revelation on my way to summer camp. I said, ‘I have to go into this field.’ I talked with people, and I decided on psychiatry and pre-med from the get-go.”

The best part of the job for Dr. Heit – who was in an office practice for 17 years before coming to Happier Living three years ago – is building a deep connection with her clients. “I love that aspect of it. You get to know people so well,” she says. A friend was recently asking her about her job and wanted to understand how she could go from one person to another and then to another.

“It's the focus. It's like you switch your attention. So it's paying full attention,” she explained to the friend. “But the attention is really important and to focus in the moment on the person you’re with and you're not thinking about the person you just saw. You're right there.”

When Dr. Heit isn’t spending time talking with her clients or her four children (the youngest two, identical twins, are in their mid-twenties), she loves being outside and in nature and hiking.­­­­

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