Mindset

When Nate Wagner and I first spoke in 2015 I was struck by his passion for his practice and supporting those who have lost loved ones to suicide. His memoir, Sibling Suicide: Journey from Despair to Hope, tells his story from his perspective as a brother and as a clinician. He is very generously offering the first two chapters for free here (though I suggest you buy the whole thing). Suicide is one of those issues that most of us therapists are very uncomfortable with. With the holiday season, …

Signs You’re Building The Wrong Practice (and What to Do About It)

For those of you who have worked in toxic agencies, do you remember the “Sunday Scaries*?” Laying in bed, dreading the work week. Maybe you didn’t go to brunch or get together with friends on Sundays in order to have enough downtime to bear the next 5 days. It’s places like that that led me to private practice. In my last job, I never knew if I’d be therapizing my clients or my coworker-friends more on any given day. Or if I’d be…

Guys, I’m excited to introduce you to Lauren Woodard, LCSW for a couple reasons. I know, guest posts are usually the last week of the month, but we’re doing ‘em back to back because Lauren is a badass and she's sharing some lessons learned. Lauren is an Abundance Practice-Building Group Grad. In the last year she has built exactly the private practice she wants despite some hurdles and, within the first year of her practice, was voted “Best of Western North Carolina” in the Psychologist/Counsel…

What To Do About Those First Year Experiences

Impostor Syndrome

When I first started working with folks who’d experienced trauma I used a handout. A you’re-not-crazy-these-reactions-are-normal-for-this-circumstance list of symptoms with brief descriptions of why. One of the members of the Abundance Facebook Group (jump in!) said it would be helpful to have a list of normative experiences in the early days of your practice. A brilliant suggestion and I’m happy to flesh it out like that list I used back in the day. I’m not going to pretend like there’s ONE ex…

A few months ago when I wrote Healing From Client-Related Trauma, Wendy Williams reached out and proposed a post about how to stay safe in private practice. As an avid fan of safety, I agreed that it would be really helpful to the Abundance community. Wendy breaks it down into what may seem like obvious steps to some, but I’m pretty sure I’ve personally broken at least half of these in the past week, lulled by my assumption that I’m safe. Interesting given that not long before I wrote that blog …