Getting Started

Even when we’re entry-level, fresh out of grad school, we usually want to ensure we’re doing everything in our power to give our clients the best resources. How can we know if we’re giving our clients the best care if we maybe don’t have the best resources and guidance as clinicians?

The first supervisor I had in an agency took me to the outlet mall to pick something up that she needed for her son's birthday during our supervision: we chatted in the car. She showed movies during group therapy…

Be an Imperfectionist, Build a Better Practice

In this week's episode, 'Be An Imperfectionist, Build A Better Practice', we discuss:

• Being prepared for the emotional changes while business building
• Confronting perfectionism and fear
• The vulnerable side of business building
• The socially/morally acceptable side of perfectionism
• Being seen and vulnerability in business
• Conserving your energy with perfectionism
• Reframing the fear with curiosity

Links Abundance Party Podcast Transcr…

Raise your hand if you have a strong opinion about whether a new counselor should have to work in an agency before venturing into private practice. Just kidding, we can’t see you. I have a strong, unpopular opinion. Ready for it? I’m a fan of starting with the end in mind in business and in personal development. I’m a fan of getting where we want to be sooner rather than later. AND I’m a fan of solid clinical skills. (I feel like I’m on an HGTV episode.... Long awkward pause…) I choose NOT dicta…

I am so grateful to have gotten to consult with Lindsay Melka and I’m honored that she is writing for the blog this month. She is brilliant, thoughtful, brave and so honest it sometimes makes my heart ache. You’ll get to hear more about her story (the really hard part where she had to stop working entirely to take care of herself) on the podcast June 5 when we flip the usual podcast structure and talk about some unspoken about things that can happen to us as we build. I know a lot of us learn by…

Where New Businesses Get Stuck

  There’s a theme I see in the folks who get stuck on the struggle side of their business. It’s wholeheartedly a mindset struggle. A space of desperation, fear, resignation, helplessness, scarcity. It usually starts in three ways:

1. The clinician has a great marketing plan but didn’t have realistic expectations about how quickly they would build.
2. The clinician brought clients over from another practice but didn’t learn how to bring in new clients.
3. The clinician…

Consult Monday

Sarah Barnes, LMHP, LPC of Play Therapy Omaha

A mother of three and with over 15 years working in a variety of children's mental health and educational settings, Sarah knows kids. She is passionate about helping children & adolescents find their voice in this world through healing, empowerment, & development of a positive self-concept. Sarah holds Bachelor Degrees in Psychology & Education, and earned a Master's in Counseling from UNO in 2008. Her credentials include: Licensed…

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…

Amanda Patterson, LMHC, CAP, NCC is a private practice success story. She has been so successful individually that she's built a successful group private practice.  As a member of the Abundance Practice Builders Facebook Group, she has generously offered support to clinicians new to private practice from her wealth of experience. I totally agree with this blog post; I had no idea what was available to me as a grad student and may have started this process much earlier if I had.  It’s been more t…