The Practice of Therapy

Rachel Harrison: Hello everyone. My name is Rachel Harrison. I am so excited to be here on the Practice of Therapy podcast. I am a podcaster myself. I have the Mental Health Entrepreneur podcast exploring innovations in the world of mental health and entrepreneurship. And today we are going to be talking about the start of my practice.
which is trauma specialists. It's a multi state practice. We've got lots and lots of clinicians, seven locations, and I'm excited to talk about the process of developing a niche practice, and sort of all of the pieces involved in that. So thank you so much for having me, Gordon. I'm excited to chat.
Gordon Brewer: Well, hello everyone, and welcome again to the podcast, and I'm real excited for you all to get to know Rachel Harrison. And Rachel, Is is a fellow podcaster and her podcast is part of the PsychCraft Network. So, Rachel, welcome.
Rachel Harrison: Thank you. So glad to chat. Love talking about all things entrepreneurship and private practice.
Gordon Brewer: As I start with everyone, Rachel, tell everybody a little more about yourself and how you've landed where you've landed.
Rachel Harrison: Yeah, that's been an interesting journey. So I started out as a solo practitioner working in Residential home based therapy, all kinds of things like that eventually landed in solo practice. So I've been a therapist for 26 years now did solo practice for a long time. My kids were little. That was a great thing for kind of that time in my life.
And then after about 10 years of solo practice, I decided to take the leap into private practice and I mean, excuse me, group practice. I was in Durango, Colorado at the time, so I started Durango Family Therapy and that was a group practice in that location and then ended up moving to Maryland, where I had been before, Frederick, Maryland.
And so telehealth was a thing then, but not nearly as big as now. So for about a year and a half, I continued to run that practice virtually and kind of started up. Some in person practice for myself here in Maryland then decided to sell that practice. So got to have that experience of selling a practice, which was pretty cool.
And then started this practice. So when I sat down in, in 2015, 2016, said, what do I want to do? I really wanted to do trauma. Trauma has been a specialty of mine, EMDR is something I've been trained in for lots of years and I'm actually an EMDR trainer. And so I wanted to incorporate that in my vision was having a practice where everyone was trained to treat trauma excellently, really well, and EMDR was going to be a part of that.
So that's kind of how I got here. Developed this practice. We've grown for the last eight years and also developed a training Institute along the way, then got interested in creative and innovative things that I think we desperately need in this field. And so that was the curiosity that launched the podcast.
So that's kind of the short, concise version of how I got here.
Gordon Brewer: Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. And I got to spend some time with Rachel up in Kentucky at meet you in Kentucky. People have heard me speak about here. But you know, I think the other thing too, as we were chatting about before we started Recording is just in running group practice or just any, any practice for that matter, whether, whether it's solo or group, large group, small group, there are times when you just have to pivot and do things differently.
And we were just talking about some of that. Process for you here recently.
Rachel Harrison: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So recently we've had, I had my first kind of leadership member of my team, my practice manager move on. And that was actually a process. I'm pretty proud of. It was very. Open communication, what she was looking for, what I needed and figuring out that those things didn't necessarily match anymore, even though they were fabulous for a long time.
And so helping her move on well and then helping us transition with into a new person, but that has required me to dig into the practice in ways that I have not been doing for years and years, because I've had other people running things like billing and payroll and HR functions and things like that.
So I'm in a learning curve again. And that's what I was saying to Gordon as we were talking, it's, there are so many different seasons of growth. And I think having done private practice for so many years, but then group practice also for so many years, Every season looks different.
Gordon Brewer: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. And as you have grown and, and tell folks maybe a little more about your current practice and how you've got it structured.
And it sounds like you've I mean, it sounds like you must have a phenomenal staff to be able to juggle all the things.
Rachel Harrison: That's
Gordon Brewer: true. It
Rachel Harrison: hinges very much on the right staff. And yes boy, and I, I came into this accidentally. So just to speak that to, to people that you know, I didn't have this great master plan of where my practice was going.
What I wanted and everything, and that's sort of been a process along the way. It was, I, I would say I kind of bumbled into it. Like, I just asked one person if they wanted to come do some contract hours with me. And then that was the start. Evolving from there, learning from people like you and other.
other group practice owners, having an accountability group, all those things. But we are structured in three different states. And I kind of have this practice model because we focus on trauma. We really want people to feel very comfortable and not like they're coming into a medical clinic. So we have designed smaller sites.
In order to sort of meet that vibe and so you come in and you feel like you're sitting in a waiting room like a living room like I think a lot of therapy offices are but I have grown it. I would say based on people 100%. So having people that I associate with. Saw could be leaders and developing them into those roles and then even our multi-state location was honestly by accident.
both of them. Mm-Hmm. . So we're in Maryland, Delaware, and pa We started in Maryland and a colleague of mine from Maryland had moved to Delaware and she said, would you wanna open a practice in Delaware? I think it'd be really cool. And I was like, I don't even know. That was my first thought. Right. Yeah.
But let's talk about it. So she was, she is a phenomenal leader and she kind of spearheaded that. It's about three hours away from me, so I could not have done it without having that person to your point of being able to develop that. And then in Pennsylvania, since I train people in EMDR, I've met lots of people and it was a practice there that We like your values.
We do the same work that you do and we are shutting down. It was actually a nonprofit that was shutting down. And would you want to like hire our staff and develop a site here? So that's what we did last year.
Gordon Brewer: Wow. Yeah. I look you know, it's, it's interesting how I was just thinking it's, you know, I think we, we hear a lot, you know, you've got to have a plan, you've got to have goals, you've got to have dreams, all that kind of stuff and follow all those things and have it all kind of ironed out in your head.
But the truth of the matter is, is it can change from day to day. So much . Oh. Yeah. And, and I, I love the fact that you've kind of, I don't know if stumble is a good word, but stumbled into a lot of stuff that's turned out to be good things. And I know for me, that's been kind of my. What's kind of happened for me as well in my, my practice.
I mean, I've gotten, but the other thing to your point, Rachel, is finding the right people is just huge. I mean, just finding the people that have the vibe that you're looking for and the feeling and that sort of thing, I think goes a long way. in building a stable practice at least.
Rachel Harrison: It really does. And, you know, learning by experience, there have been lots of clinicians that I have hired along the way that it was like, great, you're a good clinician and I want to hire you.
And it was that simple. And I am now at a place where that is definitely not necessarily, that's like the baseline, like you're a good clinician and I want to hire you. And for me, personality and culture matter almost more now. So we have actually totally renovated the way that we do our hiring process to make sure that we're finding people that vibe with our culture and are a right fit.
Because it's just tough when somebody is looking for something different than the practice culture. And I think the beauty of that is also what I would kind of. Speak to this abundance mentality mindset, if you will. I think this is where practices can support each other because the clinician that's the right fit for my practice.
Gordon may not be the right fit for yours. And understanding that if someone's a wrong fit, they're going to struggle and you might also struggle with them. And it's going to be this process that takes everybody a lot of time and energy versus. That right fit person flows into the role. They have the capacity to do it and we tend to just cruise right along.
And so I don't think there are these magical clinicians that are just the good ones that everybody wants. So to speak to hire, I really think it's about fit. I think it's about culture. I think it's about the type of clinicians that you have in your practice already that are going to attract similar clinicians.
And, you know, for us being an EMDR practice, that's a big piece. Do you want to treat trauma? Cause if you don't, this isn't the spot for you.
Gordon Brewer: Right, right, right. Yeah. And so you, you want to speak to how you kind of developed your niche and what that's been like as far as, you know, I think people, people hear all the time and I know I've said it is, you know, it's so important to create a niche for yourself in this, in this Business in this, in this world of mental health and yeah, you want to speak to that?
Yeah,
Rachel Harrison: yeah, absolutely. That was actually a really scary moment for me because my first group practice by the name, it was just like a general practice, right? I, I was kind of like, that's just what you do. And my solo practice was also a general practice. And so I think for me, I, I really didn't have a lot of the business training and the people that said, do a niche, do a niche.
I completely think it was a great idea looking back, but I remember sitting there that day at my desk with that paperwork filling out the LLC. Right. And in my head, I was like, I want to call this practice trauma specialists of Maryland because. I want a practice of trauma specialist, which of course is a niche.
But it was very scary because at the time in 2016, there were not a lot of, nobody was using the word trauma therapist and there was no real specialty in that area. And so it felt risky, like, am I going to get clients? Are people even gonna reach out to me? Cause they are like, I don't have trauma. So you can't help me with my anxiety and so that it was a big risk, but it has been a way that has definitely paid off and I think people have a very clear sense of why they come here and I do think if you're a generalist practice, that's great too, but I think Having a niche has really helped us hone in on the right fit clients and the right fit therapists as well and really give us a clear mission of what we're doing and why and so highly recommend it.
Gordon Brewer: Yeah, yeah. And I think it's the thing to that I'm betting is one reason why you have what you have is, is that the people you're hiring are also passionate about treating trauma. And I would say that would be true for anybody in private practice, whether you're solo or whatever, whatever it is that you find it are passionate about the issues that you just kind of light up and you just really kind of nerd out about that's, that's your niche.
And that would be the thing to go for. And, and people are, you're going to do better work. You're going to have happier people. If you're hiring people, all of that sort of thing, all the way around.
Rachel Harrison: Definitely. And, you know, for me, EMDR was a very magical learning experience as a clinician.
Gordon Brewer: Yeah, it's witchcraft.
It really is. Everybody says that. I know. And I
Rachel Harrison: fell so much in love with it that I became a trainer. And I have to tell you, my personal bias is I think every clinician needs to know how to do it. Whether you're a trauma therapist or not, we all bump into that in our work. So that was a factor relating to this too, was like, I really want to practice where we train everybody in EMDR.
And that's our, our kind of common ground treatment. So I think the other thing that's beautiful about that is when we have our consultation groups and things like that as clinicians together, there is this really nice common language of how we treat people. And I've been in consultation groups before that have like more of a mix of different people from different areas.
Perspectives and that can be valuable to certainly, but I think for aligning a team and moving in the same direction It's been really great to have the same treatment model that we're all using
Gordon Brewer: Right, right. Yeah, so Tell us more about how you've kind of when you moved in to doing the mental health entrepreneur podcast and the training institute.
How did all that evolve for you?
Rachel Harrison: That's an awesome question. It was, it's, it kind of goes back to that theme of seasons of leading and developing, right? Because I started the trauma specialist training institute in 2021. When my practice was at a place where I was It's not really spending very much time working on it at all.
I was doing, supporting the leaders that were running it. And I was definitely doing more of that visionary kind of planning work with it, but I had some free time. And so like every entrepreneur that has a little free time, we get ourselves into trouble, right? And the trouble that I got into was developing the training Institute and I had learned so much on the business side.
Of how I wanted to do things differently. So I started that very differently. I hired people and I've heard you say this on your podcast. I've hired people much faster to do the things instead of trying to do all of the things myself and take that longer process. So that started in 2021 and now that is up and running.
We've actually. Recently, though it is a separate company, we've kind of merged our leadership of the two because they intersect so much in our most recent kind of organizational and accountability chart. So that's a new adventure. We're trying, we're learning as we go there. But the podcasting is always something I've been curious about and.
I was in a leadership group here locally called Leadership Frederick County, and I decided to test out podcasting with that group. So I created a podcast called Leadership Evolution, where I interviewed all of the leadership locally. About their experiences, their lessons on leadership. So that was like my dipping the toe in the water.
It was limited edition, but I loved it so much and loved the conversations that I just started thinking like what I might want to do with a podcast. And so I feel like we are at such a critical point in mental health right now. There are more clients. That need help than we can help and there are not enough therapists to go around and we have this very limited in general I know some people are doing creative things, but in general we've got outpatient care and we've got inpatient care and I just started thinking how do we support mental wellness in our communities that go outside of the box of?
standard So I just started looking for people to interview and that it's been kind of this journey of me. Some people are therapists. Some people are not. Yesterday I was interviewing someone who is a consultant for neuro inclusion, for example, and how that supports mental wellness. So it's been really fun to learn and to interact with people and I kind of that's kind of like my I call it Kind of my pet project.
I'm sort of one of those people that I think this is typical for entrepreneurs I'm always like thinking of new ideas, right? So it's it's like keeping my brain sort of interested in all the different pieces that I have going on But that's what works for me
Gordon Brewer: Yeah, good. That, that, that's great. And I think that's kind of been similar to my journey too.
It's just as I, as I began to see fewer clients and doing more administrative stuff and just really got, you know, you know, it's like you just passionate about helping other therapists learn all of these things that about running a practice, but, you know, in your case with the EMDR stuff, just really capitalizing on all of that is just huge.
Rachel Harrison: It is. And I think finding out, you know, where we fit as individuals, right. For me I, I almost consider running this business, my second career, like I'm not, I am a therapist technically by training and I still see a client or two, but really I'm not a therapist. I'm a business owner now. And that's kind of a different, a different thing.
It's a whole new learning curve. We're not taught that as I've also think I've heard people say on your podcast, right? We just have to figure it out along the way, but it's a whole other investment in really, I've done a lot of business training and taking classes and really trying to learn this field.
Cause it's, it's still mental health, but it's running that business side. And You know, I think in the mental health field, I don't know how long you've been in this field, but in the 26 years that I've done this work, things have changed so dramatically.
Gordon Brewer: Yes.
Rachel Harrison: And really in the last five years, I would say that's been on like hyperdrive.
Gordon Brewer: Yeah.
Rachel Harrison: And so I think it's taking a lot more of a business owner to be apprised of all of those things that are happening in the world around that affect us, whether it be insurance or legislation where treatment and care models are moving, all of that. There's just so much change and so much going on.
So I think it is a whole new world really.
Gordon Brewer: Right, right. Yeah. Our journeys are very. Very similar, very parallel. Like you, I started out in agency work, working for a non profit, and yeah, if I, as I think back over the same amount of time, I started into, oh gosh, I started into the mental health world around 2001 or so.
Rachel Harrison: Okay, yeah.
Gordon Brewer: So, so just looking at all the changes since then. It's, it's, it's a lot and just totally, totally different animal now than it was back then. For sure.
Rachel Harrison: Oh yeah. We were, we were happily sitting there doing our 50 minute sessions that we could still bill at 90837 and writing our notes in a, in a folder, right?
Yes. And that's really what it was. And, and there wasn't a whole lot going on besides that.
Gordon Brewer: Right. Right. Yeah. That's good. That's so true. Well, Rachel, I've got to be respectful of your time. Tell folks how they can get in touch with you, the things that you offer and the things that you've got going on.
Rachel Harrison: Sure. Yeah. So I would love to have you check out the mental health entrepreneur podcast. You can find that on any of your listening platforms. You can also find me at the trauma specialist training Institute. So I can give the links to put in the show notes. But www. traumaspecialisttraining. com and you'll see training opportunities there.
And if you're curious about my practice, you can go to the Trauma Specialist of Maryland or Trauma Specialist of Delaware or Trauma Specialist of PA website.
Gordon Brewer: Awesome. And like Rachel said, we'll have those in the show notes and the show summary. And also, so glad to have Rachel in her podcast part of the Psych Craft Network.
So gotta put a shout out for that as well.
Rachel Harrison: I appreciate that. You know, like everything, It doesn't make sense to do it solo. You need a team of people that you can talk to and that you can interact with and learn from along the way. So I'm really happy to be a part of the network, Gordon. Thanks for starting that.
Gordon Brewer: Yes. Yes. And, and one thing too, real quickly before we go, one of the things I'll, I'll say about Rachel that I noticed immediately is she is the master at delegating and having people do things for you. For her that she doesn't need to be spending time on. And so I'm learning from her about that, about the necessity to outsource, especially as you grow.
And that's the only way that you can really grow effectively. So yeah. Yeah. Yes, I'm going to, I'm taking some notes, taking some notes. You are too
Rachel Harrison: kind. I'm still learning along the way.
Gordon Brewer: Okay. Well, Rachel, I'm sure y'all, we'll have you back on the podcast and looking forward to more things down the road