The Practice of Therapy

Our family lives in Little Rock, AR. We have 3 young children and 1 Goldendoodle puppy. When Ryan was finishing up grad school at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS 15 years ago, we knew one day we wanted to work together in private practice.

After being on staff at Capstone Treatment Center, where Ryan received extensive training and certifications in Trauma, Sexual Addiction, Multiple Addiction, EMDR, Mindfulness, and Brainspotting, in 2019 we nervously took the plunge into opening our own group practice clinic.

Ryan’s main specialties are Sex Addiction, Trauma, Custom Intensives, and Custom Personal Growth Intensives for other therapists wanting to do their own therapy work.

Emily’s specialties include administration, client hospitality, and juggling all the clinic details while raising 3 children and potty training a puppy. Getting to work together as a married couple has its challenges, but it mostly has been so rewarding! Seeing how God has created our skill sets so oppositely and yet so complementary has been a really neat gift this past year. Client care and the “Art of Therapy” is at the core of our family-owned and operated clinic.

Sexual Addiction Niche

In 2012, Ryan stumbled upon the work of Patrick Carnes. Ryan loved how men could encounter each other and work through their issues. This inspired Ryan to do sexual addiction work with people who were out of control sexually in their lives. Trauma, attachment, and family systems are also underneath sex addiction; Ryan likes to help his clients uncover these issues.

Intensives

Half of Ryan’s revenue comes from doing intensives. You can do so much more with uninterrupted time. Ryan does one, two, or three-day intensives with eight hours of therapy each day. The intensive will be customized to the issue at hand. Ryan utilizes brain spotting, trauma egg, and yoga. Plus, Ryan is a certified yoga therapist – they are also looking to start goat yoga.

The Value of Doing Your Own Work

Both Ryan and Emily have gone to therapy independently and as a couple. If it weren’t for that, they wouldn’t be as secure as a team. They want their clinicians who work for them to also have done their own work. It’s hard to take a patient farther in the therapy process than you have gone yourself. Sometimes, Emily and Ryan disagree on business ideas. You have to learn how to work through the bumps in the road.

Work-Life Balance

When there is scarcity, there is a shame-based hustle. Be intentional. Ryan and Emily have the mindset to go slow and steady. Plus, they have learned not to say yes to everything. When Ryan and Emily are home for work, it’s tempting to talk more about the business. However, they realized they needed to have more family time. They even hired a housekeeper to lessen the burden and increase their quality time together.

Recommended Resources

Ryan heard about G Suite on the Practice of Therapy. They recommend the G Suite E-Course because it helped them learn how to maximize their productivity using the G Suite tools. Emily says that the Practice of the Practice has also been beneficial because it is essential to have a community in private practice.

Also, continual education will carry various dividends. Emily recommends doing your own work as a clinician so you can be a better clinician and serve your clients. They have a budget for each member of their staff to do their own work. Ryan even does intensives for other therapists. You can’t sell therapy if you don’t believe in doing it yourself.

Investing Your Time

Other people tend to value you more than you value yourself. If you are trapped in specific ways of thinking, then you are not going to be doing more in-depth and quality work. It’s essential to have an intentional effort to do quality work. Utilize the tools around you to level up. It’s a no-brainer for Ryan. Behind every risk, Ryan felt support.