The Practice of Therapy

Unknown Speaker
Hello, this is Whitney Owens

Whitney Owens
and welcome to the practice the practice podcast takeover.

Unknown Speaker
In today's episode,

Whitney Owens
I'm going to be talking to you about the ebb and flow of private practice. How do we manage when things are quick when things slow down? And how do we find where God is working in our practice? Hello, friends, and welcome to the practice of therapy podcast.

I'm your host, Whitney Owens. Yes, not Gordon Brewer. But my good friend has allowed me to take over his podcast for the month of June. So I'm excited to hang out with y'all. And talk about private practice. You know, in my previous episode, last week, I actually didn't talk about how I know Gordon, so I thought I'd share about that for just a minute. And then we can get into the episode. But I met Gordon brewer in April of 2018, I believe. And we were on a bus together talking hanging out, I remember being really excited about the idea of meeting Gordon, because he had a name for himself in the consulting world. And as we were chatting, I was thinking about the importance of working with faith based practices, because this was something I was kind of, you know, dipping my toes in and thinking about wasn't really sure about, but I really thought it'd be a good idea if somebody did some consulting with faith based practices. And so I pitched that idea to Gordon actually, and said, oh, you should do this, you should think about this. And he was like, well, that's a really good idea. That's, that's not really where I feel like I'm supposed to be right now. But that's a really good idea. And lo and behold, it was the idea that I needed to do instead of putting it on somebody else to do for me, right. And so Gordon has been a dear friend to me ever since. We've seen each other at multiple conferences, we have phone calls. In fact, when I first thought about doing faith based consulting, when I finally was like, Okay, I'm going to do this. He was one of the first people I called and talked through it, he was so encouraging. And he's been an inspiration to me as he's had this podcast and all the other good work he's doing. And I'll tell you, he is really the person that he says he is like, I think a lot of times we wonder when I hear somebody on a podcast, is that how they are in real life. And I'm here to tell you that Gordon Brewer is definitely the same person in real life and has been so helpful to me in a lot of ways with tech issues that go on in my practice, or in my consulting or just an ear to listen or very compassionate. So I think the world of you, Gordon to thanks for letting me have your show today. So before we start talking about the ebb and flow of private practice, I want to give you ways to get in touch with me, if you would like to join an email list for faith based practice owners, head over to Whitney owens.com. And you can join that list. And there I have a free PDF on four ways to network with churches, it's one of the most common questions that I get from faith based practice owners. Or even if you're not a Faith Based Practice Center, it's good handout for you to know how to connect with churches, because let me tell you, you can get a lot of clients from churches, there are pastors needing to refer especially for couples counseling. So make sure you utilize those referrals because those pastors need you. They weren't trained in counseling, you know, or they have minimal training. So make sure you connect with them. And then a funny story here. I had an encounter this morning that I just want to share. So this morning, my daughter shows me and she's nine years old, by the way, a little ring that she's wearing, and it's made out of paper. She has folded it in such a way that it almost looks like a paper diamond on top. And it actually fits around her finger. She's literally wearing it as a ring. And she has it all color coordinated and all this stuff. And I was like, Ooh, it's so pretty. She's like, Yes, Mom. We're making these at school, me and my friends. And it reminded me when I was in elementary school, we used to make jewelry as well. Except back then it was like electronic jewelry. Like there was this little light thing that would turn on and off and things would blink and that was like super cool and elementary school. Anyway, we sold our jewelry and she was like No Mom, I'm just giving it to people. You know, we have rings that fit you different color sizes. And then I was like wow, like my daughter legit is starting basically a business you know, she aren't making money yet but she's starting a business. And then I said Oh honey, what are you going to name your business? And of course I'm thinking no way she's come up with that yet and she goes oh, we have a name. It's called ring it you know like wing it with an AR I was amazed right? I was like wow she's already come up with a new everything. So hey started when they're young and they will build a business and I think we can all relate eight two ideas that we've had businesses we wanted to start. But today, let's talk about the ebb and flow of private practice. And I think this is really important because a lot of therapists see changes in their practice. And they run away, they get scared, they question it, they call it consultant. I just think that this is part of being a practice owner, it's part of being a business owner. And so what I want you to hear today is the importance of stopping when things change. And instead of moving to fear and anxiety, ask yourself what is happening right now? What do I need to be paying attention to maybe that I wasn't paying attention to before? And why is this change happening?

Think of it as an invitation to something greater. Yeah. So I want to give you some examples of this in my personal life and in my business, and maybe even share with you a couple examples of people that I've worked with that had this experience.

Unknown Speaker
So when I was in college, I had

Whitney Owens
gotten sick. And I was sick for several weeks where I was having a hard time kind of coming out of it. Boy, the name of it left me for just a moment, but I had mono, which I think a lot of us have, you know, the kissing disease. So I had mono, and it was terrible. I had a really hard time recovering from it at a pretty severe case of it from what I was told. And I needed a lot of help, like, I was so low on energy, I couldn't walk to class, I had to miss several classes. And at the same time, I had a roommate who had been super busy, she had so much going on in her life. And right before I got Monique, she had quit doing a few of her activities, or she had been Astrid stepped down from activities. And she had thought to herself why, you know, and she could have been discouraged. But as soon as I got sick, she realized, Wait, like, this is a moment for me to care for someone else, you know, in the midst of this, and this is for the very reason maybe that these things happen so that I could be available. And she was so kind to me, she cooked for me, she drove me to class, I wouldn't have to walk. She cleaned, she did my laundry. And if I hadn't had her in that moment, and that season, I don't know where I would be or how I would have made it through. And so think about when she had this come up, she said to herself, what is it that I could be doing instead of focusing on what it is that was taken away from her, right? So also think about when I first started my practice, boy needed clients, right? I know, you can empathize with me here where you're thinking, I really just need the phone to ring I need to, I need to be able to make money. And it just always seemed like the very moment that I needed it was when clients called or the very moment I prayed for it. That's when it came, you know, and then in terms that clients didn't come, that's a moment to be able to invest in something else. So like, currently, I might have something going on and it gets cancelled. But that's when I asked myself, okay, what is the thing that I need to be spending my time and energy on? What opportunity just became available to me? Right. And so I think it's this way, with our intakes with our clients, instead of getting discouraged when it slows down, look at that as an opportunity to do something else to focus on something else maybe you haven't focused on in a while. I was talking to one practice owner a few weeks ago, and she's in the hiring phase of her group practice. And she was like, Oh, what do I focus on? I need to build my website, I need to, I need to get my client load higher, you know, are my referral list higher? Because how am I going to fill up these clinicians when I hire them, yada, yada. And I said to her, You're worrying about all the wrong things. You don't even have anyone to give those clients to right now, if they did call. And if they do call, you're gonna be overwhelmed, and not know how to handle it, right. And so instead, I said to her, I want you to focus on getting your people hired. And doing that, well, instead of focusing on all of these other things. So it was then that she realized that she was focused on all the wrong things. And she was able to change and start focusing more on getting people hired and caring well for them, instead of focusing on getting them clients, and she can focus on that later, right. As she hires people once they actually start on getting hired, and then we can focus on the marketing, because then you have a place to put clients.

I'm also reminded of another moment in time, we're talking about the ebb and flow of private practice. I was hiring the group practice As we're probably sitting at, I can't remember exactly maybe six or seven clinicians and we were maxed out. And I really needed to hire. And I probably spent nine months most either nine or 10 months trying to hire. And then I went through a moment where I went through the whole hiring process. And if you're a group practice owner, you totally get me on this. It's so discouraging. And so zaps your energy when you're trying to hire and, and so as I was trying to hire, the person got all the way to the end, she was a perfect candidate. And then when I offered her the job, she said, I'm gonna stay at my current job, I was so discouraged. But I will tell you this, even while that was going on, there was a part of me that was like, well, she's perfect on paper, but something didn't feel right about the culture, it just didn't feel right. For who she was, for our practice, even though she seemed like a great clinician, it's really important that you're thinking about your culture, when you're hiring. So then I started the hiring process, again, went through all the phone screenings, the interviews, the Enneagram, tests, all those things, references. And I found another good candidate. She had her license, she had a lot of experience, she had a lot of certification, she knew the people in town, she was just a great hire. And at the same time, though, there was something about it, that didn't feel right. But I tried to move forward anyway, gave her a job offer, she actually signed it. And then four days later came back and reconnect on me. And I was just like, What is going on here? There are clients that need help. There are great clinicians out there, I had never had this much struggle hiring. But at the same time, what I needed to be asking myself is What is God doing right now? And what do I need to pay attention to? Right? I was trying to force my practice to grow instead of waiting and moving with it, right? It's kind of the idea of we use all this energy, like paddling upstream, when really we just need to flow with the river and see where it takes us. Right. And not that we can't have goals for our practice. But you want those goals to be in alignment with what's already going on. You don't want to have goals just because other people have goals or you think you've got to get to this certain point and do what do what seems like the best thing for you and your practice and what brings you joy and what feels good. And I think that is what it means when we go with the flow, right? That we're going with what seems like the best option for us instead of what we feel like we have to do. So it was right after that second person didn't work out, but I was taxed out exhausted. And then my husband came to me and said, Oh, by the way, this lady I know has a daughter who just quit her job, and is looking to know more about private practice. And I said, sweet, so I gave her a call. We talked about the practice for a minute, she weren't necessarily looking to get hired, she just wanted to know about private practice. So I asked her a few questions, realize she was a perfect fit. And then I was like, Well, are you looking for a job and she was like, yes. And so we went to dinner the next night, because we were actually didn't even have any time to do an interview. On my schedule. For a few weeks, I was like, let's go to dinner. So I took her to dinner, and hired her on the spot. And she has been the perfect fit for my practice. And so all that to say is I was trying to do the whole

square peg in a round hole, when really, I needed to slow down and be thinking about my culture, go with the flow and find fit that was right for me. So within your practice, you're gonna have ups and downs, you're gonna have times that are really fast paced, and really slow. And so I think as business owners, it's important that we personally slow down, right? Because you're not going to be able to really enter into the flow of your practice. If you're trying to force things, you're trying to do things. And I can think of so many times that I've tried to make things happen in my practice, and I get pushback from my therapists. And then I realized that oh, this is because it's my agenda, what I'm trying to do, instead of listening to them, or listening to what's going on in the world around me. And then as a faith based clinician, honestly listening to what I think God's asking of me, right, it's important that we slow down so we can hear that voice and that we know the right direction that we should go in as practice owners. And so as you kind of hear some of these stories, some of the takeaways I want you to have from this podcast episode is, first of all, number one, this is normal, that having ups and downs in your practice, it's not a reflection of who you are, or that you're some kind of bad practice owner that you're incompetent. It's part of owning a business. It's definitely part of private practice. I mean, we know even simply the example of clients or bids calling more at certain times of the year, clients have more needs certain times a year and other times they are slower. It's not a reflection of you. It's just a reflection of how it is and the things that are going on in our seasons and in our world and in people's lives at certain times a year. And so first of all the ebb and flow of your private practices more Moulton, it's not necessarily a reflection of you. And then the next thing I want you to take away is, when you do have a change in your practice, let it be a time for self reflection. So I don't want you to just say what's not me and move on, like, take a moment and ask yourself, is there something that I did that changed something? Is there something that I need to do to fix it. And sometimes it's going to be the case, sometimes it's not going to be the case. That's why I think it's also important that you have people you can trust either in your practice or friends outside your practice. In fact, Gordon, and myself and Jessica and Uriah, your I, Guilford and Jessica to pay and we all are in a mastermind group together we meet every other week. And this is the kind of stuff we'd say like, it might be, hey, I had three people, you know, quit the job in the past six weeks, what do y'all think? You know, it's, so we can say, hey, well, maybe you did this, or hey, maybe it was just random or coincidence. So we get strength from one another. And so the second one here is just thinking about is there something you've done and how you can fix it and really get that support from other people along the way. And then the last thing here, I want you to really focus on is an invitation to something else. So when your practice changes, instead of fighting against it, creating anxiety, I want you to have open hands and open arms and say, Hey, how can this be good? How is this an invitation to change in my life? In my practice, what else is in front of me that maybe I've been ignoring, or I've been running away from me, I felt that way, when I decided to do faith based consulting, because my practice was going really well. And being the entrepreneur that I am, I kind of was getting stagnant, a little bored. And I was like, what's next? What's next, and then later, realizing, Oh, this is what's next. Right? And so I embraced that. Slowly, but surely, and moved into it. And so as you find things changing in your practice, I want you to have an embracement ask yourself, what the invitation is in to try out something different, something exciting, I am really grateful for the ebb and flow of private practice, because it allows us to change personally and allows us to change as business owners, I was just telling a client the other day, we don't have change, when things are going well, we have changed when things get rough, right. And when you look back on your life, and you see the greatest things that have happened, it's usually when there was great change, maybe it was the birth of a child or where you got a new job, or you left a job for a new job. You know, you got married, or even personally, when you go through personal change, usually that's when your character really grows. Or when you get through conflict in your marriage, you look back and you say, Wow, that was when I got really close to my spouse. I mean, the list goes on. If times, I'm sure that you can look back and say this is when something was challenging, or I questioned it. And here's how I grew through it. And the same can happen for your practice. So I appreciate you let me take a few minutes to talk to you about the ebb and flow of private practice.

I want you to look for those opportunities. And then if you're looking to connect with me more, I would love to talk to you. You can shoot me an email at Whitney t owens@gmail.com. Or you can head to my website. And it's Whitney owens.com. join the mailing list and get that free PDF on four ways to market and network with churches. Thanks for hanging out with me and next week we're going to be talking about your phone calls and emails and how to convert those potential clients into actual clients.