The Practice of Therapy

Gordon Brewer 0:00
This episode is brought to you by the practice launch club. You can find out more about that by going to practice of therapy.com/launch club and also by therapy notes, and you can find out more about them by going to practice of therapy.com/therapy notes

Hello, I'm Gordon Brewer, and welcome to the practice of therapy podcast, where we explore the business and clinical sides of running a private practice.

This is episode number 232 of the practice of therapy podcast. Hello, folks. I'm Gordon Brewer. glad you've joined me glad you're with me on this journey. And I'm really excited for you to be I know I say that a lot. But I really am excited for you to get to hear this episode. Along with the following three episodes, I'm doing something I've never done before. We've never done here at the practice of therapy. And that is a podcast takeover. And so for the next next episodes through the month of June, my good friend, Whitney Owens is doing a podcast takeover and you're going to get to hear from her and just learn a whole lot from her over the next month. Whitney and I are in a mastermind group together. And we were just kind of knocking around some ideas about just new ways to do our podcasts and new ways of doing things. And so I said to Whitney says why don't you take over my podcast for the next month. And so she agreed to do it. And I'm so glad that she has and I'm really looking forward to hearing from her and what she has to contribute to our, our, our profession, you know, Whitney's kind of superpower is helping people that are maybe faith based in their practice or faith informed as I like to call it and helping them grow those pirate practices and knowing how to do that. And not only a meaningful way, but also in ethical ways. And may remaining true to what we do as clinicians. And so Whitney is, is in the process of doing some pivoting and her career as a consultant. And I'm just so I just feel really privileged to have Whitney as a friend and my life and she has been so supportive to me over the years. And I've just learned a lot from her. So looking forward to you being with me for this podcast taiko are over with my dear friend, Whitney Owens. But real quickly, before we get to Whitney's takeover of the podcast, a couple of things I want to let you know and know about. First of all, Whitney is going to be holding an event here soon. And she's going to tell you more about it here in this episode. But Whitney is going to be hosting a learning experience where you get to learn about the Enneagram. That's another one of Whitney superpowers as she is my Enneagram guru. And we do a lot of talking about the Enneagram. And she and her husband James did an episode A little while back here on the Enneagram. And we'll have links here in the show notes and the show summary about that. The other thing I want to let you know about is I have recently launched a new thing, and it's called practice launch club. And so you're going to hear more about that here in a moment. But the practice launch club is really geared for those clinicians that are in the starting phases of their practice. I've just gotten a lot of feedback from folks around, really wanting more resources that are affordable and doable for those folks that are in the beginning stages. So I've created the practice launch club. And you can find out more about that by going to practice of therapy.com/launch club and you'll be fine links here in the show notes and the show summary for that as well. And also love for you to hear from our sponsor of the podcast, and also a little more about the practice launch club here before we get to Whitney's take over.

Rachel Bond 4:47
As your practice grows, the systems and processes you have in place will keep your practice running smoothly. That is why it is important to have an electronic health record system that is specific to mental health care. fighterz therapy notes is a complete practice management system with everything you need to manage patient records schedule appointments, meet with patients remotely create rich documentation and bill insurance right at your fingertips. Their streamlined software is accessible wherever and whenever you need it. They are who Gordon uses in his practice, and did I mention that they are one of the top rated EHRs for mental health private practices, their support is also second to none. Be sure to check them out at practice of therapy.com/therapy notes. Be sure to use the promo code Gordon to get two months free starting and growing. A private practice has a lot of moving parts. In those beginning stages. There's a lot to learn about running a practice in the business side of things. The problem is there is no real structured way to pull it all together. But you don't have to go with alone introducing the practice launch Club, an exclusive private membership community from the practice of therapy for clinicians. In the beginning phases of starting a private practice, the practice launch club will give you the support and structure you need to get started with your ideal private practice. It will guide you through the A to Z of starting and growing a private practice. You will have monthly zoom meetings with the other members and Gordon monthly training sessions and workshops with other private practice experts around topics specific to private practice. You will also have access to a resource library of private practice resources along with quarterly individual consulting. There will also be retreats and workshops exclusively for the members of the launch club. Did I mention it is also affordable? For less than what you would charge for one client session you can be a member of the launch club, so you get a good return on your investment. There is no risk you can cancel anytime. Check it out at practice of therapy.com/launch club. Enrollment is closing soon. So join now

Whitney Owens 7:14
Hello, friends, and welcome to the practice therapy podcast. Yes, I am not Gordon Brewer. This is a different voice speaking to your hearts and minds today. My friend Gordon Brewer gave me the opportunity to come on the podcast and do a podcast takeover. And that is not something that you ignore. I feel very honored that Gordon invited me to do this. And so we're gonna be doing four episodes together. So let me tell you a little bit about what that process is going to look like here in the month of June. So today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you about myself about my own practice journey about the work I do with practice owners, and then give you some options for us to continue to hang out together. And then on our next podcast, I'm going to talk about the ebb and flow of private practice the UPS the downs, figuring out how to navigate these crazy waters of private practice. And then we're going to do an episode on converting your phone calls your emails into actual clients. And we'll talk about that from an insurance based standpoint, also from a cash based standpoint, and within your niche and all those good things. And then on the last episode, I have a really cool interview with Aaron Potratz and Nathan Hawkins, who are from the shrink think they're just fun guys to talk to just to be real with you. But they have a really cool product that they're promoting. And I'm spending my energy and time trying to get the word out about the stuff they're doing for practice centers. So that's a little bit about what our journey together for the next few podcast episodes is going to be like. So I'm excited to hang out with you and do that. But before we kind of get going into today's episode, I want to share about an opportunity to connect with me. So what I really love about having my own business is being able to be creative and do things that work for me, and then be able to also meet your needs and things that I'm hearing from different people about what they're wanting. And so one of the things I love to do is talk about the Enneagram you probably heard me talking about the Enneagram with my husband on Gordon's podcast, I have no idea when that aired. But we did talk about the Enneagram. in private practice, I have found the Enneagram to be super helpful for my own personal life but also in running my business and working with my employees, and all those good things. So I use it clinically to with my clients. So I'm going to be in Atlanta, Georgia on June 13, hosting a live Instagram training, it's only going to be for 15 participants because it's not going to be so much learning and teaching for me even though there will be some of that. I really want to spend time diving in and exploring how the Enneagram impacts the way that you run your business, the way that you interact with people. How the Enneagram can point us to what our fears are, what our motivation is, and we're going to use that to help help us come up with ideas in our practice to meet roadblocks in our practice. So I really want to tailor the event to the people that come to the event. So if you're interested in the Enneagram, and you're anywhere near Atlanta, Georgia, I would love for you to come hang out with us to get more information and register for that you can go to my website with new orleans.com would love to hang out with you there. Alright, so let's get rollin today on this episode, and I'm doing a solo show about myself really, and about my practice journey, we really can learn a lot when we hang out with other people and hear about the things that happened in their own lives, their own stories. A lot of times, it makes me feel better about the junk that's happened in my story. Or it motivates me for maybe some things that I'm thinking about our ideas. And so I hope today as I share this with you, that it speaks to you in some way and that you have some action steps that you can take moving forward. So to tell you a little bit about myself. I'm originally from Valdosta, Georgia. Yes, not that Dalia, which is usually confused. That is where the onions are from Valdosta is South Central Georgia, hot and humid. Valdosta is actually known, ironically, for being titled Town USA, which was an award ESPN gave. Who knows now it probably was a long time ago even though sometimes it feels like yesterday. But I find it humorous because badass to Georgia out beat all these great cities like Chicago and New York and Boston. But yes, if I lost his title in USA, you probably can also tell that I'm from the south based on my accent. People tend to enjoy that about me. So enjoy the accent. And then I went to the University of Georgia for college. It was there that I started exploring. What did I want to do with my career? I wasn't really sure. After college, I interned at a at the Wesley Foundation, which is the Methodist campus ministry there. And I was spending time mentoring girls that were in college, helping them with whatever questions concerns that kind of came to me. And it was also just trying to feel out what I wanted to do with my life. I thought about going into ministry, I even toured a few seminaries. And that just didn't feel right.

Explored being a teacher, I explored being a doctor and nothing was like really settling with me. And then I started noticing that as I was meeting with these girls, more people wanted to meet with me, and people were texting me and saying, Hey, let's go to coffee and really wanting to pick my brain. And I started noticing that, hey, maybe I'm good at this, right? I mean, I'm sure you probably had a similar experience as you started thinking about becoming a therapist. But I was like, Hey, this is working, maybe, maybe I should do this for a living, right. A quote that I was given in college I thought was so impactful as we make decisions about our business and about what we want to do for career is do something you love so much, you would do it for free, and do it so well that you get paid to do it. And that is exactly how I feel about being a therapist and a consultant that the work I do. Boy, I just love it. And I'm sure you do too. Like you would do it for free all day long. But you have so many needs, and you have a home and kids and all these things. So you need some money. Plus, I love going on fun trips, I need money. Alright, so then after I've kind of started thinking about being a therapist, I went to graduate school and a school called Rich, my graduate university, previously known as psi, which the psychological studies Institute. That's a mouthful. That's what it was called when I went there. And then they had a name change while I was there to Richmond, had to do with K crap and a lot of different things. So I actually had the opportunity to go to a school that had different names. And so I loved my time at Richmond, it actually was a faith based Master's of counseling program. So I took all the courses that were required for a counseling degree. But then we also took integrative classes alongside like theology courses alongside so that was really cool. Like, just to give you some examples, theodicy why bad things happen to good people, we took a class about that. And then we read stories about spiritual development, because really, we know this, that who we are, as a therapist really makes an impact on the clinical work in the room with clients. And so it's important that we're doing our own work as well. And that might just be personal, it might be self care, and might be spiritual, like I found the spiritual work, my relationship with God to be pivotal in the work that I do with clients, and really just with my life and my business. And so I went to a program that kind of integrated all those things. And the reason I did that was faith was always a big part of my life. I grew up in a Christian home, but over time, that was some chaos at home. It really pushed me to go to church more. I got very close to my youth pastor. And so I just couldn't imagine doing my life without God being the central part of it. So that is why I went to a faith based program for my counseling degree. It was after that that my husband got a scholarship to seminary we moved on out to Colorado, Bethel. way wonderful place to live. If you ever get the opportunity to move out there, you definitely should. And it was there that I started doing political work took a long time to get my first job. And I worked at a psychiatric hospital for four years. I did admissions, I did the Ph. D. program, I wrote appeal letters to insurance companies, I did utilization review. You know, it seems like when you work at a hospital, they just throw you in there and give you a bunch of jobs, you know, whatever's needed. And so it was really great for me, I've learned so much working there, and was able to get all my hours and get license. And then my husband and I moved back to the state of Georgia, he was given a job at a church here in Savannah. And so that's what brought us to Savannah and I have absolutely loved living here. We've been here since 2014. And when I moved here, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. I mean, I knew I wanted to do therapy, I had this dream, that one day, I would own a private practice. I had worked at a private practice in Colorado part time while I was working at the hospital. But it had been like a kind of a collective of other therapists, we were all working together. And it was really good for me at the time, because I wasn't ready to leave the hospital, we needed my income. And a private practice gave me something to do on the side, getting my feet wet sand clients, and I just loved it. I loved that work. And I had this community of other therapists around me, we each had our own businesses, but we like shared space, shared our website and kind of came together and was able to grow our practices together and kind of benefit from one another, and referrals and all those good things. And so I feel really grateful for that time. So when I moved here, I kind of had thought maybe I could start a practice. But I was feeling like that probably wasn't a good idea. I'm in a town where I don't know anybody. And if any of y'all are from the south, especially a town like Savannah, it's all about who you know, like, nobody's gonna want to work with anybody if they don't know who you are. And you have this reputation. It is that kind of town. And so I applied for lots of jobs here, I use whatever connections I had, which was really just my husband's job. And the people that he worked with, reached out to people for me and I could not get a job. I even went to the hospital where I had worked like it's a sister hospital company. And they did not even care about hiring me. I was like, I already know your system. I've been here for years. I just think there's something to be said for when we knock on all the doors and they keep closing asking yourself, What is God doing? Where do I need to be?

And so I was never open to the idea of really doing my own practice here. So I didn't think it'd be successful, especially because I just moved here. But nothing else was working out. And I was like, okay, okay, God, I'm listening. What do you want? And so, craziness, which is what happens when you are listening to God, usually something crazy and fun on your journey. I had a colleague from from graduate school who was from this area, who knew another therapist to aligned with me in the way that we bring faith into the therapy. And he said, You two should connect us. You know, both of y'all are really cool. You both seem to have a similar idea. So we connected and what his name is Jimbo? Yes. From the south jimba. We connected we decided to open space together. And I started my private practice here in the fall of 2014. I had my first client I remember so clearly, January 2015. And it was actually the schedule though it was originally from Savannah. So he had tons of connections here. And he really helped me in starting my practice, he gave me my first few clients. And I remember so clearly, we were in this beautiful old home, we're actually still in the same building, it's, I feel so grateful. It's the kind of situation and never thought I'd have to I was much older and more seasoned as a clinician. But I'm in this old home, the trees are outside, I had called the heating company to set up the heat on to South Georgia, you're thinking really heat, you don't need hate, you do actually need heat and like January and February. So it was rather cold in this old house with wood floors. And I go, I had set it all up. I thought we were good. And I showed up about you know, 30 minutes an hour early and be ready for my first clients. It's awesome. And the heat didn't work. I was so embarrassed. And they, of course couldn't get there in time before this client was going to show up. And so I pulled out my space heater, and I was so apologetic, and I did a therapy session. I ended up having that client for like five or six years. There was a lot going on in that family. And so I feel grateful for those humble beginnings. And you're probably thinking about stories for yourself of when you started all this and what happened in those moments. Can you just have to laugh about it and be humbled in it. And I think these moments are really important for us as therapists especially as we grow. those humble beginnings remind me of who I really am and why I got into the work that I did. And just that these things all could be taken away from us easily. They were all gifts that were given to us. And yes, I've worked hard to grow my business. But there are also those small beginnings that were there. And it's important for us to remember those. And so then over the years, I've grown my business, I had a solo practice, I have children, at the time that I moved to Savannah had a 18 month old. So when I started my practice, she was 18 months old. And then I continued to grow until I had my second child. And I always was part time, three days a week 18 clients was about my max 18 to 20 was perfect. I started out I guess I didn't mention this part, started out as a cash pay practice. And that's kind of the model that I love, actually. But one of the other reasons that I started that way was because I wasn't able to get my license transferred to the state of Georgia. So a really long story, but they would not let me do it and had to go back and get supervision, even though I had already had all the supervision hours and clinical hours required in the state of Georgia, those things are now changing. If you look up the counselling compact, and the law is actually in the state of Georgia starting July 1, or changing where you get your license in two years instead of three post graduation. So hey, if I was moving here in August, then this year, I wouldn't have had this problem. But because of it, I had to go back and get a whole year of supervision again, which meant I couldn't get on insurance panels. And it had to start with cash pay. And I was able to grow a cash pay practice fulfill my caseload, within about six to 12 months of starting to practice in a new town. It was great. And I loved how things were going. And I was like, why would I get back on? Like, why would I get on insurance panels when things are going well. And this model works for me and the way that I do clinical work with people. And so I continued to stay with that model. I had my second child in 2016. And then in 2017, I was busting at the seams. I was thinking about what what do I really want? And where do I want to go now. And I really liked the idea of a community to work with me. And if I'm getting all these referrals, why would I not hire other faith based practice owners to work with me, and we can all work together and do this. There were a lot more things that went into that decision. But that is the gist of it. And so I hired a consultant and started growing my group practice. And I had a consultant for two years I did a mastermind group for two years, I made amazing connections. Some of the people I met in those mastermind groups are still some of my closest friends. In fact, that's how I met Gordon. He wasn't necessarily in I met him at a separate event, but also was I think we were briefly in a mastermind group together, he'll have to correct me if I'm remembering all that accurately. And then I started hiring people, I was nervous. I didn't think it would work. I wasn't sure what I was doing. But it worked in hire two people. At the beginning of 2018. I started out with a contractor model I heard the first in January, the second March. And we were all getting full. And so then I looked into hiring my next person at the end of 2018. And while all that was kind of going on, both of my contractors ended up leaving the practice. And just so you know, this is actually pretty common for people as group practice owners you hire, you're not sure what you're looking for, you end up making changes and things don't always work out with your first people, or maybe they're just not the right fit for your culture of your practice. And so one of them left because of another job opportunity that was too good to refuse. And she was looking for better retirement, things like that. And then the other one left to go work in another practice. And just to be honest, it killed me on the inside, you know, as I'm trying to find my way as a group practice owner and felt a lot of rejection had to really work through that. And if you own a group practice, you totally know what I'm thinking, talking about when we start losing your first people. But boy, it really strengthened you helps you figure out what you want, helps you figure out the types of people that are your culture for your practice. And so in 2018, that November, I hired another therapist. And she's fabulous. She's still with me, thank the Lord. And over time, I've continued to grow into now watersedge counselors name and my practice here in Savannah, we have 11 clinicians. I also have an intern right now who's a psychology student with us for the summer, which has been going really well by the way. And then I have someone who's our office manager and a marketing director. So it's a little bit about us. And just to tell you a little bit more outside of the private practice for me is when I was growing my group, I was looking for a consultant that knew how to integrate the faith component in the business. And it was something that I really struggled to find. And to be honest, I never really like located anyone who was doing that kind of work. And so then there was a tugging on my heart that maybe I should start working with faith based practice centers. I tried to run away from that I felt like there were so many consultants out there Are what do I really have to offer. And I wasn't really feeling sure about myself my own confidence. Even though people tell me all the time I come across as super confident, it's not always the case. And I felt very unsure about myself. But it was on a mountainside around Lake Michigan. As I was walking, I was reminded of a passage where Mary and Martha, and Jesus are together. And Jesus says to Martha, you are worried about all these things. But Mary has chosen the greater thing, right, because in this story, we found out that Jesus is coming to Mary and Martha's house and Mary, Martha, excuse me, Martha is the one running around trying to figure out how to prepare everything, the meal ready, and not really enjoying the fact that Jesus is in her home. Right, she's missing on something greater. And in that moment, along the lake side, I felt in my heart that I was focused on all the wrong things, I was focused on all the details of my practice making it perfect, when really like it was growing great. And I needed to be focusing on the bigger thing, which was helping faith based practice owners around the nation to start and grow their practices. And so it was at that moment on. At that time, I embraced this. And just a few months after that, I started working with faith based practice owners running mastermind groups, I hosted a conference, Gordon's talk to you about that, that was just right here in April of 2022. And it is my passion to help faith race practice owners. So some of the challenges that I help them work through is connecting and marketing to churches is a big one, how to feel comfortable asking for money, we sometimes have this mentality that our work has to be our mission and or like missionaries. And so how do we, you know, appropriately charge people, but also make money in a business off of it? How do we hire people with our similar value and culture? And what kind of culture do we want to have? Are we a Christian practice? Are we not? How do we mark it for our ideal client as a faith based practice? Do we want to be overt about it or more covert about it, these are just some of the things that we tackle. But I also just really love talking about who we are as people and how that influences our work. Because my own faith, my own journey will always make an impact on my business in all my clients. And what I also love is that the work I do, running my business, consulting others, God uses that in my life to change me and who I am. And I get closer to him. And that has been one of the best parts about the journey and about this process. So I'm passionate about working with faith based practice owners, I want us to be able to help communities and to do it well and to do it ethically and appropriately, and appropriately integrate faith into our work. So if you are listening to this episode, and you're a faith based practice owner, I want to connect with you please. I love hearing your stories, who you are. So here are some ways that we can continue to connect with one another. If you go to my website, Whitney owens.com easy to say and remember, make sure you put the s on Whitney Owens. So Whitney owens.com, there, you can sign up for my email list. And I will email you things about starting and growing a private a private practice with a faith based perspective, helping me with the hiring process, group practice, I run mastermind groups, run conferences, all these things for Faith Based Practice Center. So if you joined email us, it's really the best way to continue to get information, not only about events that I'm doing, but to also get information to help you grow your practice, I tried to create content that's really going to be helpful for you. So that's the best thing that you can do go to Whitney owens.com, join the email list. If you go to that website, there's a PDF that you can download on four ways to network with churches. Because that is one of the most common questions I get is people feeling nervous about how to reach out to a church, what do I say? What's the best way to reach out? What do I do when we actually get together? And then how do I like continue to foster this relationship to actually get clients from churches. So if you go and you go to wit news.com, you can download that PDF, and you'll have that as well. And then I throw different events and things I'm doing on to that page. So we'd love to continue to connect with you. And then remember, I'm going to be hanging out with you on this podcast for the next few episodes so that you can continue to learn about private practice. In the next episode, we're gonna talk about the ebb and flow of private practice. And then we're gonna jump into how do we connect those calls, get those calls and connect them into actual clients. And then on the last one, we're gonna be hanging out with the shrink thing. So again, Gordon, you're the best and I appreciate your friendship and for you letting me take over your podcast today and I'm looking forward to connecting with your audience more

Gordon Brewer 30:14
well, Whitney, you're welcome. I'm so glad that you took over the podcast, this is gonna be a fun experiment. And I'm hoping that one of you will be doing some more things like this here in the future. And, you know, regardless of whether or not you are a faith based practice, I think you're gonna find the next three episodes really helpful for you and your practice. And that Whitney has just got a lot of great experience, and knows a lot about running a private practice. And, you know, in particular, if, if you're in a group, if you're in group practice, Whitney has a very successful group practice in Savannah, Georgia. And she is one of the people that I lean on as far as just bouncing ideas and that, that sort of thing. So be sure and check out what she's got going on and get that free PDF from her by going to Whitney owens.com. And there'll be links here in the show notes in the show notes summary for that, but Thanks, Whitney for taking things over. That's, it's, this is gonna be a fun thing to do for over the next several months and, or the next several weeks, rather. And, you know, I'm really excited for Whitney in the new direction, she's going in the things that she's putting together. The other thing is, be sure and check out the practice launch club. And I'm excited to get this going. It's a membership community, for clinicians that are in the starting phases of running a private practice or getting a private practice going and really wanted to give people an affordable and, and great resource where you just kind of have lots of access to people, or to resources and me and other people that are at the same place in their journey. And so I'm really excited about that. And I'm sure that Whitney's gonna be showing up for some of our zoom calls every now and then. So be sure to check that out practice of therapy.com/launch club, and you'll be able to find out more about that and how you can become a founding member. So check that out. And also, as always, a big thanks to therapy notes for being a sponsor of the podcast. They are who I use in my practice, and they are the leading electronic health record system for mental health providers. They are really second to none, not only with their support, but they are also very reasonably priced. So be sure and check them out practice of therapy.com/therapy notes, and do take time to follow us wherever you might be listening to the podcast and you live us leave us some feedback. And I'd love to hear back from you. And just glad you're with me on this journey. So and again. Join us for the next three episodes as the one and only Whitney Owens takes over the podcast. I'm glad for her to do that. Take care folks. You have been listening to the practice of therapy podcast with Gordon Brewer, part of the psych craft network of podcasts. Please visit us at practice of therapy.com For more information, resources and tools to help you in starting building and growing your private practice. And if you haven't done so already, please sign up to receive the free private practice startup guide and practice of therapy.com. The information in this podcast is intended to be accurate and authoritative concerning the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host guests or producers are rendering legal accounting or clinical advice. If you need a professional, you should find the right person for them.