Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Charan Bashir. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Charan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I was inspired to start my own business due to my passion for mental health therapy that has grown over time. Throughout my professional career, I have had the experience of working with amazing supervisors, mentors, and leaders who have given me the guidance to manifest my visions of creating change in the world — through supportive dialogue and clinical intervention with individuals from all different walks of life.
My decision to create this practice was truly motivated by a personal drive to cultivate transformation within the world. I see the work that I do as a mental health therapist as contributing to a collaboratively addressed sociocultural challenge – trauma. I’ve worked extensively with clients dealing with over adaptations to trauma, the coping strategies that are created to maintain safety in times of increased emotional distress. This work has become increasingly valuable to me as trauma work not only allows you to see the plethora of challenges that individuals face within our world, but in the therapy space clients and I are able to re-establish agency, safety, and authenticity that allow them to navigate the world with greater resilience.
What pushed my vision forward was increased self reflection that occurred within and beyond 2020. A year that was characterized by challenging adjustments to a pandemic and witnessing social injustice, urged me to ask greater questions about what I was adding to the world around me and ignited a desire to cultivate the space to focus on impactful engagements through the lens of therapy, while also intimately caring for myself and members of my community. These reflections encouraged me to forge a path for myself as an independent practice owner, where I could engage with communities and offer support that was in alignment with my own personal visions to cultivate transformation.
At this current moment, my developing practice is a culmination of experience gleaned through years of clinical work as a therapist, invaluable time spent with incredible mentors who inspired courage in me to follow my visions and goals, and a desire to support those who have been impacted by trauma.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Learning more about my business is synonymous with understanding my personal journey to the discipline of mental health therapy that began with my engagement with Operation Snowball during my high school years. Operation Snowball is an international youth program that empowers student leaders through prevention education, community advocacy, and leadership development to create a positive impact. It was during my time at this retreat, I was able to discover a deep connection that I felt towards others and a deeper appreciation for varying facets of the human experience through personal story sharing. It was at this retreat as a participant I began to feel a sense of attachment to supporting, leading, and advocating for others. Towards the end of my high school career I felt inspired to become a part of leadership for this event, as Head Director, in order for me to continue to influence and inspire a community of my peers to develop attitudes, beliefs, and cognitive skills that would create the space for development of healthy and competent adults.
Following my graduation from high school, I felt a strong pull to continue the impactful work that I was becoming attached to during my experience with Operation Snowball. This led to me pursuing my undergrad degree in Applied Psychology in order to conceptualize supporting others through the lens of psychological intervention and empirically tested tools. At the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), I was able to find a beautiful crossroad between my passion as a supporter and discovering what was necessary to support individuals and communities using psychologically relevant tools. Following my graduation from UIC, I went on to pursue my graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the Adler School of Professional Psychology – my passion urged me forward on my educational journey as I was hungry to learn more multifaceted methods that could be used to cultivate true change and impact within the lives of others. Through the practice of clinical practicum, I began to see the impact of psychological interventions in real time.
At the present moment, I am a licensed professional counselor practicing mental health therapy in order to cultivate transformation for individuals, communities, and organizations. I have been incredibly motivated by my experiences throughout my life of supporting others and I currently practice from a trauma informed perspective in order to allow clients to experience true healing and restoration. Trauma has been an area that I have gravitated to due to the value it adds for clients who have experienced various forms of trauma within their lives. Impactful storytelling has always been a way for me to learn and develop an appreciation for the lived experiences of others and within the trauma space, I am able to work collaboratively with clients for them to rewrite the narrative of their lives beyond experienced pain. Beyond individual therapy, I also utilize a trauma informed perspective to impact organizations and communities through consulting – with a focus on organizational culture, DEI, psychoeducation, and employee empowerment to create a stronger throughline to positive employee experiences and organizational profitability.
Reflecting on my own personal journey at this time, I am in recognition of the courage that it took to take the leap in the direction of practice ownership, and I am abundantly grateful for the mentors who have invested time in me to build my courage to remain grounded in my own visions as I continue to navigate the multifaceted nature of trauma work with individuals, groups, and communities.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Therapy referral sites have been a great source of new clients as they grant vast exposure to communities. Clients can currently find me on Psychology Today, TherapyDEN, Monarch, and Zencare. I find that it is best to sign up for multiple referral sites because you are able to offer multiple points of contact to clients in need as they might be searching on multiple platforms.
Additionally, referrals from other providers and current clients serve as a funnel for new relationships. Building connections with providers in your discipline is helpful not only to connect with a multitude of perspectives on the practice of therapy, but to also create reciprocal referral funnels based on expertise and speciality – to ensure that clients receive services that will appropriately address their needs.
Referrals from current clients are supportive as those who are familiar with my working style are able to make referrals based on people in their lives who they believe I can be supportive to.
Lastly, marketing activations online are very supportive to cultivating new relationships. From instagram posts, to linkedin updates, online marketing gives me a way to connect with and market my services to communities in order to create access to impactful mental health support.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
There are vast resources to list as I enjoy consuming information that will be in support of my mission to bring best practices for trauma treatment to my clients, but I can list a few that really stand out to me – resources that have not only helped me in terms of business development and mindset, but developing personal insights that support me in showing up as my most authentic, compassionate, and open for my clients. Smartcuts by Shane Snow is a great read as the author, in a nutshell, describes how to move forward faster. In this text the author makes the assertion that in a world with far too many stipulations on what our process of progression needs to look like, we do ourselves a favor when we consider progression in unconventional ways. This text has been a great way to encourage greater innovative thinking as it pertains to business practices as well as marketing initiatives to cultivate engagement with a multitude of audiences.
The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson is another great read, and focuses on elements of psychologically safe workplaces to highlight inclusivity, engagement, and cultivating spaces that allow others to show up as their most open and authentic. I have really enjoyed this text as it urges us to consider how we interact with those that we work with. As a therapist who understands that the work for my clients is ongoing in service of their mental health, this book serves as a reminder for me to always create the space for safety in working with others even in the face of work and shared obligations that can at times pull us out of our most compassionate selves.
The Dharma in Difficult Times by Stephen Cope is a text that focuses on facing adversity with courage and resilience. This text is a continual encouragement to me to discover the positives in challenges that I am faced with and to move forward with the prospect of what is to come as opposed to lamenting over what has already happened. I actually have gifted this book to a few people as I find that no matter what your walk of life looks like, we all face adversities and reflecting on the common humanity of these experiences and how we navigate forward is both encouraging and enlightening.
The last text I would share that has been impactful to me in my entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy is The End of Your World by Adyashanti. Though not a professionally driven text, this book describes the impact of reflecting on impermanence in order to support the greatest present moment action. As an entrepreneur wearing the many colloquial hats, it is valuable to consistently take a step back to reassess and not get lost in the many competing details fighting for your attention with a sense of urgency. This book has been an instrumental text in supporting mindfulness practices that benefit my own mental health and consequently my professional progression.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.charanbashir.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charanmbashir/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charan-bashir-lpc-cctp-ii-cimhp-961091a6/