We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ginny Gutman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ginny below.

Ginny, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

My first job after graduate school as a therapist was a family therapist position for at risk school-aged children and their families. It was and will always be the hardest type of therapy I’ve ever provided. I had been trying to get a job at the clinic the position was based out of and had seen they were looking for family therapists. I had never done family therapy before then but I did love working with children and teens. And honestly I really just wanted to break into the field in a paid therapist position. I brought up some things I had looked up about the therapy model they used during the interview and I think that it really helped me get the second interview and then the position. They could tell I was very interested in the position and motivated to learn the therapeutic model. I will always be so happy that I did that job for a couple of years. It was so challenging but I learned so much about being a therapist and how important the family system is to clients and what they bring to therapy in general.

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?

Even as a child I knew I was a deeply feeling and naturally empathetic person. I was drawn to the subject of psychology even in high school and decided that it would be my major for college. I also had the experience at the time of talking to friends about their problems and thought- I could be really good at helping people feel seen and understood. I feel lucky that I knew go towards being a mental health therapist even back then as a career and I went to graduate school pretty soon after getting my bachelor’s degree. Especially early in a psychotherapist career you work with a lot of different type of folks. People from different backgrounds, different cultures, who have had different experiences, and who present to therapy different struggles and mental health issues. I’ve found through process of working with such a wide variety of people that I am particularly passionate in helping individuals with anxiety, life transitions, and relationship issues. Even though these can be really hard pain points for people I believe there’s so much hope for things to get better that it feeds me the energy I need to help people work through what they need to. Nothing is more rewarding to me then being able to be a small part of the journey to people feeling and living better. My genuine curiosity about the origin of concerns/issues clients are struggling with and providing them to have a tailored therapeutic experience based on their desired outcomes is what sets me apart from other providers. I work to make sure I understand what is individually going on for my clients because everyone’s needs are unique!

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Having flexible thinking. I am constantly having to switch gears within and outside of sessions with clients while staying curious/thoughtful/present. If I got stuck in trying to help individuals in one particular way and didn’t remain constantly creative in how to approach folks solve problems, I don’t think I would be very good at helping. Remaining flexible in how I think makes it so I can tailor interventions and the ability to see each client for who they are- a unique person with an individualized story. I believe thinking flexibly also helps foster the creativity that’s needed to keeping up in the business of helping people. There’s always more to learn when you’re running your own practice.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had been running private practice as a side job while also working for hospital or healthcare systems as a mental health therapist for a few years. When I moved to San Diego from upstate New York in 2019 I knew I wanted to go into private practice full-time. I wanted to make sure I had the ‘lay of the land’ so to speak in knowing how the private practice field here worked before I made the leap into working for myself entirely. And then the COVID pandemic hit and everything with therapy went virtual. I decided in November 2020 that it was time to fully commit to my own private practice and I quit my full-time job. Even though I had thoroughly had done research and understood what I was getting into, it’s one of the bravest things I’ve done. I’ve never demonstrated my confidence in myself more and I’m so glad I did. I just knew if I didn’t try I’d regret it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ginnycounseling.com
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/ginny-gutman-san-diego-ca/805343

Image Credits

Diana Rose Photography for the professional shots of me in the blue shirt.