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

Hi Ellie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

I started my own therapy practice in 2014 after leaving a practice that I have been previously employed at but no longer felt aligned. At the time, I was living in rural Minnesota, and opportunities for young therapists were hard to come by, so essentially I created my own to ensure I had a job. Transitioning to work on my own was largely straightforward, and I had a mentor that walked me through the basic steps of private practice to ensure I was practicing in alignment with state laws, insurance laws, and my ethics boards.

I practiced as a solo practitioner for a year and a half in MN, and moved to Nevada shortly after, at which time I transitioned my practice, keeping many clients virtually and establishing a clientele in Nevada. About one year after moving to Nevada, I expanded into a group practice, when a colleague asked to come work for me.

Because I had a relatively well-established solo practice, I mistakenly thought the transition into group practice would be similar, however I quickly learned that the two are nowhere near the same. In many ways, I had to go back to the drawing board with the mindset of a group-practice owner to create an entirely different foundation and business model. Fortunately, I had mentorship to support me in my process, and I was able to navigate this new territory with my previous experience in solo-practice.

Looking back, I would say that the biggest challenge of those early years was a combination of inadequate funding (I was a young single mother of two, and a new business owner who was trying to cash-flow a business) and minimal experience in leadership in private sector with a lot to learn. With this in mind, I would advise any young professionals about to embark into private practice to seek out consultation and mentorship in their industry, and prepare financially upfront as much as possible to not only start the business, but to be prepared for the many unexpected financial adventures they will most certainly encounter.

Ellie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a licensed professional clinical counselor, licensed in the states of Minnesota and Nevada. I have been practicing as a therapist since 2008. I started a solo practice in private practice in 2014, and have owned a group practice since 2017. In 2022, I became a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Therapist, and am thrilled to be able to weave this into my practice as well.

I pursued becoming a therapist because of my personal journey with mental health, and the positive results I obtained through therapy. As a result of this, I have always had a passion for psychology, and a genuine interest in helping people. After working in both the public and private sector, I recognized a need for reform in our industry which is what has inspired me to practice therapy as I do, as well as how I run my group practice. I am proud to say that my agency is clinician-centered, which I believe translates to superior client care. I have the utmost pride in my team, the way we genuinely help clients on our healing path, and the impact we have on our industry and our communities.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Establishing and growing a private practice is not for the faint of heart, and I joke that it is a blessing that I didn’t know then what I know now, or I probably wouldn’t have started my agency in the first place.

As previously mentioned, I started my practice as a young single mother. This means that I had limited time, limited support, and very little financial security to start a business in the same way that many other people would. Through hard work, dedication, and re-investing cash flow, my business eventually did get off the ground and now thrives. To this day, we experience challenges, as any business does, however, because of this difficult start, current challenges seem “easier” to navigate and recover from.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Yes.

I am deeply passionate about mental health and the direction I see our industry going. I predict that the clinical application of psychedelic medicines will continue to evolve in our industry, which not only provides incredible hope for many mental health diagnoses, but it also has the potential to change the trajectory of psychology. As a Certified Psychedelic Assisted Therapist, I am both thrilled and honored to witness and play a role in this.

Additionally, I am excited to witness the evolution of our field through ongoing research, updated business practices, and the use of AI to support an over-burdened industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ellieholbrook.net; www.sojourncounselinggroup.com
• Instagram: @elholbrook; @sojourncounselinggroup
• Facebook: Ellie Holbrook (professional page and personal) and Sojourn Counseling Group
• Linkedin: Ellie Holbrook

Image Credits

Alita Rey