We recently connected with Toni/Bronwyn Moran/Hockersmith and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Toni/Bronwyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Boost brings mental health awareness to industries to support their employees’ wellness. We started this journey long before COVID and the “Great resignation,” and the work has become even more relevant now that returning back to the work place or a hybrid model. We find that because we are therapists we can bring an alternative lens to the consulting world. We offer essential knowledge about how the brain manages stress in order to offer leaders and employees, alike, supportive strategies to help manage their burnout, stress levels, work/home life, and communication. We offer a common language that companies can use when discussing conflict between teams, organizational change, employee wellness and needs. On a greater level, this destigmatizes mental health. People feel more seen. And we can move towards a world that celebrates the humanness within the employee and organization.
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?
Boost is owned and operated by Toni Moran, LPC and Bronwyn Hockersmith, LPC. With extensive experience (15+ years combined) in the mental health and integrated health arena, our paths crossed enough times for us to recognize the shared values and dreams we shared, and we started Boost Counseling and Consulting. Boost offers the 3C’s: counseling, coaching, and consulting. Our counseling is neurobiologically supported (and supportive) and integrates mindfulness, CBT, and somatic techniques. Our coaching blends our counseling background with a more direct/agenda-ed approach to a specific goal or need (usually vocational, relational, or educational). And our consulting workshops and trainings support companies by bringing awareness and education about the psychology of how humans work, interact, and operate. All of our work comes from a Trauma-Informed lens, meaning that we believe that our work and our personal lives cannot be compartmentalized away from our historical and present-day experiences. Those historical or present-day stressors have a big impact on how we connect, communicate, and collaborate. So we urge individuals and companies to recognize and tend to the human and common neurobiological tendencies (and strategies) so that disrespect, excessive harm, relational toxicity, unhealthy conflict, and distrust can be managed or avoided altogether.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Bronwyn started Boost in February of 2018. The company she was working for was closing, and the biggest change in her life was about to happen…she was about to have a baby. She was unsure what the transformative journey of motherhood would bring. So, she was hesitant/scared/unmotivated to start applying to jobs in the field. After a vulnerable conversation with a friend she was able to trim down that she truly loved being a therapist and educator. And realizing that she felt so deeply that she needed to nurture this inner healer, she decided to start Boost. Boost started as a blog and quickly the universe began to offer incredible gifts that reinforced this brain spark of a company. Bronwyn quickly felt the rush of energy and sat down and formulated goals. She remembers laughing as they were putting ideas on paper because they felt so outlandish at the time. Boost was in its infancy…it was a blog…and a half-bad blog at that. The blog lacked a genuine voice. Boost needed a physical space. Boost lacked any prospects. There wasn’t a logo, or a website, or an inkling as to how to put it all together. Bronwyn was pregnant, working a full-time job, and not very motivated to add one more thing to her plate. But after those goals were on paper, it’s as if Boost became its own living and breathing thing. There was no turning back.
As Bronwyn continued to explore what Boost could be, she realized that Boost needed more. Boost needed a grounding force. Bronwyn had seen Toni in passing at Regis University (their graduate program) and was now working with her at the same company (that one that was about to close). They had chatted about life and gotten along. Dinners together became more frequent and soon Bronwyn and Toni started working on the same team. At that point, Bronwyn saw it. Toni was real. She was smart, compassionate, authentic, quick, and an incredible therapist. Bronwyn knew she needed to grab this star quickly, or she would be gone…onto a different brilliant career paving the way for other people and organizations. The two had become close enough that Bronwyn knew she needed to take a risk, so she asked her if she had interest in joining in with Boost. Like a romantic proposal, Toni beamed and said yes. They both finished their jobs. Bronwyn had a beautiful baby girl. Toni moved on to another organization. Boost paused. That pause felt tough and yet was so important in gaining traction. After 5 months of learning how to be a mom, Bronwyn and Toni felt ready to move past being a company that solely posted in Instagram and turn their knowledge into the practice and agency they dreamed. Bronwyn started seeing clients again. They gained 7 brilliant consultants. They started doing trainings with reputable companies. All the while, Toni kept her 9-5 until she, too, had a beautiful baby girl.
Initiate 2nd pause. This pause showed them their edge. The edge forced them to decide to fully commit/believe or stay steady and keep it as a side gig. This second pause offered space for Toni to leave her 9-5 and commit to Boost full-time. Fast-forward to today, Boost is a fully operational—and thriving—as counseling, coaching, and consulting firm. They have our own office (not shared)! They’ve surpassed their 5-year business goals (at 2 years). They both have thriving private practices. They are offering both monthly trainings and workshops. Their first workbook launched last year right before COVID. AND they get to spend most of their time with their thriving baby girls. Life is good.
Have you ever had to pivot?
We feel that COVID made everyone pivot in a dramatic way. We have all been shook by the hidden secrets it revealed. From the severe mental health crisis to the racial reckoning, we are still in this without a clear path forward. Boost was no different. For the first time ever, therapists were going through the same emotional strain and struggles as our clients (and there was no way to hide it). There was no ethical journal to follow to learn how to maintain professional boundaries and also connect in a meaningful way to the human struggle in front of us all. But we navigated the mess (imperfectly). And the results were profound: we found deeper connection with our clients and grew tremendously as therapists, mothers, and consultants. COVID also paved way for more dynamic and frequent conversations about mental health on a personal, organizational, and national scale. We were now being recognized and seen for our expertise in new ways. The world was craving the information and education we had/have to offer. We moved our practice to tele-therapy, which offered more folks access to mental health care. We moved our trainings/workshops to online spaces, which opened us up to working with national/international organizations. And launched our very first workbook the summer before COVID hit. So, we had an accessible tool to provide to folks who couldn’t afford or access therapy but needed guidance in how to manage the uncertainty, their emotions, and unforeseen stressors. We are starting to see clients in-person again, but it feels very supportive to offer our clients a choice. Some have realized that connecting virtually offers less impediments to scheduling consistent mental health appointments. Others, need the emotional support that a physical space and in-person connection offers. Our trainings have also pivoted towards a hybrid model. We can connect with folks in New York and offer in-house trainings to local Denverites. COVID made us dig deep and the profitability and support have followed suit. We have also been diligent and disciplined in practicing what we preach: recognize what is happening (awareness/mindfulness), get grounded (move, drink water, seek support), and engage creatively (collaborate, dream, believe).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.boostcounseling.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boostcounseling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoostConsultants/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boost-counseling-consulting/
Image Credits
Meredith Moran Photography McCormick Photography and Design