We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexis Skopos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alexis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

Establishing our practice was quite the decision. At the time we (my partner) were both working at a residential facility. The conditions were not ideal and my partner approached me and she’s like hey I think we should do this thing. At the time I had really low confidence. I was actually in the process of going back to school for cyber security. It’s funny because during that time I did a tarot reading with someone and asked what my career path should be. First she pulled counselor and I said no no no I had her pull it again and it came back counselor again. A few weeks after telling Ellen no I came back and said let’s do this. I had had a bad day at work and it was just unreasonable of what they were asking us to do so I decided it would be best to work for myself. The first year I worked two jobs. I would wake up in the morning at 4:30 to work my first job until about 2 and then I would do the private practice till about 10 PM. We had gotten so big though within a few months that we were able to start hiring other clinicians. But due to my fear with finances, I stayed with my other job until January 2024. It was really betting on ourselves. It was terrifying that I was creating my own livelihood with my business. In hindsight, they’re probably would definitely be things I would do different. Mostly researching how to run a business but we did a lot of trial and error and lucky for us, it’s working out. The biggest lesson though I learned was you have to bet on yourself. With risk comes reward, but it can also be a road to get to that reward.

Alexis, 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?

My name is Alexis Skopos and I am a licensed mental health therapist in the state of Florida. I am specially trained in brain spotting, which is a trauma modality similar to EMDR. In regards to my experience I have definitely encountered a lot of environments. My first job into the field was working with children with autism . I had done this for about two years until I got a job at a methadone clinic. I worked there for a while until getting into my internship with my masters program where I worked at a women’s residential facility and a crisis unit in a hospital. From there, I worked with the DOTT team, which is a treatment team for parents who are in the DCF system due to opiates. Within the same company, I transferred to working with the school system. After doing that in Covid times I ended up at a rehab in Ormond Beach. This is where I met my business partner. From there, I got a remote job working back at the methadone clinic in the mornings and did private practice in the evenings. Now I am exclusively at our practice and doing things. I never thought I would do like being on a colleges advisory board as well as even interviewing for this magazine.

I am very proud of how far we have come. It started as a practice with two girls who were just wanting to get some extra money and it turned into a full-fledged big business. Currently, we have nine clinicians and two offices in less than two years. Be Kind to Mind Counseling has definitely been my baby. We have been working a lot on community engagement and partnering with others who are passionate about mental health

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I often get the question what is your secret? It always makes me kind of laugh because the secret was really just time. I’ve sent out thousands of emails and thousands of faxes and even personal letters to other practices or facilities. It really is about networking and creating relationships. I had never done marketing before, but I found I’m very good at it. Currently a network with a few clinicians a week and we also have created partnerships with some nonprofits in our area. There was a time where we would walk downtown and give out cards and candy. I just learned whatever you put into this is what you’ll get out of it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was not believing in myself. I had my own glass ceiling that kept me safe however that safety was making me unhappy. Growing up I watched my dad work two jobs. One of them being his own business and really just killing himself. I would always say I just wants stability. I don’t want to do that. My dad, though eventually really created an incredible business, but I never thought that could be me because I’m not smart enough or I don’t have a work ethic, etc. being able to break through my own beliefs on what I’m capable of has been the biggest blessing and also the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I never had a lot of confidence in my life growing up and also in the field. I think when you’re a therapist because there are so many different personalities, you’re always questioning yourself. But I really learned and the last two years being myself can get me exactly where I want to be. I just have to do the work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bekindtomind.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bekindtomind/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bekindtomindcounseling
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-skopos-ms-lmhc-54878653/

Image Credits

The one at a table was the Mother’s Against Drunk Driving 5k we tabled. The one with 3 girls is me, my partner, and our manager, the one with 4 of us with the neon light was when we won the Matt Buth award, and the last one is our clinicians at the holiday party.