We recently connected with Allison Cohen and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.

When I was an intern just starting out, I felt like I had good instincts but needed a lot of reassurance since the magnitude of the job was so great and I took my responsibility as a therapist so seriously. I had an incredible supervisor by the name of Anat Cohen PhD. Overall, she was just outstanding at her job but what was most impactful to me was the way she responded one day after I was reviewing a case with her. Her exact words to me were the following – “I don’t know what you’re doing but you’re clearly doing deep work so keep doing exactly what you’re doing.” It was just what I needed to hear to grow my confidence as a therapist.

The truth is that grad school gives you a great basis for theoretical orientations but it does nothing to teach you how to be a therapist in the room; to really be able to listen to the client, hear what’s underneath the words and how to intervene skillfully. You either have that skill innately or you don’t. Dr. Cohen reaffirmed what I believed to be true about myself and when it came from somebody that I respected so much like her, it allowed me to enter the room with each client with a new found sense of knowing and confidence.

Allison, 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’ve been lucky enough to work as a private practice psychotherapist/marriage family therapist for over 21 years.

Like anyone in the field pursuing licensure, I first worked for several years as an intern doing my clinical hours and then sat for my licensing exams once I completed my hours. Immediately after becoming licensed, I opened my private practice in Tarzana and opened a second office in Beverly Hills.

I specialize in what I call, “Life Issues” – the struggles that are universal to the human experience at one time or another such as anxiety, depression, challenges with relationships and communication skills, life transitions and low self esteem. I also work with clients struggling with emotional eating.

The best way I can describe my personal style is to reference several clients that have commented over the years that my style is very different than other therapists that they’ve seen. I have a conversation with each client. I don’t tell them what to do but I do offer specific tools instead of just nodding, smiling and asking people, “How does that make you feel?” It isn’t to say that I don’t ask people how they feel because of course I do! But I think the point is that I make each session an active engagement between myself and my clients. They walk away having a better understanding of how they’re feeling about the issues but also an actual concrete plan of action.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Up until March of 2020, I operated the exact same way in the exact same offices I had since the very beginning. And then the pandemic hit.

I was deeply concerned that my practice would fold because nobody ever practiced via telehealth. Some doctors had integrated Technology into medicine but therapists really hadn’t. Psychotherapy has always occurred face-to-face, in the same room. When that was no longer a possibility due to Covid, I moved my practice home and hoped against hope that clients would still be open to working together even though it was a completely different/potentially less personal format. And truthfully, I wasn’t sure if my abilities would translate over a computer.

Over the months and years that Covid took hold, I was very pleasantly surprised that not only did my skills translate over the computer, I was also still able to feel absolutely everything that the clients were feeling even though it was through a webcam and a computer screen. And very fortunately, my clients were open to the process as well.

I had long-standing relationships with many of my current clients, so they already felt comfortable with me. Others, however, were a bit reticent never having met face-to-face. I told every new client that though I was finding telehealth to be extremely successful, I understood their apprehension. I would offer one session to see how a client felt and if they couldn’t get over the hump of working together over the computer screen, I would do what I could to find a better fit for them. I’m very happy to say that I’ve never had a client start with me and not feel comfortable proceeding even via telehealth.

Ultimately and funny enough, most of my clients have told me that they actually prefer telehealth these days for the convenience factor and because they still feel the connection with me even over the computer.

From a marketing perspective, I immediately changed all of my professional profiles and google ads to advertise my telehealth services. It was such an intense and painful time for so many people that my business ended up growing tremendously. I’m incredibly grateful to this day that my business was able to survive and continue to thrive but it just happened to be the luck of my profession as there were so many businesses that weren’t so lucky due to Covid.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

It may sound corny but I truly love my job and I truly care about my clients. Over the years, there were a few opportunities that would have allowed me to pivot towards greater financial success but I stuck with my job because this is what I’m meant to do. I believe that my clients can feel not only the experience and skills that I bring to the table but my true investment in their well-being.

No matter what I may have going on in my personal life, I’m 1000% present and bring the same amount of energy and effort to every single session that I conduct. Though advertising has been helpful in building my business over the years, the bulk of my growth came from (and continues to come from) referrals that I get from current and past clients. There is no greater compliment than that and to me, speaks volumes about my reputation in the field.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.LifeIssuesPsychotherapy.com
• Instagram: AllisonCohenMFT
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100049759401839
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@AllisonCohenMAMFT?si=4yS5rryvDfXspzQ7

Image Credits
Hylah Hedgepeth Photography