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

Allison, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

When I started down the path of deciding I wanted to open my private therapy practice I had to face my own inner imposter syndrome. I remember as a new therapist in 2016 I couldn’t ever imagine feeling confident or capable enough to open my own private practice. That felt completely out of reach and I always had the thought “who would want to see me specifically?”. So my first challenge I faced when embarking on this path of starting my own practice, was doing my own inner work to accept that I am not some magical unicorn therapist (nor do I have aspire to be that) and also that I AM good enough to belong in the private practice space.

In terms of more logistical challenges I had when opening my practice, I encountered some struggles with building of my office space. Because I decided to go more of a unique path with creating a “she shed” style office space, I had to navigate the stressors of the building process. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my husband who is very handy and knowledgable, but it still left so much stress on my mind to handle the obstacles that arose related to building the structure.

For anyone who is thinking about starting their own practice and they aren’t sure if they are good enough, that anyone would like their idea, or that it’s worth even trying..I say to you, if you feel it’s something YOU would go to yourself then you should go for it. When you truly are able to be authentic and be so self-aware of your strengths, then you build it, and they will come.

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?

I am Allison McQuaid, LCPC, PMH-C and I am a licensed counselor in Maryland specializing in working with moms navigating the perinatal period (which includes TTC, pregnancy, loss, postpartum, and stress associated with motherhood as a whole). I became a therapist in 2016 and focused my interests and internship on working with children initially. I’ve always enjoyed helping children and being in a helping/caring role (working previous jobs as a babysitter and camp counselor at the YMCA).

It wasn’t until my own experience with early pregnancy loss and navigating pregnancy and postpartum during the height of the pandemic in 2020, that I found my new focus in specialization of therapy. After working virtually for two years and then transitioning back to a hybrid structure of providing therapy (at a group practice at the time) I found myself torn on how to approach my future attempting to balance my role as mom and therapist. My husband suggested we build a structure on our property and open my own practice. I literally rememberer saying to him, “do you really think people will want to come here?” and he encouraged me to think about it.

Then in early 2023 we started the hard work to make this dream a reality to open a practice on our property to welcome clients to my unique office space.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

It’s hard to even consider this a “strategy” per se, because it’s really just me being me. So much of the therapeutic relationship is building a trusting, safe, unconditional space for clients to feel welcome, heard, and seen. I think what attracts client’s to my space is not only because it’s welcoming, homey, unique, but also because the person on the other side of the chair or screen (virtual) is really seeing them and what they need. I am a human first, and I have no problem showing that to my clients.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Leaving the group practice that I had grown as a therapist for over 5 years was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my career. In 2023 I had made the decision to open a solo private practice and leave my position as Clinical Director at the group practice I was contracted with at the time. I had built so many meaningful colleague relationships and friendships over the years. I had grown professionally and personally and really experienced a taste of what having full career autonomy could look like. During that time I had had the opportunity to step into new roles, feel challenged, received helpful feedback about professional development.

But I also had welcomed our daughter the same week I was promoted to Clinic Director. I had achieved two major milestones but never felt conflicted or pressured about how to succeed at both. It was internally that I was struggling to feel present as a mom and be able to dedicate the time I felt I needed with my daughter. I knew I needed to be on my own in my business in order to have the mental capacity to do well at both.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.treehousetherapyllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millennialmomtherapist/

Image Credits

Allison McQuaid