We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Landry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

My first job in the field was at Thompson Academy. In graduate school, I worked at Longhorn Steakhouse to help pay for my bills. One night, a group of mental health professionals came in and a friend of mine was with them. She introduced me to her boss, Dr. Bliss. Dr. Bliss, a psychologist, said to me, “Come and see me when you graduate”. I went and saw her and the rest is history. She offered me my first job as a therapist working at a juvenile delinquent program. During my time there, I became licensed and stayed with the company as I was promoted to Clinical Director of Broward Girls Academy. My first job was tough but it taught me a lot about being a therapist, ethics, and how to work in a team. It was a great first job in mental health and I’m forever grateful for the experience.

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’m Amanda Landry, formerly Patterson and I’m a licensed mental health counselor. I’m the owner of Caring Therapists, a group practice with offices in Wellington, Davie, Royal Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and virtually throughout the state of Florida. Caring Therapists has over 35 therapists who specialize in depression, anxiety, couple’s counseling, trauma, play therapy, and child/teen counseling. I’m passionate about making mental health counseling accessible to our community which is why we accept most major insurances. I’m proud of all the work we do to serve our community. My other business, My Private Practice Collective, offers consulting to therapists wanting to build solo and group practices. Personally, I love practicing yoga and I’m in the process of becoming a Registered Yoga Instructor. I’ve been married for almost three years and have an almost one-year-old son. My other loves include Pumpkin and Skinner, our tabby cat, and hairless sphynx.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My husband, David Landry, and I co-own our practice. He’s a licensed psychologist so it works out that he can be co-owner. We actually met as undergraduates at Nova Southeastern University. I was in a sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon and he was in a fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. We started as friends and remained connected throughout the years. We have the same birthday so this was something we connected over for many years. In 2005, we started our master’s program together. I even did a project where I had to interview him. This is when I learned he grew up in Canada and moved to the states in the early ’90s. After graduating once again, we remained friends and stayed connected on our birthday and around professional endeavors. Fast forward about 8 years, we started dating. He completed his doctoral program and became a licensed psychologist. As we were getting married, it made sense to bring him on as part owner. From there, we have grown the business into a successful practice and we make all big and a lot of small decisions together, even though I’m the day-to-day face of the practice.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first started Caring Therapists, it was called Caring Therapists of Broward and I had three other friends and colleagues of mine with me. It was very fun to start. But it didn’t grow. I was renting out space to therapists but it wasn’t organized in a meaningful way. I’d brought on more therapists and rented additional space but something wasn’t working. I worked with a business coach, Joe Sanok, who encouraged me to change over my entire business model from renters to contractors. It was nerve-racking having to go to the team and tell them that everything was changing. Some therapists left, some therapists stayed, we let some therapists go, and we hired more people. It was the best decision because it gave us the capital to grow the practice. We moved into a bigger and better office. We got nicer furnitutre. We hired admin staff to help things run smoothly. It paid off and the business we built is booming and our therapists are fantastic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.caringtherapistsofbroward.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amandaplmhc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaLandryLMHC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandapattersonlmhc/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/amandaplmhc
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/caring-therapists-wellington

Image Credits
Blue Anchor Love Photography