Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Angie Corry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Angie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
I remember after being in several jobs I took a personal and professional inventory on things that I felt weren’t fair for the communities that were being served. When I opened my practice, I made a promise to myself to keep true to what my core beliefs were. I opened my practice with the idea of what the community could most benefit from. I looked at socioeconomic status as well as basic need and went to incorporate that into practice that was built on acceptance of everyone. As you can imagine in the mental health field with there being such a lack of service, this is some thing that was extremely needed. Some of the logistics were things such as overhead had to be worked on as well as location being central to several different towns, was extremely important to me. That way our client base could be much larger. Some of the challenges were opening during Covid and the cost of rent being super high at that time also learning how to, communicate are main objectives to the community that were underserved and had gone such a long time with a lack of services. We used a ton of different collaborators based on our relationships with other business owners to really educate the community on what we were about. Regarding doing things differently, we always talk about the idea of self sabotage, and how other peoples opinions can really amplify this. One thing I would do differently is I would focus entirely on what our mission is, and take more risk based on that, and not worry so much on other peoples opinions about our mission regarding mental health and the ability for every body to access it. For young professionals I think it’s important to really explore exactly what you want in a profession. You may take a job that necessarily doesn’t check all the boxes but it doesn’t mean that you can’t get there eventually. Happiness in your job in mental health should be fueled by your passion.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Angie Corry and I’m the owner of Island Therapy. We are mental health group practice providing therapeutic and holistic services. I wear many hats but one of the major ones is being a licensed clinical therapist in the state of New Jersey. I got into the industry as an owner of a group practice during Covid because there is a lack of mental health services available in the area. Our practice currently provides mental health services as well as holistic services for children, adolescents, and adults. We set ourselves apart from other group practices, because we believe that wellness is deep rooted in a collaborative approach across many disciplines. Without a doubt, I am most proud of our client progress rate -we truly see wellness happening one session at a time at our practice..
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Yes so the first half of 2023 was the hardest and most traumatic time of my life. I lost both of my twin boys later in my pregnancy so I had to learn to apply what I teach others to myself while undergoing severe PTSD symptoms and also focus on my own physical wellness all while making sure the company survived. This was really hard for me because I was so used to being super involved in my company. I am so glad I have an awesome husband and team that was able to step in when I really needed them. If that’s not the definition of a partner and mental health professionals I don’t know what is.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
A strong understanding that everyone sees life from a different lens and that’s what allows our work to be so unique. If you can build a good understanding of this it will help you in be more open minded and effective in the profession.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.islandtherapyllc.com
- Instagram: @islandtherapyllc
Image Credits
All photos done by photographer Kayla Cruzado