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

Buffy, appreciate you joining us today. 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 decided to start my own holistic health practice after working in the field of social work providing in home services for high risk and highly suicidal kids. When working the homes of these individuals, I began to see that there was a lot of practical information and education missing for these families, and that with a little radical hope and proper information families could make subtle shifts to create big and lasting change for their families mental health and well- being. I was working for a non profit agency that honestly did not create sustainable ways to work with these families, and this is why I decided I needed to branch out on my own.

In knowing deep in my gut that starting my own thing was necessary, I realized quickly that in order for me to actually achieve what I wanted I had to simultaneously work for this agency AND continue working late into the night to work on back end set up for all the things I knew I would need for starting this business. I also knew that it was not going to happen overnight. And this may have been the first time in my life that I wanted something, and I couldn’t work to have it right away but the work would be long and arduous.

The first few steps I took in trying to start my own practice, was meeting with ANYONE and EVERYONE for coffee to simply learn. I had to learn from other practitioners who had gone before me, I had to learn from accountants and lawyers and other business people to know what all might actually be necessary for me. Some of the biggest challenges really just included the ability to be patient in the process, and to grow as the opportunities presented itself. It’s hard to also do the direct client work I wanted to do while simultaneously being the CEO of my business and running all the back end things. It’s difficult to wear so many hats that you had to learn how to put on.

If I was going to give advice to any new young professional trying to create their own path, I would say to stick to what their vision is while simultaneously holding the flexibility in hand to make shifts necessary to thrive. All the while coming back to your mission. I would also say to not give up, and don’t expect big things in a year. But keep working, keep showing up, and know that your hard efforts will pay off.

Buffy, 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 am the owner of the holistic mental health practice, Made Well Center for Wholeness, as well as the owner of The Wellness Buff, LLC. At the Made Well Center for Wholeness, we offer mental health counseling, monthly workshops, health coaching, gut health coaching, as well as yearly retreats for women. Our primary goal is to help people live well and feel whole through empathy, education, and empowerment. We don’t want to just give someone a hand out, but a hand up. Allowing individuals to truly learn how to engage in healing outside the office space. Our clinicians specialize in everything from trauma work, to couples counseling, anxiety & depression.

At The Wellness Buff, I work individually to provide functional mental health and wellness coaching to help individuals learn how to understand their baselines of health and wellness all to help them develop healthier and more sustainable patterns to heal their mental health struggles. I approach mental health with the understanding that our bodies and brains work TOGETHER to heal, and we can’t heal one without the other. I am able to provide lab testing for individuals to actually check for neuroinflammation and neurodegenesis to help identify root cause issues, and healing for the long haul.

I think what sets the Wellness Buff & the Made Well Center for Wholeness apart from others is the fact that we truly seek to integrate health and healing. We work collaboratively with our clinicians, and we TRULY want to see people be able to heal outside the office walls and learn how to adequately advocate for themselves with their health and wellbeing.

I am most proud of the way that we don’t sacrifice our values all for the sake of making a dollar. We aim and strive every single day to create a space where we are authentically aligned as clinicians to provide the best care for our clients. Money will never be our driving factor in how we choose to care for our clientele.

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

Honestly, I think the thing that helped me the most with building a reputation within my market is the fact that I earnestly work to be authentic in the realm of health & wellness. I try to practice what I preach, and people can see that. People know when you’re just trying to be flashy and sell them an idea. People want to know you can be trusted to actually walk the walk that you’re going to make them walk. I also am a straight forward individual, and I do not try to fluff up my clientele. I want them to know what they are getting into, the work it will take, and the effort it will take for them to get where they want to go.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The best advice I can give for managing a team is to actually care. Do not bring people onto your team that you feel are going to be difficult for you to deeply care for. And also do not bring on people from a place of fear, but out of a place of abundance. When you can do this, you will always have a thriving team. In order to keep morale high, you have to show constant appreciation for even the little things your team does, and you have to build the trust within your team. Trust comes when you follow through with incentives, and praise, and having the availability your team needs in order to confer with you when needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.madewellenter.org
• Instagram: @themadewellcenter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hello.wellness.buff
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/wellnessbuff