We were lucky to catch up with Carly Bassett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carly, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I was sitting near the front row with an ocean of other graduates in cap & gowns in the warmth of a May Texas evening. It was my college graduation. I had completed my degree at the University of Texas at Austin in just three years, working hard through summers to gain credits so I could wrap it up early and embark on what I expected would be an exciting career in public relations. I did not even intend to go to this massive event because it was so hot and crowded, but someone convinced me to because “the fireworks show was really cool.” At that time I was surrounded by mostly women who had aspirations of climbing corporate ladders and hob-knobbing with society elite. I had internships at places that looked great on a resume and figured I was on my way to fast-tracking the pay off of my student loans and securing a full-time job with benefits. Except, that night, with all the pomp and circumstance, instead of feeling excited and hopeful about what was next, I looked around at all these other communications school graduates who I assumed felt confident in what was next for them, and I did not feel a shared sense of belonging. The one thing I was sure of was that I was done with school forever. As the evening went on, the deans from each of the university’s colleges came to the podium and addressed their graduates of the class of 2004. When Dr. Barbara Jones, of the School of Social Work came up I remember thinking “what is social work?” As she spoke, I had a strange feeling come over me. All of the sudden I had a vision of myself being back here, on these very steps, graduating with a social work degree. I did not know how, or when or even anything about what that would entail. I just knew it. In her address, she quoted Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, organized citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” I have heard or read that quote a thousand times since that night. But on May 20, 2004, I heard it for the first time, and I knew I belonged in another cohort of people who would be doing something much more meaningful than creating PR campaigns. We would be changing the world. Four years later, I graduated from the same University with a master’s degree in Social Work and nearly 20 years later, I can say showing up to that ceremony and taking in Dean Jones’ remarks was a defining moment for me as a professional, and as a person.

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?

My first job out of graduate school was at a non-profit hospice agency. For the first seven years, I was part of an interdisciplinary team and my role as a social worker was to support patients and families who were in the dying process. Working with the terminally ill provides one with so many opportunities to learn about life, what is important, how systems and families work (or dont!), how to advocate, when to speak up, when to be quiet, and most importantly, how to hold both death and life together at the same time. From those years in hospice, I have so many memories imprinted in my mind. There are the people that you never forget. There are circumstances that impact people that would otherwise be unfathomable, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I have been both gutted and restored a million times over from that work and it has a huge influence on who I am as a therapist today. When I left hospice care, I went to work for several years as a psychotherapist working exclusively with homebound older adults. The therapy office was the client’s couch, or kitchen table. Sometimes it was the edge of their mattress. The experience in this job felt like an extension of what I started with as a hospice social worker, only I typically got to spend much more time with these clients. I have a very special place in my heart for older adults, mostly from my own relationship with my grandma. As I counseled people in their own homes, I developed such a sense of who they were and how their environments impacted them. It allowed me to do a depth of work that is not possible in a traditional office setting. And while I worked in these amazing agencies, I also had begun a private practice of my own on the side. This allowed me to work with a more diverse range of clients and experiences, and gave me a real sense of professional fulfillment.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

In this field, everything is about the quality and integrity of the relationship. You do not need to be the smartest, most credentialed clinician to be effective. You do not have to have specialized training in a myriad of modalities. What you need is to show up. On time. And consistently. If you do those things for people, whether it is clients or colleagues, or associates, I believe you are well on your way to success. We have a deep understanding about what it means to have healthy boundaries and secure attachments in relationships, and we educate others about that those things mean. All of that must be modeled within the relationship between therapist and client. We have ruptures, sure. And we continue to show up, on time, every time.
Sometimes we do not know how to help people in terms of what intervention “to do” and that can feel disorienting for clinicians. But, I remind my trainees all the that one should never devalue the importance of being a consistent, reliable person. That is the first intervention and one that never stops being important.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Grace has described me in the past as her “social work fairy godmother.” Although it is an endearing term, I don’t see myself that way. I first met her when I was on a panel of interviewers for internship seekers at the hospice agency. She was in her final semester and hoping to secure a hospice placement. I recall she had a very interesting and dynamic history, and experience in prison doula work as an undergraduate. I understood then how closely birth work and death work are, and she did, too. When the semester ended, she applied for a job at the agency, and I too, was on that interview panel. She got the job. As she was starting her career, I was about to leave hospice care, but was also beginning to supervise master’s social workers while they worked toward their independent licensure. Grace joined the supervision group I was forming. For the next two years we were together in that group consulting and discussing her hospice cases. When she got her independent license, I recommended she apply for an open position where I was, providing psychotherapy to older adults. She got the job and we worked together again in that setting for a while, until I decided it was time to launch out into my own independent practice full-time. While there, I did encourage her to think about a side-practice for herself. She launched and soon after decided to go all-in herself, and left agency work. Now, after all these years, we found ourselves at this point in our careers where we were on the same plane. We had lunch one day, and had this idea about starting a therapy business together. It was born out of our own experiences working in non-profit agencies and at times feeling stifled clinically. We knew there were many others like us, who stayed stuck in those roles for too long because launching independently had too many risks. We figured, if we created a place for people and minimized a lot of those risks, and helped them transition into private practice, we could bring a lot of wonderful clinicians into the community and also expand access to quality mental health services. And we did exactly that. Nearly four years later, we have a group practice with 24 clinicians and two offices. Our partnership has been beautiful and complimentary. What I love about Grace is that she has a vision and she runs with it. She is not taken down by set-backs, and she is generous in her time and sharing her wisdom with others. What I did not know about Grace when we met, was that she is also very forward-thinking and a psychedelic-friendly therapist. She has recently carried our group into a new area as we develop a Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy program at Moonstone Counseling. In our training, she shared the story of our relationship journey with our colleagues, and it was really moving. She spoke of how I was there at these critical junctures for her and brought her into those professional spaces along her career and how that impacted her. It was humbling to hear, and the journey is really a circle. She has taught me so much, and trusted me along the way, and also expanded my views and understanding about what is truly possible to help people achieve healing, growth and understanding.

Contact Info:

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