We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Catherine Schmidt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Catherine , appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

There is a lot of nuance and individuality when it comes to mental health, but one thing that I have found can universally help people is tuning into your own thoughts and getting curious about how you speak to yourself. Are you harsh and critical? Do you respond to mistakes or circumstances outside of your control with kindness and curiosity?

We internalize the voices we hear in our youth. So whether you are thinking about your career, weight, relationship status, or goals, your perspective and the way you treat yourself is inextricably linked to those early voices. When clients really understand this, an entire world of health and happiness opens up. Watching clients get off auto-pilot and take command of their choices is an absolute gift.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Dr. Catherine Schmidt and I am a licensed clinical psychologist and educator. I provide therapy and coaching within my practice, where I help women alleviate anxiety, recognize the resources and strengths they have within, and learn science based tools for lasting change.

It’s my life mission to encourage women to take care of their mental health and know that there are resources available to them, regardless of which season of life they are in. I am also a wife and mom- which is my greatest joy! I really practice what I share about creating balance, healthy boundaries, and intentional joy in your life.

In keeping with my desire to make mental health feel accessible, I created an online platform on instagram where we talk about all things women’s mental health. The growth of this community organically led to workshops and courses, and ultimately in creating The Good Mood Studio, a membership community for women to learn how to effectively manage your mood and thrive in your life and relationships (while embracing the messy parts of life along the way).

You can connect with me and learn more about this offering here https://thegoodmoodstudio.substack.com/ 

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think many of us in helping professions open a practice or become small business owners because we truly want to help. And while this is a wonderful goal, it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to running a sustainable, successful business.

I needed to learn how to establish boundaries more firmly, and one specific scenario reminds me of this.

When I started my practice, I very intentionally did not contract with insurance companies given it requires a significant amount of time and energy filing claims to be reimbursed for sessions and services. It was written clearly in my paperwork. A situation came up where a client’s paperwork was not being accepted and they requested I reach out to the insurance company directly to see what needed to be augmented in the superbill. Against my better judgement I decided to try and sort this out. This one call turned into hours, weeks, and months of back and forth and a ton of additional administrative work outside the scope of my role. I felt like I was betraying both my professional policy and personal limits. This was all energy that could have been focused in my client and helping them achieve their treatment goals.

I learned so many lessons from this situation:

1) Have everything in writing. I now include my rate for tasks such as these in the rare occasion I ever voluntarily choose to help in this capacity.

2) Compromising your time or beliefs rarely happens in one fell swoop; it is a slippery slope. One excuse or compromise leads to another… and then another. The solution for this is to constantly check in with yourself and get off auto-pilot.

3) Running a small business can feel isolating! Check in with mentors or colleagues regularly. Build a community where you can bounce ideas around and get support.

4) Take care of yourself and your bandwidth. Scenarios like this are how burnout happens. Establish boundaries and stick to them.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes, definitely. When I first began building my practice, I created systems to help gain referrals. This included generating consistent content on social media, which was very effective.

I realized in 2022 that my practice and career was exactly where I wanted it to be- I had more referrals than I needed-however I was a little tired of the process it had taken to get there. More specifically, I was disenchanted with sharing mental health content on instagram. The social media landscape has shifted greatly in the last three years, and there is now an abundance of mental health content (and sadly, a lot of it is inaccurate or overly simplistic, all for the sake of likes and clicks). Participating in the same capacity I had been just didn’t align with my goals or values anymore, nor did I need it as a funnel towards my practice.

I was craving a more meaningful and nuanced conversation around topics such as mental health, motherhood, and mood boosting habits, which made me think other women might be as well.

A place where therapy concepts are broken down and explained in an accessible way, and where life and progress are viewed as an ongoing art. No algorithm. No scrolling. No excessive noise. The space where women can feel less alone, with the core belief being that life is messy yet we always have agency over our happiness and mood.

This is how The Good Mood Studio was created. I now share weekly content for our membership community, and feel so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to provide this level of personalized information, encouragement and guidance.

This pivot was a huge lesson in truly observing how I was using my time. As both human beings and small business owners- how we choose to use our time, energy and resources literally creates our life.

You can connect with me and learn more about this offering here https://thegoodmoodstudio.substack.com/

Contact Info:

• Website: drcatherineschmidt.com
• Instagram: drcatherineschmidt
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-catherine-schmidt