We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Maggie Hogan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Maggie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I find the idea of “taking a risk” so fascinating. I often look at much of what we do as humans as “taking a risk”. For many of us, it is a risk to share something vulnerable for the first time in a relationship, to move to a new place, to learn a new skill, or even to walk out our front door. It reminds me of what Bilbo Baggins said in The Lord of the Rings: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
With this in mind, I see many choices I have made as “taking a risk”. The one I would love to share more about is the risk I took to open my own private practice. In graduate school, they teach you very little about the business side of being a psychologist. You learn the skills and the research for practice itself, but are often left to your own devices to figure out how to support yourself should you decide to establish a career in private practice. Common advice is to start a part-time private practice while holding a full-time position for stability, but I found myself navigating a difficult decision when I was on the cusp of a move across the country and leaving my full-time position. I had to decide: do I look for a reliable position in my new location, and start my private practice at a more comfortable pace; or do I take the leap right into private practice and trust that I will land? I want to acknowledge that my assessment of this risk accounted for many areas of privilege. One, I have a spouse with a full-time job who was encouraging and able to provide financial support should I struggle to get my practice on its feet right away. This type of a safety net cannot be understated. Two, my parents have been incredibly consistent throughout my life in reminding me that I can do whatever I put my mind to. This type of unwavering support helped me to build a strong sense of self-trust amidst many leaps I had already taken in life. Third, I am a white, able-bodied, highly-educated woman, and I have had the privilege of accessing spaces wherein I felt a sense of belonging and empowerment.
There were also some notable areas in which I felt uncertain and uncomfortable. First, I had very limited exposure to the ins and outs of starting a business. I had to push myself to reach out to people in my community for support, and to research and seek online resources for support. As someone who prefers to solve problems on my own, this felt vulnerable and scary at times. I can’t tell you the amount of times that I would learn a new piece of information about starting a private practice that would lead to anxiety and self-doubt about all of the additional information I still didn’t know. Second, it felt vulnerable to make myself visible in the community. Starting my own practice pushed me to ground myself within my identity as a psychologist and my specialities more than I had ever experienced in working at universities.
Taking this risk to start a private practice has taught me many things. I have learned that I will be a life-long learner, and it is okay, and perhaps even preferred, to never feel I have “arrived” at a full sense of knowing. I have also learned to challenge perfectionism when it arises, knowing that it invariably impedes rather than supports progress toward my goals. With this, I am continuing to learn to accept the vulnerability and “messiness” that comes with imperfection and having to start before something feels just right. Funnily enough, many of the lessons I have learned (and am still learning) in starting my private practice overlap quite a bit with the work that I do with my clients. And as I write about this risk, I am holding that this is a risk that many psychologists and therapists have already taken, are taking, or are considering taking. This is a beautiful reminder of the connection and common humanity we all share. And as a brief update of an ever-evolving story, the risk to start a private practice feels worth it, and has become a fulfilling and thriving endeavor.
Dr. Maggie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a clinical psychologist and a private practice owner. I provide psychotherapy services as well as consulting and speaking/outreach services. I specialize in working with college/graduate students and young professionals experiencing anxiety, perfectionism, life transitions, relationship concerns, and low self-esteem.
Many of my clients are navigating the stress of adjusting to college, graduate school, and new careers and relationships. I feel passionate about supporting my clients in building self-trust, leaning into their strengths, and building a life that feels authentic to them. I love being able to co-create a space where clients with busy lives can truly slow down and reconnect with themselves, and find more alignment with their values, needs, and goals.
My practice is fully virtual and I love that I am able to work with clients across many different states. This provides a unique experience where the therapeutic relationship can stay consistent across major life transitions like moving somewhere new or starting a new job or academic program.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Since becoming my own boss, I’ve had to learn a lot about setting boundaries. Before, when I had a more traditional 8-5 job, much of the scaffolding around work/life boundaries was done for me. Now, I feel much more responsible for deciding when I am working and when I am intentionally making time for other important life values and needs. I’ve definitely had to unlearn some tendencies around not wanting to disappoint anyone. I’ve learned that I can do my best to balance my responsibilities and values, and even so will inevitably disappoint someone or not do things perfectly. This is a hard lesson to unlearn, and one that I am still unlearning. I hate the feeling of disappointing someone (including myself), and I have to intentionally practice giving myself grace around not being able to do everything all of the time. As it so happens, this is also a theme that regularly arises in my work with clients!
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
Absolutely! The work that I get to do is incredibly meaningful to me. It is truly an honor to get to be a part of the healing and growth process for courageous and inspiring people, every day. I feel truly fortunate to have a career where I can be a part of both individual therapeutic work and get to connect with larger communities during speaking engagements and outreach about mental health. The opportunity to work and make an impact on multiple levels is definitely a strength of the psychology field–I know that as I evolve and grow, my career can move with me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://drmaggiehogan.com
