We were lucky to catch up with Emily Hemendinger recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

As a therapist, I got into this career because I wanted to help others. I wanted to provide space, support, and care for those in need. When you have a big heart and care about people, you obviously also would love to see them succeed and do well. One of the most important lessons I learned as a beginner therapist was that if you attach yourself to the positive outcomes, you have to attach yourself to the negative outcomes. If we attach ourselves to the outcomes of our clients, we are giving ourselves too much power and credit AND this mindset can also affect our feelings of self-worth. By detaching from outcome and instead focusing on meeting the client where they are at, we are better able to be present with our clients which allows us to better treat them.

Another important lesson was to not let others’ opinions of you and your career path, dictate what you do. I had a supervisor who told me “Introverts don’t make good therapists. You can’t be a therapist here if you aren’t an extravert. Being a therapist won’t work out for you.” Thankfully, because I’m an extremely tenacious person, I took that as a challenge and used that comment to lean even more into my authentic self. If I had internalized that comment and let it get to me, I wouldn’t be the therapist I am today.

Emily, 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 currently the Clinical Director of the OCD Program with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. I am a licensed clinical social work, approved clinical supervisor, certified public health practitioner, and have my dual Masters degrees in social work and public health. I got into this field because after my own mental health journey and witnessing the mental health journey of family and close friends, I realized how difficult it can be to find and afford mental health care. Between finding in-network therapists, paying out of pocket costs, and finding someone who feels like a good fit, our mental health system can often lead to people feeling discouraged and overwhelmed. I am dedicated to creating and providing affordable and accessible mental health care, specifically for mental health specialty areas such as eating disorders and OCD.

Our program provides individual and group outpatient therapy to those with OCD and related disorders. We provide consultation, supervision, and trainings to community providers and are actively involved in advocacy efforts on a local and national level. We also will be opening an intensive outpatient program later in 2023. Our program offers services that are in high demand due to our program being the only OCD Program in the state of Colorado (and in most of the country) that takes most private insurances, Medicaid, and Medicare. I feel most proud of our team and our program’s ability to bring much needed services to Coloradans in an affordable and accessible way.

Affordable mental health services, however, are often poorly reimbursed and as a result our team is small and the demand is high. I’m deeply proud of our team’s ability to see complex patients, provide the utmost care and compassion, and show up each and every day despite this high demand.

To help offset costs of being a completely self-sustaining program, we are actively working on fundraising plans including our first fundraising event in June 2023. Check out our website and the department’s social media for more information about this event.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Creativity, boundaries, getting your own therapy, authenticity, and flexibility. That flexibility piece often gets overlooked, but is invaluable to being a good therapist, co-worker, and human. Also, in order to succeed in the world of mental health care, it’s important to have good supports and to be invested in cultivating interests outside of work and beyond helping others.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes, I think I would choose the same profession. Becoming a social worker and getting my dual masters in social work and public health were some of the best decisions I have made in my life. Social work is so grounded in the people, being in the trenches, and meeting the client where they are at. Social workers aren’t beyond working with their patients to find resources, they don’t just pass the buck on to someone without a clinical license because they are “above” certain tasks. Bringing together social work and public health has allowed me to have perspective on treatment interventions and program development that others may miss. As draining as being a therapist in this day and age can be and as difficult as it can be to be a leader in academia with a masters degree, I love what I do and I love where my path has taken me. I am immensely grateful for those who have supported me and for the many opportunities I have to not only provide therapeutic treatment, but also to teach, train others, supervise, develop, and create.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/psychiatry/PatientCare/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-program
• Instagram: cu_psychiatry
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-hemendinger-lcsw-mph-cph-acs-56b000176/
• Twitter: CU_Psychiatry
• Other: https://www.erp4ocd.com/