Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Fabius Santos. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Fabius thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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 feel I have taken my fair share of risks but the biggest one was starting my own mental health private practice in 2020. I had just graduated in 2019 and was working for a private practice and started to become unhappy with my role. There were several issues but many of us providers were becoming unhappy and one day I decided that I was going to go out on my own. I knew the risks, I knew it was not going to be easy, but the truth is I have always had the confidence that anything I did would work out.

I had just bought a house, gotten married, and was expecting a child that year. There was a lot of pressure on me financially to support my family, and leaving a stable income to something unknown was daunting. I realized that becoming my own boss was something I had to do, I would never truly be happy working for someone else.

I ended up leaving the private practice job and started my small practice in an 800 sq ft location. It is funny looking back because no commercial landlord wanted to give me a space since I did not have enough business/work history but Wayne gave me a shot and trusted that I would have a successful business. We talk a lot about risk and how you never know how the cards will play out. I started my practice two months before the coronavirus pandemic hit and that was the most adversity I could have imagined trying to run a business. We had to switch from in person visits to all virtual, there were not many leads in getting patients. I was struggling.

Over time, I truly learned the business side of running a practice. From the billing, payroll, advertising, networking, I understood it was not enough being a good clinician but having enough business acumen to run a successful business. I learned a lot through trial and error, but through it all experience was always the best teacher. There were times when I thought about closing my practice and working for someone else but I slowly built a team that had the same values as myself in treating patients. This made running the practice easier as I could sleep at night knowing that our patients were in good hands and that they were receiving the best quality care that we could provide. Fast forward to now and we have a growing practice that has built a strong reputation in the Maryland area and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Doctor of Nursing Practice, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and also former adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins and Drexel University. I am the owner of Optimal Psychiatry and Wellness and our team consists of 9 psychiatric nurse practitioners. We’re an outpatient mental health private practice in Perry Hall, Maryland. We treat people ages 14 and up, and we specialize in medication management for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and ADHD.

I’ve always loved talking to people and learning about their stories. I think that everyone is inherently resilient, and some people are dealt a tough hand in life. My career in nursing has always focused on mental health. I graduated Nursing school in 2014, and I became a psychiatric nurse practitioner in 2019 and a doctor of nursing practice in 2023. I founded Optimal Psychiatry & Wellness in 2020.

One of our core values is spending time with patients and really listening to their stories. I know that patients want to be seen as individuals, not just numbers. We’re also planning to expand by hiring therapists to join our team this year so that we can improve patient access to care. We offer computerized ADHD testing and Alpha Stim treatments for anxiety. We are in network with commercial insurance – Carefirst, Cigna, Aetna, Johns Hopkins, and United.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One of the most important things that helped build my reputation in my market was networking. When I first started my practice, I remember reaching out to therapy practices, hospitals, and primary care offices, letting them know who I was. I remember taking donuts and my cards, trying to speak with anyone that I could.

At first, many won’t respond back to you, but the few who do, you can work on building a strong relationship with them. But the most significant way of building our reputation was patient quality of care. When patients feel they are getting great care, they will tell their friends, family, their therapist. And from word of mouth, you can generate a lot of new patients.

As you grow, you continue to cultivate new relationships with hospitals, practices, therapists, and your reputation grows alongside it. Eventually, you’ll be on the end of receiving many requests to partner or collaborate, just as you once did years ago. Remember, you always have to constantly innovate and not stay stagnant.

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

Managing a team is a lot of work and I think it is actually the hardest part of running a business. There are many different personalities and sometimes personalities can clash and you have to work on diffusing them.
Empowering your team and using their strengths is important in cultivating a strong business.

You have to be there for your team when they need you, they look to your for guidance and support. I like the saying, be the boss that you wish you always had. That has always stuck with me. Treat your employees with respect and treat them how you would like to be treated. Be sure to always look for new team building activities and make sure to surprise them to show appreciation.

Without a strong team, you can never run a successful business. Listen to your team, they are the eyes and ears of your business, and most of the time they are correct.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Optimal-Psychiatry.com

Image Credits

Alice Tran Photography