Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gregorio (greg) Lozano Iii. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Gregorio (Greg) thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

The moment I chose to want to become a Licensed Professional Counselor, and realizing how through this role I can do work for a living independently, was the defining moment of when I started working on my goal of being in business for myself.
The biggest challenge for me to get to where I am today, was needing to return to school while already working a full time, and very stressful job while also trying to start a family. Working full time was an obstacle but not an actual barrier as I was able to get through it, despite me needing to drop classes and up to a semester at times. Once I got past my course requirements, I had to pass the national examination which required ongoing preparation all throughout my coursework and beyond, needing to study within school breaks. As if that wasn’t enough, I had to go 3,000 hours of internship with a provisional license before I could get fully licensed. Once licensed, I chose to work at the next best setting to a corporation, a local group private practice. That began to feel closer to where I wanted to be, but not quite. I had to spend a few years as a recently fully licensed professional before I became comfortable enough to venture out on my own. I had to learn just enough about marketing, business management, and even ethical guidelines and state requirements that mostly, the group practice would take care of. With the help of support groups and Mastermind groups, I finally felt ready, both intellectually and emotionally, to take a calculated risk.
My advice for a young professional is to break down your overall goal into smaller, more manageable goals, especially if the goal will take time in reaching as can be the case for a law or medical student. For instance, take it one semester at a time, looking at graduating as the end goal. And then perhaps gain some hands on experience, learning about business, and then take the leap of faith but with a calculated risk.

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.

My name is Gregorio but I go by Greg. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor licensed to provide counseling to people in the state of Texas. I founded my own private practice, Branch of Wellness Counseling PLLC, in February of 2022. My main scope of practice is helping individuals and couples with their relationship challenges.
I got into this industry by first becoming a mental health case manager for a local community mental health clinic. It was at this job that I was exposed to try helping community members that receive care by providing skills training.
As a result of so much of what I call, “inexperienced experience”, I came to see how different mental health conditions originate, unfold, and affect the individuals and their closed loved ones from different perspectives. For instance, what meets the eye to the more fundamental factors that led to someone’s struggles. Consequently, I am able to see human suffering from an entirely different angle than I once used to as a lay person, a case manager, and now as an actual professional licensed to provide care.
I pride myself in going above and beyond my state requirements for continuing education credits as I get trainings that are lengthy in learning to treat specific issues (example, relationships, trauma). Ultimately, I believe that as my skill level improves, the more I can help clients find healing and relief from life-long struggles and that this in turn, helps strengthen my brand. In essence, I take my work seriously and my mission is to truly help people find the relief they never thought possible.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Emotional intelligence (EQ). The fortunate thing about EQ is that unlike IQ, this form of intelligence can be more easily learned, acquired, and applied. EQ is something that can help you persevere in timed of stress, major setbacks, life getting in the way, so that you can reach your goal. Once you reach your goal, say, opening your business, it is still needed to help you navigate the ups and downs of the business itself as well as from navigating stress from our personal lives that may spill into our business operations.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I don’t regret the decisions I took early in my career because my experiences have led me to where I am today. Just because one experiences a “fluke” doesn’t mean that it was time wasted. Sometimes we experience obstacles because something better is yet to come but the timing may not be right. Because of this, I do not regret having obtained a Master’s degree in Psychology that I never used when I could have gotten a Master’s in counseling to begin with. I clearly remember that beyond coursework, I went through hardships that helped me get to where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.BranchofWellnessCounseling.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorio-greg-l-66b0a039/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BranchofWellnessCounselingPLLC

Image Credits

Mary C Haskin Photography