We recently connected with Jasmine Simmons and have shared our conversation below.

Jasmine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

Mental Health has been a very important factor in my life in which I already knew that I wanted to have my own practice to make a difference. For a few years, I had to remind myself while I was in graduate school that I have to continue going because this is my purpose and I want to go beyond just being a therapist but a business owner. In 2020, I decided to take a leap of faith and obtain my LLC, Tax ID and Domain. I put it in a folder and told myself when I am ready and receive my clinical licensee after completing my hours, I would start to take the next steps to open up my practice in 2021. I had a checklist of what I wanted to do in the specific order. The next steps I did was open up a business account and contact a website company to set up the EviJoy website and the logo for the practice. Also, I had to get paneled under different insurances to make sure that prospective clients can reach out for counseling knowing that their insurance will cover the sessions. I had to register for an EHR system in which claims can be submitted and for billing purposes. Lastly, get set up with a CPA to ensure that I had the accountant portion under control. Lastly, I had to market and ensure that referrals were rolling through.

The biggest challenge with setting up your private practice is really all the information you are constantly learning as a business owner which can be very overwhelming. There is money you have to put in to start your business and with that really comes being able to pritorize what is needed first. There is that real fear of how will the referrals come in? Especially when you expand into a group practice, there is that same fear of will I be able to fill up everyone;s caseload?

Thus far, for me I learned a great amount from the two private practices I worked under which gave me a glimpse of how it is to run a business and I took from those two practices what to do and not do. I do not think I would have done anything differently per say but just that I wish I would have really looked more into the laws when it comes to 1099’s versus W2 employees. I highly recommend other therapists who are thinking about opening up their private practice to hire a lawyer just to go through very important information when you decide to expand to a group practice. Whether you are a solo or group practice, I highly recommend an Administrative team. I made sure to get an Administrative Assistant and a Billing Assistant to take some workload off of me. You do not want to face burn-out.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Jasmine Simmons and I grew up in Nigeria when younger and truly value all different cultural backgrounds. Being a mental health therapist is very important to me as I see that the representation is strong with being an African American woman, there is stigma when it comes to discussing mental health struggles. Thus far, I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. I have been in the human service field for 8 years now now. I started working as an Employment specialist guiding individuals with intellectual disabilities, working as a Residential Coordinator and having a supervisory role, I have extensive experience working with the homeless population with finding housing, mental health and substance abuse ongoing treatment/resources. Also, I worked with the substance use population running various groups such as an Intensive Outpatient Program, Recovery group and Dual Diagnosis group. I became fully licensed as a counselor in 2019 and worked in Private Practice ever since.

I opened up EviJoy Counseling Center in 2021 and started with just me as the only therapist with a billing assistant to help with insurances and claims. My husband helped me come up with the name of the practice. Evi is part of my middle name “Evina” and Joy is also my middle name. I came up with this name thinking about the overall meaning of life and joy. The logo has a butterfly which is essential to signify change. There is a hand holding the butterfly which shows that the client has the strength to reclaim their power. It matched the vision that I wanted to see happen with clients that come in to receive mental health services. I want clients to feel that there in a safe place that offers them tranquility and calmness and being able to feel and know what Joy is.

EviJoy Counseling Center expanded and now is a group practice with 7 therapists. We offer individual therapy sessions to teenagers and adults who are primarily dealing with anxiety, depression, mood fluctuations, stress, low self esteem, life transitions, grief, perinatal mental health, infertility, miscarriage/loss, relationship issues and trauma.

I feel that EviJoy Counseling is different from other practices because we have the focus on Perinatal Mental Health. May mothers need support during pregnancy and the postpartum stage. Also, women are struggling to conceive and or dealing with loss. There are two therapists including me who have lived experience in this area. Therefore, with my lived experience with Infertility, fertility treatments and miscarriage, it helps me understand fully how clients feel and it creates a safe place where clients can feel seen knowing that they are not alone in a journey that does makes you feel alone.

I am very proud of where EviJoy Counseling is going and the fact that clients know that they have an authentic therapist that knows the importance of being able to relate to clients, provide clinical insight and validation and empathy. As a therapist, I have been here before in ever stage of my life of experiencing trauma and going through anxiety and depression. This is a non judgemental space because as a therapist I am constantly learning the importance of taking care of myself too and everything I am telling my clients, I am ensuring I am doing for myself. The mission of EviJoy is to help clients reclaim a sense of power, control, hope and safety in order to reach their fullest potential.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In order for me to become a licensed therapist, it took taking the licensing exam 5 times before I finally passed. I struggled with anxiety when it came to test taking. I was very scared that I would not be able to practice and make a huge impact in the mental health field if I did not pass the exam. Even if I kept failing, It did not stop me from picking back up and trying again every time. I strongly believe that I was destined to be a therapist and I understand how much of a testimony this could be. I knew the material and I knew I would make a great therapist so I used that as encouragement to help me keep going. All when this was happening, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome which is a hormonal disorder that can affect many aspects of your reproductive health. For me, it affected one of the biggest parts for me which was my fertility. I had unexplained infertility and also a septum blocking my uterus which had to be removed in order for me to have a chance to conceive. I struggled for 5 years to conceive and went through surgeries, 3 Rounds of IUI and 3 round of IVF. The first round of IVF brought my husband and I our first pregnancy with our daughter in which we lost. I was diagnosed with PTSD after that and thankfully was able to have our miracle rainbow son in 2021 and suffered with PTSD during the pregnancy due to fear of loss.

This shaped me as a woman and a mother. I had to endure alot of pain and really struggled with depression and anxiety in this stage of my life. However, I built resiliency. I decided to advocate about Infertility/Reproductive health and became involved int he community. I shared my story on several platforms and told myself that I would not hide and I deserve to have my baby here on earthside. My story deserved to be heard.

Any advice for managing a team?

When you build a business, there is alot to learn not just from the beginning but constantly. You have to ensure as a business owner/supervisor that you are willing to learn and take feedback. It is very essential to always want to learn as you would want to grow as a professional. One thing I learned with having a team is that you have to make sure you have a plan when it comes to the structure of how things need to look like. You do not want your team to be stressed when it comes to the administrative side of things so you want to ensure things are communicated very well in the beginning and that you fully understand how you are running your business so that your team feels confident on what you are sharing with them.

Also, it is so important to have monthly or bi monthly meetings to ensure that you are sharing any important information to your team or providing additional support.

Offering incentives or providing training I feel is a way to maintain a high morale and respect from you team because you are showing that you value them and you want to se them continue to grow and learn too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evijoycounseling.com
• Instagram: evijoy.counseling

Image Credits
Purity Touch Denise Adams Photography