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

Joseph , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us 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.

My partners and I started our own therapy practice, back in 2018, but were faced with several different barriers to actually getting the practice off the ground. The most challenging parts to trying to start our own business/practice, was believing that we deserved to start a practice, and believing that it could be successful. I am a licensed clinical social worker and I specialize in therapy and addressing mental health concerns. I have worked in outpatient clinics for several years, and unfortunately many of them solely focus on the quantity of services being provided and not the quality of services being provided. This lends itself to social workers, counselors, and paraprofessionals being assigned outrageous caseloads, long hours, burnout, and unrealistic billable hour expectations that leads to burnout, frustration, and emotional turmoil. Any ambition many of us had coming into the field were met with high turnover and low paying jobs that provided opportunities to do meaningful work in the community, but the work came with physically, emotionally, and mentally draining expectations that were met with abusive supervisors, financial struggles, and underwhelming positive outcomes for the clients we serve. I wanted to build a therapy practice that would focus on training and developing mental health professionals to provide quality services, pay therapists fairly, treat therapists with respect, and truly help the individuals and families we serve reach the healing they want, need, and desire. I have had to overcome the abuse and the frustration I have endured over the last 20 years, believing what others placed on me because of their insecurities, greed, or their own unhealed trauma. In 2022, Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness, LLC was reborn once again, but this time my partners and I have put in the work to develop a practice that will not only address the needs of the clients we serve, but also meet the needs of the therapists, counselors, social workers, and professionals who will pour into our practice and grow with us. My advice for a young professional social worker or counselor looking to start their own practice is this: do not operate alone, build you a partnership, or build a team that will support you, share your vision, and have the same drive to succeed. Get someone who is good with developing programs, someone that is amazing with administrative tasks, and someone who can navigate credentialing and paneling with insurance companies. Also, do not be afraid to take risks, make mistakes, and start over.

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 Joseph Snider and I am Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia, who has extensive knowledge and experience providing therapeutic and direct services to vulnerable, at-risk, and often overlooked populations. Joseph specializes in mental health and mental wellness, providing therapeutic services to adults and children, clinical supervision to licensed clinicians, and healing to relationships. Building healthy relationships is his passion. Joseph is striving to become an expert in the practice of relationship empowerment, relationship coaching, couples therapy, marriage counseling, and he strives to build healthy, powerful, and well-balanced relationships in the lives of everyone who seeks after the knowledge, values, and skills Joseph has honed over the last sixteen years. Joseph is the author of three books, “Love Me Right or Not at All,” “Unfinished Love Stories,” and “30 Days of Love: Daily Practices for Dating and Marriage.” Joseph is a Christian, a Licensed Minister of the Gospel, an Ordained Wedding Officiant, and a Certified Life & Relationship Coach.

My partners and I have an therapy practice, Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness, LLC. Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness, LLC (TEW) is a therapy, life coaching, and holistic wellness agency that seeks to provide culturally competent, family oriented, and community-focused mental wellness/behavioral health care services to individuals, groups, and families of all ages and backgrounds. TEW, provides clinical/therapeutic services, clinical training, clinical and reflective supervision, program development/program integrity consultation, life coaching, practice development, provider development, and provider training to those who desire to be healed, restored, and rehabilitated; and to those who want to be facilitators of the holistic healing process.

Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness provides, individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy, relationship coaching, spiritual life coaching; has a ministry assistance program that provides support to church leadership, church members, ministries, and religious organizations who need support. For therapists and other providers, Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness provides, clinical supervision, professional coaching, program development with supervision, clinical training and empowerment, business coaching, and billing and coding consultation.

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

I believe in order to succeed as a social worker and as a social worker who specializes in therapy, you must have the determination not to be placed in a box or have limits placed on you. You must believe in yourself, believe in your skills, and go for what you want and desire. A successful social worker is driven to be successful and to improve the lives of those they work with and are connected to. A successful social worker works to improve the human condition, is a voice for the voiceless, is an advocate, and empowers those who may have had their power taken from them. Fight to be in rooms that people say social workers shouldn’t be in and speak up when people try to silence you. There are ways to stand up in our profession and for our profession while being professional, ethical, and powerful.

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

If I could go back, I would do social work all over again. However, I would definitely apply for graduate scholarships and avoid student loans. I also would have signed up for advanced placement so that I could have completed my MSW (Master of Social Work) degree in one year instead of two. If I could go back, I would have applied for doctoral degrees that were fully funded and took the jobs that offered tuition reimbursement or student loan forgiveness. I love that I chose a professional that allows me to engage and interact with people from all walks of life. I love that I can be a case manager, a clinical manager, an advocate; I can work in schools, hospitals, outpatient clinics, or directly in the communities. I started off working in a nursing rehabilitation center, then I was placed in a position to work with the unhoused or homeless population, I then was able to work in a transitional housing program, a community support program, long-term care program, age in place program with the elderly population, therapy, and clinical leadership and management.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therapeuticempowerwellness.com/
• Instagram: @rsmrelate
• Facebook: Therapeutic Empowerment and Wellness
• Twitter: @relationshipjw
• Youtube: @josephdsnider7590
• Other: Twitter: @jspotwriter IG: @jspotwriter IG: @tewpllc Linktree: linktr.ee/josephdsnider