We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Juliet Rowsey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Juliet, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
Immediately after graduate school I jumped head first into private practice. As a therapist we spend our days providing a safe and nonjudgmental space for people to talk through some of their darkest moments. I have always felt honored to hold that space for people on a daily basis, but I am aware how intentional therapists must be about their own self-care because of the nature of our work. The idea of getting to balance the therapist life with roles like social media marketer and accountant appealed to me. Running my own private practice was the inevitable for me, so I pursued it first thing. However, the business side of private practice was an uncharted territory. I was learning everything from scratch, while I was still getting comfortable with actually being a therapist. I couldn’t focus solely on my clinical skills like most post-grads. I had to put forth effort into running a successful business, which meant taking classes on marketing and consulting with accountants to figure out how taxes worked. In the beginning I put a lot of pressure on myself because I wanted a full caseload and a known presence in the field. I worked long hours and saw clients at odd hours so I could make it all work. I wouldn’t change a thing, because I believe the hustle was sort of a right of passage that builds character. The only thing I would advise others who want to open their own practice is to not place so much pressure on yourself. The clients will come and you do not need to know everything at once. I am still learning to this day, and that is actually what makes being a business owner so fun.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Absolutely! I am Juliet and I run a mental health practice called Grey Embraced.
When I opened Grey Embraced I was adamant that this practice would not feel clinical or medical, despite using approaches backed by science. High quality therapy can still go “off-script”and make room for each therapist’s unique personality to shine through. Clients get to the root of their concerns more efficiently when they feel their therapist can be real with them.
I guess you can say I want people to feel seen, not observed. I don’t want to ever assume I know what is best for my clients just because my degrees and knowledge give me potential theories. Above it all, I want to understand the person in front of me. Grey Embraced offers a de-medicalized therapy experience, which simply means not feeling like you are visiting a doctor or medical clinic to be told what is wrong with you and given a standard treatment regimen.
The main thing I want people to know about me and Grey Embraced, is that this business is about making therapy more approachable, accessible and authentic. Sometimes shaking up the environment itself has a way of making a place more inviting. We also always have our pro-bono/ low-fee spots filled as just one way to make services more accessible. As this business grows, I hope to do even more for the community.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
As I was building Grey Embraced I felt it was important to prioritize customer service in a way therapists don’t typically consider. No matter how spectacular of a therapist you are, your practice’s reputation will suffer if people only feel welcomed and connected when they are in session with you.
Customer service includes so many things, but there are 3 basic opportunities any private practice can seize to improve their reputation. They are:
1. The first point of contact
How do you make potential clients feel when you greet them on the phone? Do you rush them off and offer the same generic script? Or do you try to establish a genuine connection immediately? Do you blow-off email inquiries? Or do you see them as just as important?
Contacting a therapist is intimidating, so when a client contacts your practice it’s on us as therapists to make them feel welcomed, heard and accepted. If you are struggling to respond to emails and calls in a timely manner then it is time to re-strategize your approach. You don’t need an “elevator pitch” or anything formal, you just need to be genuine and show you care.
2. What happens right before and right after an appointment
The appointment doesn’t start once the door is shut and your client has sat down on your couch. It begins once they enter the waiting room and ends once they walk out of the building. How are your clients greeted? How do you want clients to feel about your practice, not just you?
As therapists it can be out of our comfort zone to consider what the customer service aspect is like for our clients. But this is crucial in protecting and elevating your practice’s reputation. Subtle things like being excited to see them when they come in, sharing a laugh on the walk out, offering coffee or tea and being attentive to your inbox can go a long way.
3. When they don’t become a client
Practices thrive when their therapists are seeing clients within their interest and specialty. Being transparent about who you work with and where your expertise lies is not only ethical, but a crucial aspect of providing quality customer service. Casting a wide net burns therapist’s out and clients ultimately suffer because they are not working with their best fit therapist.
A potential client’s experience with your practice doesn’t end once you realize your practice is not the best match for them. That person is still on the hunt for a therapist who can serve them well, so we have an opportunity to make a lasting impression. One way to do this is by offering to help them find a referral. They might not be a good candidate for your services, but their sibling or best friend might be. The impression they leave with, even when they don’t book an appointment with you, also influences your reputation in the market.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Like most people. I suffered from imposter syndrome in the beginning, and still do on occasion. I had to unlearn a lot of expectations that I unfairly placed on myself as a newly licensed therapist. I felt so much pressure to “perform” well as a therapist because I was operating under a false assumption. That assumption was that clients just wanted an intelligent expert who can offer earth-shattering advice and solve their problems quickly. When I wasn’t in session or tending to the business’s needs I was taking additional clinical courses, drowning myself in research articles and reading therapy books non-stop. My knowledge soared but my confidence did not. I still over-analyzed myself after an appointment and over-prepared before each one. It wasn’t until I realized that you can have all the knowledge in the world and still fall flat as a therapist. If you can’t connect with the person in front of you on a human level then you are not doing your primary job, which is to simply be present for people. Once I relinquished myself from the need to be all-knowing, I relaxed and leaned into my natural instincts. My confidence soared because my clients and I’s relationship grew deeper. We made more progress because of this too. Since unlearning those expectations I have never looked back. I still spend time in the books and in the research, but I don’t lead with that in session. I lead with my natural instincts and it has paid off greatly.
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