Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katherine Ziskind. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katherine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
Yes, vacations are very important for the success of my business. About 3-4 times a year, I take a week and travel somewhere fun, new, and somewhere I have wanted to go. For instance, I went to San Diego about two years ago. I toured Petco Field, explored the La Jolla area and saw seals resting on the rocks in the sun, and had great tacos. While I was on this vacation, someone on my team quit, so I had to send a little bit of time organizing that. I felt so grateful to be on vacation when that happened as it was a surprise and unexpected. I was able to manage it remotely. Before I take a vacation, I run all the numbers and finances for it to make sure I have the cash to spend on fun activities each day. This can include money for souvenirs, food, ubers, kayaking, and a hotel stay. This way, I am not stressed out due to the financial components of the vacation and I can mentally relax and enjoy my time there.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, I’m Katie Ziskind, I am a licensed marriage and family therapist and the owner of Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, Connecticut. I also help families, couples, and individuals who reside in Florida. I run a team of holistic, expressive marriage and family therapists and help families thrive. I mostly help children, teens, individuals, and couples. I help couples after affairs develop their foundation of trust, love, and playfulness to feel safe growing together. I also help couples with sexual dysfunctions and intimacy issues improve their sex life and sexual pleasure. I work a lot with clients of all ages who have experienced trauma of some kind wether that be sexual trauma in childhood, emotional trauma from living with a narcissist partner, or complex trauma and support mind-body connection through meditation and yoga practices. When doing in person sessions, I help young children overcome anxiety and frustration through play therapy and creative arts. My team of therapists and I also help depressed, self-harming teens with eating disorders, and LGBTQIA+ curious young adults. My team and I are LGBTQIA+, transgender, non-binary, bi-gender, and alternative relationship affirming. We offer out-of-the-box approaches to supporting mental health such as painting, art therapies, yoga therapies, music, child centered play therapies, walk and talk, and improv and drama therapies for confidence and positive coping tools. I help families build calm communication tools and a loving bond. I have also thought hundreds of yoga classes in the last 15 years and love yoga. I’ve taught chair yoga at the East Lyme Senior Center, at the Black Point Beach Club Yoga, at Zen and Now Wellness Center, at Blissworks, and many more places. I used to teach private in home yoga as well. I have my 500 hour yoga therapy training and children’s yoga trainings. My pronouns are she/her/hers. My site is www.WisdomWithinCt.com where you can read more about me and my group. I began my private practice after working at a substance and alcohol rehab. Though I loved my clients there, I had different values than the management. I began taking the men I worked with to animal farms for animal therapy sessions, and the management didn’t want me to do this. I believe in experiential, holistic therapies as they provide mind-body connection and present moment thinking skills inadvertently. Many of the men identified as part of the LGBTQIA+ community and I wanted to focus my therapy groups on this topic. Managment didn’t want that either. I ended up giving my notice and shortly thereafter started my private practice. At first, it was just me. I soon knew I wanted to start a group practice and have a small team of like-minded, holistic professionals to help more families and people. I started my business from the ground up, which I feel very proud about. I am also proud to say my business has never been in the red, or in debit, so I am proud of myself for have self-discipline and organization around finances to keep it going and successful.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients has come from a mix of google SEO (search engine optimization) and word of mouth. I do my own website, so on a regular basis, I am writing articles, webpages, and blogs that correspond to the clients we want to reach. These have been so essential for supporting new clients in reaching us and know we can help them with the challenge they are currently facing in their lives. As well, word of mouth networking and marketing has been helpful too. Local pediatric offices will refer to us when they have a child on ADHD medication who also needs therapy for social-emotional skill development, emotional awareness, stress management skills, self-esteem tools, and self-confidence.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
When it comes to maintaining high morale and a team, one thing I do is offer meetings via video anytime someone needs. Anyone on my team can email me to set up a video meeting for 50 minutes to discuss clients, challenges, scheduling, and anything they need support with professionally. As well, about three times a year, along with the seasons and holidays, I create gift bundles for my team that include a gift card and other items. For this holiday, I included a holiday ornament, gift card, and amethyst crystal tree. These small gifts help the people on my team know that I am grateful for them and all that they do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wisdomwithinct.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithinct/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WisdomWithinCT/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-ziskind-lmft-66645315b
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wisdomwithinct