We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly Bourque a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

We have to first define success. For some, that’s a bottom line. I refuse to see success as a monetary number. I measure success with how spacious I feel on the inside (and how often I feel that space). Part of the spaciousness is having enough money so you’re not pre-occupied or worried. Another part of it is knowing when enough is enough and actually being in the life you’ve created. My biggest fear is not being present to the life I have. I’m always monitoring this. This can be both a metric and an obsession. If something isn’t working and I feel my energy being spent in ways that I’m not getting return – I pivot. And I pivot fast (too fast for some).

Kelly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My first love and professional identity is Couples Therapist. I’ve built my entire career around the model of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) – an evidenced based therapeutic model. This is an extremely effective way to help distressed couples build a secure bond. I’m a Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor. That level of training and expertise is the foundation for our group practice. Red Therapy Group (the therapy practice I own) has nine therapists who are all trained in EFT. If you’re looking for a boutique practice with therapists who do one thing really well – that’s us. We nerd out together all the time – about bonding science and how to most effectively and humanely help our clients.

Any advice for managing a team?

When I’ve worked for companies or organizations in the past, I hated “forced fun.” Forced fun is where leadership is really trying to get a team to bond and so they offer team bonding activities. This always felt like something we needed to do to make the leadership feel good. It’s not organic and frankly – I think it’s a waste of time and money. The way I’ve tried to maintain high morale is relational. We have marco polo groups (marco polo is a video messaging ap) in which we celebrate wins and help each other when we need support. It’s little drips out of the water fountain of relational interactions that build a team and keep each other feeling connected. My clinicians need to know that they matter and that they’re not alone. I don’t think that happens because of an activity. Lots of organic connection over time is the way to go.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’m very generous with my expertise and experience. I have always naturally wanted to help other therapists that are just starting out. I’ve sent out free newsletters, offered inexpensive webinars, hosted social gatherings, created a local listserve – all of this was just me wanting to offer help and support. I didn’t realize some do this as a marketing strategy. Over the course of 15 years, I’ve positioned myself and created a network. That reputation is part of the foundation of my group practice. We’re top of mind for couples referrals. In Adam Grant’s book, “Give and Take” – he proves that givers win. Sometimes it’s a longer runway, but in the end – they win. That was so validating for me to read.

Contact Info:

• Website: redtherapygroup.com
• Instagram: @redtherapygroup
• Facebook: @redtherapygroup