We were lucky to catch up with Latisha Taylor Ellis recently and have shared our conversation below.
Latisha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
I started my practice in Cumming, GA . I was newly licensed but I always knew that I wanted my own practice. I worked alot with groups of men who had to complete family violence requirements for various reasons. I really loved working with them in that space because it wasn’t just about how they got there but how they could use that space for their own healing and learn how to express their own emotions and trauma. Group work in therapy is a powerful way to treat clients. It creates a community of people that care about your healing and growth as much as the client themselves. It offers points of view you can not get in individual therapy but in a safe, productive way. With any individual clients that I treated I noticed how it took awhile for them to get comfortable with the notion of therapy. This made me really consider going fully online so that people could be in spaces that bring them comfort but they could still focus on the work we were doing for their mental health. That is what made me decide to go completely online. I finished up all my in-person sessions right before the pandemic hit in 2020. The key challenges in setting up a virtual practice is making sure that all intake or enrollment processes for the client are user-friendly and HIPAA compliant-from the paperwork, records and payment system, and the video software platform used to complete sessions. There are systems out there that are a one stop shop that offer all the elements you need to run a private practice.
For any up and coming therapists looking to start a virtual practice, they need to research and consider the electronic records system they want to use that meet their needs and figure out if they want to accept insurance or not. In order to accept insurance, you have to diagnosed the client to file a claim to receive compensation for services you provide. Many clients are concerned with having a diagnosis on record with the insurance company so that is something you as a clinician have to think about and consider.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I specialize in working with high-conflict coparents. These parents share children and find it difficult to communicate, interact with each other, to respect each other, and many forget that the conflict that they are creating or participating in will have long-term and sometimes damaging affects on their children. I got into working with coparents specifically because I witnessed my own brother deal with his coparenting challenges in what seemed to be an impossible situation. I have also witnessed how children take on parental roles because they just want to “fix it” so that they can have access to both parents without feeling bad about it. i help the coparents I work with see the potential consequences of high conflict and how the chaotic environment is detrimental to the children. We work on finding resolutions, setting boundaries, communicating, not badmouthing the other coparent especially near or around the children, and practicing how to not alienate or creating toxic loyalty binds with the children. I am proud of the work that I do because I want to in some way minimize the trauma experienced by the children that is created from the conflict between parents. I get to work with attorneys, guardians et litem, other therapists, and mediators to help the family so it becomes a small team of people that want to create the best situation for the parents and the kids.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Continued knowledge and training is essential in the field of mental health and therapy. For clinicians wanting to go into private practice and be successful, I would suggest to really be clear and unapologetic about what you want to specialize in and the types of clients you would work best with. Be clear about in what capacity you want to deliver services. I like working with adults in a group setting. It gets me excited because every session is different and the client is getting challenged in a safe space while healing with others that have been through similar life transitions or trauma. Build a practice that you can sustain without getting burned out. More importantly, you are the nucleus of your practice and you have to prioritize your own care and mental health so that you can be fully present and mentally available to your practice and clients.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Growing a clientele as a solo clinician can be hard. You sometimes have to be willing to wear different hats in the beginning until you can scale and delegate work out. It is important to connect with other experts or professionals in the field that would be working closely with your ideal client. For example, I work and collaborate with other professionals that may help my type of client in a different capacity like an attorney, a primary doctor, a mediator, or life coach. You are creating a networking and referral base for your practice. It is also helpful to have a working knowledge of marketing, SEO, and analytics if you are doing things on your own. In order to not get burned out by wearing too many hats, find a marketing freelancer or company that can help build that aspect of your business who will increase awareness of you services and grow your clientele.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.empowertransitions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowered_transitionsllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empowertransitions