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

Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Is your team able to work remotely? If so, how have you made it work? What, if any, have been the pitfalls? What have been the non-obvious benefits?

Telehealth was always an option available to mental health professionals, even before the pandemic. The common pre-pandemic sentiment in the mental health community, however, was that telehealth was not “as good as” in-person therapy because the therapist didn’t have the ability to gauge body language, among other factors. When the pandemic hit, however, telehealth became a lifesaver for both therapists and the people who needed to access counseling services during a time when being in-person presented safety concerns. To this day, telehealth is going strong! I began working remotely prior to the pandemic, so when the pandemic hit, my office was fully prepared to go remote as our systems, tools, and documentation were already in place. To this day, the vast majority of our services are still online as most of our therapists prefer working from home, and our clients appreciate the convenience of not having to travel for their appointment.
As a practice, our goal was to make sure that our team still felt connected to one another, even while working remotely. To achieve that, we implemented a few new practices. For example, we created weekly office hours, a 30 minute window of time when people could hop on a zoom call either to go over any questions that they had or just to see other people on the team. We also created a group chat where people could ask for resources or share updates with others. We then started having a “question of the week” where there’s a fun question in the chat for everyone to respond to. We’ve hosted online and in-person gatherings, created and implemented new office rituals (gatherings), and we now have a weekly check-in where people can share about how the week went and areas where they’re needing support.
While many mental health practitioners didn’t speak highly of telehealth before the pandemic, it has allowed us to continue working without interruption during the pandemic. It allowed us to preserve our livelihoods while also continuing to serve our clients. Today, many therapists and clients prefer the convenience of virtual counseling.

Melissa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After 8 years of working as a licensed professional counselor, some colleagues and I decided that we were going to start our own counseling practices at the same time. What started out as a solo venture soon expanded into a group practice with other therapists. Today, LifeSpring Counseling Services is an insurance-friendly counseling practice with a collaborative team of therapists and support staff who provide caring, quality counseling services to our clients. The people on our team care about our clients, and they care deeply about the work that they do.

Many of the individuals who call our office communicate gratitude that we answer the phone and respond to their emails. That sounds simple–I know–but they tell us how difficult it’s been to reach other practices to schedule an appointment. At LifeSpring, we know how hard it can be for people to finally make the decision to sign up for therapy, so we want to make the process as simple as possible, and that’s why we prioritize having someone ready by the phone. We make signing up for therapy easy through 24/7 online registration and by having someone available to answer calls during regular business hours. They can sign up online at lifespringcounseling.net or by calling 410-497-8451.

Our therapists help individuals navigate stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and depression. Our therapists are regularly attending continuing education courses to help them expand their learning, and many of them have received specialized training in Brainspotting. Brainspotting is a cutting-edge brain and body-based approach to therapy that doesn’t even require people to talk. Our therapists are life-long learners who want clients to have a positive experience in therapy.

As the Founder of LifeSpring, there are 2 things that I am most proud of. I am proud that we have done an excellent job of hiring professionals who really care about our clients, love the work they do, and who want to do a really good job! This transcends into the experience that people have when they receive counseling services at our office. It’s not uncommon for me to get feedback from people who say how wonderful and kind our administrative assistant was on the phone. When we do client surveys for our therapists, it’s not uncommon for someone to say that their LifeSpring therapist is the best therapist they’ve ever had or that this was their best therapy experience to date!

The other thing that I’m most proud of is how intentional we have been about building community and connection within our team and local community. We are very intentional about facilitating a positive work experience and office culture for our team and making sure that we are only hiring individuals who value community and collaboration as well. Our office can often be found hosting networking events for therapists or administrative assistants. We also host a Clinician Community Membership which is a year-long membership for local therapists who want to get together for fun, connection, and self-care. We are soon going to be offering a peer consultation group for other therapists in our community as well.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Organizations are a reflection of their Founders/Owners, and each Founder/Owner has their own unique set of strengths, values, and interests. I think it’s important for Founders to get clear on their values, so they can communicate them to clients, employees, and job seekers. Lack of clarity in this area could result in getting customers or employees who are not truly aligned for you or your company. For me, managing a team and maintaining high morale starts with strategic planning that occurs even before you add people into your team. To give an example, I am a therapist who appreciates quality time, community, diversity, and professional communication. This is evident in how my practice operates. We are clear about our values on our website, and we are clear about our values and expectations in our hiring page. We have agreements about how we will communicate with one another on our internal website, and we are clear on what we want communication with our clients to look like. As a practice, anti-racism and managing bias training is a required part of our onboarding process, and we value diversity on our team. We provide numerous opportunities for connection, both online and in-person for our team. We communicate clearly during our interview process that people who are lone rangers are not going to be a good fit for our office. This has worked for our office because our values and expectations are communicated before interviewing, during the interview, and at various points throughout their work experience at our office.
Because we have clearly communicated our values and expectations which leads to hiring people who are good fits for our office, it’s easier for us to maintain high morale. This doesn’t mean things go perfectly all of the time, but it allows us to regroup and have certain conversations because we have shared understanding and agreements.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

During one INCREDIBLY busy week where I was already feeling overwhelmed by all the things I had to do, I forgot to submit payroll. I remembered to do payroll just minutes after the deadline. I thought there would surely be a way to enter the information late while still ensuring that everyone got paid on time. That turned out to NOT be the case. If I were to enter the information into our payroll system as I usually did, everyone would get paid on Monday, not the next day which was Friday. I was so embarrassed, and the idea of telling my team that I missed the payroll deadline and that they would have to wait to get paid until Monday sounded horrifying. So, I did the only thing that felt right which was plan to wake up super early the next day, so I could hand deliver my employees’ checks. I planned out my route, got their checks ready, and gave each of them a weird phone call in the morning to let them know that their checks were in their mailboxes. I had some help from my Clinical Supervisor, who also helped hand deliver checks when I personally was running out of time. It was a team effort met by understanding from my team.

Contact Info:

• Website: lifespringcounseling.net
• Instagram: @lifespring_md
• Facebook: @lifespringcounselingservices
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lifespringcounseling
• Other: Dreaming & Doing Podcast dreaminganddoing.net Dreaming and doing on instagram @melissa_wesner_ Apple link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dreaming-and-doing-podcast/id1723843028