We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monique Whitley Phillip, MA, LPC-S, NCC. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monique below.

Hi Monique, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I find being a business owner to be a fascinating adventure, as probably most other small business owners will also tell you. There are tons of ups and downs. It’s not something I thought about much over my career honestly, but it goes really well with my personality. I tend to be a problem solver, which is much of what doing this kind of job is. I’m also a planner and care a lot about helping other people level up, so to speak.

It’s definitely a hard job, because everything falls on my shoulders. If anything goes wrong, I’m responsible. It’s one thing to just have to take care of yourself, but it’s a whole other ball of wax to also support others working under your leadership. I have to have a vision in mind and be able to move things forward. In some ways, it provides a sense of control (I don’t know very many people who don’t want that to some degree), but it also can be a really heavy weight sometimes. There are a lot of variables at play and in order to do this, I have to be attentive, organized, a good communicator and an accountability holder. In addition to that, because of the field I’m in, I have to be a really good service provider, which comes with its own particular set of rules, requirements and ethics. It’s a constant balancing act for sure!

During the times when everything seems to be happening at once professionally and personally, there are definitely days that I wonder what it would be like to be a dog walker or a greeter at Walmart. That lasts for a little while, and then I think about how bored out of my mind I would be. Inevitably, I know I would find a way to make those jobs more complex, just to keep myself mentally stimulated.

Monique, 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?

These kinds of questions are always so hard for me to answer, because there is so much I could say. I am originally from Houston, TX and moved to Colorado almost 8 years ago now. I started out in behavioral health as a mentor and life skills advisor for adolescent girls and eventually completed my masters’ degree in Professional Counseling. Once I got licensed as a therapist, I worked in probation in a program that was designed to reduce recidivism for those convicted of felonies. That job really sparked my love in working with women and for doing trauma work. When I moved to Colorado, I managed a team of highly talented people who worked really hard to keep people in their housing. Prior to going into private practice, this was the most deeply satisfying job I’ve had.

In 2019 right before the pandemic, I decided to start my practice, Jars of Clay, A Sanctuary. I really wanted to create the safest space for all women, but especially for those who are most vulnerable and maybe never thought of therapy as an option before. This tends to be women who are marginalized because they have no or low income and/or are persons of color. These populations usually have to start way behind the starting line and undoubtedly experience the most stress. The mental health support that they are offered is not sufficient or is just not good. It’s not fair and I wanted to be able to offer them the quality services that more privileged people get to have access to. I also wanted to be and advocate who helps to eradicate the stigma behind mental health treatment.

So, I made my practice not only insurance based, but inclusive of Medicaid. A very large portion of our client base has Medicaid. I’m also targeting non-profits and other community organizations that provide social services to try to partner to provide mental health support to those they serve. There seems to be so many gaps in our communities for mental health care, and I want to be part of the solution in closing those gaps.

Our practice is in the middle of expanding, and the women who do this work with me are phenomenal. They have a passion for healing women, and I am very fortunate to work alongside them. Just like with our clients, we value and respect each other. The focus of everything we do is to create encounters that make people feel worthy and valuable.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think when managing a team it is of utmost importance to have an understanding of the individual goals of your team members. You have to understand what drives them and know that you are in a position of serving them. Create a strategy with them around their goals and talk to them about it often. Be kind in your guidance. In other words, treat them like they matter. When people feel valued, they tend to be loyal. When it feels safe, they are willing to learn and many times will go out of their way to do a good job. It’s also important to know what each members’ strengths are and how you can consider ways to help the team capitalize on them.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Building our reputation is something I am working on. I tend to be a worker bee. It’s very easy to keep my head down and keep moving forward. However, I know that there is strength in community and working this way makes the job so much harder, because there are missed opportunities for resources and impactful connections that can save so much time and money. I have been to more networking events this year than I’ve ever been to in my life. It’s has been really great to get to know people who have been where I am now, to start to think about things that I’ve never considered before, and to have awareness that I’m not by myself. I recently started working on one of the committees of the Colorado Springs Black Chamber of Commerce, which has been an awesome way to begin building relationships and gain more understanding about the needs of my community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jarsofclay.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joc_sanctuary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jocsanctuary
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monique-whitley-phillip-ma-lpc-s-ncc-7296b140/