We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Madonna recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I have spent the last 20 years of my career in the social work field working for others. I have worked in mobile crisis, interpersonal violence and sexual assault treatment and higher education. I have worked for the state, city and public universities. I have found all of my work to be very rewarding and taxing at the same time. The burnout and compassion fatigue is real! But I always persevered for the love and passion I have for my work.

I was never taught in school to that having a private practice and my own business was an option. I never even thought about having my own practice as a possibility! I know that sounds so strange to some reading this but its my truth. It felt like something other people did and in my mind I was not them. I felt that it was too risky since I didn’t feel like I would belong in that world of business owners and clinicians. I knew that my work was meaningful and yet at the same time I struggled with self doubt. So I started small. I opened by business in January of 2019 with the gal of facilitating trainings and supervising young social workers who needed hours for their license.

Fast forward to the pandemic. March 2020 was when we all had to “pivot” and figure out how to live with the uncertainty of what was happening. At that time I was the Director of a university counseling center and single Mom to a 2nd grader who all of a sudden was in my kitchen on zoom classes. One of my former graduate students told me she wanted to refer a client to me. My immediate response was that I don’t have a practice. She simply said well you should.

In August of 2020 I started with my first client via telehealth in my dining room that I converted to a home office. I worked part time until June 2021 hen I let my job and began working for myself full time! I am so thankful for the support, confidence and encouragement that I have received along this path to establishing my practice. I had the goal of creating a niche practice predominantly serving other mental health providers, educators and medical professionals.

Currently I have a continuously thriving practice and all of my referrals come from networking or word of mouth.
Something that felt so foreign to me and was a huge risk turned into the greatest blessing my my son and I. I can have a much better work and life balance and far less burnout and stress. I am still learning as I go but I don’t regret for a moment the leap of faith I took.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I was a little girl, I loved Disney movies. The princesses were beautiful, but I really was curious as to why the “villians” were so angry all the time and mean. I just knew something had to happen to them to make them that way. That was my first clue that I was a helper when I look back.

When I was 10 my mother’s best friend was murdered. She and I were very close, and this was a very painful loss for all of us who loved her. The school social worker came to my class when everyone as at recess and sat on the floor with me and we talked about Marilyn and what she meant to me. I didn’t know then that this was therapy. I just thought it was me taking to a kind and attentive adult. Then the impact of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather who was abusive took its toll on me. I began to see the school therapist weekly for individual and group help all the way thru to high school. I knew at a young age I wanted to give to others what I had received.

I have now been a social worker for over 20 years and have served communities and clients from Phoenix to Stamford to the Bronx and now in Charlotte, NC. I have had the blessing to receive therapy from talented therapists that has helped me own my voice, my identity and my authenticity so now I am using my private practice (Blue Lotus Clinical & Consultation Services, PLLC) as a therapist to give that back. Helping the helpers takes a special heart and I feel that this was the work I was destined to be doing.

The other side of my work is training and education. I have been a trainer with A Call to Men for almost two years. My primary role is to help facilitate trainings about gender-based violence prevention and anti-racism work to combat white supremacy. This is the work that challenges me the most and the work I am most proud of.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Trusting myself and my ability to show up for my clients despite what my inner impostor voice tells me is one of the main lessons I have had to unlearn. I had to remind myself that growth happens in the small moments and not every client interaction will leave with big “ah-ha” moments every time. And that doesn’t mean that I am not impactful or effective.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy has been networking and creating meaningful connections in the mental health field in my city. One of the ways I have done this is to host monthly social gatherings for other therapists. Many of us are working at home and feeling very isolated from colleagues. This has helped me in so many ways, not just for building clientele.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluelotusccspllc.com
• Instagram: @bluelotusccs
• Facebook: Blue Lotus Clinical & Consultation Services, PLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-madonna-lcsw-95b6b0a2/