We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebecca Cohen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebecca below.

Rebecca, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

RMC Counseling started in 2018 as a solo practice before becoming a group practice in 2019. As the director, I made the decision to bring on two providers in the fall of 2019 and noticed the rising demand for therapy services in Utah. The first several providers I hired either had previously worked with me or someone I trusted had worked with them or knew them. This was a great start for RMC because I knew and trusted them right away which allowed me to safely take this leap. I continued to hire more providers until there were 5 clinicians by January of 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, we made the decision to move all services to telehealth and prioritize the safety of our staff and clients. During this time, I continued to hire more remote therapists as the need for therapy services for children, adolescents and adults continued to grow. By the summer of 2020 the practice had grown to ten providers. Currently there are 16 therapy providers which includes one therapy intern. RMC also has a director of administration who oversees and manages a team of two other administrative assistants. RMC therapists continue to provide telehealth therapy for those who need and want it as well as in-person therapy so that there is a “hybrid” of services offered. Our recruiting style consists of a combination of marketing on platforms such as Linkedin and Indeed as well as word of mouth. Some of our most valuable and longstanding employees came as referrals from existing employees and friends!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started RMC Counseling in November of 2018. I opened the practice after feeling unheard and unsupported as an employee of a different group practice and wanted to create a different experience for therapists and their clients. Now, RMC Counseling is a group therapy practice that serves clients across the lifespan and provides quality psychotherapy from highly trained therapists.

I am originally from Chicago which is a big part of RMC Counseling, giving people in Utah a different perspective. A lot of the therapists who work here are not originally from Utah and bring perspective and a safe space for people who are living here in Utah but don’t feel as much representation. RMC’s Mission Statement is, “RMC Counseling provides quality therapy in a comfortable space to individuals, couples, families and groups in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. We work with clients of all ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, cultures, abilities, and immigration status and provide services in English and Spanish. We prioritize training and certifications in evidence-based practices to provide our clients with a high standard of care.”

A big reason I got into this field is because I have always enjoyed talking to people and when I was younger I wanted to be a cab driver because I thought that would be the best way to talk to people all day. I have always wanted to hear people’s stories and spend my time talking and helping people. When I was a kid I was sent to therapy and did not have the best experience. I remember thinking that if the therapist had simply been more warm, personable and fun I could have really benefited from it. This motivated me to eventually work in the therapy space and help make it better.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot RMC Counseling had to make as a business was during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This was a time where I relied most on my mentors and colleagues to get feedback and input on how we could continue to provide services to clients while also being safe and responsible. My initial instinct was to not go online for therapy sessions, but after hearing other’s perspectives, I concluded that RMC Counseling did have to go online to flatten the curve and keep our staff and clients safe. It was a hard decision because a lot of practices I knew made the decision to not go virtual at that time. It was tough to feel confident because it wasn’t necessarily what everyone else was doing right away and it’s not what a lot of clients wanted. I had to keep returning to the reason why we were doing this and prioritizing our staff’s safety above all else.

During this big pivot time I had to shift my entire business strategy which led to me having to think on my feet. I have always been a planner and had planned a future for RMC Counseling that was now very much changing. This big pivot required me to take information in day by day as it was coming, then make changes and adjustments that were best for the practice during COVID-19. I really leaned on my staff during this time and always wanted them to feel heard and listened to.

During that time as well we were saved from a PPP loan. There were very scary moments of where we almost didn’t make payroll, it was very difficulty to pay for rent month to month and the space wasn’t being used as we had pivoted in offering all online services. We definitely learned resiliency and how we can move through hard times together as a company. Our staff was very strong and supportive during this time and our RMC Mission and Vision is a byproduct of that resiliency. We stayed very community minded and thought about we could do our part to continue to help others during this time and that really got us through it. We continue to be a very community focused practice.

Any advice for managing a team?

My advice for managing team is to take a shared power and collaborative approach. Not only does this keep up morale but our business is better for it. With these approaches RMC is not only run by my brain, but the business is being run by a variety of people’s brains. As RMC Counseling has grown, we do have multiple director roles that are able to maintain and oversee different domains within the practice.
While not everyone on the team can be in a director role, it’s important for everyone to know they still have a voice whether they are an intern, or associate level therapist, licensed therapist, supervisor, or admin. We do our best to listen to everyone’s feedback and are continuously looking for themes in feedback to help RMC Counseling be better.

When you start to see themes or multiple people giving the same feedback it’s a sign that we need to make some changes. Having this collaborative group effort at RMC Counseling has made it easier on me to run a business and it keeps people invested because they know they have a voice that is heard. Ultimately this keeps our team healthy and the practice thriving.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rmcslc.com/
• Instagram: Handle: rmc_counseling, link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjl0Ewdv0eq/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RMCCounseling/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rmc-counseling

Image Credits
Image 1 & 2 – RMC Counseling staff volunteering at Girls On The Run community 5K event. Image 3 – RMC Counseling booth at the 2023 Pride Festival Image 4 – Assistant Clinical Director, Ashlee Burton Image 5 – Clinical Director, Talysha Rubey Image 6 – Administrative Director, Kelsie Skalla Image 7 – RMC Counseling staff volunteering at Suicide Prevention walk event.