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

Alright, Renee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

I love this question. My undergraduate degree was business with a major in accounting. While I was in school I had an internship with one of the big accounting firms and never got an offer to work with them. I had a health problem at the time so I assumed it wasn’t related to my performance. Once I graduated, I started my career as an accountant at Pillsbury. It turned out to be an awful fit. I hated doing the accounting work. I supervised some staff at the time and kept getting in trouble with my bosses because I was getting “too personal” with the staff by asking them about their families and stories. Additionally, I would have a terrible case of the “Sunday Scaries” because I didn’t want to go to work the next day. I found the work boring and uninteresting. I wasn’t interested in accounting for the prepared dough products, I was more interested in people and their life stories.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

First and foremost, I am a therapist and my favorite part of my job is working with couples. I got into the field because my parents didn’t seem to have a good relationship. I told myself they were doing the marriage thing wrong. I wanted to help couples that were distressed, like my parents, treat each other better. My mother always told me that my dad loved her, even though he would yell at her. From my perspective he didn’t treat her well. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease, he became her caregiver, and he was especially loving during those years. Eventually he was forced to place her in a facility, and even though he was working at the time, he would spend several hours a day holding her hand and taking care of her. In the end she was right, he loved her very much.

I am an Emotionally Focused Therapist (EFT) – which is the only evidenced based Couple Therapy model. It is an effective way to help escalated couples return to a secure relationship. I am a Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor, which requires rigorous and intense training to achieve.

I own Evolve Therapy, all of the 12 therapists that work at the clinic are fully trained in EFT. We work with all kinds of couples. We
empower people, inspiring hope, restoring love and respect in relationships. We help people in relationships (individuals, couples, family members) who have been negatively impacted by affairs, addictions, betrayal, communication issues, emotional needs not being met, attachment injuries, narcissism, and unhealthy behaviors.

Any advice for managing a team?

This is something that I work at daily. A big value to me is to make sure that all of my clinicians feel cared about by me, the owner. In EFT, there is something called the A.R.E. it is an acronym and stands for Accessible, Responsive and Engaged. Accessibility means that my staff can get the attention they need easily. Responsiveness means that as the owner, I am available in times of need, and I will respond appropriately. Engagement is about my staff being able to have the trust and confidence that I care about the things that matter to them.

My staff is my number one goal, I care about them, they matter to me, and I want them to know they are not alone. I practice A.R.E everyday by showing them relationally that I am reliable. The truth is that I am connected them. Indeed I care deeply about them.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

When I first started as a therapist, I took several therapists to lunch and shared my goals and offered to help them with their couples. Then once completed my EFT training, I began hosting a free monthly community consultation group to help other therapists learn the EFT model. I volunteered at EFT trainings, helped with our local EFT social gatherings with the intent of helping to grow the community. What I remember most is when I was an undergraduate business student was learning about marketing. The professor told us to remember that the local donut shop gives samples. So I thought of all of this as giving samples of myself, since being a therapist is all about being authentically genuine. I often met with people for a free consultation to share how I would work with them. Maybe not as sweet as doughnuts, but it certainly helped.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evolvetherapymn.com
• Instagram: @evolvetherapymn
• Facebook: facebook.com/evolvetherapymn
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/evolvetherapymn
• Twitter: twitter.com/evolvetherapymn
• Youtube: youtube.com/@reneesegal
• Yelp: yelp.com/biz/evolve-therapy-plymouth-2