We recently connected with Roshell Hanse and have shared our conversation below.

Roshell, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

The most defining moment in my professional career was taking a risk by going out on my own and opening my private practice YESTINY Counseling and Wellness Services, LLC during the pandemic. This moment completely changed the trajectory of not only my career but my life. In 2020 I had recently relocated back to Atlanta once the pandemic started after living in Miami, FL due to my graduate university abruptly closing in 2019. This had to be probably one of the top difficult times in my adult life as I was extremely broke and confused about what steps to take next. After a long talk with myself, I decided nothing could be worse than what I was experiencing and took my last few hundred dollars to create my LLC and open the practice. I had no idea what I was doing or how this process would unfold but I knew I was determined to succeed. At the time I was already working in private practice and told my clients about my departure from this practice and to my surprise, many of the clients insisted on following me to my new practice. In January 2021 I officially opened YESTINY Counseling and Wellness Services and started with only 15 clients, but the practice continued to grow and by May 2021 I was already making my previous year’s salary. To my surprise, YESTINY Counseling and Wellness Services is now a six-figure business and currently has over 60 clients within the practice. All in all, I say taking the risk to bet on myself was the absolute best decision I have ever made and truly a defining moment in my career!

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

-My name is Roshell Hanse and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), and a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) in the State of GA. I am from Fort Lauderdale, FL and attended THE Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University for my BS, Argosy University for my MA, and currently working on my dissertation from Barry University (Miami campus) to obtain my PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision with a specialization in Counseling. I started working in the field in 2013 and have worked in various organizations from domestic violence shelters to youth psychiatric centers before entering the sector of private practice in 2018. After many hardships I was able to open my own private practice YESTINY Counseling and Wellness Services, LLC January 2021.

As an LPC I provide counseling services to clients (18-60 yrs. old) struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship distress, grief, life transitions, self-esteem, self-awareness, communication, and boundaries. My style of therapy sets me apart from other therapists as I focus heavily on the aspect of intentional language and cognitive behavior therapy helping clients see how their words strongly impact their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As an introduction to therapy, I teach my clients that words such as good, bad, perfect, and normal correlate to vagueness, and words such as always, never, right, and wrong correlate to black and white thinking. For example, I bring awareness that saying statements such as “you never listen to me” contributes to defensive communication as the other person listening often becomes defensive thinking of all the times, they ‘have’ listened to you. Instead, I encourage clients to speak in ways to increase communication connection by reframing the above statement to “I don’t think you are listening to me right now when you look down at your phone”. This reframe helps both parties clearly understand what is happening in the current moment to contribute to disconnection. Overall, I created YESTINY Counseling and Wellness Services as a validating space for clients to explore and grow along their journey of healing and discovery. Life can be uncomfortable and I use therapy to help clients be heard, seen, and understood.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I believe that many of my life experiences have incorporated some aspect of resilience yet I would have to put opening the practice (YESTINY) and working on my dissertation as the current aspects. When I opened the practice, I had no idea what or how I would make it work but I knew I had to believe in myself and my skills. I took a chance and left the comfort of working under someone to venture on my own, which has been the most rewarding experience thus far. In the first year of business, I fear so much and recognized that I was the only one standing in the way of my success. As for working on my dissertation, I add this as an aspect of resilience due to the mental and emotional strain it can have on one’s body. I’ve generally been a confident woman but working on my dissertation has pushed me to levels I was not even aware I could reach. Like many clients, I am learning to trust myself more and recognize how I think and what I have to say matters.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my practice has been my authenticity. I’ve notice that my clients truly appreciate the aspect of knowing that I am a real person. I ensure to empower my clients that I am the clinical expert, but they are experts themselves as no one can know them better than they know themselves. I’ve also developed a counseling approach that is very intentional and specific to each client I see, to ensure that each intervention is specifically tailored to the client’s counseling needs. Lastly, I’ve noticed that client reviews help increase potential clients’ comfort in seeking services so I would highly recommend obtaining client feedback about counseling services when ethically possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.askroshell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askroshell/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roshell-hanse-lpc-ncc-cctp-63b3b295/