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

Shaudi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear stories from your time in school/training/etc.

I used my time in graduate school laser-focused on working in the “direct practice” concentration, as I knew from the age of 12 that I wanted to pursue therapy as my career. My second year of graduate school, I applied and was accepted into the Mental Health Training Program, which helped me fine-tune my graduate education on being a professional in the mental health field.

Shaudi, 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?

I became interested in the field of mental health as a 12 year-old initially because I witnessed family members who had issues with mental illness (depression and anxiety) and also another with co-occurring mental health and addiction issues. I wanted to understand the underlying mechanisms of why certain people go on to develop mental health issues and others do not and what I can do as an individual to help those in need.

I officially started Centered Mind Therapy in January of 2020, and my vision was to create an accessible telehealth private practice with a team of clinicians with different training modalities to support clients with a wide range of mental health concerns. At Centered Mind, we offer individual, couples, and family therapy via telehealth in 4 states: California, New York, Florida, and Texas. We treat children, teens, and adults and treat various mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma and stress-related disorders, and much more.

I think what sets us apart as a telehealth practice is our strong sense of customer service – being prompt in our communication and actions with our clients is of utmost importance to us. We want clients to feel they are treated with empathy and high regard from the initial consultation call to their final session with our therapists. I’m so proud of the amazing work culture we have created for our team as well as a safe environment we have cultivated for our clients. At Centered Mind, our motto is “Discover Healing and Build a Balanced Life” — which means we want to help you heal and move forward in a balanced way and to give you tools to help you thrive outside of therapy sessions. We are aware that we live in a period of instability that leads to experiencing different forms of loss, which can trigger anxiety and depression for many. We empathize with you and want to support you in instilling hope and creating the future you would like for yourself.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As a team of 150+ therapists (and counting!), it’s been a strong priority for us from the beginning to create a sense of community for our team even if we are only interacting virtually with each other. We have different modes of collaboration at the practice to learn from each other, be able to ask questions to problem-solve any clinical dilemmas that may arise, and to provide support to one another to avoid burnout.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

It may sound overly simple, but prioritizing building rapport and trust is the most important tool we can use to have successful outcomes with our clients. Being an active listener and showing empathy can go a long way in creating a safe space for clients to improve their mental health. Sometimes, therapists are quick to jump to skill-building and problem-solving when they have not taken the slow and important baby steps to foster trust with clients. We can’t expect clients to immediately open up and tackle the problems in the first session. At Centered Mind, we take time to get to know you and build a therapeutic relationship that can facilitate long-lasting change.

Contact Info:

• Website: centeredmindtherapy.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/centeredmindtherapy/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/CenteredMindTherapy/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/centeredmindtherapy/