Former teacher, entrepreneur and life-long advocate, Trisha Swinton has built a thriving therapeutic practice that places clients first. We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Trisha Swinton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with her below.

Hi Trisha, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

From my earliest memories, I have always wanted to be someone who helped support and empower others. As a college student, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a sorority where service was prioritized and, during my teacher training program in rural New York State, I was able to see first-hand both the needs individuals had as well as how impactful interventions could be in helping others. After graduation, I worked with children with disabilities in NYC and Denver public schools. In both the rural and urban settings, I  found so many of the children needed mental health support. As a classroom teacher, I worked with staff to support my students’ needs but felt limited in my ability to help. So I decided to return to school for a second masters degree in community counseling with an emphasis on marriage and family therapy. As I pursued my licensure, I worked for an agency that provided mental health services inside preschools for children 3-5.

Mental health is health and I have always believed it should be accessible to all who want/need it. Once I was fully licensed in 2008, I started to see clients independently on a part-time basis. As that grew, I started my full-time, private practice in 2012 and structured it so that I could accept all forms of public and private insurance. Based on client needs, I expanded to a group counseling practice, Entrust Counseling, in 2021 and continue to grow.

My continued mission is to help support and empower others. I am fortunate to work with a team of empathetic, hard-working, highly qualified therapists who bring so much to our diverse clients. Each brings a unique set of skills and perspectives that work well to support our clients on their respective journeys. Because of our strong staff, we are able to facilitate the needs of individual, couple and family counseling for our clients and reduce the burden to access quality care.

Trisha, 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?

Of course! I am a very relational person. I love connecting with people and hearing their stories. I am a compassionate  and empathetic person and have always desired to help people. As I previously stated, my journey started in the classroom as a kindergarten teacher. Soon after being in the classroom and seeing the diverse needs of my students, I realized I wanted to work with children who were struggling more. I returned to school and earned a master’s degree in special education. I worked with children with an array of differences including autism, cognitive delays and physical challenges. In working with these children and their families, I realized many children and families needed emotional support and navigational tools prioritized and decided to return to school for a second master’s a second masters degree, this time in community counseling. In my current practice, I am fortunate to utilize all three of my degrees everyday and am grateful for the path I have taken and the lessons learned on the journey. I am honored that so many adults and children who are neurodiverse or have other special needs seek out our practice for counseling services.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into something much bigger.

Although it was always my goal to build a group practice, I am beyond proud that my little side hustle of seeing a few clients a week while working full time for a non profit became my full time job and employs 5 other highly qualified counselors. We also have a talented intern on staff who is an asset to the practice.

I was very cautious in the beginning. Having a full time job with benefits and seeing therapy clients on the side at night and on weekends allowed me to work within my comfort zone to slowly build my practice on my terms. Before coworking spaces were a thing, I rented an office space by the hour. After a few years, I realized I could easily get my own office with the number of sessions I was doing as a side hustle. I also gradually cut my hours at my full-time job so that I could see more clients at my practice.

I met the most wonderful people at the nonprofit I worked for who were highly educated in different specialities, including mental health, education, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech. I was part of an interdisciplinary team and learned so much working with my colleagues. I got married in 2012 and had my first child in 2013 and last in 2017. Since I was self employed, I didn’t have any PTO or maternity leave. I saved for each leave and was able to be home with my babies for 3-4 months. I have also been able to create a schedule that allows me to be there for my children at times those with a traditional 9-5 job would not. The flexibility to be accessible to my family, clients and staff is a major accomplishment. I now own Entrust Counseling, a team of 6 therapists including me.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Tenacity! I knew and know if I want to realize my mission of helping to support and empower others, I have to work at it and I do. I saw the road map needed to do that, made the adjustments I needed to make it work for me and got it done. It was not always easy but I remained determined to make it happen. I have been a practicing therapist since 2004 and worked under a licensed clinician until I became fully licensed as both a LPC (Licenced Professional Counselor) and a LMFT (Licenced Marriage and Family Therapist) in 2008. Many clients work with me, or members of the practice for the time they need and are often the best referrals for new clients. These same clients also continue to seek maintenance support as needed which is a reflection of the wonderful work staff and clients do. We are still a smaller practice but continuing to grow and it has been amazing to see that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.swintoncounselinggroup.com. We are transitioning to www.entrustcounseling.com