Tom Butero is a seasoned social worker and author of the book 'I Don't Want to Die.' Tom shares his extensive experience in the field of social work, particularly focusing on suicide prevention and risk assessment. He discusses his unique approach to understanding suicidality, emphasizing the importance of both content and process in risk assessment. The conversation also delves into the challenges of having difficult conversations with clients, the process of writing and promoting a mental health book, and the significance of supervision and support in the therapeutic process. Tom's insights aim to equip mental health professionals with the tools and knowledge to better support their clients in crisis.
Key Takeaways:
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Tom Butero and His Career
03:01 Unique Approach to Suicide Assessment
05:59 Understanding Suicidal Ideation
08:52 The Importance of Risk Assessment
12:10 Advice for Clinicians on Discussing Suicidality
15:00 The Journey of Writing a Book
18:02 Promoting the Book and Marketing Challenges
21:03 The Role of Supervision in Mental Health
24:08 Final Thoughts on Suicide Prevention
27:01 The Impact of AI on Mental Health
29:59 Conclusion and Resources
Tom's Links:
Kym Tolson is a traveling therapist who shares her journey of transitioning from a brick-and-mortar practice to a fully remote therapy model. She discusses the challenges and logistics of practicing therapy while traveling, including navigating licensure and insurance issues. She also shares insights on evolving her business model to include multiple income streams, embracing AI technology, and the importance of marketing strategies. Kym emphasizes the significance of creating a life that aligns with personal desires and encourages listeners to take action towards their dreams.
Key Takeaways:
Kym's Links:
Lindsay Coulter is a therapist who has developed her own framework for building trust in relationships. She shares her journey from individual therapy to specializing in couples therapy, the importance of trust in relationships, and the unique framework she has created based on positive psychology and attachment theory. Lindsay shares insights on marketing her practice, the structure of her couples work, and the cultural considerations she navigates in therapy. The conversation highlights the delicate nature of therapy and the importance of support in the entrepreneurial journey.
Key Takeaways:
Lindsay's Links:
Michelle Risser is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who shares her journey of becoming a CE provider and consultant. Michelle discusses the challenges she faced, the importance of persistence, and the strategies she used to balance multiple roles in her career. She emphasizes the significance of mentorship, time management, and understanding the dynamics of multiple income streams. The conversation also delves into effective marketing strategies and the value of asking for help in business growth.
Key Takeaways:
Michelle's Links:
Dr. Amy Parks has worn many hats-teacher, school counselor, private practice owner, and group practice leader. After 15 years running a group practice with 16 clinicians, she sold it and shares what led to her decision and the status it stands today. She is candid about the challenges of sustaining a practice and managing people and offers invaluable insights for anyone navigating the world leadership. Amy is also the force behind The Clinical Supervision Directory, the only national directory that helps supervision seekers find the right fit and is the closer for the Clinical Supervision Summit offered by PESI. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways:
Your legacy should not be your business-it should always be the relationships and people you impact.
Clarity is kind-being direct benefits everyone.
There is no shame in taking a different direction.
Dr. Amy's Links:
Carly Hill is a therapist turned business coach, author, and podcaster who shares her inspiring journey from clinician to successful entrepreneur. Carly opens up about how she built an online coaching business that has helped countless therapists create freedom, security, and scalable income-often tripling their revenue in the process. She also offers an inside look at the mindset shifts and strategies that fueled her success, including how she prepared her business for maternity leave and what she learned when her business continued to thrive in her absence. Carly’s story is a powerful reminder that with the right systems, mindset, and support, it’s possible to build a business that works for you-not the other way around.
Key Takeaways:
-private practice does not have to be the end game
-you can transform lives and unapologetically make bank
-when good people have money they do good things
-give yourself proof that it is possible
-when you are an agent of change, options are endless
-impact is making a difference and becomes a ripple effect when you shift from one to many
-show up and be vulnerable
Carly's Links:
There are many reasons why those in leadership that are trained as mental health professionals have the tendency to over-accommodate as a boss. In this episode, I delve into some of the most common:
In this episode, I share my experiences both as a group practice owner managing a team of 30 and as a business consultant who has helped hundreds of established solo practice owners successfully expand to group.
If you are a trained mental health professional considering building a team or working in a leadership position, this episode is for you!
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Meet Alex Sandev, owner of HiveSourced, a company dedicated to creating high-performing websites for mental health professionals. In this episode, Alex reveals the three most common marketing mistakes therapists make-and how to fix them. He shares practical, actionable strategies to help you strengthen your online presence, define your niche, understand your ideal client, pinpoint their pain points, and clearly present your solution. He identified male practice owners as a population who who could benefit from a program with systems to build successfully-and he is in the process of creating a course to do just that so stay tuned! If you decide to use HiveSourced, mention the Compassionate Climb for 10% off!
Key Takeaways:
-if you are helping everyone, you are not helping yourself
-ideal client over everything
-your website is in investment in the future of your business
-therapists in private practice are up against large tech companies with massive marketing budgets
-relying on Psychology Today alone is not enough to generate referrals
-include your location and utilize multiple marketing channels
-you don't necessarily have to know business to be a business person-you have to know people
Alex's Links:
Meet the newest addition to the Compassionate Consulting Company team, Katelyn Martins LMHC! She co-owns Arrow Behavioral Health, a large group practice with both therapists and prescribers. She describes the journey that led her to start and expand this group, what she has learned along the way, the benefits of working with a consultant, and her process with consulting clients. Schedule a free consult with Katelyn here. She specializes in helping therapists:
She is offering a free webinar on August 27th at 12 EST on whether to hire an in-person or virtual assistant. Enter your email here for the link. Learn more about Katelyn and the other consultants at Compassionate Consulting Company.
Meet Carla Titus, the owner of Wealth and Worth Within, a financial consulting company. While she started as a CFO for a Fortune 500 company, she found that she wanted to have a more significant impact. This led her to working with small businesses to ensure their finances are in order and plan for the future. Her and her team help business owners fix financial problems with their businesses and plan for expansion, financial stability, and make moves towards understanding their business’s financial health. Carla has found that by specializing working with mental health businesses that there are some common problems that many owners run into. She helps practice owners look into what their rates are and any changes that can be made there, figuring out what a hiring plan looks like, and what is profitable.
Key takeaways:
-Business owners need an action plan to proactively work towards financial stability.
-Planning for the future helps avoid common financial pitfalls!
-Working with multiple industries helps Wealth and Worth Within keep things fresh for their team and bring different strategies across industries.
-Profit is an important aspect of running your business! Even if it feels corporate like, the practice needs to be able to make money. You run out of money, you can’t run your business.
-A common mistake that many practice owners make when running their business is not focusing on cash flow. You need to manage your cash flow to make sure that you still have money in the bank to pay your employees even when there are slow downs in revenue.
-Look at your financial statements every month! Specifically the profit and loss statement (PNL). This tells you where your money is going.
Carla's Links:
Meet Elena Cetola, the owner of the group practice Good Hope Wellness. She shares how her experience immigrating from Peru and how the work ethic she was taught led her to take a CNA course, apply to nursing school, work on an inpatient psychiatric unit, and return to school to become a nurse practitioner. She describes the positive experience she had working in community mental health but the decision to ultimately start her own business in order to put her energy and effort into her own dream as opposed to someone else's. She promotes leadership training, mentorship, and valuing people over profit.
Key Takeaways:
-business is hard but doing it for yourself in a way that is giving back brings it full circle and makes it rewarding
-your path is your path for a reason and things happen the way they should
-if you are working for me it is because you care about people
-do not give away your values because the right person will come along
-there is a leader in all of us
-in coaching you serve as a guide rather than leading with your expertise
-if we value people we benefit personally-you cannot lead a team successfully if you are not leading yourself-let your team know you are human and we all make mistakes-business ownership is 24/7
Elena's Links:
Meet Rachel Bentley, the owner the group practice COR Counseling and the consulting business, Next Level Private Practice, a consulting business aimed at mental health practitioners looking to start or expand their private practices. Rachel uses Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help her lead her team and build a successful business. Through IFS, Rachel has learned not only about herself, but how to effectively communicate with her team and resolve conflict at work. She encourages other leaders to be curious about their own feelings and explore what could be activating their responses to situations that come up throughout their work.
Key Takeaways:
Rachel initially started her private practice as an exit strategy for leaving her previous job. She and a couple of other therapists worked part-time until they expanded right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
As her private practice expanded, she realized she had not put in the infrastructure to work with such a large team and grow her business. Working with a consultant, she was able to build those systems and restructure her business in a way that made it efficient.
She started her consulting business because the success of her own business had started attracting others who wanted her advice and guidance.
Going through IFS training allowed her to learn so much about herself in all aspects of her life. “They kind of tricked me. I thought I was coming in for a lecture but this was really about learning about yourself.”
Rachel feels that connection with others can help re-energize us and it can be very healing to have someone understand your experiences. This is why it was so important for her to plan a summit (check her website for more information about this exciting event).
Rachel’s links:
Meet Dr. Tara Vossenkemper, group practice owner, business consultant, and podcaster who believes that leadership doesn't have to suck the life out of you. She shares how she manages a virtual team while traveling in an RV with her family, uses the Entrepreneurial Operating System to provide structure, clarity, and accountability, and developed the Culture Focused Practice Podcast. She discusses her 6 month EOS Mastermind for Group Practice Owners that starts June 5th.
Tara's Links:
In this episode, I share the strategies that have helped me land more speaking opportunities. I talk about how I defined my niche, started offering trainings to build credibility, and showed up at events and conferences to connect with the right people. I also walk through how I applied to speak at aligned events and explain how having a podcast has become a powerful platform for connecting with people I admire and creating meaningful conversations. Tune in for tips!
Meet Katie K. May and Shaelene Kite, the co-founders of Stabilize and Scale, where they help group practice owners make data-driven, values-aligned decisions. Together, they have supported over 60 six- and seven-figure practices in building sustainable systems, leading with clarity, and scaling without burnout. In this episode they share how they met on Facebook as DBT practice owners who became battle buddies during the pandemic. In developing their program they created a place for group practice owners to celebrate wins and successes while growing a group practice without overwhelm. They share the harsh realities they experienced along their journeys and how they stepped into leadership and help others do the same.
Key Takeaways:
-connect with people who are doing what you want to be doing
-step into leadership and have systems documented with clear expectations
-know your numbers
-to be a successful group practice owner you have to want to lead people
-your business is a mirror for your inner landscape
-distance yourself from the life happiness of the people on your team
-you rent employees, you do not own them
-the business owners job is to keep the business going
-employees are always going to choose themselves over the business
-the more you let you the more you attract
Katie and Shaelene's Links:
Meet Jole Berlage-Buccellati, a holistic coach who works with highly sensitive people. She helps these individuals build self-worth and become effective leaders and business people in a world that is not built for people like them. Jole says that 20% of the global population is a highly sensitive person and that despite our world that rewards loudness and narcissism, sensitive people still have great gifts to give to the world. She speaks about her work building her theories about sensitivity and how it brought her an understanding of herself and many of her clients. It has been work she has done to help people focus their empathy and caring for others in a way that is effective and helpful. Listen to her thoughts about the strengths of being a highly sensitive person, how more sensitive people in leadership can benefit the world, and how a sensitive person can take care of themselves in this week’s episode!
Key Takeaways:
Our world says it’s okay to be a sensitive person as long as you’re a woman who is not in business or an artist of some sort. If not, the world punishes you for being a person who cares for the world deeply.
Many highly sensitive people have been bullied at some point, but especially at school. This harms their self-worth and makes them feel as if no one understands them.
Being highly sensitive can be a very complex experience and building community around people like them is one way they can help make themselves feel less alienated.
Jole is writing a book about highly sensitive people and why they’re so important in our current political climate globally.
Finding your voice is important in order to make sure you can be heard. Many highly sensitive people are overwhelmed or introverted (or both!) but that is something they need to work through in order to be more effective.
Use your ability to notice others’ feelings and mental states to know when someone needs to take a time out, or a break, in order for their feelings to not overwhelm yours.
Jole’s links:
Meet Rachel Duncan, a financial and art therapist based in Denver, Colorado. Through her company, The Money Healing Club, Rachel helps clients work through their money related trauma and form a healthier relationship with their finances. Her career journey took many twists and turns until she finally realized what her real passion was: financial therapy. Rachel offers one-on-one therapy and a group membership. Through this work, she helps people think and talk about money more openly, work towards financial goals, and set boundaries around money. The work she does with people helps them to realize where their trauma around money comes from and how they can begin the healing process.
Key takeaways:
Money is neutral-our feelings about money are a trauma response based on situations or people in our lives.
Art therapy is a great way to help people work towards breaking down these trauma responses and form a healthier relationship with money.
Financial therapy is really trauma work!
A client can only go as far in therapy as their therapist has gone themselves-if a therapist who has not worked on their own financial trauma will have a difficult time helping others.
“Noble poverty” is something that is systemic and is institutionalized. It indoctrinates people in the helping field to believe that their work should not be equally paid in comparison to other professions with the same level of education.
The mental health profession attracts people who truly want to help others and thus are more likely to undervalue their work which ultimately makes it more difficult for them to be good therapists!
Who are we to say what someone else can afford?
If asking for a higher rate makes you uncomfortable, then find some ways to give back to your community outside of your private practice work.
Rachel’s links:
Meet Arilda Surridge LMFT and director of Wellness Counseling Inc. She is a certified in EMDR, an approved EMDRIA consultant, a trainer, author, and international retreat host. She shares how she began providing retreats for couples, transitioned to providing retreats for therapists, and is traveling the world training mental health professionals in trauma treatment. She describes how she structures her retreats, what participants can expect, and how she incorporates self-care, continuing education credits, and immersive experiences.
Key Takeaways:
-Whatever you are teaching, you should be doing yourself
-Don't let the fear of "what if" stop you
-You can do so much in the field of mental health
-If you have an idea, don't be afraid to try and start somewhere
Arilda's Links
In this episode I share my journey turning 40 and making the decision to prioritize my health and wellness by hiring a coach. I draw the parallel between business goals and personal goals and the benefits of utilizing someone to guide you that has advanced knowledge and is where you want to be.
Key Takeaways:
-honor your commitments to yourself
-you are more likely to achieve your goals with accountability
-enter what is most important to you on your calendar and fill in everything else around it
-the decisions we make now share our future
Julia's Links:
Meet Kristen Belevich, the owner of the group practice B&B Well Counseling who is preparing for her second maternity leave while in private practice. She is also helping two of the clinicians in her practice prepare for their maternity leaves as well. She discusses her process for acquiring more space, hiring multiple clinicians at one time, training and onboarding, as well as her process for transferring clients in this situation. She identifies the ways she promotes work-life balance with her team as well as clinician retention.
Kristen's Links: