We know the next part of the sentence should be "walk into a bar and....". However, that's not our story (yet). The Therapy Collaborative, LLC is the brainchild of our three partners, Carolyn Wright (Navigation Counseling), Tara Hagan (Hagan Counseling Services) and myself (the engineer!). Our goal is to create a working environment where mental health and wellness professionals feel supported, valued and connected with other providers. Every provider in the Therapy Collaborative, LLC is their own independent business.
Different Viewpoints + Great Discussion = Excellent Decisions
Although the two therapists may disagree with using an equation as the header, we ALL completely agree with what it says. Each and every decision at the Therapy Collaborative, LLC, has become a better decision because of our differing perspectives, background and interests. It's amazing to listen and watch as we solve problems, create future opportunities and tackle difficult challenges. There has not been a single "my way or the highway" moment. We all know and value therapists for their listening abilities, however engineers don't usually get that accolade. I love working with two excellent listeners and I know this past year has improved my listening skills.
Overestimating our Capacity
I don't know if it is a rookie business owner mistake, but we significantly underestimated how much time and energy it would take to LAUNCH the Therapy Collaborative, LLC and overestimated how much capacity we each had to do it. A new business has a lot of moving parts and we were definitely over optimistic about all we could get done in the first few months (while Tara and Carolyn continued to see clients in their own mental health practices and I continued work at my engineering gig). So as a team, we re-calibrated (in engineering terms) and re-adjusted (in mental health terms) our goals and expectations. We are still moving forward, our business is successful (as are all our collaborators) and most importantly, we are no longer overwhelmed and stressed with the Therapy Collaborative, LLC.
Make a Plan and then be Ready to SHIFT it
After one year, many of the pillars of our business are in place - we wanted to support Mental Health Professionals as they made the leap to start their own businesses with referrals, marketing support, a monthly therapist book club and a monthly clinical consultation among other things. We have accomplished that part of our plan. But that doesn't mean they look exactly as we thought they would. For example, our Book Club started off reading one mental health focused book per month. It quickly became apparent that that was way too much to accomplish in 30 days (see above - Biting off More than We can Chew!) So we shifted and now the Therapy Collaborative Book Club reads one book every two months. Heading into year two we will continue to shift so that the Business Plan still delivers on its goals but we are not exhausted in the process. You can check out our list for the 2024-25 book club - and join us virtually or in person if you live somewhere close to Troy, Ohio
Thanks for reading the Therapy Collaborative Inaugural Blog post - more insights on starting and running a small business, mental health and wellness in future posts.
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