Supporting Our Practice Values
In order to support these values, we are passionate about training teammates in many modalities of therapy, providing resources to use with clients, and providing continuing education reimbursement for counselor-selected trainings. These trainings are not forced but are encouraged to introduce teammates to new techniques, skills, or even modalities they may want to use with clients or further explore. It is our hope that in time, our teammates work collaboratively to teach each other and share helpful resources so that we do not feel disjointed or out of touch with what others are doing in our practice.
We also strive to keep an open door policy (metaphorically of course because most clients probably wouldn’t like that-wink wink) with nonjudgemental feedback/help for clinical, professional, or even personal questions, concerns, or needs. Leadership will regularly check in with each teammember one-on-one to see how they are doing, ask if they need any help, and get to know each person individually. We really do want to know about our teammates on a personal level so, if you chose to apply, please include a fun fact in your cover letter (this will also let us know who completed step one of the application). Supporting others is our job as mental health professionals and it is easier to help someone grow if they are motivated and open to guidance.
The support from leadership also plays into the need for proper self care. We want to encourage our team to adjust their schedules and caseloads to fit what they need and/or what they can handle given their life circumstances. We are here to help support each person in finding this right balance and adjusting as life does. Leadership is also trained and well-versed in preventing and coping with burnout. All providers (or humans for that matter) will experience burnout and it affects not only our moods and personal life, but also client outcomes. So, that is why self care is so important to promote in a private practice!
Lastly, we believe the ability to feel confident and in love with your job as a mental health therapist comes down to finding and nourishing your niche. Everyone enjoys and thrives in different things, and why should counselors be any different? We want to help our team identify their ideal clients in order to support them in getting the most helpful training and to help fill their schedules with clients that motivate and excite them. There are so many mental health professionals in the world that provide care to anyone they can get to book an appointment, but they will not be the best fit for, or even enjoy, every client. Imagine what it would look like if every mental health professional marketed for and primarily saw only clients they felt confident in helping and LOVED working with? We would probably have a lot less clients with bad counseling experiences, more emotionally-healthy discharged clients, and less burnt out therapists. We want that! For this reason, individual niche is very important at Equalize Counseling & Consulting.
