Supporting Suicide Survivors With Nate Wagner

When Nate Wagner and I first spoke in 2015 I was struck by his passion for his practice and supporting those who have lost loved ones to suicide. His memoir, Sibling Suicide: Journey from Despair to Hope, tells his story from his perspective as a brother and as a clinician. He is very generously offering the first two chapters for free here (though I suggest you buy the whole thing). Suicide is one of those issues that most of us therapists are very uncomfortable with. With the holiday season, …

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You May Be Working Too Hard

I started out 2016 with a blog post called 2016: The Year of Not Hustling. At the time I wrote that I was in therapy and working really hard to divorce my self-worth from my “achievements”. Like my clients with Anorexia, every time I hit a goal I set another, more intense one. And because I was hitting my mark I was getting positively reinforced for it. Workaholism is real. Obsessive drive is about more than wanting to do what I love, provide for my family, fear of failure. Like most addictive b…

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Why We're All Gryffindors

Harry Potter has been there for me in a way few fictional characters have. When life gets tough and I need a break from the toughness, I need something all consuming to distract me and Harry and crew provide that. Also, in that whole “which 3 fictional characters are you” thing that went around social media a while back, I’m like 25% Hermione and 75% Leslie Knope. (I never posted that because is says “which THREE” and I’m a rule follower, obvi.) Anyway, that’s to say it’s not just Harry and …

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Signs You’re Building The Wrong Practice (and What to Do About It)

Signs You’re Building The Wrong Practice (and What to Do About It)

For those of you who have worked in toxic agencies, do you remember the “Sunday Scaries*?” Laying in bed, dreading the work week. Maybe you didn’t go to brunch or get together with friends on Sundays in order to have enough downtime to bear the next 5 days. It’s places like that that led me to private practice. In my last job, I never knew if I’d be therapizing my clients or my coworker-friends more on any given day. Or if I’d be…

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Work/Life Balance?

My tender-hearted, sweet, funny three year old doesn’t sleep. I mean she DOES, but it’s an all night struggle that involves 3 of the 4 humans in our house and sometime the dog. My 7 month old sleeps a little better; typical for a kid her age who has been sleep-crutched for her entire life. Like many parents of young kids, I haven’t slept through the night in over 8 months except one blissful night. I have an amazing husband. He’s funny and smart and hot and will absolutely hate this paragrap…

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How You Do Life Is How You Do Business

If you’ve been on my email list for more than 2 days, you’ve seen that on the first of every month there’s an opportunity for free consulting. Usually 30-40 spots open up and are claimed within minutes (which totally makes me feel like Bono, or whoever the kids are listening to these days).   Let me tell you about the hate-mail I get about this: Every month, without fail, at least one person sends me an email along the lines of “there’s nothing available and you should have more open for …

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What I Learned While Growing my Successful Private Practice

Guys, I’m excited to introduce you to Lauren Woodard, LCSW for a couple reasons. I know, guest posts are usually the last week of the month, but we’re doing ‘em back to back because Lauren is a badass and she's sharing some lessons learned. Lauren is an Abundance Practice-Building Group Grad. In the last year she has built exactly the private practice she wants despite some hurdles and, within the first year of her practice, was voted “Best of Western North Carolina” in the Psychologist/Counsel…

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What To Expect Your First Year: Part 2

Last week we talked about what to expect in your first year of practice. I left you hanging. Sorry about that! While I think it’s great to spend some time acknowledging that you aren’t a weirdo and that what you’re feeling is normal, sometimes it helps to have an answer to “Ok, so this is typical, now what?” Below are some suggestions for you that have helped me and those I’ve worked with along the way.

What To Do About Those First Year Experiences

Impostor Syndrome

Rest in what’s true. Even…

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What To Expect Your First Year, Part 1

When I first started working with folks who’d experienced trauma I used a handout. A you’re-not-crazy-these-reactions-are-normal-for-this-circumstance list of symptoms with brief descriptions of why. One of the members of the Abundance Facebook Group (jump in!) said it would be helpful to have a list of normative experiences in the early days of your practice. A brilliant suggestion and I’m happy to flesh it out like that list I used back in the day. I’m not going to pretend like there’s ONE…

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Safety in Your Private Practice: Wendy Williams Guest Post

A few months ago when I wrote Healing From Client-Related Trauma, Wendy Williams reached out and proposed a post about how to stay safe in private practice. As an avid fan of safety, I agreed that it would be really helpful to the Abundance community. Wendy breaks it down into what may seem like obvious steps to some, but I’m pretty sure I’ve personally broken at least half of these in the past week, lulled by my assumption that I’m safe. Interesting given that not long before I wrote that blog …

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