Thought Journey to b.mindful Louisville
/I am a mental health counselor by trade and when I was venturing into the private practice world and looking for my own office space, I quickly realized that finding a space that had everything I needed (and wanted) was more difficult than it should be.
I looked into group practices. I looked into doing solely online therapy from my home office. I looked into renting an office by myself. Not one of these opportunities settled right with me, but I felt like I didn’t have any other options on the table.
Sooo…
I just stayed at my full time job and I saw private practice clients on the side and paid a colleague by the hour when I used her office and just kept chuggin along. This all worked for awhile, but I just knew deep inside that it wasn’t sustainable for me and not what I wanted to be doing long term.
So, what do I do when I’ve backed myself into a corner I don’t want to be in? Make a pros and cons list :)
Ugh. Eh. Ugh.
Ended up being bummed that my pros and cons idea didn’t sell me on one of these ideas. I just knew that I wasn’t going to get all my needs (and wants) met by doing one of the these options above and that I wasn’t about to leave a stable full time job to do a gig that I would end up resenting a year down the road and find myself in this exact same spot.
So, back to Google it is. Searched and searched and searched and stumbled across some wise words (don’t remember who said them or what site i found them on) so ill paraphrase…
Doing something new and on your own taps into all different parts of you that you never knew where there. Building a private practice is just as emotionally draining (if not more) then physically demanding and that in order to survive the business startup phase one must be very clear about their hopes, dreams and visions for their practice before starting.
It of course occurred to me that building a business would be work (hard work) but I had not given the emotional side of it much thought before stumbling across these wise words (leave it to the therapist to forget about emotions!) ha. Outside of the fact that I knew I wanted to have more autonomy of my schedule, clientele and finances, I didn’t spend much time thinking about how i wanted my practice and life to look like “in the ideal world”.
So, I spent some time making a list…
I am the owner of my business, in charge of what’s going on with the finances, what decisions are being made day to day…
I don’t want to have employees or contractors working for me
I want full autonomy to do what I want when I want to and to not do what I don’t want to do when I don’t want to do it (all while abiding by my licensure guidelines and code of ethics of course!)
I want a beautiful office that I like and feel comfortable in and that is welcoming to my clients. I want it to be serene, nicely decorated and have modern furnishings in it. I will not have my office look like my past therapists offices have….#StraightFromGrandmasLivingRoom
I want to feel physically and financially safe
I would like my services to be accessible (physically and/or financially) to a variety of different populations
I NEED to have interaction with people (other than my clients) throughout the day. Maybe just seeing people in the halls, having some small talk, or having someone else nearby in case a safety issue occurs
I want to be able to work when I want to work and not work when I don’t have to work. Ideally, I would like to see clients two days a week with morning, afternoon and evening availability and not see clients the other days unless it’s an emergency
I want more time off
I want to be surrounded by like minded individuals
I want ease and simplicity
Though some of these traits were in each of the pros lists from above, I knew that community and having full autonomy of my practice were my NON-NEGOTIABLES and those two traits together were not found in any of the options above.
So I thought and thought and thought and debated on changing my wants and needs and in the end came to the conclusion that there is a reason all of these items are on my list and that they are important and can’t just be tossed to the side.
Back to Google it is then.
I Googled and Googled and Googled and with the combined knowledge from lots of different sites, blogs, videos and my own experience, wants and needs the general thought of a shared workspace for mental health professionals came to mind.
This isn’t a new concept and has been done in various larger cities around the nation and cmon it’s 2018 and co working spaces are hot. There is WeWork, Regus, The Park, Story, and on and on. In general these spaces are fantabulous and meet the needs of tons of solo entrepreneurs, but they don’t always meet the unique needs of mental health and wellness professionals (HIPAA, confidentiality, privacy, volume control, etc.). So I thought “Really, there should be one place where human helpers can go to find all these integral resources (office, consultation, networking, community, clinical and business building resources and support etc.).”
AHA!
The idea was born :) That thought in May of 2018 (and lots more Googling) led me to creating b.mindful Louisville.
From the idea of being simply an office space designed with mental health and wellness professionals in mind to what it is today, it has evolved quite a bit.
Today we are a safe, clean, practical, and modern office space for mental health and wellness professionals in private practice. We offer flexible rental plans and make it easy for clinicians to enter the office each day feeling confident & prepared to tackle what the world brings to them. By becoming a part of our community, one will be provided with the like-minded support network (that one so desperately needs in this field), as well as all the furnishings, supplies, amenities and resources to support a thriving practice.
In the coming weeks, months and years we will continue to evolve and meet the needs of our Louisville community. We are so grateful for all the love and support we have received thus far, and are excited to see what the future has in store for us!
We would love to hear from you about your wants and needs as a mental health or wellness professional so we can cater our content, amenities and business goals to meet our consumer’s needs! Leave a comment below.
Learn more about of clinical and business focused consultations groups here.
If you are local to Kentucky and needing an office space in Louisville, give us a call at 502-528-1363 or schedule your tour today!