Ask Julie: Eating Disorder, Depression, Insomnia, & Cutting

Q: I have an eating disorder, depression, insomnia, and now I’ve started cutting. No one cares. My mom said things could be worse. My dad ignores it. My boyfriend says its in my mind and I can get over it on my own. I’ve started cutting and no one knows and it’s embarrassing. I need help. What should I do? (24 yr old female college student)

A: Click the arrow below to hear my response to your question…

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Take good care of yourself!

Julie Hanks, LCSW

Naming Your Pratice Is Like Naming A Child

I have four children. Luckily, I still like the names my husband and I gave them. Their names fit them. Their names aren’t too common or too weird. Like naming a child, choosing a practice name that fits can be a difficult process that brings up anxiety for therapists. You want your practice name to be an accurate reflection of you, as a therapist, and also appeal to your ideal clients.Â You don’t want to regret your decision down the road, right?

Ten years ago I wrestled with the question of what to name my practice. Funny enough, it was just one month after my 3rd child was born and weÂ didn’t name him for a couple of days because my husband and I couldn’t agree on his name. The name he’d picked for our son, Joshua, was a fine name but it just wasn’t him. He was Owen, not Joshua. I don’t regret taking a couple of days and “going to bat” for the name that fit my son.

I don’t regret the name I picked for my private practice either. I wrestled with a few different practice options and settled on Wasatch Family Therapy. Here are some common questions about naming your practice and some insight into how I made my decision.

I was abused as a child, have no sex drive and the one true love has left me (he doesn’t know about my childhood) I want to know if there is any hope for us at all-we never had sex often (twice in a year) he won’t discuss sex as he gets embarrassed and never ever made the 1st move, told me he loves me but not the way a boyfriend should? We both work long hours and shift work, and I have a dog that gets jealous even if we kiss!! but I feel such a failure, and I know we were soul mates, can i get him back? He wont answer my calls, and I was constantly accusing him of having an affair.Â I’m absolutely devastated as I feel like I’ve lost the one true love of my life.

A: Click arrow to listen to response from Julie Hanks, LCSW.

Additional childhood abuse resources:
Find a therapist resource
PsychCentral’s Survivors of Abuse Community Forum

Take good care of yourself!

Julie Hanks, LCSW

Your 2012 Practice Vision: WHY Do You Do What You Do?

As therapists we ‘re skilled at talking about what we do (“I’m a play therapist who works with children”, or “I help older adults improve their mental health”), and how we do it (“I use DBT, EMDR, and CBT” or “I help clients work through resistance to change through psychodynamic therapy”), but we don’t often talk clearly about why we do what we do.

I was recently introduced to this video by author, business guru, and optimist Simon Sinek a few months ago and found it to be incredibly inspiring and clarifying. It reaffirms that ” why” is crucial to personal and business success. I wanted to share it with you as we begin 2012 to help you clarify your practice vision for the year.

Here’s my “why” for my therapy practice:

I believe that loving and accepting relationships have incredible healing power.

Stephanie Adams, MA LPC, Beginnings Counseling & Consulting

I’ve never actually met Stephanie Adams, LPCÂ face to face, but I like her a lot. I’ve connected with her on Twitter, exchanged emails, and visited her website so I feel confident that I can say that she’s a “go getter” and like me, Stephanie loves to reach out to clients and professionals through technology.

She founded Beginnings Counseling & Consulting, a boutique E-Therapy practice based in College Station, TX, where she uses video conferencing, email, phone and real-time chat to meet with clients and coach beginning counselors. She’s co-authoring a book “The Beginning Counselorâ€™s Survival Guide” aimed at supporting new therapists in building their practice.

A Day In The Life

Thursday, November 17, 2011

6:15AM

Wake up and make coffee. Spend time with my husband before he leaves for medical school.

8AM

Check email and plan out the day.

Lights. Camera. Therapy! National TV Debut Tonight

I let a camera crew film two therapy sessions for the TV series “Secretly Pregnant” airing tonightÂ at 10:00 PM ET/8:00 PM MT on Discovery Fit & Health. While I have a lot of TV experience I’ve never been this nervous about it. I think it’s because I have NO idea how the therapy sessions will be edited and I don’t know how much of the sessions will actually be included in the episode. Oh, and this is national TV, not local TV.

How did I get on national TV?

One word: Google. Several months ago I got a call from a NY based casting company who had found my practice information online, saw that I had TV experience, and that I specialized in working with women’s emotional health and relationships. They asked if Iâ€™d be willing to do some pro bono therapy on camera with a Salt Lake City woman for a womenâ€™s health documentary show about women who are hiding their pregnancies. I agreed and the next day a producer, crew, and new client â€œJenâ€ came to Wasatch Family Therapy to film the first of 2 sessions for the show.

Thanks for your fantastic response to my roll call for private practice therapist using Twitter! Therapists from all around the globe have joined the list. I’ll will continue to add therapists to the list so feel free to join anytime by commenting on that post.

I wanted to do the same thing for Facebook Business pages to help you connect to other like-mined therapists to share resources, ideas, practice building tools, and referrals. Only licensed mental health therapists will be listed.

Here’s what you need to do to join the Facebook List…

Therapist Roll Call: Join The Private Practice Twitter List

I recently blogged about ways to use Twitter to build your private practice, and encouraged you to tweet your elevator speech/basic practice message in 140 characters or less. Those posts got me wondering, “How many therapists in private practice are actively using Twitter?”

So, I’m taking a roll call to help you use Twitter to connect with other like-minded therapists around the world to share ideas, resources, and referrals. Only licensed mental health therapists will be listed.

Here’s what I’d like you to do…

Post a comment below and include:

twitter handle & link
your city and state
specialty area

As the comments come in I’ll post comments and paste your info in the body of this post below.

Your most powerful tool to build your private therapy practice in the digital age is an effective practice website.Â The Internet allows us to talk directly to potential clients who are seeking mental health information and services. The majority of Americans, 62 percent, use the Internet to find health care information (Pew Internet and Family Life Study, 2009).

Few therapists have training in website programing and design, but as technology evolves, more options become available to create a cheap or free website that looks professional and accurately represents your practice. My websites are built on WordPress, a fairly easy platform on which to build a website or blog. There are thousands and thousands of free WordPress themes that you can use to customize your practice website. Therapy Sites, another website resource for therapists, allows you to select a template and customize it for your practice based on a monthly fee.

As I’ve consulted with therapists, developed my own websites, and done a lot of internet research, I’ve noticed some common mistakes that therapists frequently make when it comes to building websites.Â These are the top five mistakes I’ve seen and suggestions for how to fix the problem to make your website more effective.

My motivation for starting my private practice, Wasatch Family Therapy, was very clear. I wanted to create my ideal work environment and I knew that no one else could do that for me.

I felt called to help people heal themselves and their relationships.Â I knew that I wanted work with therapy clients who valued my services and time, and who were dedicated to working hard to improve their life. I wanted the flexibility to set my own schedule and take time off to be with my children and attend school and sporting events. I wanted to do paperwork that was relevant and helpful for treatment. I wanted to invite other clinicians into my professional space who were gifted therapists, genuine people, and who I enjoyed spending time with. I wanted to work as a social worker part-time and make a full-time income (a lofty goal in a profession where many work full-time and make a part-time income).

I know why I chose to go into private practice but I was curious if other therapists and counselors around the country had similar motivation opening private practice. I recently asked several therapists about their reasons for taking the leap into the business world of owning their own practices and noticed three common themes emerged. I call them the 3 “F”s of private practice: flexibility, freedom, financial opportunity.

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Naming Your Pratice Is Like Naming A Child

Ask Julie: I Have No Sex Drive & Can’t Keep a Relationship

A Day In The Life

How did I get on national TV?

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