Therapist Gone Rogue

When I moved my private therapy practice from the Seattle-area to southern Oregon last year, I decided it was a good time to extricate myself from the constraints of being an insurance-based provider.

This was something I had wanted to do for a long time, but I was scared. I was scared of losing clients and scared that people weren't willing to pay out of pocket for a preventive service that focused on their well-being.

I felt the fear and did it anyway, lol.

And I did lose clients. And I did lose an easy referral source (insurance providers). And as a result my income was cut significantly.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've been told that I'm crazy countless times--most frequently by other therapists who can't imagine making it without the support of the insurance industry.

But I needed to break away from the medical model of psychotherapy. Philosophically, it simply wasn't (and isn't) a match for me. I don't think treating a broken heart is the same as treating a broken arm.

I’m not interested in providing you with a diagnosis that your insurance will cover. While medication may be beneficial to you, that's beyond the scope of my expertise. I don’t want to give you a treatment plan based on your symptoms and I am not here to “fix” you.

I want to help you get to the cause of your struggles rather than play around with the effects.

The therapy that I practice is based on self-healing. It's based on a deep understanding that you have the answers within you.

You are not broken. You are not even stuck. You are just wearing blinders that are keeping you focused on a very narrow range of possibilities.

While we can heal ourselves, often it takes someone outside of us to show us where we are limiting ourselves and how we are seeing ourselves as trapped and closing ourselves off from the abundance of possibility that exists all around us.

When I call myself a “therapist gone rogue” it’s mainly a play on words because I moved my practice to the Rogue River valley. But it also plays to the fact that I don’t like the direction that the mental health industry is moving. It's becoming too far removed from treating individuals and too focused on coming up with cookie cutter plans to treat specific diagnoses.

How about you? Have you taken a big risk based on principle? Any regrets? I always love to hear your thoughts! You can connect with me on Facebook or Instagram as well as by email ❤️