News: Our Growing Practice

Hello, Wonderful People!

You may have noticed some changes to our office. Thank you for your patience during remodeling. As we were finishing up construction, life presented a great opportunity and we went for it. Forgewell Solutions bought the space next door to our current office, allowing us to double our offices. We will continue to use the same waiting room for both spaces and hope to make changes to allow them to flow more seamlessly in the future. We are very excited to have the new offices allowing us room for talented new therapists!

In other news, we wanted to clarify that we have two handicap spaces close to our building. One is directly in front of the walkway, and the second space is running down the side of the building. There are a few other handicap spaces in the center of the lot and along the back fence as well. With pending snow in the coming months, we ask that clients who do not need handicap spaces use the back of the parking lot.

With that business taken care of... let's talk about some fun stuff. Linda Dunphy is running a Mindfulness Group on Friday mornings. Also, Cassie Len is joining us on Fridays. She specializes in marriage and family therapy. Please contact the office if you would like more information. We also invite you to visit our new website! ForgewellSolutions.com is packed with information and a new blog for clients as well as therapists. All of our therapists are featured on our site allowing you to become more familiar with the Forgewell Solutions crew.

Please join our mailing list for articles about mental health, mindfulness, healthy habits, and coping skills. Additionally, if there are any topics you would like more information about you can contact us and we will write an article for you!

Thank you for your continued support. We feel truly blessed that we can join you on your journey.

Best,

Forgewell Solutions Staff

How spending more and reducing my clinical hours made me more successful.

I've been at this private practice thing for 7 years. I opened in 2013 and I was renting out a 3 office suite. I asked (or begged) a few therapists to rent a room from me. One might think it was a savvy business move to diversify my income, but to be honest I just did not want to be alone. Before long I was overwhelmed with paperwork, behind in my billing, screwing up my accounting and not returning potential client inquires. I was making enough money to keep afloat, but I had no plan to keep it going. It wasn’t awesome. Professional reinforcements were needed immediately, but I did not want to spend my hard-earned money in that way. Let’s not talk about the unthinkable...using my billable hours and not seeing clients!

What I failed to understand was that I was not financially invested in my business. I looked at paying for these services as a defeat. I thought that I needed to pay someone else to do tasks because I couldn't keep it together.

What I realized was that I needed to stay in my lane... which in this case meant being a therapist.

If I started to assign the task that I knew little about and let professionals handle these tasks, I was making more money, even if I had the extra expense of paying them.

I have a team now: my accountant, my SCORE mentor, my biller, my office manager and my marketing designer. All of these gems bring their expertise, energy, and ideas to my office to make this business thrive. My first hire was an accountant. This was painful. To be truthful, sometimes this relationship still is. I have a lot to learn about accounting. He has taught me smarter ways to spend money, which ends up saving money. I can see the results as he provides the structure. I still don’t know what he is talking about a lot of the time, but I do what he tells me to do and we make it work.

My second draft pick was my SCORE mentor. Frank is super special because he volunteers his time for me. Essentially he is OZ in my Emerald City. He is the brains of the operation. He keeps things organized, linear and functional. He holds me accountable for the decisions I have to make or fail to make. He is just a phone call away. People often remark that my business structure is so smart, and I usually feel pretty guilty accepting the praise because it is all Frank.

Next comes Kim, my office manager, personal assistant, personal organizer, quasi therapist, expert problem solver and the muscle behind the operation. She goes through the emails, pays the bills, communicates with the therapists and cleans the office. You probably want a Kim and I don’t blame you.

Last is Tina, marketing guru, tech support, content advisor and yoga instructor (complete bonus). Tina has been my most recent find. She develops my online presence. I am not sure I ever thought I would need such a thing, but guess what! We probably spend 1 to 2 face to face hours a month to hash out what we want to do and how we are doing to it. Probably the very best thing she always says to me is, “Don’t worry, I got you!”.

Long story short... YES, I take time out of my clinical practice and YES, I pay more money out to develop my team, but it works. Currently, I run my office with 9 therapists (plus 5 waiting to join), 2 office buildings, 1 realty company, and another pending consulting company. My original plan was about renting an office space or two and seeing my clients. My team made my plan way better! Trust me, I got you!

Karen Peabody, LICSW is a therapist and business consultant for social workers and therapists interested in starting their private practice. She founded Forgewell Solutions in East Bridgewater, MA. Her office is a great place to start a private practice. Visit her FOR THERAPISTS page to learn more.

Read about Karen in SCORE SE Massachusetts Success Stories.

Thinking of seeing a therapist? Start here.

So you are thinking about seeing a therapist. Honor this feeling. I'm not coming from a bias perspective because I think therapists are amazing, but from a perspective that I live by, honoring the ideas, thoughts, feelings and notions that come from your head/heart. There is a path for you and the map comes from within yourself. Even if you are confused about this world, especially when this journey turns into a bumpy scary path, if you honor your heart you are going in the right direction. If your heart wants more support and you have a desire to call a therapist for a co pilot on this journey, by all means…search away. But, can I add a disclaimer? I'd like to share 5 basic things to keep in mind to get the most from therapy.

Sleep

Humans need to sleep 6-8 hours a days. Kids needs to sleep 8-10 hours a day. Fact. You might be a super human and you have lived off 4 hours a sleep a day since your youngest was born. Awesome, but your not functioning at your highest potential. It takes 48 hours of lack of sleep to start to experienced hallucinations. It is a basic need for your body to function. I promise you if you make an intentional effort to sleep 6-8 hours a day, you will start to feel better, even if it is a little tiny bit.

Exercise

Again, basic need. We were not meant to live this sedentary life. You sit all day, indoors with artificial light and recycled air. We are not experiencing the energies of the environment. We are slowly suffering from this disengagement from life. To keep yourself energized, you need to move your body, preferably outdoors at least 3 to 4 times a week. You need this for your body but also for your emotional health. The boost of chemicals in your brain and your body get a jump start with all the movement you create. If your excuse is, “I am way too tired to exercise”, this means you need it the most.

Drink Water

I always thought we were made up of 70% water, however my super smart scientist friend told me we are 99% water, for optimal functioning. How much water do you need to contribute to your body? Don’t count your coffee, your soda or your tea. These liquids are actually dehydrating. Water is not only essential for your skin, brain, organs and blood, increasing your water intake will improve your gut issues, increase your energy, and improve your immune system. Did you know some say that with minor infections, such as the first sign of an ear infections, we should be able to flush out infections with just water intake? Water is one of the most powerful resources of the world and we all have the conveniences of this in our homes. Take advance of this resource.

Take Baths

Yup, baths improve your emotional health. Am I blowing your mind? Better yet, Epson Salt baths are an excellent way to release toxins from your body and engage intentionally in relaxing your body. This is 1 cup Epson salt, ½ cup baking soda and a few drops of any essential oil. Draw a bath as hot as you can stand and allow yourself to sit in this bath for 40 minutes. The first 20 minutes is for absorption and the next 20 minutes will be for detoxing. During the detoxing phase of the bath, you will probably experience intense sweating. Don’t worry, this is suppose to happen. Try this bath one time a week for 4 weeks and evaluate if you have improved your sleep. Side note: if you are taking detox baths, you should refer to tip 4, increase water intake.

Eat Food from the Earth

Believe it or not, we are all connected; people, trees, animals, plants, water and air. We are all creating, consuming, reacting, absorbing. This cycle has been measured and studied through numerous fields of science. We have found that plants hold the answers to many of our ailments, injuries, nutrients. Aloe soothes our burns and our harvest produces our nutrients. Our earth is providing for us...all we need to do is pay attention. So next time you go to the supermarket, shop on the outside perimeter of the store instead of all the interior isles and find food from the Earth. Last time I checked, there is not an Oreo tree out there ( but Jeez, that would be sweet)!

Your mental health is not going to function properly if your body is not functioning properly. This is a fact. Even if you can improve one or two of these aspects, you will have started to take control of your emotions. There is always a solution to our issues but usually it is a gradual process of adding and subtracting things from our lives to improve our emotional health. Now is the time you can start your own journey, one step at a time.

Karen Peabody, LICSW is a therapist and business consultant for social workers and therapists interested in starting their private practice. She founded Forgewell Solutions in East Bridgewater, MA. Her office is a great place to start a private practice. Visit her FOR THERAPISTS page to learn more.