Balancing Minds, Enhancing Lives: Inside Brook Choulet’s Holistic Approach to Mental Wellness at Choulet Wellness. Ep.47

Episode Overview

• Episode Topic: Welcome to Mastering Counseling, where we engage in the specialized realm of mental health care for high-achievers and athletes, highlighting the innovative practices at Choulet Wellness founded by Brook Choulet, this episode explores how personalized mental health care is redefining wellness for professionals and athletes. Through insightful discussions, we uncover the unique approach Choulet Wellness employs to elevate mental health care, ensuring clients achieve optimal mental wellness and overall well-being. The conversation navigates through the intricacies of providing individualized care and the transformative impact of such tailored support on mental resilience and performance.
• Lessons You’ll Learn: Listeners are in for a treat as the insights are about the critical importance of personalized mental health care for high-achievers and athletes. You’ll learn about the pioneering strategies implemented by Choulet Wellness to foster a supportive environment, enabling individuals to prioritize their mental health actively. The episode sheds light on the integration of holistic care approaches, the significance of addressing mental health and sleep concerns together, and the paramount importance of balancing mental and physical health. Through Brook Choulet’s expert lens, the episode offers profound lessons on the impactful role of customized treatment plans and the collaborative effort in promoting comprehensive mental wellness.
• About Our Guest: Brook Choulet, the esteemed guest of this episode, is the founder of Choulet Wellness and the co-founder of La Jolla Concierge Psychiatry. With a distinguished background in catering to the mental health needs of professionals and athletes, Brook’s approach is deeply rooted in personalization and comprehensive care. Her extensive experience and innovative methodologies have positioned her as a leading figure in mental health care. Brook’s dedication to enhancing mental resilience and performance through tailored wellness strategies has significantly contributed to the well-being of her clients and the broader mental health community.
• Topics Covered: The episode covers a wide array of topics central to the mission and vision of Choulet Wellness. Discussions include the prioritization of personalized mental health care for high-achievers and athletes, the development of supportive and empowering environments for mental wellness, and the creation of individualized treatment plans integrating holistic care approaches. Further, the episode explores Brook Choulet’s consulting services, her role in raising awareness through speaking engagements and podcasts, and her visionary future initiatives aimed at expanding her impact within the mental health community. The comprehensive dialogue provides listeners with a deep understanding of the challenges and solutions in providing specialized mental health care.

Episode Transcript

Brook Choulet: I really think it goes back to goal setting. If you don’t know what you’re working towards, how can you get there? So I think really taking a step back and evaluating what your goals and your visions are for whatever that practice is that feels right for you, and making actionable steps to move towards that, I think, is invaluable.

Becky Coplen: Welcome to Mastering Counseling, the weekly business show for counselors. I’m your host, Becky Coplen. I’ve spent 20 years working in education in the role of both teacher and school counselor. Each episode, we’ll be exploring what it takes to thrive as a counseling business owner. From interviews with successful entrepreneurial counselors to conversations with industry leaders on trends and the next generation of counseling services to discussions with tech executives whose innovations are reshaping counseling services. If it impacts counseling, we cover it on mastering counseling. Thank you for returning to mastering counseling. We’re so excited today to have Brook Choulet, who is the co-founder of La Jolla Concierge Psychiatry in La Jolla, California. We’ll talk about how it’s shifting locations at the end. And she is also the founder of Choulet Wellness. Thanks so much for being here today, Brook.

Brook Choulet: Thank you for having me on.

Becky Coplen: I am personally so thrilled to hear from you because she has spent a lot of time in the mental health of professional athletes and has a whole team that she works with who specializes in a very holistic approach. But let’s go ahead and just get right into some questions about what personalized mental health care looks like for professionals and athletes. Yeah,

Brook Choulet: I think that the Concierge Psychiatry model goes really hand in hand with professional athletes because their schedules are wild, like seeing all the things that they have to do in a day. The last thing they want to do is go out of their way to seek an appointment or go to an office somewhere. So I think that’s one thing that we can do, contributing to their work-life balance is going to them. So what Concierge Psychiatry looks like for athletes is really going on site, to their practice facility, to their arenas, and really just traveling to where they are to eliminate some of those barriers to access and care.

Becky Coplen: Yeah, I saw the word concierge in a big part of your website and everything. Was that the early idea that you’re basing everything around? Or tell us about how you found that word.

Brook Choulet: Yeah. So my mom has actually been in Concierge Psychiatry for over 20 years, and she is based in San Diego. So that’s the other co-founder of the La Jolla Group. And so I saw what an impact she was able to have by specifically seeing people throughout a whole stage of their life and that long-term relationship. So that’s where the concierge idea came from, is just being able to work with a smaller group of people over a prolonged period of time, and then that just ended up meshing really well with the sports world, because it wasn’t my intention to find myself into sports psychiatry. But I think just that personalized service and ability to be available really meshed well with that population.

Becky Coplen: That’s so exciting that you’re continuing on what your mom’s doing and co-founded with her. So just talk to us a little bit about the access that you have. Do you have to have even, it makes me think like special badges. I know a lot of times people are a little more guarded or have security. How does that work for you? Maybe different than a typical therapist’s office.

Brook Choulet: Yeah. So in the practice facilities and the arenas, the teams have certain kind of security badges to get past their front desk and to get access to certain areas to visit with athletes. So they have a whole team of security behind that. And then in our practice, it’s funny because people oftentimes have trouble finding our office, but it’s purposely that way because we don’t want to be just some giant sign on the street that people walk right into. So we’re in a labeled building C and an unlabeled office door. The entrance to that leads to our labeled office suite entrance. So we provide our patients with really specific instructions on how to get to us, but it is set up that way for a reason.

Becky Coplen: I’m sure that we’re grateful for all of the discretion. What type of other people are you seeing besides athletes?

Brook Choulet: I specialize in working with executives, professionals, high-achieving people, musicians, and artists in addition to athletes and then their children. So I did additional training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry after General Psychiatry. So I love treating a whole family. I love building relationships and just seeing people over a long period of time.

Becky Coplen: You mentioned a little bit about what you specialize in and who you’re working with. Can you go back and give us all of your background in what you studied and where you’re at now, from where you began, even your bachelor’s?

Brook Choulet: Sure, yeah. So I went to high school in San Diego. My whole family is in San Diego. And then I got accepted to a specialized six-year bachelor M.D. program in Kansas City, Missouri. So you essentially go straight out of high school at age 18 and start an accelerated six-year program where you finish your bachelor’s degree in two and a half years, and then you complete your medical school portion and finish it all by the age of 24. So I finished med school in Kansas City, matched as far west as I could, back close to home, Phoenix, Arizona. I always had a plan to go back to San Diego, but I met my husband here in Phoenix and we decided to stay. So after medical school, I did a general psychiatry residency program at the University of Arizona, Phoenix, and then I did a two-year child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Creighton University here in Phoenix.

Becky Coplen: All right. Very cool. That’s what we like to do on this podcast is often look at other careers that are meshed in with the mental health world. Can you talk about a certain approach or maybe case study that you can speak about in general that you feel was really successful for the type of clients you work with, and you really saw them meet some goals and be able to achieve what they wanted to achieve when they came to work with you.

Brook Choulet: Yeah, I think a really good keyword that you use is goals, because I’m a huge fan of goal setting, and it’s incredible how many people will ask about setting goals. And they say, I’ve never actually thought about that. And I think in terms of high performance, it makes it very difficult to know what you’re working towards if you don’t have goals. So that’s step one that I like to establish a baseline of what are your goals. And then from there, how can you create digestible small steps that are actionable to achieve them? That’s really, I think, what the kind of work boils down to is identifying goals, identifying barriers to achieving those goals, and then setting actionable steps to work towards achieving them. So one example is working with an athlete who maybe is reviewing a lot of film and not sure about their performance. And all of that rumination leads to lowering their self-confidence, and that then potentially impacts their game. And so really taking a step back and evaluating what are your goals and are you meeting them. Because if they don’t even know their goals, they get stuck in this negative thought pattern of feeling like they’re never achieving enough. But are they feeling like they’re never achieving enough because they don’t know what they’re working towards achieving?

Becky Coplen: All right, great explanation. That makes me think a little bit, obviously athletes and people review their performances. When you’re working with someone specifically, do you find that you avoid watching them on TV, whether they’re an artist, musician, or athlete? Do you feel ethically one way or another about like enjoying what they do and then being their mental health expert and doctor? Does it not matter? Do you know what I’m saying?

Brook Choulet: Yeah. I think it’s an interesting way that you frame it. I think, for me, I almost see it as due diligence in helping them, because let’s say that you have a new patient and you don’t take their social history, well, you are missing a big piece of the equation, probably. So if I’m working with an athlete and they’re struggling with free throws or they’re struggling to get a certain weight in the gym, am I doing them a disservice by not following some of those things and not sharing in the proud moments, too, or congratulating them on a great performance? So I think there’s many lenses to look at it from, and I’m of the mindset that it helps me do my job better to watch them perform.

Becky Coplen: That’s very cool. I think it’s such a fun and unique role that you have to work with people that what is the common folk often admire. I’m sure that too many people, athletes, people think, “Oh, they have so much money, they have these big houses, they have all these things. But as we know, and it sometimes comes out. There’s often so much more to the story and you get to see that and help people with that. So, so very interesting. Let’s talk about your whole group practice, and this might vary from California to Arizona, but who all is working with you on your team? I know you have other doctors, you have counselors that are just counselors. But how did your practice grow and how did you connect with the people that are part of the group?

Brook Choulet: Yeah, people often ask me that. They’re like, “Okay, you just opened three years ago, how do you have so many people working with you?” And this is an honest answer that I’ve only ever posted one job ad for another clinician to join me. And the way that I met and brought in so many people is truly just through networking. So excited to get out in the community and tell people what I was building and the practice that I was starting that I had at the beginning. So, “That sounds so cool. Can I join you?” And I remember I’m so direct, maybe to a fault, but I remember telling them I’m like, I don’t actually have any patience right now. I’m just opening this practice and they’re like, “That’s okay. I still want to join and know that it’ll be a slow burn.” So really love every single one of the people that are in the group, because I met them organically and even the one I met through a job ad, she’s so near and dear to my heart. So we do have four psychiatrists, including myself, all board-certified psychiatry physicians. We have three psychologists and we are four psychologists now, a fourth one just joined us, and one LPC or a counselor. So we have a whole robust team of people that offer a whole variety of services. And even though there are several psychiatrists and several psychologists, we’re also niched into such a specialized space that there’s really no overlap. Everyone is so subspecialized.

Becky Coplen: I think people become overwhelmed with clients and then they hire help. And then in this case, you just saw the vision and got the people. And I’m sure that’s caused it to expand. So you mentioned networking, and talk to us. I know you do national podcasts and speaking engagements. So let’s talk about networking. And where is it that you’re going to share? What kind of topics are you focusing on? Talk to us about that.

Brook Choulet: Yeah. One conference I really love speaking at annually is the Concierge Medicine Forum in Atlanta, and last year I was unable to go because I had a baby last year, but I planned to go there in 20. I plan to be there in 2024. Speaking again, I just really love meeting other people in the field and the mental health space, and the athletic space. In a few weeks, I’m going to the NCAA convention here in Phoenix. So I just love meeting other people. And in terms of speaking I’m doing most recently, is surrounding the new board that I formed with six other sports psychiatrists across the country, which is the American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry. Up until this point, there’s been not a whole lot of standardization and additional education being provided for psychiatrists that are interested and working in the space of sports psychiatry. There’s been a few certification programs and some diploma programs, but not an actual board or a regulatory body in the United States. So that’s been the big project recently. And what I’ve been spending a lot of time meeting with other physicians and other athletic groups about is that new American Board of Sports and Performance Psychiatry.

Becky Coplen: Okay, that’s very cool. And I assume that would be coast to coast, the six people part of this group.

Brook Choulet: Yeah, we span all the West Coast to East Coast and have committee members across from California to New York.

Becky Coplen: This episode is brought to you by mastersincounseling.org. If you’re considering enrolling in a master’s level counseling program to further your career, visit mastersincounseling.org to compare school options via our search tool that allows you to sort by specific degree types, tuition, our costs, online flexibility, and more. Let’s just go a little bit into you had worked with one sports team in particular and that shifting a little bit now, but would you say that most teams like we discussed before on here, I lived here in Detroit and it’s a little rough in Detroit now, specifically basketball. However football, it has never been this good with the Lions. What would you say that most teams have a psychiatrist connected with them? Is it just more word of mouth where you become more connected? Do the franchises actually hire mental health people or is it individual athlete by athlete? How does that look?

Brook Choulet: Yeah, it’s ever-evolving and really changing rapidly. But it really boils down to the rules and regulations put out at the league level. So the NBA, for example, has a wonderful NBA mind health network run by doctor Kenzie Gunter. And that network requires each team to have a licensed mental health clinician, whether it be a psychologist, LPC LMSW, a psychiatrist and requires a consulting team psychiatrist. Now, other organizations such as the NFLPA, the NBPA, the players associations often have a network of clinicians across the country, a mix of different licensure levels, and offers that as a resource for players. And then other organizations like the NHL and the MLS are beginning to continue to develop and advance their requirements for mental health. So it really boils down to the league level, what their policies are.

Becky Coplen: Yeah, that’s so interesting. And we have not touched on this at all in anyone else we have interviewed. So sports are just such a huge part of a lot of people’s world whether their kids are playing them, they’re still playing them or they are devoted fans. I think it really opens up kind of the back curtain of how the people that were watching and paying to see are working through their own lives as well. Would you mention, that sometimes you work with families and this goes for musicians or other professionals as well, is it more like a family group therapy or do you work only individually with the children and the parents?

Brook Choulet: I tend to work individually and then I have some wonderful resources for family therapy if that’s needed. So I typically work with individual members of the family separately. And on that topic of the individual family members, including children, I think a lot of times people hear sports psychiatry and they get excited by the professional athlete setting. But I think we can’t forget the middle school athletes, the high school athletes, the college level athletes who are all facing very similar stressors. And we talk about external stressors and professional sports leagues, whether it be from the coaching staff, or family members, or agents, but then also in the middle school and high school athletes. Those external stressors often also include parents and a little middle school or high school athlete in that sport because of parental pressures. So I think that there’s so much more to sports psychiatry that spans across those lower school athletes all the way through professional leagues.

Becky Coplen: For sure. Yeah, all four of my kids play a wide range of sports and always to their own choice. But sometimes you hear the parents at games and you’re like, wow, this feels so intense and uncomfortable. And so I’m glad you brought that out that it’s at all levels. One thing we did want to touch on as well is the holistic view. And specifically, you have a sleep medicine physician on your staff. How do you guys collaborate together and do your clients see both of you if they’re having issues with sleep or other health measures in that aspect?

Brook Choulet: So we’re lucky, like you said, that we have a psychiatrist that’s not only subspecialized in sleep medicine but also completed psychiatry residency. And I think it’s very valuable because a lot of athletes that have mental health concerns struggle with sleep. A lot of athletes struggle with sleep at baseline because they are traveling across time zones. And then a lot of patients, even that aren’t athletes that have mental health concerns. Also, a lot of times have trouble sleeping. So when we intake the patient into the clinic, we try and really get a good baseline for if they’re having trouble sleeping because we want them to get mental health care in the most cost-effective approach. So if they can just see him for psychiatry and sleep medicine, that is such a win in a service we’re able to provide. But. And if me or one of the other psychiatrists has a patient that then maybe like a year into seeing them does have some sleep issues that pop up, then we’re able to have him work with that patient in the short term just on the sleep component. So we just do whatever is best for the patient and the most cost-effective.

Becky Coplen: Good. And then as far as diet and things of that nature, do you guys refer out with that or does someone on the staff, being that you have been to medical school? Do you address those concerns as well?

Brook Choulet: Sometimes we’re first kind of assessment level. So if we are concerned about someone’s eating status, we’ll run labs. And if the labs are abnormal, we’ll send the appropriate referrals to a sports medicine physician, a primary care physician, and then loop in a nutritionist. So we definitely specialize in our great at what we do, but we also understand the scope of our practice and our work. So we do refer out to make sure that patients getting the best care possible from several team members. And then we are the outside providers.

Becky Coplen: One thing I was thinking about was, with the concierge approach, and often we’ve talked with other guests on here about the spaces that their clients come to, whether it’s a marriage therapist and how the couches are set up or for children’s play areas. So if you are coming to the athlete or musician more in their space, do you guys have a specific spot that you help set up, or do you just use lack of a better Tum random offices? How does that look as far as spaces?

Brook Choulet: Sure. So in our office, what I’m very proud of is that all of our rooms are set up in an open floor plan way, where each office has a chair that the therapist or psychiatrist sits in, and then a couch right across from it. There’s no desk. It’s not a very clinical feeling. There’s not a desk between me and my patients. So I’m really proud of how approachable and comfortable it feels. And then when I go to someone else’s home, I want them to feel comfortable. So I allow them to take the lead on, just asking them, where would you like to meet today? And having them take me to a space that feels most comfortable for them.

Becky Coplen: Okay, makes sense for sure. What would you say are some of the future initiatives for Choulet Wellness over the next month, year, maybe five-year plan?

Brook Choulet: Yeah. So this month we actually have a psychologist joining us, Doctor Robert Burry, and he will be adding a completely new service to our clinic, which is psychological evaluations and neuropsychological evaluations. He’s very specialized in doing kind of one-time consults for pre-transplant evals, potentially even plastic surgery evals and full-on testing for ADHD, etc. so I’m very excited for him to be joining us and to be able to add that new service to the clinic.

Becky Coplen: Very cool. What advice would you give in the mental health world or medicine world for people starting out on this path?

Brook Choulet: I really think it goes back to goal setting. If you don’t know what you’re working towards, how can you get there? So I think really taking a step back and evaluating what your goals and your visions are for whatever that practice is that feels right for you, and making actionable steps to move towards that I think is invaluable.

Speaker3: Okay, good.

Becky Coplen: Is there very specific universities that have the degree you have or is it all across? I feel like you’re highly specialized in both medicine and mental health. So do people have a lot of options for that, or are there specific places you would recommend?

Brook Choulet: I think that when people complete medical school, you can select the residency program you’d like to go to, and psychiatry is definitely a great option for people that are in medicine that want to pursue the mental health space. So psychiatry residency is really that next step from getting from medical school to working in the mental health space.

Becky Coplen: All right. Yes. Thank you. All right. Is there anything else that we didn’t get to cover today? We’ve learned a whole lot of kind of behind the curtain. And I also love hearing other parts of the country. What’s going on in just in other states? Is there anything else that you’d want us to know about your practice or the niche that you focus on?

Brook Choulet: One other thing to mention is that even though we are Concierge Psychiatry Group, we don’t have any recurring membership fees or monthly subscription fees. I really want to empower the patient to be able to get the care that they need in a way that’s most approachable for them, and I Think that allows us to have a wider reach in the community through accessing people who wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford concierge services with an expensive monthly subscription, and allowing them to get a high level of care as well. So that is one thing I’m very proud of, and I’ll always stick to that model.

Becky Coplen: Good to know. I was thinking, because you are, I would say, different in a lot of practices where they have their office hours. And I know with concierge it’s like you’re more available. How do you and your team protect though your own personal time and have some form of boundaries with who you’re working with and when they need you?

Brook Choulet: Yeah, I think that it comes down to making sure a patient’s a good fit in both directions, making sure when they contact the clinic that we can provide the level of care that’s clinically required for them and that they feel like it’s a good fit with us. And so I think that we always leave that first appointment as a one-time consult to make sure that on both sides, it’s good. From there, we just explained that they have our direct number to call or text us if needed. Really, I encourage my patients to text me if they need a refill because I’d much rather them stay compliant with their medication than try to call the office, not be able to get through get off their medication. So I encourage them to contact me, even if it’s a 10:00 text like just ran out of my nighttime medicine, doesn’t mean I’ll answer it at 10 p.m., but at least then the next day I’m able to take care of that refill. So I really think we have incredible patients who value their own time and sleep as well. And so we really have been fortunate that we don’t have an issue with boundaries.

Becky Coplen: All right. Well, that’s good to hear for sure. I think we’re going to close out here. But we’re so thankful to the doctor, actually, for all your insight and for giving us this time, especially right before the holidays, and I know you do some of your own travel as well. I know we mentioned beforehand you were going to shift just a little bit in your practice in the location. Did you want to share that?

Brook Choulet: Sure. Yeah. Well, first, thank you for having me today. This is so much fun. And yes, the Concierge Psychiatry, effective January 1st, is moving up to Beverly Hills and will be Beverly Hills Concierge Psychiatry. So I’m looking forward to having an office up in the Golden Triangle and getting to know some of the people in the Los Angeles community as well.

Becky Coplen: All right. Thank you so much for being here. And you can check out her website, chouletwellness.com. And she’s on LinkedIn as well. And to our listeners, just thank you for being a part of this. I hope you enjoyed a new angle in looking specifically and professionals and athletes, and just some of the specialties that go along with discretion and the concierge approach. We haven’t gotten to talk about that. So leave us your comments and questions and tune in the future as we continue on Mastering Counseling and all the realms of therapy and counseling. Have a wonderful day. You’ve been listening to the Mastering Counseling podcast by mastersincounseling.org. Join us again next episode as we explore what it takes to be a business success in the counseling industry.