Mission-Driven Counseling Approach to Healing with Jaclyn Fortier. Ep.51

Episode Overview

• Episode Topic: Welcome to Mastering Counseling,  we engage in the vibrant world of Entrepreneurial Counseling, guided by Jaclyn Fortier, founder of Carolina Counseling Wellness Associates. Jaclyn shares her journey of transforming her passion for mental health into a thriving counseling business, emphasizing the intersection of entrepreneurship and wellness. This episode offers a unique perspective on how counseling services can evolve into a successful business while maintaining a core focus on mental health advocacy and client empowerment. It’s a must-listen for anyone interested in the business aspects of counseling and mental health services.
• Lessons You’ll Learn: This episode is packed with invaluable lessons for aspiring and established professionals in the counseling business. Listeners will gain insights into the essentials of building a successful counseling practice, the importance of community engagement, and strategies for maintaining authenticity in a business setting. Jaclyn Fortier’s firsthand experiences provide a roadmap for navigating the challenges and opportunities in the counseling industry, showcasing how to balance entrepreneurial ambition with a commitment to mental health advocacy and client care.
• About Our Guest: Jaclyn Fortier, the founder of Carolina Counseling Wellness Associates, is a beacon in Entrepreneurial Counseling, exemplifying how dedication to client well-being can harmonize with entrepreneurial success. With a background rich in clinical work, particularly in the realms of PTSD and domestic violence, Jaclyn has seamlessly transitioned into a role that merges clinical expertise with business acumen. Her journey illuminates the path for mental health professionals aiming to create impactful, sustainable, and client-centered counseling businesses.
• Topics Covered: This engaging conversation covers a wide range of topics pivotal to understanding and excelling in the counseling business. Discussions include the nuances of clinical supervision, the dynamics of expanding a counseling practice, and the critical role of personal empowerment in professional development. We also explore how Jaclyn Fortier has innovated within Carolina Counseling Wellness Associates to address the growing demand for mental health services, her approach to ending mental health stigma, and her strategic integration of business practices in the counseling industry.

Episode Transcript

Jaclyn Fortier: When you get a license in mental health care, you’re basically a physician’s assistant. You can work on your own without supervision and you can create your job. What an amazing thing to be able to develop your passions and career and make money while you’re helping people, and also living a lifestyle for yourself that feels authentic and vibrant. It’s a great field. Obviously, I’m passionate about it and it’s not short for clients. I had over 17 intakes last week and I had to send away 15 because my practice is full. It’s a booming field. It looks almost like a medical field if you’re becoming a nurse or a doctor.

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. It’s so great to have you on here, where we talk to so many different therapists and counselors today. I’m super excited to welcome Jacylin Fortier, who founded the Carolina Counseling Wellness Associates. Thank you for coming to the show today.

Jaclyn Fortier: Thank you, Becky, for having me. I appreciate it. I’m excited to talk with you today.

Becky Coplen: She has been working in this community since 2008, and especially focusing on PTSD, especially, with domestic violence survivors, which is a really difficult thing to manage. So we look forward to your expertise in that and passion for it. And also, it sounds like you’ve been working in doing some clinical supervising as well.

Jaclyn Fortier: Yes. I merged into being a clinical director, and we can talk about what that means as far as clinical supervision and have two clinics that I am the director for and founded. I’ve been getting into entrepreneurship. But I’ll start with a little bit of the beginnings. And I worked in nonprofits after graduate school and being a single mom myself, going through my adversity. So really learned as I grew in my profession how to take really good care of myself and got passionate about empowerment. And empowerment for us in our field means I am in charge of me. I’m in charge of solving my problems. I’m in charge of connection-building and getting out of my way sometimes. Lots of insecurities when I was younger that we speak about a phobia of math, and a phobia of public speaking, which I’ve worked on conquering and teaching others as well. So I’ve become more of an education type in the mental health field of how to get out of our ways and empowerment. I started with domestic violence. I worked in a nonprofit, was the clinical supervisor at the shelter, and we helped hundreds of women and children who were in imminent danger. I developed a lot of passion for our field during that time and then got into private practices after that, really saw a gap in the market for the middle-level mental health crisis. We had urgent suicidal prevention hospitalization, and then we had solo practices, and that was the spectrum that I saw.

Jaclyn Fortier: I got this call to say, I want to increase access. I want to increase work on ending mental health stigma through people wanting to come to our center. And I wanted to create a center. So I created our first center in Apex, North Carolina in 2016. And the entrepreneurial part of me got into real estate investment. So I bought the building, which was a unique little niche in our field, and I renovated it. I loved HGTV and renovations, so I got into the sparkle in me and wanted to make it pretty and make it beautiful. So that way the people who were coming in felt a sense of welcome and ease, which really dubbed us as ending mental health stigma through approachable access and care. And I have another one. So a couple of years ago, right after the pandemic, everybody saw a huge increase in conversation around mental health and also the need for care. My phone was ringing, I had over 100 people on my caseload and I started hiring people. That’s when I became a director and said, I need people to help me. This is too much for me. Sure. And then I got a second practice last year over in High Point, North Carolina, and did the same thing. I purchased the building. We have longevity there. So in our community, we’re known because we don’t have to move every time our lease gets up, which gives that access to the care point that I wanted for our community and mental health.

Becky Coplen: So currently the Carolina Counseling Wellness, that’s latest practice different from what you started in 2008 or a few years after.

Jaclyn Fortier: In 2016, Carolina Counseling was founded. Yes. I began being a counselor in 2008 when I graduated from school down in Jacksonville, Florida, and began my nonprofit. My clinic work. I experienced getting my license in mental health counseling, which we all know that anyone who’s got a license in mental health counseling therapy, or social work, takes a long time. You know, it takes a bit to get all those hours. I think by the time I passed my national board exam, I had over 8000 clinical hours. So lots of experience that. But I’m grateful. It was a hard experience, yet it was needed for me to be able to run the clinic that I have now. So I’m able to handle crises when my team has a hard time and we know what we know what to do. We’ve built a lot of resources for them through my experiences and my work in crisis centers and nonprofit settings.

Becky Coplen: Why don’t you talk to us about how the practice looks as far as how many people are part of your team? Do they have different specialties? Are you still focusing mainly on domestic violence support, or have you branched out a little bit more? Tell us about how the team looks now, in 2024.

Jaclyn Fortier: That’s a great question. And we’ve been moving and grooving and changing as we grow and adapting. And my specialization, when I do see clients, I still see a smaller caseload right now. But I do love working with women and men in domestic violence prevention. I’m really on the prevention side teaching emotional regulation skills, teaching anger management, connection, and also people who might have been victims of abusive relationships after. And really in that prevention, I work with a lot of liaisons in our counties here if people are in active danger as well. I’m a team advisor for our team. If any of the other people in our team have clients with those special concerns, we have. What I developed was a collaborative model. So each of my centers has around four office spaces. And they can either rent space. So it’s a collaborative model of if someone didn’t know where to put their practice and they wanted to rent space. And that’s really how we began. And then during the pandemic, I branched off and got group contracts with insurance companies and learned how to be able to offer associate-level positions for specialists to join us and have their specialization under our contracts. That’s been our model. We have around 11 people total right now and we’re growing. So I’m hiring another one this week because the phone keeps ringing. I really do adapt as we grow. I have an assistant intake coordinator specialist who works with our team through Productive Therapists, which is an amazing company that’s helped my company grow. I do believe in partnerships and that model of partnership is in our collaboration. We have a little bit of a unique practice because we’re not a very large group practice. Although we are intentionally growing, I don’t want us to be too large to where we can’t give quality care. That’s one of our ending mental health stigmas. On all my logos and all my shirts and all the things that we have. Part of ending mental health stigma is making sure that the people who come in are treated with five-star care, and that our clinicians who work with our practice at Carolina are treated like partners from the start. There’s no hierarchy. I call myself that partner leader. I’m a demonstrator. I’m authentic in our leadership. There’s an open-door policy. Our nervous systems are all regulated. And I tell them that when they interview for the position this is something where I want you to be able to have a cup of tea on your break. We have a therapy dog named Molly in our apex center, chocolates, and the waiting room fountain with music. It just feels relaxing there. So the people that come in are treated, whether you’re working with us or being served by our team, you feel cared for and comfortable.

Becky Coplen: Very cool that you guys have your shirts. Let me just see, I think you might be the first one who has it. That’s awesome.

Jaclyn Fortier: We’ve quoted on the back too as well. It says “We’re stronger together. Dream big, find your voice, and seek the path of least regret,” which is one of the concepts that we speak about at Carolina Counseling.

Becky Coplen: Yeah, all very exciting things. One thing that kind of came to mind to me is what you’re dealing with is bigger where someone has been hurt. Do you find and you’ve said the word collaboration a lot, but do you find that you are interacting with the police or in public health and safety, more so than maybe other practices?

Jaclyn Fortier: Honestly, we do have resources for that. We see a lot of adolescents right now. We see a lot of parenting struggles. We see a lot of relationship concerns. We don’t have a lot of dangerous circumstances there, although we are ready. If we did, each county and the entire state of North Carolina has a domestic violence protocol, I know that one for both of the counties that both of my centers are, so we’re able to work with them if we ever did have an active danger. Also suicidal ideation, suicidal with a plan, we have had to call the hospital for support, and we have a liaison for the mobile crisis unit. And also the police department is the connector of anything that we might not be able to handle. And I know a couple of people over there that we could call if we needed to. It’s just really being able to connect with the community that we’re in, to be able to make sure that we’re able to navigate crises that they occurred.

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, costs, online flexibility, and more. Let’s talk about some of the types of therapy that your practice provides that you feel is maybe a special fit with the clients that you help.

Jaclyn Fortier: At the top of my head, we have a few EMDR therapists right now who are specialists in EMDR, and I see this as really almost breaking some of that mental health stigma. A lot of people think that mental health care in therapy is just you sitting on a couch talking about your feelings and then getting some interventions and leaving. But we’re getting deeper into this. We’re getting into the brain, the nervous system, and neuroplasticity. And I love EMDR for that focus because it does expand, get into some processing of traumas that you don’t even really have to try the equipment that is given in the professional that helps you work through really does a lot of clearing of those emotional limitations that you might not be able to do through talk therapy. Although we do have talk therapy, we have cognitive behavioral specialists. We have a kind of parenting coach on the team Holly Moore. She’s amazing at dealing with postpartum depression, and anxiety and also how to manage being a mother, which is very can be challenging without support. I have another provider who does work with polycystic ovary issues and feminine issues as far as fertility. Rebecca Clark, she’s a specialist in that. I have a couple of really great counselors who work with college students in suicide prevention, and that’s been something really interesting to me when I’m interviewing. What I’m doing for Carolina is trying to get a match team of specialists that have one person see couples. One person specializes in adolescents. I just hired a new team member who works in the schools during the week and is with us on the weekend, working with younger children and also parents of younger children. As a parent support, I find it super important to have that. So a mixed array of really amazing specialists that work with Carolina Counseling.

Becky Coplen: You mentioned a little bit that you have gone a lot into teaching mode and training people up, and also trying to erase the stigma of mental health. I know you’re doing podcasts, but are you speaking in colleges or special trainings? What does that look like for you?

Jaclyn Fortier: Right now, I’m working on a national collaborative project that is just speaking more about mental health. So writing articles and contributing to other people’s websites is just really what we’re doing today, having interviews and speaking in 2024 about ending mental health stigma overall, and also how looking at mental health through a different lens, I feel over the 15 years that I’ve been a therapist in this field, there’s been such an exciting change. I am passionate about seeing it from the spectrum of where I started, and I remember when I started my counseling career, a lot of people didn’t want to talk about it. I would go out to dinner or, what do you do for a living? I don’t want to talk about this. This is who. And now I get such a different thing. 15 years later, people are like, wow, that’s fascinating. And we’re treated like medical providers and we are medical providers. We have a medical license to provide medical care, and that’s why we get billed through insurance. Now. 20 years ago we couldn’t do that. We weren’t recognized as that. So I love giving education and speaking about the growth in our field overall, not just what I’m doing at Carolina, but also the amazing things that the profession of mental health has grown in such a great time. I call it the golden ticket of what we need in our world right now for us to be able to take care of our mental health, and it doesn’t even have to be a problem. It’s just like taking care of your body and also taking care of your body is part of taking care of your mental health. Is it taking a walk? I know for me, I’ve had to learn my unique formula of what my human body needs every day enough water, enough sunshine, vitamin D, exercise, movement, fun, and connections with others. That’s all part of taking care of your mental health. It’s not even just about going to therapy. It’s things that you can do every single day and keep learning new things about yourself and learning how to take care of your brain. Because your brain is what mental health is all about.

Becky Coplen: Do you get to some of our listeners, are people considering going into this field or they are starting? You would have been in 2008. You mentioned how it has shifted, thankfully, that people are even more willing to talk about it, but what would just be some advice for them or things you would love for them to know if you knew they were coming to your practice to work in maybe five years?

Jaclyn Fortier: This is a great time to become a mental health counselor. Whether a social worker or mental health, those are just really different degree tracks. But working towards getting your license. When you get a license in mental health care, you’re a physician’s assistant. You can work on your own without supervision and you can create your job. What an amazing thing to be able to develop your passions and career and make money while you’re helping people, and also living a lifestyle for yourself that feels authentic and vibrant. It’s a great field. Obviously, I’m passionate about it, but I feel like anybody considering becoming a mental health counselor and it’s not short for clients. I had over 17 intakes last week and I had to send away 15 because my practice is full. It’s a booming field. It looks almost like a medical field if you’re becoming a nurse or a doctor. So it’s not an easy field to get into the national counseling exam. I think a 60% failure rate. And if you fail it the first time, you get stuck in your head and it can be really hard to pass the second time. So study and believe in yourself. Figure out why you want to be in this field. I think it’s a huge question that I mentor people about. I didn’t do it for the money. I did it to help people. And 15 years ago, honestly, our field didn’t make very much money, so it was an easy thing to get into. But that’s changing with insurance, it’s really changing. You’re able to contract with insurance with that full license and experience, and you’re getting paid to help people in a profession that’s growing and it’s here to stay. I don’t see it changing. I think it’s going to keep growing and evolving and helping the problems that we have in our world.

Becky Coplen: It’s an insurance. Situations are complicated, but let’s talk about how you have been able to manage that with either other employees or yourself because it seems like a big part of your practice.

Jaclyn Fortier: It is. We have insurance contracted with five major insurance companies right now and I learn, ask. I would call the insurance company when I was beginning and I would make friends with the lady on the phone. I’d be like, hi, I’m here again. Can you teach me how to get this contract? And I started small. I started with just one contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield. My first practice was in Maryland and it was my practice, like I was learning, I was practicing and getting out of the fear mindset. Get out of the I’m going to help people with this. So I got an electronic record system. I learned how to do technology, which was part of my adversity when I was in my younger years in math and technology were not my strong suit. Now I have a studio and I do recordings, and I’m doing my taxes week and doing profit and loss statements on numbers and reports, and starting small is my suggestion. Get your confidence and believe in yourself. Therapists can run businesses. We can. And other people can help. I coach people and I have a part-time position where I coach and mentor people wanting to go into their practice and not know how to start working with insurance companies. At least 1 or 2 is great for the access to care for our clients. Would you want to see a doctor who didn’t take insurance? It’d be hard. So I do know insurance is tricky, but it is viable for our clients to be able to use their benefits for their own.

Becky Coplen: One thing we didn’t talk about was the focus on community and everything, but I know a large part of your website and the theme is mission-driven counseling. Maybe as we close out a little bit, just talk about that and anything else that you want us to hear here. We’d love to hear from you.

Jaclyn Fortier: When I say the word mission, it feels like my mission is ending mental health stigma, increasing access to care, and making that community connection. I love helping the community of mental health and also the community around us, connecting people to great resources. I research, I call myself a community researcher and a community connector, and I’m always looking for amazing places where my clients can go to take care of themselves. Whether it be hiking trails, yoga studios, or workshops with other women, moms, and men who want to connect and not just in our counseling center. So I’m all over the community all the time and have an Instagram that I post all my little adventures on, and working on connecting the community and making it fun. I think that’s the hardest thing that people think. Mental health counseling is like, look, we’re working on that hard. I’m like, no, this is fun, and you don’t have to go to counseling to take care of your mental health. It’s great if you do, but you don’t have to. And that’s one of the stigmas that we talk about busting a lot of things like the model that you can run a business, mental health counseling, it’s a medical field. So just anyone who’s considering getting into this field treated it as that, you know, you’re representing a growing need for quality care and access. And there are also so many ways that you can contribute. It doesn’t have to be just being a counselor. It can be just being a connecting type of person and helping people as needed.

Becky Coplen: Anything that you feel that we missed or we didn’t get to hear about you today that you wanted to share?

Jaclyn Fortier: Sounds great. I enjoyed talking with you. I feel like we went over a lot. And to the listeners, thank you for listening. It’s been fun. I am happy to chat again anytime you need.

Becky Coplen: Well, Jacqueline, thanks so much for your time. I feel your passion through the screen of what you’re doing for each client and then the community as a whole, and then even nationally with this whole landscape of mental health. Thanks for all you’re doing and for joining us today. And I, as well, to our listeners, thank you that you are interacting. Please send us questions, and comments on things you’d like to hear more about and just have a great day. For now, we are tuning out on Mastering Counseling. Hope to see you soon. 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.