Amaranta Penate-Marty, MS, LPC.
1. What's your practice focus and what kind of clients knock on your door ?
Covid 19 was the push I needed to start my private practice. I needed to be able to work from home so I went from working at a Residential Treatment Center for Teenagers to Telehealth. For a couple of months, I worked both jobs, looking back,I have no idea how I was able to do that, but I needed to make sure that Telehealth was able to not only be worth it as a profession that I would continue to love but that it would be profitable, and with time and patience, it turned to be.
2. Tell us about yourself.
I am a bilingual and bi-cultural psychotherapist that sees this profession more as a calling than a job. I love helping people understand that they can have healthier and happier lives if they invest a little bit of time in understanding their way of thinking and how this impacts their emotions and behaviors.
But to be 100% honest, I first wanted to help myself and understand why I was the way I was. It turned out to be an amazing journey and a professional choice that I am able to help others.
3. Tell us the story of a patient who you are most proud of helping.
While in quarantine, I had a client in his 50s that started therapy for the first time. We worked hard on his childhood trauma and finished his treatment. After a while, he reached out that he has been 12 days with a ventilator and that before therapy, he felt unwanted and useless in life and by his family but after being able to put his life in a new light by talking about everything in therapy, his viewpoint became positive in a way that he had the strength to fight for his life.
4. What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a practitioner in private practice?
I believe that one of the hardest things is the financial part. To start your business, and to make sure you have and continue to have enough clients to balance your practice and keep it open.
While you have to focus on each of your clients needs, you also have to keep your focus on marketing, finances, taxes and all that your business involves.
5. What are the top 3 tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a private practice today?\
Here are my three tips:
- Love what you do. If you don't, then the extra work will make your primary job miserable.
- Know where and how to market your business. You might think that you need a lot of money for marketing but if you do good research, you might be able to find good and affordable ways to find clients.
- Write a good introduction of who you are wherever you market yourself. Be you and be honest, be approachable but also, know how to talk about yourself in short paragraphs.