Bernadette Smith, Ed.D., LPC-S.

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Alex Shink

July 7, 2023

1. What's your practice focus and what kind of clients knock on your door ?

From the inception, my goal has been to create a safe place for clients to heal and grow. As the practice has grown, every clinician has adopted the same principle. Our clients tend to reach out to us when experiencing life transitions, facing communication issues as a couple, dealing with grief, or seeking wellness and stress management support.
Creating an culturally inclusive space for our clients is equally important as we know that some of our clients need to feel safe and connected.

2. Tell us about yourself.

I knew I wanted to go into private practice to create more flexibility in my schedule and how I provide care to my clients. Starting my practice has not been a straight shot. Due to different life transitions and barriers, I had to start and stop my private practice journey along the way. Each time I started the journey, I learned something new. Each day is a new learning experience, and it is exciting to know that the decisions I make for the practice positively impacts the lives of others.

3. Tell us the story of a patient who you are most proud of helping.

To say that there is just one client I am proud of is difficult, as I have had so many that I am proud of helping. There is one who I can reflect back on who experienced an immense amount of trauma before their 20s. I was able to create a safe place for the person to trust me along their healing journey. They were able to develop coping techniques and applying them to other aspects of their life. They learned to trust themselves again, and that was a beautiful thing to witness.

4. What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a practitioner in private practice?

One of the hardest things that comes with being a practitioner in private practice is the business side of things. As a private practitioner, you are responsible for everything from marketing your practice to billing your clients. This can be a lot of work, and it can be difficult to balance the business side of things with the clinical side of things. Our program trains us to be clinicians, not business owners. However, I have been able to offset that through research and a strong network.

5. What are the top 3 tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a private practice today?\

The top three tips I would give someone who is looking to start, run and grow a private practice is:

Identify your support network. Being able to find other business owners who you can share with and bounce ideas off of is instrumental in your growth.
Trust yourself. It is scary. Going out on your own creates a lot of unknowns.
Create a practice growth plan. This would include items such as: do you have a specialization, target population, fee structure, policies, paperwork etc.