Empowered Maturity - Patrick Hentsch

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Patrick Hentsch MS, NCC, CSAT, LPC, BACP

December 12, 2022

Empowered Maturity - Patrick Hentsch

1. What's your practice focus and who are your typical patients?

I am trained and certified to work with clients struggling with sex addiction, but my practice has evolved into helping clients who battle against their own behaviors, emotions, and/or thoughts, and who have lost their connection to living in joy, and with purpose.

My typical clients are adult individuals or couples with some self-awareness, who know that they can reach a higher potential but need guidance.

2. Tell us about yourself.

I was an architect before becoming a counselor. I became a counselor after a period in my life when I faced my own addictions and dysfunctions with the help of some key figures in the professional recovery community. I felt so much gratitude about my transformed life that I was moved to "pay it forward". That is when I decided to help others by getting a Master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

What motivates me each day in my work is the fulfillment of seeing people courageously heal and grow into their higher potentials.

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

(Name changed to protect client confidentiality)

When Sarah came to see me, she had already built up the perfect life. She was irreproachable, everyone liked her, and every element of her life was in the right place. She even had the right medications that made her depression and anxiety invisible to the world; she was the only one who knew that she was unhappy in her exemplary life.

One year later, after working together, she is empowered and hungry for life again, even though she is getting divorced from her emotionless husband. She feels alive and courageous, and has the tools to face a life of authenticity. She is leaving her golden cage and spreading her wings to fly. She no longer needs her medications because there is no emotion that she needs to avoid; she knows how to use them as her guidance system.

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

One of the hardest things I find about being a practitioner in private practice is the full autonomy that comes with it. The buck stops with me. I cannot take shelter behind protocols and procedures; I take full responsibility for what I deliver to my clients. On the flip side, I can practice my profession creatively and intuitively and I am not constrained by institutional limitations.

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

1. Make sure that you know your mission statement.

2. Make sure that your mission statement speaks to what you truly care about, personally.

3. Never loose sight of your mission: there will be obstacles.