Jacqueline Morris, LCPC, MA, NCC
1. What's your practice focus and what kind of clients knock on your door ?
My practice focuses on helping people who have suffered trauma, abuse, addiction, PTSD, high anxiety, and narcissistic abuse. Following intake sessions and diagnosis, customized treatment plans are designed and paired with matching treatment modalities, which help clients heal, rebuild and ultimately live their best lives with tools they have adapted into their life they learned from therapy.
My clients come from all walks of life. While I was working as a forensic psychotherapist years ago, I was honored to work with our military, government officials, as well as clients who were or are incarcerated for violent crimes. I have also had the honor of working with many first responders, EMS, veterans, and various clients working in the medical field.
2. Tell us about yourself.
I truly love to help others. During my twenties and thirties, I dreamed of becoming a therapist after having many great experiences with therapy in my late teens and early twenties. At that time, it seemed like a dream I would never achieve. Then suddenly at forty-two, I decided to start college for the first time in my life; twenty-five years out of high school. It took seven years to earn my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, my Master's Degree in Clinical Mental Health and a Master's Degree in addiction. Proof it is never too late to achieve your goals and dreams.
I started my practice around the start of Covid; although it was not planned that way. Like many therapists, I was fully booked with a long wait-list for the first two years I was in business, thanks in part to the mental health crisis we experienced during Covid.
I am motivated daily by my wonderful clients, and I always look forward to meeting new potential clients to work with. I am honored that my clients trust me to share their life stories, which I am always excited to hear and find the best way to help. I am also motivated by research and learning new tools and techniques I can pass along to my clients.
3. Tell us the story of a patient who you are most proud of helping.
It's very hard to pick just one client, because I have had many wonderful clients over the years. I do have a client I started working with earlier this year that has experienced tremendous healing and is doing amazing at rebuilding his life, utilizing boundaries and tools he has learned as a result of my intensive, customized treatment plan and approach. In such a short time, he has healed from deep trauma and narcissistic abuse, and he has learned his value, built his life rule set and self-esteem so well, that it has now impacted every aspect of his life. He reports today that his marriage, his parenting, his career, his relationships with his friends and family have all benefited from his growth.
His success is due to his commitment to attend therapy, consistently doing his homework, as well as how well he invested and participated in various modalities and activities during our therapy sessions together.
4. What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a practitioner in private practice?
For some providers, self-discipline can be a struggle in different ways, especially during those times that your practice is experiencing a lull. Most private practice owners would agree that often client service needs come in waves of highs and lows; certainly within the mental health field.
As a practice owner and a provider, you want to make sure your self-care is being made a priority, so that you can approach each day, or each week with excitement, enthusiasm, and an authentic interest in learning what you can do to expand and grow your practice, as well as investing time, through education, into mastering your skillset, and your specialties during some of the lull times you may experience.
5. What are the top 3 tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a private practice today?\
This is such a great question!
- First, find someone who offers consultation on how to open a therapy private practice. This will be the best investment you will make. A consultant will share with you every step to take in starting a practice, and answer all the questions you have. They will also often provide you workbooks to use as a guide to remember everything you should do, templates for all the intake paperwork you will need your clients to complete that you can use as a guide to help create your own new client paperwork. They will also provide promotion and advertising ideas, tax information, whether you should do an LLC or an S-Corp, how to set budgets and pay yourself, and so many other things.
- Second, know going into this that your schedule will not really ever be consistent; often our clients will be feast or famine. Prepare your budget and self-pay knowing you can have a month or two in a row that you are fully booked with a waitlist, and the next month you might have many openings. Filling your schedule will heavily rely on self-promotion through various registries, social media and advertising. There are also different seasons throughout the year you may experience more cancellations than others; in example summer or December many clients will cancel due to vacations or the holidays.
- Third, you must prioritize your self-care. This one is very important. It is very easy to burn out as a therapist, so you must set a limit on how many clients you see weekly, and don't exceed that even if you have to refer new clients to another therapist. Most therapists agree that if you see 23-26 clients a week, you are considered fully booked. Make sure to allow equal work time for paperwork, emails, promotions, research and more.
Finally, seek therapy for yourself as needed. Almost all therapists have a therapist. Thanks again!