Creating a positive and unique space for clients starts with creating a solid and supportive space for our clinicians. We wanted to give you a deeper dive into the philosophy of our business structure and why our founder, Alyssa, set it up the way she has!
In the professional world of mental health services, clinicians are generally stuck with limited options:
- Working for a government agency with a guaranteed salary and benefits but extremely high caseloads and even higher rates of burnout.
- Working for a group practice with a standard fee split that is constantly under negotiation and then having to save up for the slow months of the year. These positions sometimes come with benefits, but often they do not.
- Working for themselves in private practice, which provides higher pay, but there is still the need to save for the slower months, and then they have to stress about marketing, administrative work, and other things that pull them away from doing the clinical work they love
At Natural Balance Counseling, we are changing how mental health professionals are treated. Our philosophy is that when our clinicians are treated like the valuable individuals they are, they will provide our clients with the highest quality of care and create genuine change. Alyssa’s vision is to create an environment that sets the standard for employment practices in the industry. A place where clinicians can do the clinical work they are skilled at while also growing as a person and clinician, with respect to the whole person they are, including their life outside of work.
It has become popular for workspaces to pride themselves on being “family,” but we disagree with that mindset. In many situations, the idea of family often has poor boundaries, a sense of assumed loyalty, and the idea that extra work is expected. Not here. We are a “team” in that every person has a unique role, place, and arena. We play into each other’s strengths and support each other’s weaknesses as much as possible. However, like a team, everyone must stay in their area to cover their work and not be expected to cover half the field alone. To remain on the team, each player must keep up their part of the game to the best of their abilities while growing their skills. It is expected and natural that team members will come and go, and it is not a personal insult when they do. Everyone, including the leader, is responsible for always performing their best.
With this goal in mind, we make sure all our leaders are:
- Authentic
- When evaluating leadership placement, we look for candidates matched into positions that complement their natural strengths.
- Accountable
- Acceptance of responsibility is one of the most significant factors we look for. This ability and practice when things go wrong to own up to what went wrong is critical for anybody in leadership and staff.
- Action-Focused
- Talk is great, but we make sure our leaders follow through with the plans in place. This includes consistently building things to create a positive workspace for everyone.
We create a space where our clinicians can feel valued while continually being challenged with room to grow. We set the stage for this from the start of the interview process, ensuring we honor Alyssa’s values and vision for Natural Balance Counseling every step of the way. This is why all of our clinicians are on an agreed-upon set salary, options of health insurance benefits, paid time off, and partial continuing education payment. They are provided with the resources to care for themselves and their family for a healthy life outside of the work day.
Furthermore, one of the most significant distinguishing factors is that we provide a caseload cap for all clinicians. This is one of the most essential things because a high case load was one of the top variables when clinicians discussed struggling with burnout. It also indicated the likelihood of lower quality of care with clients. We make sure that doesn’t happen here! When our clinicians are not with clients, they are taking that time to do continuing education, community involvement, and making sure they can provide the highest quality of service possible to our clients. If you want to learn more about our practice or want to work with one of our clinicians, reach out today to schedule a free phone consultation!