WP 53 | How to Hire a Clinical Director - Live Consulting with Colleen and Shaun Wenner
Introduction: The Power of Community in Practice Growth
In this enlightening episode of the “Wise Practice Podcast,” Whitney Owens, a seasoned therapist and faith-based practice consultant, sits down with the dynamic duo, Colleen and Shaun Wenner. With Colleen boasting 29 years of marriage experience and both bringing a unique blend of wisdom and confidence, they discuss the journey of their counseling world partnership and the growth of their practice, New Heights Counseling.
The Struggles of Hiring a Clinical Director
Colleen and Shaun Wenner have grappled with several challenges in their quest to hire a clinical director for their practice. They've been deliberating over the idea, with Colleen expressing that while she has a general sense of what she desires in a clinical director, she's uncertain about the full scope of what the role could encompass. They aim for an ideal candidate who can manage a full-time caseload while also overseeing supervision. Financial considerations also weigh heavily on their minds, as they want to ensure that the compensation package they offer aligns with the candidate's expectations and experience. Shaun underscores the importance of identifying the right character traits and personality for the role. Additionally, Colleen has reservations about the hiring model, debating between a W2 employee and a contractor, and the implications each might have on commitment and integration into their practice's ethos. Their past hiring efforts have often yielded candidates with limited experience, further complicating their search for the perfect fit.
Roles and Responsibilities: Behind the Scenes at New Heights Counseling
Diving deeper into the operations of New Heights Counseling, Colleen, the clinical director, shares her passion for training and ensuring therapists maintain a healthy work-life balance. On the other hand, Shaun, wearing multiple hats, manages social media, finance, and HR. Their combined efforts have seen the practice flourish, with a team of seven therapists and three administrators. "I'm pretty consumed... reading everybody's notes," Colleen admits, highlighting the demanding nature of her role.
Tips for Hiring a Clinical Director
Start Slowly: Instead of hiring a full-time clinical director immediately, consider a phased approach.
Look Within: Before searching externally, evaluate if anyone within the practice fits the role.
Alignment is Key: Ensure that the clinical director's vision aligns with the practice's ethos and values.
Trust: A clinical Director is someone you have to whole-heartedly trust
In Conclusion
This episode sheds light on the importance of community, both within a practice and in the broader therapist community. Whitney, Colleen, and Shaun provide valuable insights into the challenges and rewards of running a faith-based practice. Their experiences and tips serve as a beacon for other therapists navigating the integration of faith and psychology in their businesses. As Whitney aptly puts it, "Do what only you can do. Let somebody else do everything else." This episode is a must-listen for those looking to grow their practice while staying true to their faith-based values.
Learning Activity
Register for - How to Double Your Practice in One Year Wbinar Nov 6, 2023, 01:00 PM in Eastern Time Zone
Learn about more events from Whitney Owens at the Events Page
Show Sponsor
Alma - Your private practice support system
Links and Resources
Wise Practice Community Membership: Doors open for the Wise Practice Membership Community November 6th - 8th
Check the podcasts on the PsychCraft Network: PsychCraftnetwork.com
Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio
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Description text WP 53 | How to Hire a Clinical Director - Live Consulting with Colleen and Shaun Wenner
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens:
[00:00:04] Whitney Owens: Building a private practice can be challenging. Building a caseload, attracting clients who are the right fit, managing the business side of your practice. There's so much to navigate with insurance and billing and paperwork. It takes a significant amount of time and energy and that's all in addition to delivering great care to your clients.
[00:00:25] Whitney Owens: That is why Alma gives clients the tools they need to build a thriving private practice. When you join their insurance program, you get credentialed within 45 days access to enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. They also handle all the paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions and guaranteed payment within two weeks of each appointment.
[00:00:45] Whitney Owens: In addition to their insurance program, Alma offers time saving tools and administrative support so you can spend less time on paperwork and more time delivering great care to your clients. To learn more about building a thriving private practice with Alma, head to helloalma. com slash wisepractice.
[00:01:04] Whitney Owens: That's helloalma. com slash wisepractice.
[00:01:32] Whitney Owens: Hello, and welcome back to the wise practice podcast. Looking forward to my interview today with my dear friends, Colleen and Sean winner. Before we get into the live consulting today, which we are going to talk about hiring clinical directors, which is a question I get very consistently from group practice centers.
[00:01:49] Whitney Owens: But before we get into that, I want to give you a couple of quick updates, and then we're going to jump into tons of amazing content. If you don't already know, or you've missed my emails, I want to make sure that you are aware that I'm running a free webinar on November 6th. That's a Monday. It's actually the coming Monday at 1 o'clock Eastern time.
[00:02:08] Whitney Owens: And that webinar is how to double your practice in 1 year. It was pretty recently that my accountant made me aware that I had doubled my practice in one year. And I was like, well, that's pretty cool. Maybe we should talk about that. So we wrote a blog. I'm going to do a webinar and would love to help you learn how to double your income as quickly as possible, but also have your sanity.
[00:02:28] Whitney Owens: So make sure that you head to the show notes to grab the link to register or whitneyowens. com slash events. And if you miss the webinar. We will record it and I can email it to you afterwards. Um, and then also want to make sure that you're aware that we are opening the doors to the wise practice membership community.
[00:02:45] Whitney Owens: And so that's going to be happening here at the beginning of november starting on the 6th through the 8th And we're going to talk a little bit at the end of the interview about exactly what the wise practice membership community is But it is just that an amazing community a faith based practice center starting and growing our businesses together It's for 89 a month you get access to tons of amazing stuff And some incredible people.
[00:03:08] Whitney Owens: So make sure that you stay tuned to the episode and hear more about that at the end, or you can head to my website, whitneyowens. com slash memberships and gain access to the membership community, November 6th through the eighth. I only open it like once or twice a year. So don't miss out on the opportunity to join the community.
[00:03:23] Whitney Owens: I think it's so great that even if you don't like it, you can drop out at any time, but you're not going to want to, because it's so wonderful. And we'll talk about that again at the end of the show. So. Now we get to do the fun stuff, which is live consulting with my friends, Colleen and Sean winner. So let me tell you a little bit about the 2 of them as if I have to read your bio.
[00:03:42] Whitney Owens: I can't believe I'm going to read your bio, but here we go. Colleen has 29 years of marriage experience under her belt. Both calling and Sean bring a unique blend of wisdom, confidence and life experience. That's truly unparalleled. But that sets them apart even more is their remarkable ability to translate the wealth of personal and professional knowledge into building a healthy team and their relationship and private practice together.
[00:04:06] Whitney Owens: Their incredible journey has equipped them to weather the storms of life and establish a powerhouse partnership in the counseling world. I love that powerhouse partnership. There you go. Dang. Thanks for coming.
[00:04:20] Shaun Wenner: It's good to be here. It's an honor to be here. Hey, congratulations on doubling your practice in 1 year's time.
[00:04:26] Shaun Wenner: That's awesome.
[00:04:27] Whitney Owens: I know. I know. I get kind of like what that happened. Okay.
[00:04:34] Whitney Owens: That's right. That's right. So yeah, we're going to talk about that. So y'all should come to the webinar. It'll be a lot of fun. Um, so, all right, so, uh, y'all are near and dear to my heart because Colleen and I met in 2021, I believe April, 2021, um, at an in person event. So didn't know each other before that.
[00:04:52] Whitney Owens: You just never know who you're going to meet and what relationships are going to come when you hang out in person. And then we started working together and you've grown this amazing practice, new heights counseling. How many therapists do you have now?
[00:05:03] Colleen Wenner: Uh, we have seven therapists and three administrators.
[00:05:06] Colleen Wenner: So,
[00:05:07] Whitney Owens: all right, great. So why don't you share a little bit about the two of you and kind of what each of you are doing in the practice. Okay.
[00:05:15] Colleen Wenner: Um, well, I, um, I'm the clinical director and, um, I'll think, you know, wear all hats, um, with respect to anything clinical. Um, and I, um, started new heights counseling a couple of years ago because I just saw the need in the community for a different type of private practice.
[00:05:34] Colleen Wenner: Um, and, uh, my, my practice really focuses on training. Um, so I do use a lot of interns, um, but training up clinicians so that they have a good work life balance. Um, I am not interested at all in having somebody work 30, 40, 50 hours a week, and then have nothing left for themselves or their families. And, um, it's been an honor to help, um, quite a few people walk through that process.
[00:06:02] Colleen Wenner: Um, so I handled the clinical aspect of the business and then
[00:06:06] Shaun Wenner: sure. Yeah. And so what I do is, uh, a lot of the social media in the finance, uh, part of it, um, that kind of came about with as quick as new heights was growing. And just seeing calling trying to juggle both the clinical aspect of it and teaching with the interns and new therapists, I was just seeing like, wow, that's, there's a lot to running a practice.
[00:06:31] Shaun Wenner: And so just kind of stepped in. Develop the finance piece and social media.
[00:06:37] Colleen Wenner: Yeah. Yeah. Well, which is also like kind of become the HR manager too, uh, to help him with bring on new hires and all the stuff that comes along with that. That's
[00:06:49] Whitney Owens: in my title
[00:06:49] Shaun Wenner: too. Yeah.
[00:06:51] Whitney Owens: The title just keeps growing. Yeah. And, and Sean, are you full time working at new heights counseling?
[00:06:58] Shaun Wenner: Uh, yeah, actually, as of this year, I came in on a full time. I had, uh, I had, uh, another business that I had developed and kind of sold that off in jumping Both feats in, and just absolutely enjoy working with Colleen. So far so
[00:07:15] Whitney Owens: good. Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, I'm going to ask you a couple of other quick questions, Colleen, that I think some practice owners would want to know before we jump into this question.
[00:07:23] Whitney Owens: Um, how many clients do you work with a week and how about how many hours a week do you work?
[00:07:29] Colleen Wenner: Personally on my own case though? Yeah. Um, well there's two numbers for that. So, um, I have set aside two mornings a week to Um, I'm still paring down from the 12 though, so I have some others spattered throughout the week.
[00:07:47] Colleen Wenner: So, um, my goal is eight. I'm at
[00:07:49] Whitney Owens: 12 right now. Okay, great. And how many hours a week do you work? Um, Probably between 40 and 50. All right. We'll have to do a time audit on you on some points. You're like thinking about it. Okay, great. All right. So why don't you go ahead and throw out your question for today?
[00:08:11] Colleen Wenner: Sure. Yeah, we, um, have been tossing around the thought of, uh, hiring a clinical director. Um, I. Kind of know what I want in a clinical director, but I don't know everything about what I could have in a clinical director. Uh, and so kind of really just want to brainstorm what would be, uh, best timing and best, um, uh, I guess the best vision for it as far as what all would it encompass.
[00:08:42] Colleen Wenner: Cause ideally it would be a full time person that would Carry a caseload as well as do supervision. Um, And, you know, making that work so it's, you know, financially, they're going to be happy with what I have to offer them. Um, and,
[00:09:02] Whitney Owens: uh,
[00:09:03] Shaun Wenner: I think it would also be important to know, to know, like the character traits, the, the, what, like, maybe the personality would be a good fit for the clinical director.
[00:09:15] Colleen Wenner: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just digging into some of that. We want to get a good fit for sure. Yeah, just. I'm not sure how it all, how it all
[00:09:26] Whitney Owens: is going to look. Definitely. Well, good question. And like I said, this is pretty common for your phase of practice when people get to like seven to 10 therapists, the clinical side becomes a lot more to manage as a business owner.
[00:09:39] Whitney Owens: So tell me a couple of reasons why you want a clinical director. Well,
[00:09:45] Colleen Wenner: I, I'm very confident. We are very confident that the business is going to grow with, um, with what we have now to potentially double or triple. Uh, and I say that confidently because. Knowing the state of mental health across America, the state of mental health in the panhandle of Florida, as well as the limited resources that, um, are currently available, uh, in our area.
[00:10:14] Colleen Wenner: Um, we have a couple other like larger practices than what we are. Um, but they run a little bit different model. And I've actually been interviewing people that have, you know, been a little bit disgruntled with those models. And so I, I don't know, I think I want. I want to have that. That next, um, next, next better thing.
[00:10:38] Colleen Wenner: Um, so I don't know. Did I answer your question? I kind of got lost in my thought. Well, I
[00:10:43] Whitney Owens: think
[00:10:43] Shaun Wenner: I think part of it is also a clinical director will allow you to spend more time focusing on on developing the business and in bringing in our core values to, um, a greater. View view or impact to not just our practice, but into the community as well.
[00:11:05] Shaun Wenner: So, by having a clinical director that will allow us to have you focus more on developing the business, not to not to and also the to. For the other therapists. I mean, we, we have seven other therapists and we double in size. That's 14. You're not going to be able to handle everything.
[00:11:25] Colleen Wenner: Yeah. Right now I'm pretty consumed.
[00:11:28] Colleen Wenner: There's a lot of time in, um, reading everybody's notes. Uh, you know, I mean, going over chart reviews, um, I have two licensed therapists, so, you know, I, I, I do like. Um, occasional reviews on their things, but uh, with the other five, I'm reading everybody's notes and we are seeing, you know, a hundred to 125 a week.
[00:11:52] Colleen Wenner: And that's a lot of reading .
[00:11:54] Whitney Owens: That is a lot of reading that is such, all these are really good and important things to be bringing up and. You know, the importance I think that Sean was just saying, it's, it's freeing up your mind, your creativity, your focus to be able to do some things to move the business forward.
[00:12:08] Whitney Owens: And, and I'm always saying, do what only you can do. Let somebody else do everything else. Yeah, Colin and Sean are the only ones who can move your business forward. Right, no one else is going to be able to do that. And so if you're in the weeds. Of the every day in your business, you're not going to be able to be that powerhouse couple that you want to be to really take it to the next level.
[00:12:28] Whitney Owens: So, I think you have all good reasons to hire a clinical director. I always think let's do things as easy as possible. 1st, right? So, the easy thing don't take too big of a risk. Right. I mean, some people will be like, okay, I'm going to hire someone for 40 hours a week at this salary. Don't do that. It's not something you've had yet.
[00:12:48] Whitney Owens: That's a huge jump. And so being able to do it slowly might be easier. Um, so the 1st thing I would say, is there anyone already in your practice. That could be your clinical director. Uh, we
[00:13:04] Colleen Wenner: tossed around that idea. Um, I don't have the two therapists that I do have that are licensed right now. Um, do not have their supervisor credentials yet.
[00:13:14] Colleen Wenner: So that's one limiting factor there. Um, and I do think that, uh, well, I know that this coming June one of them will be able to obtain their, um, credentials, but we see things a little differently on, you know, I, I mean, I, I trust him as a therapist, uh, and I believe he does good work, but I don't know if that leadership role is going to be right for
[00:13:40] Whitney Owens: him yet.
[00:13:41] Whitney Owens: Yes. I think it's so important that you're bringing all that up. And you saw my face when you said. Yeah. You've got to feel really in line with your clinical director. Like you can, you can have therapists that you don't always agree with, but I think the clinical director is someone you have to wholeheartedly trust.
[00:13:56] Whitney Owens: Yeah. You know? Okay. So it sounds like maybe it's not the best fit for someone currently in your practice. So you have, can do one of two things here. You could put out an ad just for a clinical director, um, and maybe it's something that they see a few clients and then they do the clinical part. Um, another thing you could consider is just putting out an ad for a therapist.
[00:14:17] Whitney Owens: And then specifically look for people who have that extra ability, either that certification or a lot of years under their belt. Um, either 1 could work or you could put out 2 ads and see which 1 hits. When I found my clinical director, I did the 2nd option. I was looking for a clinical director and I specifically was reviewing resumes that I thought of people who had lots of experience and not really entertaining the ones without.
[00:14:44] Whitney Owens: And then I wanted to see her in action for a few months before I gave her that role because I was nervous.
[00:14:51] Colleen Wenner: Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a good, that's a good point. Cause if you hire a therapist with a lot of experience and you, through your screening. And you feel like you're confident enough to bring them on it as, as a therapist, then it's more likely you may be aligned for them to be your, um, clinical director.
[00:15:11] Colleen Wenner: That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot
[00:15:12] Whitney Owens: of sense. Definitely. You want to see that they love your business and that they're bought into it and they truly care for everyone in the business. Before you're giving them that extra responsibility.
[00:15:24] Colleen Wenner: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I guess the, the struggle that we have with, um, hiring is hiring, you know, we've done a lot of different types of, um, ads, uh, labeling them, you know, with different, you know, From behavioral health clinician to license, uh, mental health counselor to, you know, supervisor, um, we've done a few different ads and, uh, we have yet to get someone with any level of experience beyond two years post masters.
[00:16:00] Colleen Wenner: And so that that's a little discouraging for us. Um, and I'm, you know, I mean, we're just going to keep looking until we find someone unless there's a part in that process that you think we should fine tune.
[00:16:14] Whitney Owens: No, I think you're doing it all correctly. Um, the only thing I was thinking is you could specifically try to hire a clinical, not a clinical director, but a clinical supervisor.
[00:16:24] Whitney Owens: So, hey, I'm looking to hire someone, even if you said contract work, you know, just someone who can do supervision. And then and then see if that person, when you interview them would be willing to take on more.
[00:16:37] Shaun Wenner: I didn't even think about the contract piece.
[00:16:41] Colleen Wenner: Yeah. How would that like, how do you. How would you see that flowing though?
[00:16:45] Colleen Wenner: Because I'm a W2 model and if I bring somebody in as a contractor, um. You know, you handle W2 and contractors differently and I would kind of, I don't know part of me feels like. If I'm hiring somebody that I want fully invested a person with a contractor mentality might not fit that bill, but maybe I'm
[00:17:09] Whitney Owens: no, you're right.
[00:17:09] Whitney Owens: It's this would be your last option. Okay. You know, where somebody who already has a practice, or they're doing another type of work and they're just wanting to do some clinical supervision on the side. You would just hire them out to do the clinical supervision of your employees that you weren't doing it.
[00:17:25] Whitney Owens: Okay. And then maybe if it worked out, you could give them some to come work for you, but it still is not the best situation. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'm assuming you're involved in mental health organizations in your community or like. Facebook groups within your community where people are talking where you can maybe meet people.
[00:17:44] Colleen Wenner: Yeah, we're involved in about 6 different, um, mental health practitioner groups on Facebook. Um, we try to, you know, trips through LinkedIn and, um, Instagram as well. Um, and then we're part of our, um. local chamber of commerce. And we've met a few therapists in there. Uh, I think the group that I'm most active in is our local, um, we have like a, a Niceville, uh, counselor or Niceville therapist community group.
[00:18:14] Colleen Wenner: And there's probably 35 of us in there. Um, It was myself and a registered mental health intern that started the group, and it's grown, um, but not, it's more like the new therapists in the field, uh, than it is the ones that have been in a field a lot, yeah, more seasons for people. So I do, I mean, I, you know, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking about one woman in Bluewater Bay who recently started her own practice and I think she ran into a few snags.
[00:18:48] Colleen Wenner: I kind of heard from somebody else that was sharing a suite, so maybe I need to reach out to her and see how things are going.
[00:18:54] Whitney Owens: I think that's a great idea. Yeah. You could post in these groups and you don't have to say you're looking for a clinical director. You could just say, Hey, I'm looking for someone who offers clinical supervision.
[00:19:04] Whitney Owens: Does anyone know anyone? Okay. I'm sure people are going to jump on that because people want to make money and then you can reach out to them individually. Hey, what is your situation? Are you happy where you're at? And they might be at an agency. Like, those are the best. If you could find someone who's at an agency and snag them, that would be a great way to do it, but don't make it obvious that you're looking for a clinical director and just kind of see if starting someone just doing some clinical supervision on the side.
[00:19:30] Whitney Owens: And then you can start to say, Hey, you might want to see some clients with us. And just kind of pull them in slowly and then if you feel like they're doing a great job, then you can kind of move them into that clinical director role.
[00:19:45] Whitney Owens: I like that.
[00:19:46] Colleen Wenner: I like that. I, you know, it makes me wonder. I'm kind of hoping I didn't, I'm not one to really burn bridges, but I'm thinking back to my clinical mental health experience here in the area. And there's a large organization that kind of covers a lot of the area and I worked for them for almost three years, and I have seen on LinkedIn some people that are also affiliated with that organization and try to tap in with some of those.
[00:20:15] Colleen Wenner: The, the closest, uh, satellite office is not far from us, um, but, uh, they typically will, what happened when I was there is, you know, people will go to work, they'll get their license and then they'll leave, um, but I haven't checked back in with them in probably more than 18 months now that I think about it.
[00:20:34] Colleen Wenner: So I could definitely reach back out to them and see,
[00:20:40] Whitney Owens: definitely. Yeah, you've got some options there and I wouldn't limit it to people necessarily in person either. If you know other therapists in Florida, that would be willing to help you. You could hire them part time, even if it's virtual, just to kind of get you to a place where you can find someone that's in person or they might be willing to move eventually.
[00:21:04] Whitney Owens: Yeah,
[00:21:04] Colleen Wenner: that's another thought too. I get a, I get a check about not in person because of the,
[00:21:15] Colleen Wenner: when I think about. What I've built with a heavy supervision component and really taking people under my wing to teach them how to do things so that they can have a healthy lifestyle, not just be a good therapist. Um, there's a lot more to that than, um, somebody that may just want to show up and do supervision.
[00:21:36] Colleen Wenner: Not that they couldn't evolve into it, but.
[00:21:39] Whitney Owens: Right. And that's why you have to do it so slow until you can figure out, is this someone I can trust or not. Right. You know, one of my therapists is virtual only. I'm trying to get her to go get her CPCS, which is the Georgia certification to be able to supervise LPCs because I need another LPC supervisor.
[00:21:57] Whitney Owens: I only have one and she is loaded. So yeah, so this girl would be doing it virtually, but she's someone I trust fully and she's so clinically sound. In fact, I had her start recently. Couples groups. So she's doing couples consultation groups. We can't call it clinical supervision because she doesn't have her certification, but she's doing consultation groups.
[00:22:16] Whitney Owens: So she's kind of getting her feet wet and trying it out. And it actually got super good feedback after her first one. And it's totally virtual. They're all my therapists are here. She's the one doing it virtually. So she's,
[00:22:31] Colleen Wenner: she's seeing, she's doing consultation to therapists who see couples.
[00:22:38] Whitney Owens: Correct. All right.
[00:22:40] Whitney Owens: Got you. And she is 100 percent virtual. She lives in Atlanta and she sees couples virtually. Gotcha. I do think we have to be creative. Yeah.
[00:22:55] Colleen Wenner: I hadn't thought about that. I hadn't thought about that option at all, having somebody to, and we've, you know, we've previously told you about how the influx of couples have come into our business and, um, you know, I.
[00:23:08] Colleen Wenner: I would love to have that level of support for my team.
[00:23:14] Whitney Owens: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so start them out just doing a little bit of clinical supervision. See how that goes. See if they'd be willing to see a few clients, see how that goes. And then we can kind of talk about later. You know, if you start to trust someone, then move them into a clinical director role and make it a lot more permanent.
[00:23:31] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I like that a lot. Great, I think the best thing and this is what I want to hear back from you on is posting it in a. Social media group. I'm like, I think about our local group. If I were to post, I need a clinical supervisor. I would get 10 people immediately just to offer some supervision to my therapist.
[00:23:48] Whitney Owens: Oh, yeah, people would respond really quick. So I would be curious. How people respond when you do that?
[00:23:55] Colleen Wenner: Well, we're definitely
[00:23:56] Whitney Owens: going to do that. So I don't want to hear about it. All right. So has this been helpful to you? Yes. Good. Good. Awesome. Well, um, I would love for you to share a little bit about the WISePractice membership community.
[00:24:12] Whitney Owens: Colleen, you've been there since the beginning, so what is it that you like about it? How was it helpful to you in growing your practice? Um,
[00:24:20] Colleen Wenner: the, the WISePractice community has been a unique, um, investment of my time. I,
[00:24:30] Colleen Wenner: I so badly needed, uh, like minded individuals to consult with, um, and have the ability to, to share the, there's just all the things that get into like building a business when you're a faith based person, um, you know, being in our community, there are multiple places that have Christian counseling. And, um, we are not overtly Christian counseling, uh, and so it's been nice to be able to kind of shed that layer of whatever Christian is supposed to be and just talk to other people that are faith based and that want to, you know, lead with those values as opposed to reach The Christian community or, or whatnot, you know, it's just like a different, uh, connecting piece.
[00:25:24] Colleen Wenner: And the people that I have met in the community have been phenomenal. Um, I've made one of my best friends, uh, it was actually two of them. Um, uh, and I are going to meet in the first week in November just for a work weekend for just for ourselves. And, um, we're going to meet halfway between us. And, uh, rented an Airbnb and we're going to sit and we're going to talk about what we can do in two and a half days to make our businesses better without the distractions of being at home.
[00:25:52] Colleen Wenner: And, um, so, you know, it's opportunities like that, that were not available prior to the wise practice community at all. Um, And, uh, and even just growing through the summit that you recently had and meeting so many more new people, you know, I didn't, I didn't realize how big the community has really expanded to be.
[00:26:10] Colleen Wenner: And, um, it's still small enough to feel known and heard and recognized, but there's enough diversity that there's so many people that you, I mean, there isn't a specialty. I think we couldn't reach Facebook group and not get an answer for. So that's, that's really exciting to me.
[00:26:31] Whitney Owens: Well, thank you. Well, having you and Sean be a part of the group is special to me as well.
[00:26:36] Whitney Owens: And you bring a lot of value, uh, to the other faith based practice owners. And I think you're spot on. It's that community and having like minded people. That's, you know. I mean, priceless, right? Um, also within the community, we meet every Wednesday on zoom at 1 o'clock Eastern. So you have a consistent meeting where you're meeting with other practice owners.
[00:26:56] Whitney Owens: You're, you're putting the work into your business and I have found those that put the work in or the ones that get it out, you know, and make, make big changes. And Colleen and Sean, y'all are definitely those people who have worked super hard, been very consistent and it's paid off. Like your practice has really grown.
[00:27:11] Whitney Owens: Um, and so that's. That's really awesome. I mean, along with all the other things in the community, there are lots of resources, courses, discounts, small groups that you're with, with people that are in a similar phase of practice. There's just so much that goes into it. Um, so we appreciate you being a part of it.
[00:27:29] Whitney Owens: Um,
[00:27:29] Colleen Wenner: and then you mentioned the small groups and I just have to say that. That, having that meeting on a once a month basis to, that's just on the schedule so that if anything comes up, you know, you've got three or four or five different people to kind of bounce those ideas off of small group has been really important.
[00:27:49] Colleen Wenner: Um, and I think it's helped people not feel so alone in building their business wherever they're located across the, the United States.
[00:27:57] Shaun Wenner: I, I think the decision to start your own practice is so huge that. Once you are plugged into a group that is allowing you to have a sounding board. that you don't have to be alone, that you can throw out any question and know that there are people that want to see you succeed.
[00:28:16] Shaun Wenner: Um, I know for us, um, new heights has only been in practice a year and a half, almost two years, and we would not be where we're at. If it wasn't for you being able to plug in and ask those questions that you think, geez, this could be a dumb question, or this could be a silly question. But, um, again, the decision to start your practice is hard enough, but once you do, you don't have to do it alone.
[00:28:43] Shaun Wenner: You can join
[00:28:44] Whitney Owens: a group. Yeah, that's great. It's so important not to be alone, that's for sure. So, well, I appreciate the 2 of y'all coming on the show today and I loved talking about clinical director and always love talking about the community. And so if you're listening and you're not a part of the wise practice membership community, please consider joining.
[00:29:04] Whitney Owens: We are opening the doors November 6th through the 8th and to gain access, head to whitneyowens. com slash memberships, um, or jump on my email list. If you go to whitneyowens. com, you can hit the freebie to join the email list and get first access. So Sean, just do it. . Yes, do it. That's right. Do it. That's right.
[00:29:23] Whitney Owens: Well, the two of you are near and dear to my heart, so I appreciate you taking the time and it's just wonderful to be able to have you on the show. Great to be
[00:29:30] Colleen Wenner: here. Thanks for having us.
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