Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Kaplan.
Billy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Back in the last 1970s, I was part of a peer counseling program at my high school with one of the Double-Mint gum twins. I was always the person that my friends came to for help with their problems.
I followed that path to become a Clinical Social Worker. Early in my career in Chicago I worked for a program that worked with parents who abused or neglected their children. The goal of the program was to help the families to stay together by helping the parents in their homes to learn from their mistakes, and to learn new, successful ways of parenting.
When I decided to start my own private practice, I followed that model of providing psychotherapy in people’s homes because I found it was so very convenient, comfortable and private for the people I worked with.
While the practice initially focused on providing treatment to children, youth and families who were in foster care, as part of the child welfare system, I found that I was able to successfully help children and youth become adopted; thus, we started working with children and youth who have joined their families through adoption.
And though the practice still focuses on working with children, youth and families touched by adoption, we work with people with a wide variety of issues, and we have also developed a model of therapeutic parenting to support parents who have children or youth with emotional and behavioral problems.
Has it been a smooth road?
There have been many challenges over the years. I made so many small business mistakes. Initially trying to do EVERYTHING myself – marketing, billing, treatment, intake… the list was endless. Eventually I learned to hire key people in key positions – a bookkeeper and another psychotherapist who could manage the phones and intake for us. Over time, I learned that I needed more than just a bookkeeper, I needed someone to manage the practice… so I hired a Practice Manager who specialized in medical billing. She literally turned around the practice, in a very positive way in just a few months.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with House Calls Counseling – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We provide attachment-focused and trauma-informed psychotherapy in people’s homes. We serve children, youth, families, couples and adults. We specialize in working with families touched by adoption, and super-specialize in treatment children and youth who experienced trauma in early childhood. I am proud of the countless number of people we have helped to live more joyful, more fulfilling lives. During our annual conference on therapeutic parenting known as Parenting in SPACE (www.ParentingInSpace.com), we have repeatedly seen new parents at the start of the conference come in scared, alone and hopeless. And by the time the conference ends a few days later, they are confident, informed and connected.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity of our city and metropolitan region. I have been so honored in my work and in the life of the practice to meet and work with people of so many racial, socio-economic and educational background. I love that, bottom line, whatever our differences, we all want to create the best environment possible for our young people to prosper and reach their potential. What I like least about our city and region is that there are communities scattered throughout that struggle to provide dignity and a solid basis for healthy living for the people who live there.
Pricing:
- Our rates vary from $150 to $175 an hour depending on the clinician.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3330 Old Glenview Road, #15
Wilmette, IL 60201 - Website: www.HouseCallsCounseling.com
- Phone: 847.256.2000
- Email: info@HouseCallsCounseling.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HouseCallsCounseling/
Image Credit:
Olga Konyakova
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