Today we’d like to introduce you to Irene Medina and Brittany Wilson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In September of 2015, Innersight Counseling, which had been our long term dream/goal, opened its door for the very first time. I, alongside my business partner Brittany Wilson, who had just completed a degree in Business Management, embarked on the journey of transitioning my solo practice that I had opened just a year prior, into our expanded group private practice.
After gaining experience as a therapist working in a community mental health center and later on a private practice, I knew that opening my own practice was my ultimate dream. Having the clinical background and experience, but lacking business knowledge, Brittany and I began turning my dream into reality with her experience in business management and development, and mine in therapy.
The practice was opened with the concept of “patients are the priority” in mind. We wanted a practice that was focused on what was best for each patient and their needs, centered around their care, and nothing else. Too often in business did we both experience that what was best for a business was prioritized over what was deemed best for the patient. We wanted to change this, and make sure that our patients received top quality care, with highly experienced providers/therapists, and would continue returning to our practice based on their experience and care they received.
With my and Brittany’s ideas combined, we created a seemingly perfect atmosphere, where therapists could provide the quality of care they believe each patient should receive. We believe that it is our reputation, high standards of care, and our ethical practices that have ensured Innersight Counseling continues to grow and operate with great success.
Has it been a smooth road?
Opening the practice was our biggest challenge to date. We had to envision the perfect office space, having to be mindful of patient privacy, in addition to creating space with good flow.
For example, we created a separate entrance and exit, so that patients do not have to walk back through the waiting room after a session, as sessions can sometimes get emotional and intense.
While it was rewarding to see our drawings of the space we envisioned come to life as the office was built out, it took many alterations along the way, and we simply wanted it to be perfect for the patients, and the staff.
Another challenge we faced was marketing our practice. While we wanted to do some basic marketing, neither myself nor Brittany had much experience in the field at the time. Marketing in our field comes with some restrictions based on patient privacy laws, so while we use some basic marketing tactics, we discovered that our attention to patient care paid off, and that referrals from past or existing patients quickly became our number one source of attracting individuals to our practice. This taught us that marketing is not always as necessary as we thought it was in business.
Finding like-minded clinicians with the experience and diversity in previous employment history also posed a challenge. Though it takes a great deal of time to find the right individual to join our practice, we continue to grow and take the amount of time needed in order to find that perfect addition to our team/family here.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Innersight Counseling is a private group practice of mental health clinicians. We offer therapy for individuals of all ages, couples, families, and children.
We also offer testing services for both adult and children, which is greatly beneficial in academic settings, as well as when screening for things like Depression and Anxiety, Learning disorders, developmental delays or problems, and even PTSD assessments for the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Each of our clinicians present their own set of specialties, such as addiction/drug and alcohol counseling, or working with children. All of our clinicians have experience working with members of the Gay and Lesbian community, as well as working with transgender clients and their families. I have found that having this experience and knowledge about the ever expanding LGBTQ community is hard to come by in locations surrounding us, and we are so happy to be able to offer a safe and welcoming space, knowledge and experience to the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/Queer etc. individuals, couples and families in the area.
As a company, we are simply known for the quality of care that our therapists provide to our patients. Each patient is respected and treated as a human and not just a customer to our business, and we try to accommodate their needs as much as we can.
Both Brittany and myself are very proud of the woman owned and operated company we have built, and its reputation. It took a lot of hard work from both of us, and combining two different fields of knowledge from business and psychology, but every ounce of planning and brainstorming was worth the outcome, and we are proud of what we represent and the entire dedicated team who represents our name.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
If someone was just starting out in this field, I would advise them to do so here, absolutely. It is my experience that no matter where we are, therapy is as vital to many as medical care. We have learned that a lot of our patients continue their care on a very regular basis, because it is a helpful tool to have navigating through the challenges of everyday life, not solely when crisis or traumatic experiences occur.
One of the things that we have discovered working in the Chicagoland area is that newly opened small businesses can face some challenges financially because there are not a lot of programs set up to help these smaller companies grow. From a strictly business perspective, it would be so wonderful if our local communities and Counties could provide more programs for developing small businesses so that we can spend our business income on growth and expansion rather than city fees and taxes, at least in the first couple of years of operation.
The biggest recommendation for our city that we can provide being in the field of mental health, is to bring more awareness to the importance of therapy and therapeutic relationships, for individuals of all ages. Surprisingly, so few people are even aware that therapy is a covered service on most health insurance plans.
Therapy also needs to become normalized, so that people feel comfortable using these services when it is needed, and not embarrassed to be working with a therapist, or most importantly, not being labeled as having a problem if they choose to work with a clinician.
My suggestion from experience would be to learn as much as one can about both the field of Mental Health and Business, as they both involve some pretty intricate and detailed planning, as well as accordance to laws, patient privacy, etc. The more knowledge we both gained when opening the practice in both fields, the more comfortable we became as business owners.
Contact Info:
- Address: 17W727 Butterfield Rd.,
STE FG, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 - Website: www.Innersightco.com
- Phone: 630-629-3015
- Email: info@innersightco.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/innersightcounseling/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/innersight-counseling-oakbrook-terrace
Image Credit:
Gloss Photography Studios (Jaci Ruben)
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