“How did I get so lucky?” is a question that I ask myself almost daily when I think about my HEART Counseling team. The most amazing, wonderful, caring, empathetic, intelligent, fun, funny, hard working (I could go on and on…) group of women have found and wanted to work with me!

There are many, many things to choose from, so it was tough! But here are a few of my favorite qualities about our team, as well as each of our team members.

At HEART Counseling, we truly are a team. Everyone pitches in and is willing to help and support each other. From washing the coffee mugs and sweeping when the winter salt gets tracked into the office, to sharing knowledge and resources, they are collaborative, and I am grateful.

My team is also amazingly self-sufficient. I’m not one to be a micromanager, but I want to make sure that everyone has what they need to do their job and be supported at work. More often than not, my team has solved a problem before I even know about it! Or they already have a solution and just want to run it by me. Truly, both the initiative and collaboration we have is unmatched.

Our job as therapists can be tough – sometimes we see people on their lowest days. We hear about the worst things that have happened to people, or things that people wouldn’t otherwise share. We are HONORED to hold these with our clients, but it’s not always easy. That’s why we need to take care of ourselves as well. One way we do that is through supporting each other. From one-on-one interactions around the office, to our bi-weekly group meetings, I know that each clinician at HEART Counseling is there for the others. I see and feel the same empathy, compassion, openness, and support we offer our clients being offered to each other as well.

I am generally an upbeat person; I like to laugh and have fun. And wouldn’t you know it, my team does too. When we meet together we can get silly. They enjoy a good joke or laughing about something funny that happened to one of us. I appreciate the way that they can be both very serious, and not take things too seriously when appropriate.

Some of us don’t even need continuing education credits yet, but we love learning so much that we choose to learn together. We also value being up to date on the latest treatments and research/information in our field. We love to bring this knowledge back to our clients so that we can serve them to the best of our ability.

My team is also real. What I mean by this is that they are each willing to be vulnerable at times and open up to each other. We don’t have to share our deepest, darkest secrets with each other (although I think we all feel safe enough with each other that we could), but we do share parts of ourselves and our personal lives so that we truly know and understand each other better.

The team of therapists at HEART Counseling have made me a better therapist, business owner, boss, and woman because of just being who they are – caring, supportive, empathetic, intelligent, fun, and hard-working women. Whether they are gently encouraging me to let someone else take over a task (*cough* billing), supporting each other, or caring for their clients, I am honored to know and work with them, and that they chose me to be their boss.