Jennifer See’s Blog
Private Practice Chronicles, Part 10: One Meeting a Week
When I officially opened the doors to my private practice on August 1, 2016 I didn’t have one paying client. Yes, you read that right. Not. One. Paying. Client. You might be reading this and saying “Is she out of her naive mind, she opened a practice without one...
Blog Post: What Therapy Is…And Isn’t
So you’re thinking about therapy. For most people, that’s a really huge step forward….and a great one, in my opinion. (‘Cause obviously any therapist would be totally stupid to say anything else otherwise.) No, but all jokes aside. I think therapy is one of the best...
3 Suicides. 1 Month. 1 College Campus.
I live in the Great State of Texas, and many college students - 66,425 in 2016 to be exact, attend A & M. So of course, it goes without saying that I know lots of kids who attend school there, as well as others in the process of applying for a future spot. One of...
College Parents: Any of These Warning Signs Sound Familiar?
Many families are now adjusting to having a child away at college. Parents are worried about class schedules, whether Junior is getting enough nutrition and if their laundry is sorted correctly (or even done at all). But kids are often using this situation to...
Private Practice Chronicles, Part 9: A Cool New Practice in Chicago
I met Sarah McClelland when we were graduate students in San Antonio. She was personable, funny, and gosh, was she always in amazing physical shape!!! After grad school, she moved to Chicago, has been working as a clinician at a group practice. We’ve kept in touch...
Private Practice Chronicles, Part 8: Why I Became a Therapist
It’s a question I’m asked often. How, praytell, did a 40-something former marketing and journalism gal become a therapist? It was a gradual move. In my previous career, I was in marketing and content writing. When my kids were small and I was moving around the country...
Blog Post: Boundaries
What do the following topics have in common? a mother who has a child consistently breaking curfew - and she has found pot in the child’s room a parent insisting on random UAs for their child who has been dabbling in various substances a couple assigning tasks to...
Private Practice Chronicles, Part 7: Some Thoughts on Year One
It's been exactly one year - today - since my first paying client walked through my private practice office door and sat on the couch. It’s been a great year, and I’ve been doing a ton of reflecting on the past 12 months. There are things I’ve done right, many I’ve...
Blog Post: My Son is Going to College, and I’m Just Not Sad
My first-born is off to college. We toured, he applied and he was admitted (Baylor, for those curious). We attended orientation. First semester tuition is paid, and the obligatory (and fun) trip to Bed Bath & Beyond is complete. He secured a dorm room (first...
Blog Post: Chronicles of Private Practice, Part 6: Two Little Secrets
I have two little secrets to share with all you other therapists out there, especially those thinking of starting a private practice. I hate just giving these secrets away, but I'm going to, because they are pretty valuable, and both are something I wish someone would...
Blog Post: “Teaching” Kids to Drink
Here in the great State of Texas, there is a not-so-great law. This law states that minors can be served in their own homes with alcohol provided that is supplied by a parent or legal guardian of the child. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard parents of many...
Blog Post: Private Practice Chronicles, Part 5: Rookie Mistakes
I'm near the one year mark - one year! - of owning my private practice. It was a dream and ultimate career goal from the time I decided to go back to grad school in 2010. Seven years later, an opportunity arose, in the form of a sudden and unexpected (boy, I didn't...
Blog Post: Knock-Out Roses & Resilience
When I moved to Texas from the north 13 years ago, I had no idea what plants worked in the hot climate and Hill Country rocky soil. So I did what any good Yankee would do and went to the local nursery to find out. This black thumb (and I mean, I can kill a plant just...
Private Practice Chronicles, Part 4: Client Lead Generation & Online Visibility for Therapists
I met Shane Petty, the founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Revved Business, at a networking breakfast earlier this year. We exchanged business cards, and I was super-impressed with an email he sent me later that afternoon, thanking me for chatting it up with him...
Blog Post: Binge Drinking
The headlines are full of the horrific story of the Penn State Hazing incident, which left one boy, Timothy Piazza, dead and 18 - yes, 18 others charged in his death. As a drug counselor, as a mom of a boy about to embark on his own college journey to Baylor...
Blog Post: Private Practice Chronicles, Part 3: Stop Apologizing
It goes like this: I get a phone call from a potential client. We chat about therapy and their individual needs. We discuss appointment days and times. Then they ask if I take insurance. Instead of simply saying, "No, I don't, I'm cash-pay only," my first instinct is...
Blog Post: College Parents, Listen Up: No Cash
Most senior parents (like I am) are in the throes of picking out XL twin sheets, hoarding Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, planning graduation parties and trying not to bawl like a baby at every senior night event. Aside from the hunting and gathering, there are other...
Blog Post: Were You Happy You Woke Up?
“Were you happy you woke up?” It’s a question my boss taught me to ask people that came into our clinic, a 24-hour, 7-day a week, 365-days-a-year free Crisis Clinic. Many that walked through the door presented with suicidal ideation (S/I), or had made previous...
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