Marriage & Family Therapist | Career Conversations
Summary
TLDRSarah Harris, a licensed marriage and family therapist, registered play therapist, and board-certified telemental health provider, shares her journey from pre-med to psychology, driven by a passion for helping others. She discusses her experiences in various therapeutic settings, including a pain and wellness clinic and community agency, and her transition to a virtual private practice. Harris emphasizes the importance of being open to opportunities, continuous learning, and maintaining a balance between work and personal life, offering insights into her entrepreneurial spirit and the challenges of running a business while being a woman of color.
Takeaways
- ๐ Sarah Harris is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a registered play therapist, and a board certified telemental health provider.
- ๐ถ She specializes in working with children from four years old and up, as well as couples and families.
- ๐ Sarah is also a WMFT approved supervisor, which means she has additional training to mentor and supervise other therapists and students.
- ๐ Initially, she pursued pre-med but switched to psychology after realizing her passion for the field.
- ๐จ In her early career, she used art therapy to help individuals with chronic pain manage anxiety and depression, which led to significant improvements for many.
- ๐ซ She has experience teaching psychology at the college level and found it to be a rewarding experience.
- ๐ As a therapist, she has worked in various settings, including in-home therapy for children and teenagers with ADHD, grief, and other challenges.
- ๐ In 2014, Sarah started her own private practice, Serenity and Grace Therapeutic Services, which initially began as a solo practice and later grew into a group practice.
- ๐ In 2019, she transitioned her practice to a virtual model after relocating to Georgia, expanding her services to multiple states.
- ๐ผ Sarah offers consultations to therapists looking to grow their online practices and coaches on working with children in an online setting.
- ๐ฑ She emphasizes the importance of being open to opportunities and having a growth mindset, which has led her to become an entrepreneur and leader in her field.
Q & A
What are Sarah Harris's professional qualifications?
-Sarah Harris is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a registered play therapist, a board certified telemental health provider, and a WMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) approved supervisor.
What does being a registered play therapist entail?
-Being a registered play therapist means Sarah has additional training and experience working with children from as young as four years old, utilizing play as a therapeutic method.
How did Sarah's educational path change after starting with pre-med?
-Sarah initially pursued pre-med but switched to psychology after realizing her passion for it. She found she enjoyed giving advice and helping others with their problems, which led her to psychology.
What was Sarah's first job after graduating from her master's program?
-Sarah's first job was at a pain and wellness clinic where she used art therapy to help individuals manage anxiety and depression related to chronic pain.
How did Sarah's role evolve at the pain and wellness clinic?
-At the clinic, Sarah observed that after an eight-week art therapy program, many patients were able to manage their conditions better, some reduced or stopped their pain medications, and a few returned to work.
What was Sarah's experience as a college psychology instructor?
-Sarah briefly worked as a college psychology instructor after relocating to Texas with her husband. She enjoyed teaching but needed a job in the mental health field due to her provisional licensing status in the new state.
What was Sarah's role as an intensive in-home team lead?
-As an intensive in-home team lead in Raleigh, Sarah led a team providing therapy to children and teenagers in their homes, addressing issues like ADHD, grief, loss, and trauma.
When and why did Sarah start her own private practice?
-Sarah started her private practice, Serenity and Grace Therapeutic Services, in 2014. It began as a solo practice but later expanded to a group private practice.
How did Sarah's business model change after relocating to Georgia?
-After relocating to Georgia, Sarah transitioned her business to a virtual private practice and became a board certified telemental health provider to better understand and provide online therapy.
What additional services does Sarah offer to other therapists?
-Sarah provides consultations to therapists who want to grow their online therapy practices and coaches them on working with children online.
What challenges does Sarah face as an entrepreneur and a mother?
-Sarah faces challenges in finding balance between her work and personal life, especially as a mother of two children and managing a business with ongoing demands.
How does Sarah approach personal and professional development?
-Sarah approaches personal and professional development through reading, learning from role models, attending webinars, and collaborating with other business owners to sharpen her entrepreneurial skills.
Outlines
๐ Sarah's Therapeutic Journey and Early Career
Sarah Harris introduces herself as a licensed marriage and family therapist, registered play therapist, and a board certified telemental health provider. She discusses her educational background, including her initial pursuit of pre-med before switching to psychology, driven by her passion and natural inclination to help others. Sarah shares her experience working with various populations, such as couples, families, and children, and her role as a supervisor and mentor for other therapists and students. She recounts her first job at a pain and wellness clinic, where she utilized art therapy to help patients manage chronic pain, anxiety, and depression, leading to significant improvements in their mental health and quality of life.
๐ Intensive In-Home Therapy and Private Practice Evolution
Sarah details her work as an intensive in-home team lead, providing therapy to children and teenagers in their homes, addressing issues like ADHD, grief, loss, trauma, and school refusal. She was promoted to a clinical supervisor, overseeing other therapists in the program. In 2014, Sarah started her own private practice, 'Serenity and Grace Therapeutic Services', beginning as a solo practice and later expanding to a group practice. However, a relocation to Georgia in 2019 led her to transition her practice to a virtual model and further her training to become a board certified telemental health provider. She now consults with therapists looking to grow their online practices and serves clients across multiple states, emphasizing the importance of high-quality online therapy services.
๐ผ Embracing Entrepreneurship and Overcoming Challenges
Sarah reflects on her unexpected path to entrepreneurship, highlighting the importance of being open to opportunities and learning from various experiences. She discusses the challenges of balancing her roles as a business owner, therapist, and mother, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah emphasizes the need for intentional time management and the importance of mindset and personal growth. She shares her approach to skill development, including reading, webinars, and networking with other business owners. Sarah also talks about the unique challenges faced by women and women of color in entrepreneurship and the importance of confidence and self-belief. She invites viewers to visit her websites for more information and ends with a call for questions and further engagement.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กLicensed Marriage and Family Therapist
๐กRegistered Play Therapist
๐กTelemental Health Provider
๐กWMFT Approved Supervisor
๐กChronic Pain
๐กCognitive Behavioral Therapy
๐กProvisional Licensing
๐กADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
๐กEntrepreneurship
๐กMindset
๐กTime Management
Highlights
Sarah Harris is a licensed marriage and family therapist, registered play therapist, and board certified telemental health provider.
She has experience working with children from four years old and up.
Sarah is also an approved supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
Initially, she pursued pre-med but switched to psychology due to her passion for the field.
She emphasizes the importance of volunteering and internships to explore career fields.
Sarah's first job after her master's was at a pain and wellness clinic, using art therapy to help manage anxiety and depression.
She has worked with individuals dealing with chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.
Sarah taught psychology at a college level before moving to Texas.
In North Carolina, she worked with a community agency, providing intensive in-home therapy for children and teenagers.
She was promoted to clinical supervisor, managing a team of therapists.
In 2014, Sarah started her own private practice, Serenity and Grace Therapeutic Services.
Her practice initially began as a solo venture but later expanded to a group private practice.
In 2019, Sarah transitioned her practice to a virtual model due to a relocation to Georgia.
She became a certified telemental health provider to better understand online therapy.
Sarah now provides consultations to therapists looking to grow their online therapy practices.
She coaches on working with children online, a field that has grown rapidly due to COVID-19.
Her virtual practice serves clients in multiple states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, California, and Utah.
Sarah emphasizes the importance of being open to opportunities and learning from various experiences.
She shares her journey from not planning to be an entrepreneur to running a successful business.
Sarah discusses the challenges of balancing work and personal life, especially as a mother during COVID-19.
She offers advice on time management and the importance of planning to maintain balance.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi everyone my name is sarah harris
i'm a licensed marriage and family
therapist and i'm also a registered play
therapist
as well as a board certified telemental
health provider
and a licensed marriage and family
therapist i work a lot with couples
families and a registered play therapist
that just means that i have additional
training
and experience working with children
from as young as
four years old all the way up um i'm
also a wmft
approved supervisor so wmft meaning
the american association of marriage and
family therapy
and so i received additional training to
be able to supervise and mentor other
therapists
um to mentor students who are studying
marriage and family therapy and also to
mentor provisionally licensed therapists
provisionally licensed that just means
those who are on their way to becoming
fully
licensed
um when i started i did not start with
my bachelor's in psychology
when i migrated from trinidad to new
york i actually came with the intention
of um studying to be a doctor right
that's what my parents
wanted and so i started on a path to be
to do pre-med however after about a year
of studying that i just realized it was
not something that i
wanted my heart was just with psychology
i was really really curious about
psychology and i've always had a passion
for it
i remember internet growing up people
always telling me
that i was good at giving advice and
they wanted to tell me their problems
and i just
naturally enjoyed it and so after
doing pre-med for about a year i decided
that
i did not want to do it anymore and i
switched majors to
um to psychology my parents were not
thrilled about it
but it was just one of the things those
things where i had to be honest with
myself
about what i really wanted to do and i
had to imagine where can i see myself in
the future what did i really really
enjoy doing and wanted to get paid for
so look for opportunities where you can
volunteer
where you can get a taste of what it's
like to be in the field that you're
interested in
before you actually go deeper into it
so after graduating from my master's
program one of the first jobs
that i had was at a pain and wellness
clinic
and so i worked with a lot of people who
um
they work as comp cases so that means
that they got injured on
their work site and it
developed into chronic pain and so they
were on most of them they were unable to
return to work
they lived in pain there's extreme pain
there were a lot of a lot of them were
on pain medications
and so with that i saw a lot of anxiety
a lot of deep depression
and so my job there was to use art to
help them manage the anxiety to help
them manage their depression
it was an eight-week program and at the
end of the eight weeks they
had the opportunity to graduate and so
with using
art as in therapy so it wasn't talk
therapy was more art therapy that i was
doing with them for eight weeks
they were able to better manage their
depression they were better able to
manage their anxiety
and for many of them they either stopped
the medication that they were taking
this really
um strong and serious pain medication
that they were taken
or they were able to decrease it some of
them were able to return to work
so it was really powerful just to be
part of that experience with them
um and um at times i i still do a little
bit of work with this company and so
often they're based in california
and i do cognitive behavioral therapy um
with them um and moving along
afterwards after that i took on a
really brief position as a college
psychology instructor
and one of the reasons i did that this
was i had relocated to
texas um with my husband who was in the
military
and when moving from state to state many
times with
counseling or therapy you have to be
licensed in the state that you
are in in order to provide therapy and
so when i just moved of course i wasn't
licensed in that state so i couldn't
really continue with providing therapy
but i knew i still wanted to stay in
that mental health field
and so i took on a job teaching
psychology
to college students i loved it i love
teaching
um and it's something i hope to maybe do
again one day
and then after that i settled in
north north carolina for a while and one
of my first jobs
there was working with a community
agency
and this was where i was not fully
licensed yet as a marriage and family
therapist
i was what is called provisionally
licensed so that's
where i was licensed and i worked on the
supervisor
but i was accumulating hours so that i
could eventually become fully licensed
and that usually takes about two to
three years to become fully licensed
but with this position and i was in
raleigh working with this community
agency and my position was an intensive
and home
team lead another really great
experience
i was the lead of a team of about three
or four
people who were there and so we would go
into
the homes of children and teenagers go
into their homes and provide
intensive therapy so we would be there
for maybe two hours at a time
sometimes it's twice a week that will be
there just providing family therapy
and individual therapy sometimes we had
to go to their school
and find an office in their school to
provide services to them
but with this with these kids i saw a
lot of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
or adhd
add oppositional defiant disorder odd
there was a lot of grief and loss a lot
of trauma
anxiety depression some of them were
just refusing to go to school
and so these were some of the issues
that we came upon with working with
these kids
and while i was there i got promoted to
being the clinical supervisor
and as the clinical supervisor i was
monitoring all of the other
intensive in-home team therapists and
just kind of managing that program
in um in 2014 i started my own
private practice so now um it's called
serenity and grace therapeutic services
and
um it started off as a solo practice i
thought okay i'll just do this
on my own have my caseload and and do my
thing but then eventually i decided to
bring some therapists on board with me
and we had a group private practice um
there for several years
in wake forest and that was
um 2-4 2014 and then last year 2019
i made a big shift with my business um
and this happened
when my husband we took on a new job for
him that took us to
georgia and so when we decided that we
were going to relocate
as a business owner i had to just really
think carefully
about what my options were and what did
i want to do with my business like there
were many choices
um that i had um
and so ultimately after a lot of
reflection i decided that yes i still
wanted to keep my business open
but i was going to change the model that
i had for it
and that's when i transitioned last
summer
to to it being a virtual private
practice
and so um it's but that's when i also
decided to do additional training so i
could better understand
what online therapy is all about because
before covert 19
you know online therapy was not really
very popular it was there but it was not
very well known there weren't a lot of
research done into it to see how
effective it is
and so i did my certification to become
a board certified telemental health
provider
and um and now i provide consultants to
therapists who want to grow their own
online therapy practice
i coach them on on how to do that i also
coach them on how to work with children
online which is another really
interesting area that um because of
covet 19 it's it's developed and grown
faster than expected um and so i have my
virtual
practice and serves several states
we we provide services in north carolina
georgia
florida and california and utah
um and there's so many ins and outs with
running a practice online
but it's something that i'm very
passionate about and very passionate
about providing high quality service
with online therapy
and so along the way even though i
didn't really plan to be an entrepreneur
um it evolved as i just continued to
remain
open to to opportunities so before i had
mentioned
you know being open to internships being
open to volunteering and it's the same
way
just to be open to to where your career
might lead you
because you might start at the beginning
thinking oh i am going to work in a
hospital
right but then yes you can have that as
your guide and as a focus but just be
open to other opportunities that might
present
themselves because we don't really know
what we don't know until
maybe we get there or we learn more
later on
and so um and so you know
opening up my practice it started when i
was at the group
private practice so i was actually
working for someone else
and i was content with that for a while
but then eventually
um i was doing really well and having my
own clients
and people just finding out about me
independently from the group practice
and someone actually suggested hey why
don't you just start your own business
and it was i was very hesitant at first
you know it's a scary thought especially
when you weren't really planning to do
it i did not go to school from
my mba or anything like that um
and then i also found that in my
master's program you know they didn't
really teach a whole lot about running a
business
and the thought was very intimidating
but i was curious about it and i think i
had that entrepreneurial spirit in me
where i wanted to i wanted to give back
and sometimes when you're working for
someone else you're limited you're
restricted by what you can do
and it's almost like you're working
towards someone else's vision
and i wanted to be able to have my own
vision have my own dreams
for how i wanted to share and inspire
others
and and be of service to others and i
started off with just kind of tip to it
into the idea of having my own business
so just very tentatively
i got into it and that over time
uh grew like i said i didn't plan to
have a group private practice
i started off just as a solo private
practice but then
once i saw that the doors were opening
and i continued to reflect and pray
and i felt like i was being led um in
that direction
so by being by staying open i was able
to just continue to take those steps
towards
um growing my own business but with
you know but with growing your business
there's a lot that comes into play
especially as a woman
especially as a woman of color i had to
be
more aware of what role i wanted to play
in
in the community that i was in so i was
in wake forest i specialize in
child therapy and this was what i became
known for
but in addition to having a passion
which is also really important i also
knew that i had to master my skills
right so i couldn't just jump into
running a business and just thought i
could just
wing it right i had some natural skills
which is part of my personality i had
some natural skills such as being
structured and being organized
but i knew that there was a lot that i
did not know and i had to
also be someone who was willing to learn
um
i did not want to go to school to study
for an mba or anything like that if i
had a time it probably would
but i decided to get training in other
ways
so some of the ways i sharpened my
skills as an entrepreneur
is through a lot of reading i found
people online who i admired who i still
had their own business
i loved how they did it i found people
who
were able to combine their passion and
spirituality
with business and i sort them out as
role models even if it's from a distance
i read their books i did every free
webinar that they were offering
and i paid for some um but those
were just some of the things that i
still continue to do i'm always always
always
learning and trying to sharpen my skills
with it
um and then something else i also did
was just collaborating with others
so uh networking with other business
owners and just learning from each other
asking questions
um and just sharing sharing knowledge
but it's so important to just stay on
that path
um and to really really work on on the
mindset
there's so much to it um the mindset
work
personal work is so important um and
again especially as me as
a woman as a woman of color sometimes we
find ourselves just struck in these
uh limiting beliefs or maybe i didn't
really see
any people looking like like me who were
doing what i was doing
but i had to still have that confidence
and certainty that i wanted to do more
one of the greatest challenges that i
have and i think that it's ongoing is
trying to find balance
with things because there's always
something to do there's always something
lingering some email that needs to be
attended
some phone calls to return just there's
always something to do
and it's a challenge trying to balance
that especially as a mom
um with two kids who want my attention
especially now during corporate 19 when
they're home all the time they're not in
school during the day
and so my time management skills have
had to just be very very
intentional and so one of the things i
do is
the night before or the weekend before i
plan
how i'm gonna spend my day so i'm gonna
end
here my website is on the screen sg
therapeutics services dot com that
and that's the website for my group
private practice and then i also have a
website just for myself
sarah g harris.com if you have any
questions
you're welcome to just send me an email
[Music]
you
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