Latest / Unfinished Business / She Never Wanted Employees. Now She Leads a Team of Six | Brittany Garcia

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She Never Wanted Employees. Now She Leads a Team of Six | Brittany Garcia · Unfinished Business

• Kimberly Griggs: Do you think caring too much can turn into overextending yourself? Did you Brittany Garcia: Yes. Kimberly Griggs: ever Brittany Garcia: think the biggest thing we see in in this field is that we care and we really want to help people. And so then we see more and more clients, and we're seeing way too many people, and we don't have any free time or life outside of work, and then we're burnt out. And so then we're not showing up in the way that we need to for clients anyway. I think there's a lot of that in this Kimberly Griggs: Absolutely. Brittany Garcia: field Kimberly Griggs: Well, guys, welcome back to Unfinished Business. And today I'm so excited to have Brittany Garcia She is a licensed clinical professional counselor and the founder of Restorative Connections Counseling. Brittany's work is largely based on helping people navigate trauma, identity, and difficult life experiences. And not only will we hear more from her about the ways that she is doing that. but also, you know, her own experience on what it has been like for her to build a business behind that work and some of the lessons that she has to share about what it takes to build a practice, earn trust, lead a team, and keep showing up for people while building something of her own. So Brittany, welcome to Unfinished Business. Very excited to have you here. Brittany Garcia: Thank you. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Well, take me back to the beginning of this. You know what what first drew you to counseling? Brittany Garcia: so initially I this always surprises people, but I had decided that I wanted to do something in this field pretty early in childhood. I had some childhood trauma and just some things going on. And I remember at a very young age kind of wishing that I had someone to talk to and had some more support with some of the things that I was going through. and I didn't have that And so remembering that like someday I want to be that person for somebody else. And initially I had gone into the field working with kids. Since having my own two small children, I now generally work with teens and adults, but that was what initially had started it of wanting to be a support system and advocate for children. Kimberly Griggs: Wow. What how how old were were you when you had this personal kind of epiphany? Brittany Garcia: I remember it as being around like fifth or sixth grade. Yeah, pretty early. Kimberly Griggs: Wow. That's so that yeah, that's so young. Yeah, definitely. And and never, never pivoted, never deviated to something else. Brittany Garcia: So initially I had gone into a program for clinical psychology, which is much more school. It's a doctorate. And so there were a couple of times in the beginning of my undergrad that I was like, I don't know if I want to do that much school, and had kind of taken some other classes in other areas, but just wasn't as interested in that. and then as I went more through my courses, I learned that the part that I really wanted to be doing with was just sitting with clients and working through things that I could do that as A master level counselor, and so I went that route. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. What did you learn, you know, just from from getting exposure and having this, childhood dream turn into an idea for, essentially going into business for yourself? What did you learn early on about people through those experiences? Brittany Garcia: I really hold the belief that people are good and they are doing the best that they can with the resources they have and the things that they've learned. And I very early went into specializing specifically in trauma. And so a lot of our trauma responses and how they show up in daily life and in our relationships and everything, don't often seem very hopeful and aren't really serving us anymore. but that people have generally a willingness and capacity to be able to learn, okay, what isn't working for me anymore we all have the ability to improve and get out of whatever situation and recover from whatever we've been through. We just have to have a safe and supportive environment to be able to use those skills that we already have and develop those further. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. you know, I think the the word trauma gets used so much and probably overused on social media in particular. But from from a clinical perspective, for those that don't see the blind spots in themselves, what are some of those signals that you have, you know, undealt with trauma? Brittany Garcia: Yeah, so keeping a lot of patterns in relationships is a big area that it comes out a lot, responding to situations much more intense than would make sense for whatever's going on because we if something upsets us, our partner upsets us, we we feel whatever we feel about that moment, but with unresolved past trauma. all of those past emotions of everything to this point come up as well. And so we can have much more intense reactions or feel out of control. feeling like, here we go again. I'm reliving this even if the situation is completely different. being hyper-vigilant, just always on edge, feeling like everyone's out to get me, everything is going to Just go bad, I can never do anything right. A lot of negative beliefs that we hold from our trauma. and a lot of times I see my clients like logically know some of these things aren't true, but when they get upset or triggered, going right back to some of those things that they had felt were true in childhood, like I'm not good enough, I'm not safe, I can't trust anyone, things like that. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. knowing that and knowing that you wanted to help people work through that type of work, What did you, in trying to shape this business from an early perspective, what did you want to be able to do differently with that in regard to helping people move forward or learn how to understand the trigger and and move past that trauma. Brittany Garcia: I was very surprised by this, but I think of course all therapists should be pretty trauma informed and be able to sit with someone in their trauma or even if somebody's not coming to therapy for trauma things happen and so having some awareness of how to deal with that and create a safe place for clients. but while I was doing practicum and internship and first starting to meet with clients repeatedly I had clients come in saying like, my therapist didn't respond well when I said this. I was worried about my therapist. It seemed like I traumatized them. And just really kind of added to this belief of like no one can help me. I'm stuck. I can't do anything with this and there's no hope for me to recover and go back to a normal life. And so it was really important to me to continue to get ongoing education around trauma and what that looks like and how to sit with a client in a supportive way, even as you're hearing some very difficult or very surprising things, Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. What w in in your mind, I mean, what is the differentiator and skill set there? Brittany Garcia: I think a lot of times. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: a very common modality of therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy and so kind of walking a client through like, okay, what thoughts are leading to these behaviors. Let's change how you're thinking about this, and then you'll respond differently. it's not just only thinking errors and needing to think about this in a different way. It's that there's that physical response as well. We react holding trauma in our bodies, and so it's very intense. It feels like we're reliving it. And so usually clients are like, I recognize that it's not logical and doesn't make sense that I'm responding this way when this happens, but I can't stop. And so telling a client, like, if you feel threatened when this Kimberly Griggs: Just change your thinking. Brittany Garcia: person yells at you, just know that you're not threatened. It's okay, it's a different person, and they know that. But their body is still reacting. And so really working through first normalizing that, like there's nothing wrong with you. that's a normal trauma response to go right back to that fight or flight and I'm reliving this, and then working through like how do we do some approaches that help get rid of that trauma stored in the body as well? like some somatic therapy, EMDR. There's a lot of therapies that don't just focus on that cognitive of like, you already know this, so what's the problem? Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. It makes me think, you know, in correlation to your name, Restorative Connection. But I want to ask you directly, you know, what does restorative connections mean to you personally? Brittany Garcia: I Practice mostly from a theory called relational cultural therapy. And that really focuses on the idea that we heal through relationships. And so, if we've had trauma from relationships or from attachment, being able to have healthy relationships in a way that your brain can rewire and say, like, relationships can be healthy, I can trust people, people can be safe, is very healing. but also from that other side of being able to be authentic and know you can be yourself and the impact that that has internally of whatever my community is, I don't have to hide. initially in therapy, it's building that relationship with the client and hoping that the client can have a relationship with me that feels safe and comfortable and that I can work through this and I have hope for the future. But then working on taking that outside of therapy and applying that in life of how do you have connections with whether that's family or friends or your community, how do you go and be yourself in these other areas and that that will cause healing because you have safety and you have support. And then whatever does happen, it's not immediately I'm alone in this, I have something wrong with me and just having that community to be able to face whatever else comes up later on. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah, I love that idea. tell me more about how, that fundamental way of practicing has shaped the practice today. Brittany Garcia: first and foremost, all of the clinicians that I work with, it's very important that we continue to try to be trauma-informed and continue to get education in that area. we pride ourselves on being a LGBT affirmative practice and just really meeting the client where they are with whatever identity, whatever is important to them, and really getting to know them and have a connection with the authentic client because if they're feeling like they're masking or having to be somebody else in session. we're not really working on anything that they're needing or what's working for them. with my clinicians again really trying to create a safe place. And so doing a lot of team building and getting to know each other so we continue to feel supportive and have connections with each other. we actually just did a big team dinner last night. things like that where we can feel connected to each other and know that we have each other's backs. And I really focus as well on trying really hard to create an environment where there's not high burnout or high stress. And so my clinicians kind of choose their own schedule and choose specialty areas and get a lot of say in how many clients am I going to see, Do I have too many couples? Cause that feels more draining to me. And just trying as much to meet both clients and clinicians where they're at and what they're needing in that moment. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you're practicing what you preached with clients. And I love that from a cultural perspective. what did you have to unlearn or or what did you have to learn that you hadn't necessarily been trained for, that didn't come from a theory, but that just kind of has surprised you from you know, building this organization from Hopes and dreams to to what it looks like today in reality. Brittany Garcia: So much. I I've definitely found as I've gone through this that there's so many things that I didn't know and didn't know that I need to know through like my theory and all of my program, there is no focus on how do you have a private practice, how do you run a business, and so a lot of figuring out all of the different things of that that I had never known anything about. and then personally I think I've had a lot of growth I'm very introverted and I initially had gone out on my own from a different group practice just to kind of do my own thing and have control over my schedule And I never anticipated even two years ago ever hiring anyone else. I was just content doing my own thing. And so Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: learning to kind of lean into that discomfort and try lots of new things. I think I'm getting a lot better at that now. But having so many people around in the office and coming for support and questions and getting used to that and finding what do I need to do to be able to have the time and energy for that because I didn't have to worry about anyone else when I was on my own. And initially that was very draining And so finding more ways to recharge and have my own downtime and decompress time. finding that balance between all of these new things that I'm doing as I'm working with other people and just the one-on-one client work that I've continued to do. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. I wanna highlight many things that you said there, but let's start from the business building from the very beginning. really as a solopreneur, never imagining that you would expand, right? what prompted the expansion first? And then I guess as a follow-up question to that is when you realized there was more demand and you needed support to help move the business forward, thinking back, what was the very first thing that you had to really figure out in order to take that first step or that next step? Brittany Garcia: prior to deciding to expand I had a wait list. That's pretty normal. I think in the community that I'm in, we don't have enough therapists. And so there was always people that were kind of waiting for months to get in that I was keeping in touch with and didn't really have anyone to refer to. and still I was like I just can't take more clients and that's just what it is. But I actually had gone to a international conference for thriving therapists in Costa Rica. and a lot of that was talking about like how do we scale, expand our business, go out of our comfort zone, learn more things. and I got really involved with some of that and I ended up coming back and just like having this idea of like I could do that. I don't know if I want to, but I could expand and I I could figure that stuff out and just having a lot more confidence, meeting with a lot of other people who had done similar things and figured it out. And again, coming back to I think just feeling like I had the support and the community to figure it out or decide that I didn't want to. I prior to going on my own had worked for a different group practice and I'm lucky to have a great relationship with my old boss. I had texted her sometime after I got back and said, like, is this crazy to be thinking that I might want to hire someone? And she was like, No, not at all. she said, Hey, I know someone who is looking for a supervisor for hours. We are really good friends, so I can't take her on. Would you want to work with her? And I was like, sure. and then it just kind of snowballed from there. it was really easy with her and it was fun. And then we filled up and had more space and I happened to have some offices in my suite that were open, so it just took off from there. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. in the early phases as you're onboarding new practitioners and now you have a small team? Were there any hiccups? Were there, you know, what lessons did you have to learn getting used to not just, being responsible for your own time, but now really having to oversee the time and the patient care of others. What what was that like for you? Brittany Garcia: Yeah, that was what I was trying to avoid when I thought I wanted to be on my own. Cause I I think there's a lot of ways that could not go well. You're Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: responsible for a lot of things and it's a a field where it is really important to do things right and to follow up and keep documentation and all of that. And really more than anything, honestly, I think I've been so lucky with my team. They're very easy to work with, very self motivated, know what they need to do, get stuff done on time and I've had a lot of friends venture into private practice or group practice work and decide after a little while that it just isn't worthwhile. And I think a lot of things can go wrong with people not doing their job or drama or things like that. And really we just haven't had that. We have a really great team. hiccups, I think, just the hiring process that was really new. I'd never been in a position of hiring people. that can be really interesting. the things that people say. for some like vague examples, we live in Montana, and so we have long, horrible winters often. I had somebody who had disclosed like I don't feel comfortable driving in the winter and so I might not be able to show up when it snows and just okay, like that that won't work. and then one really hard experience. one of the first people that I had hired on paper it was great. She did a great interview and then wouldn't complete any of her onboarding really hard to get a hold of and just things like that that I kept kind of giving more leeway and giving more leeway and then the first day just never showed up. so I said, you know, this isn't going to work out. very big dramatic. I'm gonna turn you in. This isn't ethical. I'm going to get you in trouble. I'm gonna spread rumors about you all around town. Like just huge huge reaction. and then I had found out later on as this was happening that This wasn't new for this person to be doing this to previous employers and even to the extent of previous like police involvement to have them leave the property Kimberly Griggs: wow. Brittany Garcia: and things like that. And so Kimberly Griggs: Mm-hmm. Brittany Garcia: luckily that hasn't happened again and probably not a common experience, but I I think I did take a lot from that of just like my old boss also says, like, be slow to hire and quick to fire. and just not Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: giving more and more leeway and chances and not letting someone drag you through all of that. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Can you share? I'm always curious about this early expansion requires you to get really nimble about your interview process and creating kind of a system for that. What did you end up doing, you know, as a result of that story that you just shared or, you know, the other interesting conversations that you had? Did you formalize any type of process or create a strategy that others might learn from you? Brittany Garcia: So I got really specific with deadlines is probably the big thing like this is what needs to happen and this is when it needs to happen. just being like really, really clear and not assuming that the other person knows what you're thinking. Maybe even they do, but then that creates this space to be like, I didn't know, you weren't clear, I thought X, Y, Z. And so really, really clear communication and structure as much as possible through that process. And we can always adjust as needed if it works for both of us. But not leaving too much of like this is for your interpretation or when you are able to get to it and things like that. Kimberly Griggs: Is that something that do you think that you started to put in practice on the fly, or was it something that you actually took time away from the practice to think through? Brittany Garcia: I didn't take time away, but I think I mean pretty on the fly but with consultation Kimberly Griggs: Mm. Brittany Garcia: and asking other people that I know, like, hey, how have you navigated things like this? What do you do if this kind of stuff comes up? so a lot of advice and consultation. but it was pretty easy to implement pretty quickly. myself, I really do find a lot of importance in like being on time and meeting deadlines and not having people wait for me and things like that. And so it's I think definitely something I've had to learn a lot that that's not something that is as important or as natural to everybody else as it feels like it's clear for me. and not Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: that one is right or wrong, pros and cons, but being able to adjust to like not assuming that we're on the same page. Kimberly Griggs: I love that you share that because th that is part of the work that happens behind the scenes of the business that you really don't it's hard to interpret until you've gone Brittany Garcia: Mm-hmm. Kimberly Griggs: through a few of those experiences and realize, you know, that about yourself versus working with others. what other business responsibilities take more time and energy than, you know, people may expect? Brittany Garcia: there's a lot of those. That was a another Kimberly Griggs: There are. Brittany Garcia: area that definitely I didn't know. So I do a lot of delegation. Kimberly Griggs: Mm. Brittany Garcia: a lot, because otherwise I'd be very burnt out. I don't enjoy admin things and there's a lot. And so As clinicians are starting credentialing, getting all of the applications for the insurance, ongoing, always billing, following up with the billing. If anything gets denied, that's a whole process to be able to get a hold of anybody and sit on hold forever and resubmit claims. marketing is huge, especially now that we have six clinicians like always making sure that we're getting our name out there and people are aware that we're here and that we have openings and we spend a pretty large amount of time just like posting flyers, social media work, sending out information to clinics and other therapists and then really trying to get out in the community. this weekend we're having a table event at the Out of the Darkness Walk for Suicide Prevention and we've done a lot of other different events over the year, being at conferences and just different community things to get involved and be able to meet people and interact with people and try to build a lot of relationships, which is great, Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: but takes a lot of time. Kimberly Griggs: It does take a lot of time. You know, and particularly I think one misconception that I've learned by visiting with different businesses is that that work is never done. You know, I think that when you're in the business Brittany Garcia: No. Kimberly Griggs: of people, that is really your marketing is to develop relationships. And I know the Brittany Garcia: Yeah. Kimberly Griggs: the unpopular answer is that that those things take time and investment, no matter, you know. any resources that you try to delegate or shift responsibility to, they they require time and effort from everyone on board. you know, as the leader of that, let's just talk with that that one segment with marketing, how have you found to be able to delegate some of that responsibility without losing the core mission? and purpose and identity of the business. How have you been able to to navigate through that? Brittany Garcia: so the person that does our social media, she just does marketing and we initially sat down and did what she called a brand voice messaging guide and so really went through like what are your values in the business, who do you want to serve, who's your ideal client, why is that important to you, what can clients expect when they come in, and just like every detail of how she can portray who we are and what we're trying to do. and then r went through even specific as like what words when I'm posting things, what words feel authentic and what words don't feel authentic and just kind of really spending probably a couple months really honing in on like how do we want our voice to be and how do we want it to be received and how is that going on the other end of the people who are seeing our social media. And then ongoing now she's got a a great sense of that she does really great, but each month we have kind of a check-in where she has scheduled out, hey, here's all the things that I'm thinking. what do you want to add? What do you want to change? Does all of this sound right and good and what you're wanting to get across and just continually following up and making sure that that is still matching who we are and what we're trying to portray to other people and how that's going if if that is being received well and if it is seeming successful and we're getting engagement or any feedback incorporating that as well. Kimberly Griggs: do you feel like that that was a valuable decision for you at the time that it was made? Brittany Garcia: Absolutely. yeah, social media is very time consuming. and Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Tell me why. Brittany Garcia: also for me it isn't something that's super enjoyable or natural to do reels and and those kinds of things that are important, if you're trying to reach a lot of people. And so it was something that was definitely way more stressful than beneficial to me personally and something that repeatedly on my calendar just kept getting pushed to the next week and pushed to the next week. our initial person and she's still with us, but our first admin that we had also it wasn't natural to her. And so we'd come up with okay, here's how we're gonna tackle this and we'd both find everything else to do instead. And now we have another admin that has just started with us for some additional support. And we're working on slowly kind of shifting a lot more of that social media stuff in-house and transferring a lot of that to her with the support of the person who's been doing our social media that was kind of our plan to get us there but just outsourcing being able to like have that foundation and that picture of like what are we doing so it's not just chaotic and winging it with all of us who Don't know a lot or have the passion to do that. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. So so and what I'm hearing you saying in that particular area, while outsourcing was supportive for a a point, it sounds to me like the decision has been to bring more of those types of responsibilities in house. And I'm just curious, is there is there a reason why? Brittany Garcia: I think if we didn't have somebody that and on our team that was super into that and excited about it, it it wouldn't hurt and we'd be willing to continue to do all of that completely outsourced. that's been a great experience working with her, but I think it too, it is important. She doesn't live here in Billings. And so it is important to me to try to like bring that in and have somebody who's like more involved in the community and more aware of like what's going on and what the community needs and what's happening to make it a little bit more specific to here in Billings where we are. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Yeah. I I'm always just curious because those are those are decisions that I think again, kind of being l leading the organization to another level. I think progress in my mind, progress is not linear, right? Sometimes it's Brittany Garcia: Mm-hmm. Kimberly Griggs: we take a few steps forward and then, you know, maybe there are some steps back or we readdress where, you know, needs or sh or ideas have changed or even the organization as a whole is requiring something different. speaking of that, are there other areas like that in terms of business operations and running the organization day to day that you've had to unlearn or, you know, undo what you initially thought was going to work? Brittany Garcia: I know there's a lot of things that we have had to change and unlearn, but it's I think it's been like such a constant process of having lots of things that we're learning and adjusting that it's hard to pick out something like really specific. I think overall, like really for me the delegation piece was really hard. because I like to have control and that was part of too being on my own that I knew what was happening all the time. I had complete control over it and so learning that like I have to trust somebody and delegate that and figure out how to do that and check in so that I don't burn out and I have the time to not only continue seeing clients but continue growing the business as well and have some work-life balance. And so I think there's been a lot of just testing things out with that and what should be delegated and how that's going and how do we check in not only with those things but with the clinicians. How do I check in and make sure that everyone's happy and getting what they're needing or if they're getting the support that they want or if there's things that they're needing different. a lot of just me learning a lot more ways to I think be more aware of everyone around me and work on a team more than myself. Kimberly Griggs: talking about leading the organization, what's something that your team needed from you that took you, you know, longer than you wish to have understood? Brittany Garcia: I think maybe just like my availability. My schedule was just packed all the time because that was fine and it worked before. and so I think it was really hard initially. I think I learned it quick, but then it was hard to shift and how do I find that balance and I can't just take clients off my schedule. And so like working towards just being able to be more available and have my door open in case something pops up and being able to provide support and check in and just be present for whatever is needed. and again helping them feel like there's a connection and that I care about them and care about how they're doing. but working on being able to portray that better and just being present, which also takes a lot of time, but is really important. And as I've gotten more used to that, it's been really great because that's support and connection for me as well, not just providing that Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: for them. Kimberly Griggs: It's weird. What I'm hearing you say is, you know, that transition from being the solopreneur really in your mind to, you know, now you're the you're leading a team of people. And I love that you that you spoke directly to what that challenge actually becomes because I think for for many leaders that started out as, you know, kind of doing their own show and then gradually added peop people in. I think I think some of the hardest conversations are with ourselves to know, you know, you don't have to wear the S on your chest and you need now you need to let other people have the experiences that you have had. So to pack your schedule in a different way, being in a more supportive role instead of the primary role, I think that is a huge transition for any business owner that is, you know, moving or navigating into growing or growth or expansion. Brittany Garcia: Yeah, it's been a challenge and I I again I being on this side of it, I I think it's really great and has been really beneficial, not just for my team, but for myself. But a lot of just kind of trying new things out and seeing what does feel good and what does work because I had no idea all of this was brand new. And so having Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: to just try stuff and be flexible and if it doesn't work, okay, now we know. just like I tell any of my clients, trying new things for coping or whatever, like if it doesn't Work that wasn't a waste of time. Now we know, and let's try something else because something will stick and be helpful. We just Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: have to figure out what that is. Right. Kimberly Griggs: is it harder to let go of that control when the work is really personal? You know, when you have a way of of delivering those services versus, you know, someone else's creativity or or thought process Brittany Garcia: Thank you. Kimberly Griggs: behind it. Brittany Garcia: Yeah, I think definitely a a a fear of mine initially especially was I mean the most important thing for me showing up for clients is again creating that safe space and really hearing them and really providing support that is helpful and I don't have any control over how other clinicians are doing that and if they're doing that and what it looks like. And I don't really see either what is going on in the sessions. There's not really a way for me to judge that and be sitting there watching and like, how's the client responding to this? And do you have that awareness? And so that's something that's been really scary for me of like what if somebody does come in and have a terrible experience or people are repeatedly having a terrible experience or feeling that they're not heard or that their experience was dismissed. right now I would say that that's pretty easy to manage just because I have had the people that I'm working with around for a while and have built that trust and have been able to see that they are. connecting really well with their clients and we are getting that great feedback. But especially initially, that is definitely a concern of you only know so much when you're interviewing or even interacting with someone outside of session. I know lots of people that are super great, but they haven't been my own counselor. And those interactions are different. And so just hoping that clients are having a positive and safe experience and I can do so much to consult and provide education and all of these tools for it to hopefully go well. but at the end of the day, that's a lot of the clinician's own personal work. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Do you think caring too much can turn into overextending yourself? Did you ever walk through that? Brittany Garcia: Yes. Kimberly Griggs: How so? Brittany Garcia: something I see a lot and I've I think I did this initially as a clinician and then I was kind of forced to have some more boundaries with my time as I had kids in school and things like that. And now I see the value in not getting burnt out and setting good boundaries and modeling that. But I think the biggest thing we see in in this field is that we care and we really want to help people. And so As we're getting more and more people contacting, it's like I want to make sure you have support and make sure you want to see someone. And so then we see more and more clients, and we're seeing way too many people, and we don't have any free time or life outside of work, and then we're burnt out. And so then we're not showing up in the way that we need to for clients anyway. I think there's a lot of that in this Kimberly Griggs: Absolutely. Brittany Garcia: field because none of us want to say, like, I can't support you or won't support you, especially when we know. Hey, I don't have anyone to send you to that doesn't also have a wait list. And it's so hard for someone usually to reach out for therapy and to get to that point of like, okay, now I want help and I want it bad enough that I'm gonna contact a stranger to talk about all these things that are hard to talk about. And so to recognize that that is something very vulnerable and difficult for a client and be able to also say, and I can't extend myself more and I can provide referrals, I can check in with you when I have availability and I can do what I can do to hopefully provide as much support as I can, but I can't just help everyone all the time. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. What's been the hardest part for you personally sitting in that tension? Brittany Garcia: I I think the same thing of just feeling like I do want to help and I want to make sure that everyone has support and has what they need and I can't be in control of that all the time. And so I think for me that's been something that has been so helpful about having this group is that there is a lot more room to say, like, hey, I can't accommodate my schedule for this. but I do know someone that can and I have someone that I trust that I can send you to and feel confident that it is going to work for you and go well. But I even with that I have people who specifically want to work with me sometimes or I have clients that I saw a long time ago that want to come back and see me and just having to figure out how to be like really, really honest with myself of like, can I take this on right now? And if I can't I will do whatever I can do and is in my control to make sure that there is support. and I have to just be okay with that and that that's Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: sometimes all I can do. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. And also, you know, I think it comes to like you as as the leader, when you have that increasing demand and also, like you said, need to be really honest with yourself about what capacity looks like, it also leads to the mission of the the business itself? How many more practitioners are we going to add or am I prepared to add? Like I can only imagine it it you wrestle with other questions of how f how quickly to build. And if you don't set those really strong boundaries, you could build too quickly and it it crumble, you know. Yeah. Brittany Garcia: Yes. Yes. We are in a spot now to just kind of let it be for a while. and Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: luckily we we did have so many people reaching out and between us we have a little bit of different specialty areas. We all work with trauma, most of us do some EMDR work. but among us we have somebody who does play therapy and a couple of people who see couples and different ages. It's so At this point we kind of have somebody for whoever calls to be able to get them scheduled or say like, hey, when they have availability, we'll let you know. But at this time it's it's pretty steady. There's not a lot of people like waiting. nobody's overbooked, everyone's kind of in a space where they feel comfortable where they're seeing enough clients, but not burnt out and not feeling pressured. and Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: so I think for now for a bit, it's just kind of enjoying that that we finally got there. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah, I love that answer because I I think the the pressure is to continue especially when you have a heart for service, right? And I think the pressure Brittany Garcia: Mm-hmm. Kimberly Griggs: is to continue to build, build, build. And and I think we see a lot of businesses that get burned out too quickly because of lack of boundaries. Brittany Garcia: Yeah. Kimberly Griggs: I think that's in in your work with from people perspective as well as a business perspective that's applicable. I wanna turn a little bit to the conversation to, you know, really the person behind the practice. so you know, Brittany, you work with people that are carrying really difficult experiences. I'm curious, how do you personally take care of yourself while doing this work that is really emotionally demanding? Brittany Garcia: Yeah, so lots of taking care of myself and what that looks like for me is I don't like winter very much, but the rest of the year a lot of outdoors time, being away from my phone, being off social media, not being reachable. so a lot of camping, hiking, I love fishing, all of that kind of stuff and really just activities where I have to put all the business stuff down and not be in that all the time and not be waking up and focusing on this until bed and then just doing it over and over again. And so having like a shift of where I'm at and what I'm doing where my focus is completely somewhere else. I also do a lot of going to the gym for stress relief and again just different environment. A lot of times I'll do that like in the middle of the day to get kind of a break and reset between blocks of seeing clients. I have a little hobby farm. so that helps me get outside and keep busy. I have a couple dogs and then I have a ton of chickens and we've got three little Nigerian dwarf goats. So that's really fun and entertaining. and so just a lot of things like in the present to keep me grounded that bring joy, and making sure, again with my boundaries that I'm making time for that because that is part of the work to take care of yourself so that you can show up, that you don't burn out, and modeling that for clients too, because a lot of the people that we work with also really struggle with setting boundaries or taking care of themselves without feeling guilty or having free time and being able to say like I do that and here's how I do that and it's hard and I get that but it is possible. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah, I love that. I love that you are modeling, you know, in your own life the same advice that you're sharing with others. You know, building a business, I think it costs something. It it's a it's a journey of self discovery for sure. What has building this business or building this practice cost you that doesn't necessarily show up in, the spreadsheets and in fine print, like what have been the costs of taking this dream and moving it forward? Brittany Garcia: it's hard to say right away because I think yes, there's been a lot of cost and a lot of sacrifice, but I think that there's been so much more positive that has come from that that it doesn't feel like it's been a cost overall, but definitely time. Lots and lots and lots of time. now that's kind of getting more settled as we're getting into this place where like things are kind of smooth and we've got it figured out and we're just moving forward. But Definitely I think hiring anyone is a lot more work before it's less work because I have all of the same work that I had before. and now I'm on top of that training someone and making sure they're okay and making sure they're feeling supported and making sure that they have a caseload. And so definitely lots and lots of extra time. And with that, lots of work of figuring out, like, okay, while sometimes in this business, because of whatever reason, I do have to work more than normal. And it's just not optional. Somebody has to do some of these things, figuring out, okay, so what does that mean for how I still am present with my kids? I'm taking care of myself and getting really good at figuring out how to be really flexible. and then lots of learning, lots of mental energy, figuring out stuff that I don't know. And when I figure that out, I have to do something about it and get support or look it up or whatever that is. lots of reading and just lots and lots of learning all the time, which I think has been really positive, but it's hard sometimes. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. And and those strategies that it and it's so it's interesting, like I said to me, that you have been able to know this logically from a scientific perspective that what is best for you. But again, like you you said so beautifully, it it's hard to to make yourself do those things or to treat them as much of a priority as what you think is a is the bigger priority. Was there any Brittany Garcia: Yeah. Kimberly Griggs: moment in building the business to where it is today where you can sit back and recognize the work? Was there any moment in particular that was harder than others? Brittany Garcia: Yes. So what immediately comes to mind is after I had hired my second person and decided, okay, like we we have some room to keep doing this, I had moved to another building where I had a lot more offices. but in that time period, continuing to work with some very new clinicians and help them kind of figure out how things are going and figuring that out together of how to navigate everything and scheduling and all of that in a very different way than when it was just me doing everything for myself. seeing my own clients, keeping my own work that I'd been doing that doesn't just disappear. And then for all of these new rooms, putting together furniture. was a nightmare. Like that is what comes to mind that I never want to do again, like putting together and I now had a waiting room with an admin. So I have to put together all these chairs. I have to put together an admin desk. And then each of these offices before the clinician shows up and is hired, they need a couch and they need a desk. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: so I think that's something that I probably didn't think about and probably most people wouldn't think about as part of it. But I Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: had a couple months where a lot of the weekend I was sitting in there putting together furniture. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah, yeah, and that is so it it that's so true. It's like the surprising frustrations that come along Brittany Garcia: Ha ha Kimberly Griggs: that you definitely could not anticipate when you were sitting in school envisioning this, right? Brittany Garcia: Yep. Kimberly Griggs: how has your definition of success changed since you started the practice to where it is today? Brittany Garcia: so I think initially success is just like getting there and like arriving, like, I have to finish school, I have to finish my hours under supervision, I have to do all of these things, and it's just like this endless, like, what's the next goal? What's the next goal? And then I think that shifted for me as I went out on my own and intended to just stay on my own of like, like I don't have these finish lines that I have to hit anymore. and so I think at that point what it what my vision of being successful was is just kind of figuring out like, okay, how do I just do this and get used to this and just do what I want and make sure that I'm being accountable and doing what I need to do and just like being responsible for myself because there's no one else pressuring me or doing that for me. but I had gone off on my own and left the group practice that I was in in January 2022, I believe was when I first went on my own. February, I was diagnosed with cancer. And so then being successful changed really quickly into like how do I get through this? How do I beat cancer? How do I pay my bills? I had to do inpatient chemotherapy every third week. and all these other things with it for almost a year. luckily after that I have had no evidence of cancer and was was very lucky with that. but I think that goes in a lot into once I've been able to kind of get back to normal life in the swing of things, my view of success I think is really being able to have those boundaries and all that. So be able to be in the present and enjoy life, a very different perspective of not just feeling like, yeah, I'll just be here forever, but like I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if my cancer is going to come back or a million other things that could happen that feel way more real right now than they probably did before. and so Kimberly Griggs: Yeah. Brittany Garcia: a lot of I think what has driven this is how do I have this work life balance? How do I have the flexibility to be really present for my kids and with them. And how do I also make sure that if I do have to take some time off work or be away because of anything that happens that I can be okay and that everyone that I work with can be okay too. I think that's driven a lot of that delegation too of very early figuring out okay what needs to happen for this to be able to run without me just in case. Kimberly Griggs: Hmm. I think that's such an important question. In fact, we just had a discussion with someone yesterday about that very that very thing. If you it's almost a litmus test, like if in in your experience is such a a a beautiful example of what that actually looks like. Life is life, no matter, you know, who's sitting in the seat as the leader, right? And if you have to remove yourself, does that business still operate without you? Do are people okay that you deeply care about? And so I I sometimes think those journeys lend to a beautiful awareness. You you said something about, you know, success looks like being really present. What what does, you know, in the tangible day-to-day being present really look like for you? Brittany Garcia: So my children are five and six and so being able to right now they're doing sports and they like to play and all of all of the things. and so being able to be with them in that without thinking about my business or my clients or or whatever the whole time at the same time and being able to really give them that full attention and not be stressed about it of like, yeah, I'm watching you play football, but really I am thinking about all this stuff that I have To do right after this, and this is stressful because I'm sitting here, but I have so much stuff on my plate, and so being able to be where you're at doing what you're doing and committing completely to that and not having like a million things that you're trying to do at once and think about at once, being mindful of like taking time off work and doing fun things and making memories and I think so often it's viewed as like I just need to work harder and do as much as I can right now while I can and I should be productive every second. But you really lose like all of the other parts of life when you look back and it's like, all I did was work and I hear all the time, like I I wish I had been around my kids more when they were young or I wish I whatever that is. And so, Trying to find that balance of like I do need to work and I like to work and I like my job, luckily, but that that can't be my entire life and identity and I I don't want it to be, that I have all of these other things that are important to me as well to make time for and enjoy while I can. Kimberly Griggs: So with that being said, when you look ahead, what are you hoping to do next? not just in the practice, but in your in your life, knowing that this work life balance is a is a core value for you. What's what's around the corner? Brittany Garcia: Yeah, so I It'll be kind of a process to get there. I think both with just like things that I'm learning and picking up while I'm still in this space, but also the ages of my kids and things like that. But I really again enjoy being outside. I enjoy helping people. I enjoy traveling and so I am kinda taking some baby steps working towards hosting retreats and doing conferences and being able to travel and still provide a lot of help and support in this field, but in a different way where I can have more flexibility and travel and be present and bring my kids along sometimes and just be able to be out of the office but still doing the work. Kimberly Griggs: Yeah, I love that. And then Brittany, final question for you. What is currently your unfinished business? Brittany Garcia: So lots of things. So I yeah, preparing for that. right now I'm trying to get more into some speaking and things like that. And so I'm here and I've been doing some speaking at conferences and things like that. And so I think right now the the next step in all of the things that way down the road I'm hoping to do is learning a lot more, making connections, building confidence in myself and continuing to go more out of my comfort zone in it. be more natural to be trying new things and working with other people and taking risks and trying whatever and seeing what works and being able to be okay when it doesn't and adjust. And I think that a lot of the things that I've been already doing and having to do throughout expanding my business, but just taking that farther and doing it in different ways. Kimberly Griggs: I love your outlook. I want to ask one follow-up question to that. Knowing that that's your unfinished business and having a mindset that allows you to take some risk and accept, you know, the learning curves that come with that. What are your parting words to anyone who aspires to follow your footsteps? Brittany Garcia: parting words. just to have confidence of we don't need to have confidence that we can do absolutely anything in the moment. I mean we can figure out things, but maybe if there's something that you're trying to do and it it's scary. it's okay to not be 100% for sure that it's going to work out because you you can't. And so instead of trying to wait to do something until it's like I am 100% confident that this will work out, being able to find this middle ground of maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I can be confident that regardless I can figure it out. I can be confident that I can learn. I can be confident that I can adjust, that I can reach out to support, that I can do whatever I need to do that as I'm working towards this thing, I know that whatever comes up, I can figure that out. Kimberly Griggs: Empowering words. Brittany, thank you so much for being here. And guys, we're going to make sure that you are able to follow and connect with Brittany. So we'll be posting her LinkedIn in the show notes as well as restorative connections information so that you can reach out with any questions or feedback. Anything else that you'd like to share with us? Where else do you hang out? Where can we find you? Brittany Garcia: I Instagram, Facebook, yeah. We have a website, so I'll share that with you. yeah. Kimberly Griggs: Perfect. All right. Well thank you, Brittany. Thank you for everyone for tuning in. We appreciate you. Bye bye. Brittany Garcia: Thank you.