Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Mcquaid
Hi Allison, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When I first became a therapist in 2016 I did not think I would ever open a private practice. The idea just seemed super intimidating and I had many therapists more experienced that would me tell me about the struggles of opening and owning a successful private therapy practice. I never considered myself good at “business” type things so I had not even considered a dream of opening my own practice until years after being a therapist. Early on I specialized in working with anxious children and families and worked in community mental health. This gave me a wide variety of experiences in therapy and I learned so much. In 2019 I decided to transition to working at a group therapy practice full time and quickly learned many aspects of the “business-side” that became much more accessible for me at that time in my career. While six months pregnant with our daughter in 2020, the pandemic started and led to new conversations with my husband about our future goals for our careers. He decided to change careers in early 2021 and become a firefighter (story for another day…!) and I leaned more into specializing my therapy practice to working with mothers during all stages of motherhood. As I continued to get more training and really enjoyed working with the perinatal population, I thought about how I could offer another approach to supporting moms. In early 2023 I was still mainly seeing clients virtually and I missed having more in person interactions, but also really enjoyed the flexibility and ease of working from home. After exploring lots of options, we decided we had the space and capability to build a “she-shed” office space on our property where I could meet with clients. My office space and new solo private practice officially opened in January 2024 and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my career!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hasn’t been totally smooth, and thank goodness for my husband, parents, and my therapist! I experienced struggles personally/mentally, and also during the course of when we were having the office built on our property. Mentally during 2020 practicing as a therapist, and supervisor, while pregnant during the pandemic presented me with a lot of uncertainty and resulted in high anxiety that was difficult for me to manage at times. During postpartum, it was hard in navigating this experience during the isolation of the early pandemic and caring for a baby, while also figuring out what work would look like when returning from maternity leave. A lot to manage. This is actually a big reason why I entered into the specialization of perinatal mental health was because I wanted to start offering virtual support groups for moms who are pregnant and experiencing postpartum during the pandemic which were very needed at that time.
During the building process of my office shed, we ran into some miscommunications and challenges with our builder, and had to make some changes and adaptations to the structure, following the inspections. My husband with the help of his friends ended up having to complete the shed due to some disagreements with the previous builder, and we decided to no longer have him complete my shed. This meant that my timeline for opening my practice kept getting pushed back and I had to be flexible and trust the process.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Tree House Therapy?
I own a solo private therapy practice, specializing in perinatal mental health, which includes pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, Pregnancy loss, postpartum, and early motherhood. I also love working with children who are working to manage anxiety, self-esteem, life changes, and depression. One part of my practice that sets me apart from other therapists in the area is providing a nontraditional office space for our sessions, and also offering the option for expressive forms of therapy, including techniques involving play, art, music, movement.
I am proud that my practice is committed and focused to helping each person get the help they need even if I’m not the right person to provide it. I am proud to offer a variety a virtual support groups and my goal to offer more in person group opportunities in Carroll County, and possible future retreats in the greater Baltimore area.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in Arlington, Virginia, right outside of DC and I loved growing up there. I lived on a small cul-de-sac street and had several close friends who I saw daily- we would do the typical 80s/90s kids things like ride bikes, hide and seek, games in the road, lots of inventing and creating things, exploring. I always had lots of interest in learning and going to school. I loved having opportunities to learn how to cook, sew, play a bunch of sports, archery, architecture, music . I had very supportive parents who were proud to encourage all my different interests. In fifth grade, I even got in trouble for creating a scrunchie business during recess where I would sell scrunchies for 0.25 cents each and apparently that was frowned upon. Maybe I did have some business sense in me after all?!
Pricing:
- Initial Intake $150
- 60 Minute session $125
- Group Therapy session $40
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.treehousetherapyllc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millennialmomtherapist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Tree-House-Therapy/61553996496281/
