Today we’d like to introduce you to Georgiana Avram.
Hi Georgiana, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I received my Masters in Counseling when I was living in New York City. After graduation I worked for a group practice in Brooklyn where I was able to see how a group therapy practice is run and the ins and outs of managing a practice with several clinicians. That gave me confidence to then open up my own solo practice for one year and after that I hired one therapist when I lived in New York.
In 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit, I decided to move back to Maryland to be closer to family. With a lot of time on my hands during the shut downs, I learned how to properly have a group therapy practice. I joined a membership site and went through courses about how to get started, what documents to have in place, how to do the hiring. In January 2021, Evolve Counseling Group LLC was started and I was able to hire some great therapists right off the bat.
I got pretty lucky at first, starting a mental health therapy practice during Covid was easy, because everyone was looking for therapy and everyone was open to doing telehealth. So I always say that starting this business was easy only because it was during Covid when things were not “normal”.
Around 2023, when people started getting back to their regular lives and going to work in person, running the business became more of what I was expecting, with some ups and downs, some hardships that were meant to be encountered at some point: therapists leaving, clients wanting to switch to in person, and availability being less than what it used to be, with clients wanting evening times rather than day time appointments.
Currently there are 15 counselors in my practice and I am still learning a lot about how to effectively manage the business while improving systems and looking to grow in an organic, sustainable way.
It is a constant learning experience and at times it can be quite stressful but also it is teaching me a lot about myself and what it takes to be a business owner. I am grateful for it all.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I mentioned this in the previous answer but struggles have happened when I scaled the business, hired more therapists and it was bound to happen that I brought on some therapists that were not a good fit for the business. So I encountered some difficult times with the therapists I hired, communication issues, not seeing eye to eye and eventually not getting along because of different values. That was difficult for me since I want everyone to be happy and I value harmony, and dealing with some difficult personalities or clashes in personality was not easy to navigate.
Other challenges that presented included clients’ changes in how they want therapy to be conducted: wanting more in person sessions and therapists at my practice preferring to be telehealth only, wanting times that are outside of working hours which clashed with therapists’ preference of seeing clients during the day time.
I learned that hiring people who are the right fit is extremely important and communicating openly to therapists what the needs of the practice are.
Overall, struggles that happen involve managing hires and doing my best to make sure they are being supported at Evolve Counseling, while also catering to the needs of the clients and the changing landscape in terms of the mental health industry.
Another big struggle was the larger companies backed by VCs that have sprung up in the industry in the last 5 years, that have millions of dollars in backing and can provide higher compensation to therapists. It is difficult to compete as a small private practice with these larger companies.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a psychotherapy private practice with 15 therapists, most of us are providing telehealth services in the state of Maryland and a couple of us are available for in person sessions in our office in Columbia, MD.
We treat a wide variety of mental health issues and we work with adolescents and adults. We pride ourselves in our ability to tailor our treatment to the individual and our therapists are trained in working with various populations and mental health disorders.
Evolve Counseling Group is a practice where anyone can come to us and we can find the right therapist with the best background that fits their specific needs.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Running a business is not for the faint of heart. You will be challenged and the most important thing is to understand that this will happen, this is the norm. There will be difficult times and sometimes you make decisions that are not the best and you can’t please everyone. Be kind to yourself and continue to learn and get better at running a business. It is all a process and you can also do better and be better at it.
Surround yourself with good support, whether that is other business owners or coaches and learn, learn, learn.
It is an adventure to have your own business, you will become a better person and you will grow so much as a result of being a business owner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.evolvecounselinggroup.com
- Instagram: @evolvecounselinggroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088591130577
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiana-avram-020a0351/
