Today we’d like to introduce you to Myrja Paul.
Hi Myrja, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I had been a therapist for about 10 years at this point and I had worked in various places. I worked for an employee assistance program, a private practice, a college counseling center and I was a clinical director for an outpatient clinic. I knew that running my own practice was something that I could be good at it but I was too scared to do it. One day while I was working at a college counseling center my supervisor said to me, “You know you can start your own practice and I can help you”. I got to where I am today with other people believing in me and helping me along the way. Many of the therapists on my team are former colleagues who had been waiting for me to go out on my own so they could join my practice. I started with about four therapists and then one person told another person that I was hiring and then my team just continued to grow. I believe that I got to where I am today with lots of prayer and staying true to my mission and vision of creating a mental health practice that values quality care, empathy towards our clients and treating my team with respect and appreciation.
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?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Starting a business during the peak of Covid was tricky. On one hand, we received a lot of new clients because tele-health became very popular, which made it easier for people to access therapy. However, post-pandemic has come with some challenges. For example, acquiring an office was a big decision to make. It left me with questions about when should I get an office? Are people ready for in-person sessions? Will people want to keep doing tele-health and never come to the office? How big of an office space should I get? It also came with financial challenges. When your business peaks at the very beginning the thought is it will continue to increase financially from there. However, there was a decrease in client referrals once the pandemic was “over” and the stay at home orders were no longer in place.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Sol Counseling and Consulting is a team of Master’s and PhD-level licensed therapists offering a full spectrum of services — from individual therapy and couples counseling to professional coaching, consulting, and educational workshops. We believe that quality mental health care should be accessible, affirming, and grounded in real clinical expertise.
There are so many mental health organizations out there. But what sets us apart is that we don’t believe in the “cookie cutter” approach to therapy. We get to know our clients and tailor our services to meet their needs. We’re also real people ourselves and understand that the client is actually the expert in the room-the expert about their own lives. Our team of therapists are authentic, genuinely care about the work that we do and want to see real change. We also have several therapists who are certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and all of our therapists are trauma-informed.
We’ve created several support groups, with our most popular one being the “Building Bonds” couples group. This is a place for couples to learn communication skills, talk through difficult moments and gain support from others who have experienced similar challenges.
Our newest service is life and wellness coaching–particularly for those who have challenges with time management, organization and executive functioning. We created an adult coaching program called, Adulting 101 and for our children and adolescents we have the Focus ZONE.
Not only do we offer therapy services, but we also believe in making space for other therapists. The caretakers also need to be taken care of. So we offer continuing education trainings, consultation groups and self-care workshops. Additionally, we are partnered with several graduate programs and we are a clinical training site for Master’s level students working on becoming licensed therapists.
There are two things that I am most proud of with Sol . The first is our reputation. The majority of our client referrals come from word of mouth-either from our current or former clients or colleagues in the field. This tells me that my team is phenomenal, from our intake department to our therapists, and clients are getting the help that they need. Secondly, I am proud of the self-care journal that I created. It is a guided journal with the busy woman in mind. So often we care for others and forget about ourselves. So I created a journal that reminds woman to take some “me time’.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
To me, it is important that networking is not transactional. It is not about what you can do for me and vice versa. It is about finding your people. If you are looking for a mentor or looking to network I would say look for like-minded people who share similar goals and values. What has worked well for me is joining on-line groups on social media, attending events in the community and most importantly, following up with people. If I meet someone who I genuinely connect with it’s important that I try to keep that relationship going. Because most of our work is virtual it is really important that I try to make in person connections and meet for coffee or lunch instead of just scheduling a Zoom meeting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.solcounselingandconsulting.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solcounseling
