Ep. 15: Unlocking Success: Building Your Employer Brand, Accessing Mental Wellness

In this episode learn how to build your employer brand. Discover insights and strategies to help your business attract and retain top talent, and enhance your company’s reputation as an employer of choice. Then we’ll introduce you to Jessica Doane and Gabi Boeger, licensed therapists at KC Resolve Counseling. Listen in as we dive into their world of mental health and wellness, where they bring empathy and expertise to help individuals and families navigate life’s challenges. Join us as they share their experiences and stories of transformation, highlighting the crucial role they play in managing stress, anxiety and building healthier relationships. Jessica and Gabi shed light on the subtle yet profound miracles that effective counseling can make happen within ourselves.

Transcript

Jeff Randolph:

Welcome to the Small Business Miracles Podcast. My name is Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising & Marketing. We’re here to celebrate entrepreneurs and let you know what they’ve got going on, the struggles they face, the challenges that they have overcome, and you’re not going to want to miss today’s featured interview. We’re talking with Resolve Counseling, so I’m excited to get into it.

For our news and tips segment today, we’re going to talk about some employer branding topics. And we’re going to visit this topic a few times throughout the course of our podcast because it’s an important one, especially in a time where you are trying to hire a lot of people to do a lot of work for you. It’s a challenging labor market out there if you hadn’t noticed. But one of the things that we can work on from a marketing perspective to help that along and to help make you the employer of choice, is to work on your employer brand.

Okay, so let’s stop for a second and talk about what an employer brand is. It’s a term that we use to describe the company’s reputation and popularity from a potential employer’s perspective, and it describes the value that the company gives to its employees. It’s a promise that a company makes to future employees about how they can expect to be treated and the environment they should be anticipating that they’re working in. It is communicated to you by everything that the company puts out. So all of your owned media, meaning your website, your social media properties, those things that you control, that’s one place where people get an employer brand concept from, right? That’s what builds your employer brand.

But it’s more than that. It’s also by people’s peers, your work peers. It’s from previous employees, it’s from your neighbors, it’s from other social media channels and accounts. It’s also through review sites like Google or Facebook reviews where somebody’s giving you a review about your company or Glassdoor is another one where people are very specifically talking about how it is to work there and work for you. The concept here is that your employer brand, the stronger that employer brand is, the more that you become the employer of choice, the place that people want to go work. So now let’s underscore that a little bit with some statistics because hey, we love statistics. Glassdoor did a great survey not too long ago that said that 92% of people would consider changing jobs if they were offered a role with a company with an excellent corporate reputation.92% would leave if they got a job at someone who had an excellent corporate reputation, the place people want to work.

So there’s definitely something there, of course, that we want to be there. We want to be that employer of choice so that people flock to us, and we don’t have to really twist a lot of arms to have somebody work for us. It takes less work. How does that stack up gender wise? Well, 86% of women and 67% of men in the United States wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation. 86% of women, 67% of men wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation. Now, aside from being a startling statistic about the importance of managing your employer brand, doesn’t this just say something about how much smarter women are than men? I think maybe there’s wisdom there. What’s the purpose of having a good strong employer brand?

Well, a strong employer brand can reduce turnover by 28% and reduce the cost per hire by as much as 50%. And a negative reputation, if you have that bad reputation, it can cost you as much as 10% more per hire. All of those stats are coming from that Glassdoor survey and also a LinkedIn survey that was done in conjunction. So those are stats about your employer brand. It’s important to manage that. We’re going to have more tips on that, and we’ve been speaking on this quite a bit, and we’ll do some additional blog posts as well so that we can throw out some additional content on that. But it’s been a popular topic because I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had marketing plans that we presented to someone and that marketing plan they sign off on and say, “Yes, this is it. This is exactly what we want to do, but I can’t do this until I have employees to do the work.”

So we pivot at that point. We start working on that employer brand. Plenty of things you can do from a marketing perspective when it comes to employer branding and helping the HR function work even better.

Welcome back to the podcast. I am here with Gabi Boeger and Jessica Doane from Resolve Counseling. Hey, thanks for being here, you guys.

Jessica Doane:

Thanks for having us.

Jeff Randolph:

Excellent. Tell me now we’re going to talk about counseling and Resolve Counseling and all of the counseling things that ever need to happen with therapy. But first tell me, because you each have expertise, you have focus areas that you practice in. Tell us a little bit about those.

Gabi Boeger:

So I’ll start. For me, I specialize in working with adults, so ages 17 and up. It’s a pretty even split between couples and individuals for me right now. My background is in marriage and family therapy. So I have worked some with families, but I primarily stick with individuals and couples right now. My areas of expertise are the L-G-B-T-Q-I-A community. I work a lot with folks recovering from trauma, and that’s a very broad spectrum.

Jeff Randolph:

Broad term.

Gabi Boeger:

That could mean so many things. So I’ll just leave it at that for now. But anyone recovering from a traumatic event. Couples, so couples that are working through conflict or need to improve communication, trust, working through issues with intimacy or sex. I work a lot with women on things like self-compassion, reconnecting to yourself. So therapy is just a really good space for folks to kind of tune inward a little bit and focus more on things that they need, their values, what do they want, what relationships are the most fulfilling to them. So it’s a lot of just individual focus. Other areas I would say too, anxiety, depression and just general life stress. Transitions, aging, that kind of stuff. It’s probably a good summary.

Jeff Randolph:

And if you’re listening at home, that’s on the left side of your radio dial is Gabi. You just heard from Gabi. Jessica, tell us about you.

Jessica Doane:

Yes, so I’m Jessica. I’m a licensed clinical social worker, so a little bit of a different licensure than Gabi. I focus on a lot of the same things though, so we have a lot of overlap. Focusing on the L-G-B-T-Q community, I also work with couples and individuals, but I work with relationship styles of any kind. So polyamory, ethical non-monogamy, anything and everything to bring healthy communication to those relationships. I also focus on anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidality, and then perfection, which actually ties in perfectly with anxiety.

Jeff Randolph:

Wow. Yes. Yes, it does. No, we don’t have to solve any of my issues today.

Jessica Doane:

We’re here to psychoanalyze you. [inaudible 00:07:45]

Gabi Boeger:

To answer your question, yes.

Jeff Randolph:

To answer your question, yes. So Resolve Counseling, you’re re-imagining mental health and reducing barriers to access. Tell us about the business itself and what do you tell people you do if you were just to meet somebody in an elevator on the way up.

Jessica Doane:

Oh, the elevator speech?

Jeff Randolph:

The elevator speech. It’s you’re going up one to three floors max. What is it that you guys do?

Jessica Doane:

Well, so Resolve exists because there are so many barriers to accessibility. So when you think about accessibility to mental health care, not only does that mean location, that also means a therapist that looks like you or has a similar lived experience as you.

Jeff Randolph:

Okay.

Jessica Doane:

That’s something that Resolve is really proud of is focusing our hiring to meet the need of the Kansas City area. So a therapist, I think we should maybe start at 101 here.

Jeff Randolph:

Okay.

Jessica Doane:

A therapist is something everyone should have. You don’t have to wait until you’re at rock bottom to see a therapist, and that’s a huge misconception.

Gabi Boeger:

Therapists included also need therapy.

Jessica Doane:

Holler to your local therapist.

Jeff Randolph:

Exactly.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So I think there’s this huge misconception that you don’t go to therapy unless you’re actively trying to unalive yourself or actively going through a divorce or actively in the middle of a giant trauma. When in reality our community as a whole would be so much healthier if we all went and worked on our stuff.

Jeff Randolph:

When do you wish that people would show up?

Jessica Doane:

That’s tricky. So for youth, immediately. Prevention. What does prevention and mental health care look like? Talking about feelings, giving language to emotions so we can express our needs. The earlier, the better. Think about your adult relationships, how many times do arguments happen because you don’t know how to ask for what you need?

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, yeah.

Jessica Doane:

Always.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah.

Jessica Doane:

Always. Constant discussion in couples therapy is how do I ask my partner to meet my needs? If we teach kids how to do that, then adults can do that.

Jeff Randolph:

Healthy kids become healthy adults. It’s a fascinating concept.

Jessica Doane:

Wild.

Jeff Randolph:

… that no one has come up with yet. We should really write a book about that.

Jessica Doane:

I mean.

Jeff Randolph:

So the thing that makes Resolve different. Access is one. What are those things that make you guys different than the other places out there?

Gabi Boeger:

I think going along with the accessibility, we offer evenings up until 8:00 PM at night and weekends. So that really makes it possible for anyone and everyone to get there. I mean, all through the day and morning as well. So pretty open time slots, which makes a really big difference if you can get there and make time. I would say that sets us apart. We also emphasize diversity and inclusion, and that’s within our culture, ourselves, within the Resolve team, but also in our outreach and engagement with clients, with the community. We value that quite a bit.

Jessica Doane:

Totally. So the cool part is that we have real life people that answer our phones, which shouldn’t be a brag.

Jeff Randolph:

It shouldn’t be a brag, but it is.

Jessica Doane:

It shouldn’t be, but it is. Exactly. So like Gabi said, we are open seven days a week. That’s also pretty different. A lot of private practices or other therapy services are like 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. Well, what about everyone in the whole wide world that works 8 to 5?

Jeff Randolph:

Who could not possibly get any kind of therapy.

Jessica Doane:

But are still deserving of the access. It keeps going back to that accessibility of the goal is that we can give a therapist and have a therapist ready for anyone and everyone when they’re ready. So we have real life people that answer the phones and get people scheduled and no wait list.

Gabi Boeger:

Within that week.

Jessica Doane:

Yes.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah, because you’ve got three locations and I mean, you’re growing as well. So how many people can you serve now? What’s your…

Gabi Boeger:

That’s a good question.

Jessica Doane:

Okay, so we have three locations. We opened our very first one in 2017, and since then, so in the last seven-ish, I’m a social worker math is not my strong suit.

Gabi Boeger:

We don’t do numbers.

Jeff Randolph:

That’s fine.

Jessica Doane:

Those aren’t for me.

Jeff Randolph:

You can dive into a brain. That’s cool.

Jessica Doane:

Just feelings. But feelings about numbers, I can handle that.

Jeff Randolph:

That’s right.

Jessica Doane:

So in the last seven-ish years, we’ve opened three locations and our original location in Prairie Village, we kind of call that our hub has tripled in size since we opened.

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, Wow.

Jessica Doane:

So we are at 83rd and Mission in the same building with Village Pediatrics, if anyone’s familiar with that location. That’s where we’re at. In that building alone, we have 25 clinical rooms.

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, wow.

Jessica Doane:

Alone.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah.

Jessica Doane:

Then I haven’t told you about our two other locations.

Jeff Randolph:

No, no. You were keeping them kind of in your back pocket waiting to wow me with that.

Jessica Doane:

You know. Yes. So then our second location is in North Kansas City. It’s in Parkville, and we have five clinical rooms there. It’s a little bit more of an intimate space. And then our newest is in Lee Summit, and that just opened in March of this year, and we have seven clinical rooms there. The number of appointments we could serve in a year, if every single therapist was fully booked every day, we could serve 50,000 licensed appointments.

Jeff Randolph:

Now, I’m no sociologist, but it seems like that kind of capacity would only help the community grow stronger and have people deal with some stuff that they need to overcome.

Gabi Boeger:

Absolutely.

Jessica Doane:

That’s the goal.

Jeff Randolph:

Man. It’s amazing how that works. The origin story of this. So how did it start? What is that origin story?

Jessica Doane:

Yeah, so our owner, Amber Reed, she’s incredible. She worked as the clinical director of a local psychiatric hospital. And her and a colleague noticed this constant barrier of people discharging from the hospital and not having follow-up care. There were six month wait lists. Which we still see that quite a bit, especially with psychiatry and medication services. And when someone discharges from an inpatient hospital, generally what that means is they’re five days out from a suicide attempt. To paint a picture, that’s a pretty common client in that setting. So then to say, “Hey, we’re discharging you back into the community after this crisis and we don’t have a therapist for you to follow up with for six months.” Is a problem. That’s a safety concern, that’s a community problem at that point.

Of these folks that are in active crisis don’t have that follow-up care and actually, fun fact, the most, the highest… Oh, the highest… When someone discharges from a hospital, they’re more likely to complete suicide after discharge. That week after discharge is the highest rating time for someone to end their life. So for them not to have follow-up services right away is a huge risk.

Jeff Randolph:

So entrepreneurially speaking, you see the gap and go, “Yeah, that’s a problem. Let’s fix that.”

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely.

Gabi Boeger:

Exactly.

Jeff Randolph:

And there’s some access issues that we can try to solve.

Gabi Boeger:

Yes, That’s literally how Resolve was born is, okay, this issue shouldn’t be an issue, so we’re going to fix it.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah, yeah.

Gabi Boeger:

Yes.

Jeff Randolph:

Well, and we’re talking about access to therapy. There has been a lot, I don’t know if you guys follow the news and stuff but-

Jessica Doane:

I really try not to.

Jeff Randolph:

You were doing counseling pre-pandemic starting in 2017, and then pandemic happens, and I don’t know if you were aware that that is what happened.

Gabi Boeger:

I did.

Jeff Randolph:

But all kinds of crazy stuff happens at that point where we are dealing with issues that we haven’t dealt with before. There’s a giant focus on them. How have things changed pre and post pandemic for you guys in the industry or in the business?

Gabi Boeger:

I mean, clinically speaking, people are still recovering. People are sometimes just now getting out of that isolation and starting to ask for help still from just that norm of being on your own and just not having social connection, not reaching out for support. So people are still recovering. I think from a therapist perspective, we’ve been offering virtual telehealth sessions throughout the pandemic and have continued to offer that up until today and probably will going forward. I don’t know why we wouldn’t.

Jeff Randolph:

Why not? Yeah.

Gabi Boeger:

It goes to that accessibility point, whether or not the pandemic is in its peak, having the ability, if you are not feeling well, if the weather is weird, if you’re at work and you don’t have time to get out of the office, so over lunch you can schedule your session then. It just helps meet everyone where they’re at. So I would say the telehealth-

Jeff Randolph:

Flexible, convenient. It’s the opposite of everything that your bank or many retail places have done where they’re like, oh, you mean we could change our hours and not open sooner? Great, let’s keep those forever.

Jessica Doane:

Yeah.

Gabi Boeger:

But then maintaining in-person sessions too throughout in recovery from the pandemic and just helping people recover and find that space to connect again is really valuable.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah.

Jessica Doane:

Totally agree with all of that. This pandemic was one of the first community traumas, so this really challenged clinicians to figure out a way to hold space for I as the clinician and going through this with you. Which is very-

Gabi Boeger:

At the same time.

Jessica Doane:

Right. So people are like, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to handle this. I’m feeling depressed, I’m feeling anxious, I’m feeling hopeless.” And as the clinician, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh. So am I.” And figuring out how to balance my own stuff while creating space for the client in a version of so many unknowns, that was definitely super challenging for a lot of us for the first time in our careers.

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, for sure.

Gabi Boeger:

Yeah, I would say that’s one other thing about Resolve that I appreciate is how we emphasize inclusion and supporting marginalized communities. So just kind of connecting to the other social political things that have been going on in recent years. I really value that we make space to help those folks feel safe no matter what.

Jessica Doane:

And we’re not quiet about that. And I think that that makes us different too. So if you pull up our Instagram, for example, in the midst of some of the anti-trans bills in our area, so both Gabi and I focus and specialize in the L-G-B-T-Q community. It was really important to us that our clients knew that Resolve stands with you. Even when there are policies and procedures being put into place that are trying to execute you. We wanted it to be known that that Resolve is with you and we’re here to create safe space for you regardless of the political climate. And that’s also kind of a risk from a business standpoint.

Jeff Randolph:

It is. I mean, you mentioned earlier on that it’s being able to see somebody who has that shared life experience and how important that is so that the person on the other end goes, “I feel seen, I feel understood, you get me, you understand what I’m going through, and I can open up even more as a result.”

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely.

Jeff Randolph:

Or at least that’s the theory.

Jessica Doane:

Yes, yes.

Jeff Randolph:

But I mean, that is a great response to need, which thank you for doing. Thank you for doing that. We know about you because of the KC Chamber small business. You were one of the top 10 small business award finalists. And look, I was cheering for you guys. I wanted you guys to win. You had a great story.

Jessica Doane:

Thank you.

Jeff Randolph:

How else do people find out about you? How do you find your next client?

Jessica Doane:

Yeah, great question. I feel like we find our next client in a lot of ways, and a lot of those ways are really organic. So we have a lot of community partnerships. Resolve is here to serve Kansas City, and in order to serve Kansas City, we want to be fully immersed in the city. So with that, we have partnerships with Olathe School District. So we have clinicians in the schools two to three days a week giving free therapy to students.

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, wow.

Jessica Doane:

So any student in that building can go see a licensed clinician at school. That reduces major barriers. So that’s one huge way, we also partner with Johnson County Mental Health. We actually serve a lot of their overflow wait list and then their employees as well. They have a contract sort of thing with us where their employees can receive reduced rate services from us. And then one of our coolest partnerships is the Cerner Charitable Foundation. With that, we are the first and only mental health agency that has a partnership with them offering scholarships to children and families needing therapy services.

Jeff Randolph:

Outstanding. All of that seems to work together-

Jessica Doane:

Totally.

Jeff Randolph:

… in just mission fulfillment and everything else. You’re firing on all cylinders so far, if I can use that one.

Jessica Doane:

We’re really trying.

Jeff Randolph:

What is next? What does the future look like? Is that more expansion? Is it just adding more people? What does the future look like?

Jessica Doane:

Is all of the above an answer?

Jeff Randolph:

It can be. If that’s actually your answer, I don’t want to force you into an answer.

Jessica Doane:

So in a perfect world, we’re going to keep expanding. Whether that means the locations we already have continuing to grow those. Like I mentioned earlier, Prairie Village location, we have literally continued to rent out that floor. Year by year, yes. So space wise, perfect world, 2025, let’s see a new location. Internally, we’re continuing to focus on our hiring practices, again, to create space for different specialties. So at Resolve, we see as little as infants. I’m talking two years old all the way through end of life. So with our staff right now, we can cover a lot of ground, but there’s always room for more of that lived experience and specialized clinicians. So that’s the goal.

Jeff Randolph:

Yeah. I think I caught that one of your locations opened the week of the shutdown of pandemic, which is either terrifying for you or… You didn’t have advanced knowledge that this was going to be needed and that we should go ahead and open right before that. It’s not like that?

Jessica Doane:

No, it was terrifying.

Jeff Randolph:

Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. But thank goodness you’re there. Thank goodness you did it. Let me flip us into the lightning round. We’re Resolve counseling Gabi and Jessica. It is time for-

Gabi Boeger:

Oh, gosh.

Jeff Randolph:

… The lightning round. Lightning round works like this, I’m going to ask a bunch of questions you don’t have any advanced knowledge of. We’re just going to throw these out at you. Shorter answers are fine. If we need to dive in and talk more, oh, we’re definitely going to dive in and talk more.

Gabi Boeger:

Love it.

Jeff Randolph:

So let me start with how do you recharge your batteries after helping people all day.

Gabi Boeger:

Supplements. No I’m just kidding.

Jessica Doane:

I’m like, Gabi, take this.

Gabi Boeger:

I move my body. I feel like as a therapist, that’s number one is just getting that energy back off of you at the end of the day, whether that’s stretching or going on a walk or something like that. That’s my number one if we’re doing just quick answers.

Jessica Doane:

Gabi’s also a yoga instructor, so no big deal. Remind me to tell you about our upcoming event for mental health professionals at the end.

Jeff Randolph:

At the end of that. Okay, done.

Jessica Doane:

I like to go thrifting. That is my decompression. I want to do it by myself. I want to dig through every rack. I don’t want anyone to bother me. I don’t want anyone to limit me. That’s my recharge for sure.

Jeff Randolph:

I think that may be why I’m not allowed to go to target with my wife. That’s her time where-

Gabi Boeger:

That’s her recharge time.

Jeff Randolph:

… She does whatever and even if she doesn’t buy anything, she’s just walking around. I see now. Okay, I get it.

Gabi Boeger:

That’s self-care.

Jeff Randolph:

That’s self-care. If we have the blank check to help Resolve and whatever you’d like to use that for. What would you do with that blank check to help your business?

Jessica Doane:

I don’t know why my initial thought is that’s a scary question. Is like are the possibilities too big?

Jeff Randolph:

You need to be limited in some way to… You can spend this on charity, you can spend this… No, no, no, open. It’s for growth. What are you going to do to help grow?

Jessica Doane:

Something that is kind of a pipe dream is having a location that specializes in interns only.

Jeff Randolph:

Oh, yeah.

Jessica Doane:

So having a location that is fully staffed-

Gabi Boeger:

For training.

Jessica Doane:

… with interns that are in training that also offer that reduced fee.

Jeff Randolph:

I did see that as a service offering on your website, that you have a program where instead of a normal hourly rate, you have a reduced hourly rate and those interns are getting experience but they’re also being overseen by licensed practitioners.

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely. And that’s actually one of the coolest things that we do at Resolve is we have a robust intern program. So we have 16 interns minimum per calendar school year. And those clinicians see a pretty hefty caseload for a student. And with that, it’s fully self-report. So something else that makes us different in this way is a lot of times people are like, “Pull your taxes, prove that you’re poor. Prove that you can’t do this.” So imagine you’re already in crisis, you can’t afford this treatment, and then they’re saying, “Well, prove it.” And at Resolve we say, “What’s your income? Just self-report.” And based on that, it’s $10 per $10,000 you make per year. So if you tell me you make 20 grand a year, your sessions are $20 with an intern. So having a whole location that’s just offering that low reduced rate is pipe dream for sure.

Jeff Randolph:

That would continue to improve access.

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely.

Jeff Randolph:

I get it. There’s a theme, and I like the theme. So what should people who own a brain know about their own brain?

Gabi Boeger:

Oh, I like that question. I would say something about the connection between mind, body. That there’s so much in terms of mental, physical, sexual, spiritual health that all come together. So starting with that, starting with self-awareness, learning how to become friends with your inner roommate, that mind chatter that goes on and just start there.

Jessica Doane:

I always like to blow people away with the fact that your brain’s not fully developed until you’re 25.

Gabi Boeger:

Yes.

Jessica Doane:

So think about our college setup in this country. You go sign, literally, I was just talking about this yesterday. You go sign 40,000 billion dollars worth of loans before your brain is fully developed, before your brain has-

Jeff Randolph:

Before you can really have the capacity to understand what you’re doing.

Gabi Boeger:

Yes. The long-term consequences.

Jessica Doane:

Yikes.

Jeff Randolph:

Good advice for brain owners. If I gave you the power to change the world, and that could be the way people think or stigma or whatever, what would you change to make the world a better place? These are only easy answers. These are the easy questions that we ask.

Jessica Doane:

You were like butter or olive oil. [inaudible 00:27:24].

Gabi Boeger:

I have a personal answer and I have a clinical answer.

Jessica Doane:

Same.

Jeff Randolph:

Well, let’s go either direction. I’m open.

Gabi Boeger:

Can you repeat the question?

Jeff Randolph:

Yes. We’re giving you the power to change the world, and that can be the way people think or a stigma or changing something fundamental about society, whatever that is. What would you change to make the world a better place?

Jessica Doane:

I’m going to go, I’m going to do this. You-

Gabi Boeger:

I’m stressed.

Jessica Doane:

Take a deep breath.

Jeff Randolph:

It is the lightning round. The lightning round causes stress.

Gabi Boeger:

I feel it.

Jessica Doane:

Connect to your body. I want to change the definition of basic human rights and needs. So when you think about a lot of these populations that Gabi and I work with, especially the queer community, that for me is a personal and a professional answer of things that are really misunderstood are oftentimes not given access to basic human needs like housing and healthcare and I don’t know, affirming care that says, “Hey, you’re a human being first and you’re deserving of medical treatment regardless of your gender identity. That is something that I’m constantly thinking about in my personal and professional life of just how confusion and lack of information and lack of knowledge leads to stigma and discrimination. And so Resolve, we’re all about educating the community. That’s another one of our core values is how do we bring information to people to reduce stigma? Well, people are afraid of what they don’t understand, so if they know more, they can do better, I hope.

Gabi Boeger:

I think would add to kind of similar to what you’re saying, and I really love that answer. Self-compassion is something that I focus on a lot. So that would probably be something I would change is just have that somehow inherently something that people are taught. I mean, you aren’t taught that in school. So it’s like a lot of my work in sessions is teaching what is self-compassion, and that’s broken down into three components of self-kindness versus self-judgment, human condition versus isolation, and mindfulness versus over-identification. So kind of going through some of those three components to just teach people how to respond to themselves the way that they would respond to someone that they love.

Jeff Randolph:

And you said mindfulness over…

Gabi Boeger:

Over-identification.

Jeff Randolph:

Over-identification.

Gabi Boeger:

Yes. So sometimes we’ll ruminate on a negative thought about yourself, so mindfulness helps us notice it and let that go versus over-identify with it. I am this horrible thing, and think about that all day.

Jeff Randolph:

God. It’s like you can just see through me. Where can people find out more about Resolve Counseling? And this is also the time where you should talk about an event too. But if people have been inspired and they’re like, “Yes, this is the time I’m going to start now so that my child can become a healthier human adult or that I can really be happier in my life.” Where can they find you?

Gabi Boeger:

I love that. And can I just add no right or wrong time. It’s just so personal to everyone when they feel like taking that step. And I admire the people who are brave enough to take that step. It’s very overwhelming to try to find the right therapist. And sometimes you try and fail, right? There’s therapists out there who might not be a good fit. So taking that additional work to just keep trying. I just always admire folks who come in and they’re like, “I have been to X amount of therapists and it just hasn’t worked.” And then they come in and I’m just so glad that they’re there trying again. Sorry.

Jessica Doane:

No, no. I totally agree with that. We always talk about how therapy is not a one size fits all, and at the end of the day, your therapist is human too, and not every human is going to get along with every human.

Jeff Randolph:

Right.

Jessica Doane:

And there’s something so powerful in relationship of therapy. Every day that I look at my schedule, I am excited to see the clients that are listed for that day. And I always joke that with professional ethics and boundaries, it feels like I’m going to have a tea party for eight hours. All of my favorite people are going to stop by and tell me about their life. And that relationship piece is such key to learning and growing some of the tools that we give you. Like if we don’t click or vibe, you’re likely not going to get as much out of this experience.

Gabi Boeger:

And that’s okay.

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely.

Gabi Boeger:

We want to know that. So you can challenge your therapist, you can tell them they’re not getting it. You can find another one. You have the power, we work for you.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So if you are someone that wants to dip your toes into therapy, I always recommend starting at our website. Something else that’s pretty cool about our website is every single clinician has a pretty extensive bio. So you can go through and read every bio if you want. You can look per location, you can look per specialty, per age, per concern, and have access to all of that. I’ve had people tell me, they’re like, “I made a list and I went through 15 different profiles and I settled or I ended up…” They didn’t settle.

Jeff Randolph:

They didn’t settle. Nobody ever settle this for you.

Jessica Doane:

They did not settle.

Jeff Randolph:

No.

Jessica Doane:

They chose me.

Jeff Randolph:

They chose you.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. I actually have had people, like couples especially, they’ll separately go look at the website and then they’ll come back with their top choice. And I’ve had a couple that I was the top choice for both partners without them talking about it and that was meant to be.

Gabi Boeger:

Meant to be.

Jeff Randolph:

Yep.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So yeah, our website is definitely the fastest way to get in touch or just calling our office. So our admin team is incredible. We couldn’t do our work without them. They know our specialties, they know what we’re really great with.

Jeff Randolph:

Can help match make if they need to.

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely.

Gabi Boeger:

Exactly.

Jeff Randolph:

That’s not something you’ll get on a recorded line.

Jessica Doane:

Totally. And that’s actually something that, again, shouldn’t be rare, but is. Normally it’s just first available. At Resolve we don’t want to just put you with first available. We want to match you with someone that seems like a good fit so that you have a higher chance of feeling connected.

Jeff Randolph:

So website is kcresolve.com. Go there, and the event that you were talking about for the industry?

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So something that Resolve is also really proud of, again, I talked about community education and give back. We host something called CARE4U2. So CARE4U2 is an annual event for mental health providers. So whether that be case managers, clinicians, doctors, psychiatrists, whoever you are, if you work with people and the brain and mental health, this is for you.

Gabi Boeger:

I think we extend too to teachers, nurses. You might not get the CEUs that you need because our CEUs that we offer are mental health focused, but it’s open to any helping professional, I believe.

Jessica Doane:

Absolutely. Yes. So it’s six asynchronous CEUs. So that means you do it on your own time. This year a lot of those CEUs are about some diagnostic things. So in our field, we have a new DSM, that’s our Bible, our manual, whatever. The newest version came out this last year. So one of our CEUs is what’s the difference? What do you need to know?

Jeff Randolph:

What appeared, what disappeared.

Jessica Doane:

Exactly.

Jeff Randolph:

What changed between The DSM, whatever.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. The TR.

Jeff Randolph:

Got it.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So six CEUs and then a 4-hour in-person event where it’s focused on self-care. So we’re going to do some trauma-informed yoga that Gabi’s actually going to lead. We are going to encourage folks to reconnect with their inner child through play.

Jeff Randolph:

Nice.

Jessica Doane:

So we have some outdoor games we’re going to do. This is a secret that nobody knows about yet so I’m going to tell you here first. We’re also kind of dipping into this 90s nostalgia vibe for part of this day. So for the Swifties out there, T Swift was just in our city and the friendship bracelets are a big thing right now. One of the play events that we’re doing is creating affirmation bracelets. So inspired by the Taylor Swift bracelet trend, but with affirmations for mental health.

Jeff Randolph:

Outstanding.

Jessica Doane:

Yes. So lots of super cool stuff.

Gabi Boeger:

Very fun.

Jessica Doane:

And that is September 29th from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Our website has the link to that. It’s also on all of our social medias and you can get your early bird ticket prices. We also offer student prices. This is a great opportunity for students that are studying in psychology, marriage and family therapy, social work, and you get to come hang out with us.

Jeff Randolph:

And then let’s feed you right into the intern program so that you can help more people.

Jessica Doane:

Literally. Yeah. If you want to be an intern.

Jeff Randolph:

Excellent. The website is kcresolve.com. It’s Resolve Counseling. Gabi and Jessica, thanks for being with us today.

Gabi Boeger:

Thank you so much.

Jessica Doane:

Thank you so much. Yeah. For creating space to talk about this stuff. It’s so important.

Jeff Randolph:

Thank you. That is our show. Thanks for listening to the Small Business Miracles Podcast. Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’re out here helping entrepreneurs with another Small Business Miracle.