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This is my first interview in my series "Interviewing Creative Therapists in Private Practice." My questions are in bold and Kimberly's responses follow in regular typeface.
What is the name of your private practice?
Be Moved Therapy
Where is your practice located?
Boston, Massachusetts (Land acknowledgment: Pawtucket, Massachusett )
What therapy modalities do you provide?
Dance/movement therapy, somatic therapy, body-based therapy, and EMDR
What ages and populations do you work with?
Typically women 20’s-40’s
What services does your private practice offer?
Individual therapy
When did you open your private practice?
2013
What made you decide to open a private practice?
I always knew from the beginning of graduate school that I would go into private practice, it was just a matter of getting here. I knew I wanted to do deeply satisfying client-centered work with as little interruption from outside forces as possible (insurance, a larger clinic setting with a lot of red tape).
What advice would you give to other therapists who want to start a private practice?
Do your homework AND know that if you want this, you can absolutely do it! Private practice requires you to be an entrepreneur, so be ready and make sure that entrepreneurship is for you.
Do you practice in-person, telehealth, or hybrid? What fuels this choice? Currently still all telehealth but adding back in-person come this Fall 2022. Many of my current clients are now scattered across Massachusetts and it is not possible for them to come in for in-person. It feels easier now to figure out policies and procedures to return to in-person so I’m looking forward to seeing clients IRL again. I’m also waiting for a new school year to bring this back in so my family and I can build our schedules around my commuting again.
What is something that delights you in your physical space?
Plants and light are always a must! Right now I have a particularly happy spider plant reaching toward my sunny window.
Who is your ideal client?
I love working with the deep-feeling, deeply caring type who like to get things done. They know there’s more they need to learn about themselves but can’t figure it out on their own. They’ve told themselves they're “fine” for a while, but are ready to live an easier, more joyful life. My clients often know they over-intellectualize and want to get out of their head. They often experience high levels of anxiety and stress, they often know they’ve had traumatic experiences that affect them and want to process this trauma.
Are there any identities that impact your therapeutic work and/or life?
I identify as a deeply compassionate, highly sensitive human in the roles of friend, partner, mother, community member and therapist.
How do you know the work you are doing is making a difference?
Besides general symptom reduction, I try to regularly ask my clients how our work is affecting them. Ongoing client feedback and communication are key to a successful therapist/client relationship.
What has been most rewarding about your private practice?
My practice is on my own terms and I feel I can work with my clients based on my clinical decisions. I can choose who I surround myself with for practice support (supervision, etc) which makes me a better clinician.
What advice would you give to therapists in private practice who are struggling?
Have patience, take responsibility for yourself and your practice, look into your messaging and marketing, and I guess the more obvious piece is to make sure you are doing really kick-ass clinical work. Create a private practice that excites and enlivens you, check your scarcity mindset and get help with this if you find yourself making decisions from scarcity. Sign up for a course or work with someone experienced in private practice building.
How do you balance the emotional demands of being a therapist?
I never see more than 15 clients in a week, I get supervision, peer support and my own therapy.
I make sure I have time with family and friends while also prioritizing volunteer work in my local community. I am also trying to nurture my own dance practice and yoga practice. My meditation practice comes and goes but it is incredibly helpful with both my own mental health and taking care of myself especially in this type of work.
How are you marketing/advertising your private practice?
I advertise on Zencare and I continue to work on my SEO for my website. I get clients from both Zencare and Google searches so these two avenues are working the best right now.
Where can people see more of your work?
Website: https://bemovedtherapy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemovedtherapy/
What is the best way for a potential client to reach out?
Email kimberly@bemovedtherapy.com or the contact form on my website: https://bemovedtherapy.com/contact/
Thank you for reading. If you would like to be interviewed for this series, please email me at jackieschuldart@gmail.com