Art, Authenticity, and ADHD: Allison’s Playbook for Building a Private Practice That Fits YOU

So, you want to build a private practice. Maybe you’re a therapist fresh out of grad school, with your BBS hours finally conquered and visions of eclectic, sun-drenched offices dancing in your head. Or perhaps you’re knee-deep in agency or community mental health work, burned out, dreaming of a quieter (or at least more flexible) life where you pick your hours, your clients, and maybe even sneak out for Pilates between sessions.

Wherever you’re starting, you are absolutely in the right company. Today, we’re diving into the winding, paint-splattered (art therapy pun very much intended) journey of Allison, a San Diego-based licensed marriage and family therapist and registered art therapist, whose story is the real-life answer to the question: “Can I build a practice around who I am, rather than forcing myself into someone else’s blueprint?”

If you find yourself juggling health, babies, neurodivergence, perfectionistic clients, or just the sheer terror of going out on your own, you’ll find yourself nodding along and maybe breathing a little easier by the end of this story.

Ready? Time to grab your metaphorical markers and get messy with intention.

From Burnout to Bright Beginnings: Why Private Practice?

Every therapist has a burning ‘why’ moment - when you realize that staying in the system means shrinking a little more every year. For Allison, that moment came after years working in the Department of Mental Health, grinding it out to get her hours and discovering, as so many do, “I was burnt out by the end of it to the point where, um, I didn’t even get a job as a therapist afterwards.”

Oof. Been there? Agency and community mental health can be transformative, but they can also squeeze the joy right out of you.

After some much-needed space, Allison started inching toward private practice a year after licensure. “Through that process, I obtained this confidence to negotiate and be a little bit more in charge of my own schedule and creating flexibility and being like full-time, but having a day off here and there, so. So I could really build my own practice during those times and adjust my schedule to mold and shape other, like, creative outlets for myself, which was like that business building piece.”

Takeaway: The pull toward private practice isn’t just about autonomy, it’s about protecting your spark and having some control over your life. If you’re feeling fried at your current job, trust that yearning. It’s a signpost.

Building a Practice on Your Terms (Life Stages and All)

One of the juiciest questions for practice owners: how do you make your practice fit, really fit, your real life? Allison’s story is proof that your practice can (and should!) flex with you:

“Oh, my goodness. I have been able to flex this thing to fit so many different life stages. I’ve had two babies, have an autoimmune disorder that I’ve been able to care for myself through a pandemic and have incorporated and evolved to a small group practice.”

Let’s be clear. This isn’t about building the perfect practice from day one. There are seasons: the solo phase, growing your family, health crises, pandemics(!), and growing into a group. The right practice isn’t static. It moves with you.

Tip: If you’re in a stage of upheaval (new baby, illness, existential global chaos), give yourself permission to adapt your practice. It’s not weakness. It’s wisdom.

Timing Is Everything: When “Not Yet” Is the Most Courageous Answer

We therapists can be an ambitious bunch, especially when it comes to growth. But here’s Allison, reflecting on her urge to rush into group practice during her first pregnancy:

“At the time. I, I mean, I consulted with my colleague Saba and a few other people at the time and they may have said stuff to me about it maybe being not that easy. But I think we have this idea that more or having someone else is going to lighten our load and take things off of our plate. But we don’t realize how much energy and cultivation it’s going to take...”

Spoiler alert: She decided to pause, focus on her solo practice, polish her website, and get clear on her business plan instead of turbo-charging her group practice dream before she (or her practice) was ready.

Takeaway: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” If your timing is off, or you sense a “not yet” in your gut, listen. It’s not a missed opportunity. It might be the step that saves your sanity.

Building Something That Honors Neurodivergence (and Why Bumpers Matter)

Allison’s honesty about working with ADHD as a therapist and business owner is a breath of fresh air. She shares:

“I couldn’t barely do my job sitting at a desk. I had worked in restaurants my whole life, and I was an artist, and I stood up and I moved around...I didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD until I was pregnant with my first daughter.”

The transition wasn’t easy. But Allison found ways to make her practice work for her:

“I usually only see about two people back to back, and I have, like, some breaks in between. And I always schedule, like, about an hour lunch break every single day. I also try not to see more than five people a day.”

Kelly beautifully reframed this: “I kind of think of it as, like, the bumpers when you go bowling. How do I still have room to flow and be creative and to allow my brain to navigate the way it navigates without going so far off the lane that I miss hitting any pins.”

Tip: Build your practice with your neurotype, your energy, your real body and brain in mind, even if that looks different from your peers. Block your calendar. Limit your caseload. Schedule in movement. Your future self will thank you.

Getting Help: Collaboration Over Running On Fumes

Let’s bust this myth now: You do not have to (and really, should not) do it all alone. For Allison, learning to ask for and accept help changed everything, especially when she transitioned to group practice and faced health challenges:

“My solo practice basically funded my group practice for the first year...And so I also think, like, looking at those two businesses as two separate things and not. And knowing that you’re no longer that solo business is no longer what you’re doing as a group, essentially. Like, they’re. You’re. You’re starting completely over almost. In some ways, yeah. At least that was my experience.”

She didn’t just hire clinicians. She invested in coaching, a virtual assistant, and plenty of peer support. This web of help allowed her to parent, grow her business, and care for her health, without running on fumes.

Tip: Don’t wait for burnout or crisis before seeking support. Community, coaching, and admin help aren’t luxuries. They’re the foundations of a sustainable practice.

Get Clear on Your Values and Your Niche

What makes a group practice thrive, especially in a saturated market? Allison is laser-focused on specificity:

“Our values are really stemming from this foundation of compassion, creativity and collaboration. And through that process, we may integrate other modalities to get that result with our, our clients that we see through the use of art therapy...the group of people that we see are really, they kind of fall into this category of high achieving people pleasers with perfectionistic tendencies that are really on their way to burnout.”

No chasing trends, no watering things down. This laser focus made it easier to attract clients and hire staff who were a perfect fit.

Takeaway: Know who you help and what your non-negotiable values are. Be “very clear of what my values are in what I was offering. And it wasn’t that part wasn’t necessarily negotiable.”

Tuning, Not Just Building: The Art of Continuous Refinement

There’s a special kind of temptation in private practice to always chase something new, more features, more marketing, more, more, more. But as Allison discovered, sometimes the magic is in going smaller:

“This year, I told myself, was the year of fine tuning. And not just professionally, but personally as well...I am spending time figuring out how much do I want to work, what my caseload is going to be, how I can get my employees to a caseload that is sustainable and figuring out what ways are going to feel good to me marketing wise, like, what do I have time for even, and being able to say no.”

Tip: Don’t be afraid to pause and re-calibrate. Maybe you don’t need a brand-new Instagram strategy; you need clearer boundaries and steadier routines.

Encouragement for the Winding Journey

If your journey feels more like a Jackson Pollock painting than a series of straight lines, you are not alone. Here’s Allison’s advice for anyone struggling with growing (or even starting) a group practice:

“I think it was really important to figure out my why and knowing that there was a need to fill and also asking myself and being honest with myself about how much time that was really going to take to invest what I needed to into the policies and procedures and the marketing and the training to get everybody to where they needed to be beforehand and not feeling rushed in that process...And so I also think, like, looking at those two businesses as two separate things and not. And knowing that you’re no longer that solo business is no longer what you’re doing as a group, essentially. Like, they’re. You’re. You’re starting completely over almost. In some ways, yeah. At least that was my experience.”

Takeaway: The best practices are the ones that grow with you, not at your expense.

The Last Word: You Deserve a Practice That Fits You

So whether you’re dreaming big, pausing for health, juggling family, or building a practice around neurodivergent strengths, you’re not just allowed to shape your business around your needs, you must. Your best work and your best self depends on it.

If you’d like to learn more about Allison and her creative, compassionate approach to therapy, check out her website!

Here’s to your messy, magical, ever-evolving private practice journey!

Tell Us:

What lesson from this episode will you carry forward? Drop a comment, share with a friend, or just take that first brave step!