Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Heywood.
Megan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I knew from a very young age that I was interested in human behavior and mental health. I was raised in a family who had numerous members struggling with mental health challenges, so I found myself interested in how the brain worked. After my own experience in therapy as an adolescent I became passionate about the idea of becoming a mental health therapist myself.
After graduating from high school, I went straight to ASU, where I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Next, I began earning my Masters in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling in the years directly following the completion of my undergraduate degree. So, basically, I was one of those weird people who figured out what they wanted to do young and stuck with it. I started my career as an intern and eventually a licensed clinician at a local psychiatric hospital in the valley. I then moved on to a community mental health organization and worked there until obtaining my independent license.
One thing I learned in working for other companies was that very infrequently does anyone actually care about the burnout of their clinicians. My colleagues and I were severely underpaid and overworked for the amount of services we provided, which greatly impacts clinician burnout.
After 4 years of working for others, I made the leap to start my own practice. This gave me flexibility to not make sacrifices between being a mother and a professional and increase my financial stability. Initially, I had no plans of opening a group and planned to work solo, but after 3 months of being open I was turning away almost 100 clients per month, as the area in which I opened my practice was severely lacking in clinicians who accepted insurance. It was at that point that I decided to build a business where I could rescue other clinicians from burnout and also allow my practice to help more people. Therefore, only a few short months after opening my practice I started hiring other therapists to add to my practice.
Now, just 2 years after openings my doors we are a group of 11 clinicians who have created a safe space for a wide variety of backgrounds to seek treatment.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Getting to this point has not been a smooth road. I am the mother of a special needs child and there were times throughout my career where I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to work at all. In fact, for more than a year I could only work very part-time so that I could get him treatment. Then, when I did go back to working full-time, I had to deal with employers who were not concerned with the plights of a working, special needs parent and it was a delicate balance between my work and home life in order to advance my career.
Honestly, this isn’t anything new as this has been a struggle for most working mothers, but it didn’t make it any easier. I also did a lot of growing as a group practice owner in finding the right type of clinician I wanted to bring into my practice. I’ve unfortunately worked with some clinicians who weren’t a good fit for the type of environment I was trying to build, but those situations were learning experiences that allowed me to find the amazing clinicians I have working at my practice today. Everyone has the same work ethic and values in providing competent and appropriate clinical care. I also worked very hard to find clinicians that held similar values in being allies to clients of all races, ethnicities, gender orientations, sexual identifies, and religious/spiritual orientation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about True Direction Counseling?
At True Direction Counseling, we specialize in general mental health. So the way I explain it, is using a medical metaphor. We are like the primary care physicians of the psychotherapy world. We work with most mental health concerns, life stressors, and relationship challenges, which mainly includes anxiety disorders, depression, life stress/adjustments, mild trauma, grief, relationship distress, and parenting challenges. If there is something that requires a specialist, we refer that treatment out to the appropriate specialist.
Each clinician at our practice has additional subspecialties and special interests. We are known for our work within the LGBTQIA+ population as well as our relaxed and humorous approaches to therapy. We work with the most commonly used insurance providers, which believe it or not is actually difficult to find. We also are proud to partner with Open Path Psychotherapy Collective, which offers reduced fees to clients who pay a one-time, inexpensive membership fee. We also provide flexible options by providing both in-person and telehealth options for our clients.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I’ve learned to be flexible to the needs of the public and I also learned that seeking treatment for mental health is becoming increasingly more normalized.
Pricing:
- Initial Intake: $190
- Ongoing Sessions: $130
- Couples Counseling: $150
- Open Path Rate: $60
Contact Info:
- Email: info@truedirectioncounseling.com
- Website: https://truedirectioncounseling.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/truedirectioncounseling
Image Credits
Amber Baysinger
Lindsay Heywood
