By Dendy Media

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Vaughn, Psy.D. Clinical Psychologist and Founder of PSYCHe, PLLC.

It’s an honor to speak with you today. Why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. How did you get to where you are today?

I’m a specialist in something not a lot of people are: I’m great at differentiating an excellent therapist from a bad or “just ok” therapist. As a Psychologist, I’ve got the education on various diagnoses and models of treatment; as a practice owner, I’ve hired, fired, managed and taught enough therapists to know what to look for–and what to steer clear of! I know both clients and therapists well and how they fit together, or don’t.

PSYCHe started out as just me, one lone Psychologist doing therapy in a subleased office space. I had no idea how lucky I was that Sarah Kmita, LPC was the first clinician I hired. She’s been with me since 2014 and is an absolutely fantastic therapist, colleague, and friend. Neither of us knew anything about business, but we knew what great client care was and we were focused on making that happen. Our group grew, and in less than 2 years we had 15 employees and a 7-room office suite. We built our reputation doing excellent work with some of the most complicated and riskiest patient populations imaginable. We were the ones that other therapists sent clients to when they couldn’t help.

With us, you got what you paid for. We went above and beyond between sessions, on holidays, weekends, late nights, early mornings–you name it. We went to hospitals, to the client’s home, school, or wherever we were needed. We knew what great care was and we would provide nothing less.

I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?

You would think the biggest issue would’ve been dealing with the toll that client issues can take, but surprisingly, it ended up being the therapists themselves that really disappointed us. We learned the hard way that just because someone has a license to do therapy doesn’t mean they are a great therapist or even a decent person. We put a ton of time, energy, and money into several therapists who were only willing to do the bare minimum and would leave the difficult situations to us. They claimed to be experts up until things got tough. Unfortunately, experience taught us that this was the norm rather than the exception in our industry.

During the pandemic, we realized that several therapists were using PSYCHe’s reputation to build a caseload for their own private practice, thinking they could charge clients the same fee we did and just take more for themselves. It was maddening to watch, particularly because clients had no idea what was going on. They didn’t know how much their therapist needed training and coaching just to do their job. They didn’t know that their therapist failed the first level licensure exam twice and couldn’t produce a decent therapy note if their life depended on it, or that another therapist was mandated to weekly supervision because of blaming clients for not getting better, or that another failed to identify a clear-cut case of anorexia. When the bad apples fell off the tree, we were disappointed, but relieved.

Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?

After the pandemic, we changed our business model overnight and started searching for great independent therapists, in order to pair them perfectly with our clients. We committed to blowing the lid off the industry’s dirty little secret of accepting subpar therapist performance, and we set out to set a higher standard of care as a whole. It was a risky move, we knew it was our calling. We committed to never again work so hard to try to create great therapists. We decided to start with great therapists and put our energy into the clients.

No one is doing exactly what we’re doing yet. And I know why–it’s a ton of work! Sure, people can research things on their own, but why would you? Time is too precious.

We’re actually testing the therapists we contract with, role-playing sessions with them, and asking them clinical questions they should know. We know the right questions to ask, the correct answers, and we know when someone is just full of it. It’s just bizarre to me that it’s the norm to put the responsibility on clients to figure out what they need and who to work with knowing that they don’t have the training to do so effectively. That’s where we come in.

Not only that, but we follow the client/therapist pair and make sure that the client feels taken care of, is making progress, and that the therapist is following through on their end. If not, we make things right.

What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?

I would say first, recognize that you’re absolutely on your way there, no matter where you are. Getting there is the best part anyway, so enjoy the ride. Second, be sure that you are the one defining “success,” not someone else. How your parents, your colleagues, business books, or the imaginary audience define success doesn’t count for you. It has to be yours and it has to be something you want.

Finally, allow yourself to feel successful NOW before you think you “should” or before you think you deserve it. What’s it going to hurt? Call it positive thinking, imaginal rehearsal call it manifesting. It doesn’t matter–just sink into the feeling that you are successful. What does it feel like, sound like, smell like? Let your imagination do the work. No amount of actual success will ever allow you to feel successful if you actively block the feeling. Nothing will ever be good enough! So get good at feeling the way you want to feel by practicing it now. That’s my best advice.

Speaking of success, what does the word mean to you?

For me specifically, success on an existential level is mastering the art of going with the flow of life without fighting it, trying to control it, or getting bitter and giving up. It’s the alchemy of refusing to see “bad things” and instead, stubbornly re-purposing all of it into “good things.” I work on that every single day. Some days are easier than others, of course. On a practical note, I want to build something amazing that will help the world beyond what I can do alone, and something that will continue when I’m gone. Now if you want me to get really weird, I’ll start talking about love, but I think my answers cover your question well enough!

What’s next for you?

Our plan is to expand. We want to find great therapists all over the world so that our clients can go wherever they please and feel good knowing they have our support. After that, who knows? I hear space travel is hot right now–I suspect it won’t be long until they’ll be needing us there too.

Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more.

I recommend checking out our website at psychepllc.com to learn more or send us a question. You can also email us at newclients@psychepllc.com to find out about working with us as a client or as a therapist! If you just want all the irreverent memes and some of the dirty secrets of the industry, be sure to follow us on Instagram (@psychepllc) and listen to our podcast “PSYCHe Says” on Spotify.