Diana on the disaster of saying yes to everyone

Starting a Private Practice is the podcast where we talk with therapists about the real, unglamorous decisions behind building a practice that works: who you say yes to, who you refer out, what you charge, and what you do when the thing you built stops feeling good. This episode is about a measure of success that almost never makes the list. Not caseload, not income, not a new program; whether the clients in front of you right now are actually getting better. Diana came into private practice from county mental health, where you take the next person on the list, and she kept doing exactly that. Clients ghosted, canceled, dropped out without closure, and she concluded she was a bad therapist. What changed was not a marketing overhaul. It was screening in her consult calls, asking clients every couple of months whether therapy was working, and getting honest about the two things she does best. Kelly Higdon hosts. **What You'll Hear** 00:00 Introduction and topic overview 02:38 Finding the Right Client Fit 07:17 Consultations and Outcomes Check-Ins 09:03 Learning from Client Feedback 15:09 Defining Clinical Success 15:44 Working Through Imposter Syndrome 18:48 Finding Your Niche and Community **About Diana** Diana is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Menifee, California, working with anxiety disorders and complex trauma. She is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist and trained in Internal Family Systems, and she sees clients in the Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Riverside, and Temecula areas as well as across California by telehealth. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton and her master's in counseling with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University. Before private practice she worked in a private hospital and then for the county, where she built the clinical range (and the billing and documentation habits) she still runs on. She offers a free fifteen-minute phone consultation. Website: https://www.dianakoenenlmfttherapistmenifee.com/ Book a consult: https://www.dianakoenenlmfttherapistmenifee.com/contact LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-koenen-80642836/ EMDRIA listing: https://www.emdria.org/directory/people/diana-koenen/ **Resources Mentioned** EMDR International Association (EMDRIA): https://www.emdria.org/ IFS Institute, Internal Family Systems trainings: https://ifs-institute.com/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EREvVypKgxo Read the blog post: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/taking-every-client-private-practice zynnyme free trainings, books, and Business School for Therapists: https://www.zynnyme.com/ **Want the Kind of Support Kelly and Diana Talk About?** Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: zynnyme.com **Listen, Subscribe, and Leave a Review** Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3 **Stay Connected** Website: zynnyme.com Blog: zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: facebook.com/kellyandmiranda