About Who I am and What I do know in Building a Practice

 

I am glad you have found Therapist Practice In A Box 's website, and my guess is you are looking for answers to many questions about building a private practice.

My name is Sheralyn L. Shockey-Pope, and all my friends call me Sherry. I would like you to do so too.

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. My journey into private practice started eight years ago, but in reality, it was started much earlier when I was an undergraduate in college. You see, I went to a college that required you to select a major before you were admitted. So I picked Social Sciences. I suspect many of you may be like me and have had people tell you “you are a great listener,” “you are easy to talk to,” and “wow, you have a way of encouraging people.” I knew from an early age I wanted to become a therapist and healer. Selecting my major seemed easy as I had a passion for helping others. I completed college and wanted to get work experience before I began graduate work. Plus if truth be told; I was sorta tired of studying all the time.

When I graduate, the nation was in a recession, and I took a job in the local county welfare department. By the way, I had applied to over 50 jobs before I got this one because the number of applicants far exceed the job, positions. I liked my job and I thoroughly enjoyed helping people. However, this was not my ideal dream job. I did this work for a couple of years, and then I transferred the Child Protective Services division.

I did everything from Emergency Response, continuing casework, intern supervision, educating foster and adoptive parents, adoption home study worker and supervising staff. Along the way, I went to graduate school and earned a degree in Developmental Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. When my internships were completed, I took the exams and became licensed in 2000. My passion remained the same to help people overcome pain, to reduce the day to day struggles so many people had with anxiety, depression and other mental illness and help reduce family conflicts. As a social worker, my job was to be the voice for those who had none; to be an advocate.

In 2009, after reviewing many incorrect diagnoses of children and families on my caseload, my business partner and I decided we need to be part of the solution and to help our local community in a different manner than we had in the past. I had always intended to go into private practice and now was my time.

Again, the economy was in a recession; we had a passion for the work deep within our souls. We jumped in and never looked back. We built Central Counseling Services in Riverside, CA. We quickly grew, and we built a successful group practice. Today, we continue to bring healing to the surrounding community. Currently, we have 14 staff therapists, two fantastic office support staff. We have faced many challenges 0ver the years, but we never focused too long on our failures we just continue to learn and move on. Completed failure or closing our door simply is not an option.  Each year we have continued to grow, and we have close to 425 clients our therapists see each month. Each day at work we know we are making a difference in the lives of people in our community and we hear the stories of our clients as they are rebuilding their lives. Our therapists also know they matter and that daily they are making a difference too. This is exactly what I want for you a thriving and successful practice.

Along my journey, I have learned many lessons and I desire for you to learn from my mistakes. I want to provide you with the hands-on education to reduce the learning curve and propel you into a successful practice quickly.

I am sure you got this therapy part down well, let me help you with the business part.

I know you have many questions, would you like to know what’s in the box?