Why I Expanded from a Solo Therapy Practice to a Group Practice

For a long time, I believed a solo practice was the purest expression of my work.

One room. One chair. One relationship at a time. Deep presence. Long sessions. Space to listen, feel, and respond with care.

And for many years, that was exactly right.

But over time, something kept tugging at me, quietly at first, then with more insistence. A knowing that my work was meant to widen, deepen and grow. Not dilute. Not rush. But expand.

This wasn’t about scaling for the sake of growth, business volume or branding. It wasn’t about productivity, hustle, or becoming “bigger.”

It was about capacity, teaching, community, and legacy.

I Was Lonely in Solo Practice, and That Mattered Deeply

This part feels important to name.

Solo practice can be beautiful, and it can also be isolating.

There were days when I held story after story, nervous system after nervous system, and then closed my door at the end of the day to silence. No hallway conversations. No shared processing. No one who really understood the weight of the work in real time.

I was doing meaningful work, but I was doing it alone.

And somewhere along the way, I realized something that felt both obvious and tender:

If healing from trauma happens in relationship, why was I trying to do this work without one?

I didn’t just want colleagues to share the days with, I wanted community.

I wanted a place where therapists could think together, regulate together, learn together, and remind each other that none of us is meant to hold this work in isolation.

Healing Doesn’t Happen in Isolation: For Clients or Therapists

So much of the pain I see in the therapy room traces back to disconnection, mis attunement and the sense of “no one gets me”.

Early wounds. Attachment injuries. Relational ruptures. Experiences where people had to survive alone—emotionally, physically, many times both.

Healing from those kinds of wounds doesn’t happen through gaining insight alone. It happens through being met. Through repair. Through belonging.

I realized that truth applies not just to clients, but to therapists, too.

A group practice allows healing to happen on so many levels:

• Clients heal in safe therapeutic relationships
• Therapists grow within supportive professional relationships
• New therapists learn in community, not in fear
• And leaders practice not carrying everything alone

Community is not a “nice extra.” It is a corrective experience.

I Wanted to Teach, Not Just Practice

As I moved deeper into trauma and relationship work, especially EMDR, attachment, and developmental trauma and how that affects our relationships, I found myself mentoring more and more newer clinicians.  I also noticed many seasoned clinicians wanted to practice therapy differently yet didn’t quite know how to unlearn from the years and decades of a sterile psychotherapy structure.

They came with strong hearts, solid training, and a deep desire to do this work well! And, they were often overwhelmed, under-supported, and afraid of getting it wrong.

I recognized myself in them.

I wanted to create a place where therapists could learn slowly, be supervised thoughtfully, and develop their clinical voice without being rushed or reduced to productivity metrics.

A teaching group practice allows me to do what I love most:

• Supervise, teach and consult with intention and relationally present
• Translate theory into lived, relational practice
• Normalize uncertainty, depth and nuances
• Model ethical, attuned, human therapy

This practice isn’t just about seeing clients. It’s about forming therapists.

I Wanted to Expand Access to Good Therapy

I can only see so many clients.

And as much as I value the depth of my own clinical work, I became increasingly aware of the gap between the need for trauma-informed therapy and the availability of it.

Waitlists grew. Calls went unanswered. People needed help now.

Expanding into a group practice wasn’t about replacing my work, it was about multiplying it.

By building a team aligned in values, pacing, and clinical philosophy, we’re able to:

• Serve more individuals, couples, and families
• Offer a range of modalities and perspectives
• Reduce barriers to care
• Hold more stories with care and competence and help more humans heal

This is how I think about growth now: More hands, same heart centered intentionality.

I Wanted to Build Something That Would Outlast Me

At this stage of my life, I think a lot about legacy.

Not legacy as ego. Legacy as continuity.

What happens to the wisdom, the lessons, the hard-earned knowing if it stays only inside me?

A group practice allows me to:

• Codify what I’ve learned into systems, procedures and trainings
• Create training and perspective pathways that reflect my values and wisdom
• Pass on clinical judgment, not just techniques
• Build something that can continue serving long after I step back

This is not about leaving. It’s about leaving something behind.

I Wanted to Practice Leadership That Feels Human

I didn’t want to build a factory. I wanted to build a community.

One where therapists are respected as whole people, deeply human and individuals. Where nervous systems matter. Where supervision is relational, not performative, shaming or ill-advised. Where growth is encouraged, but not at the expense of well-being.

Running a group practice is stretching me, not just as a clinician, but as a leader, teacher, and steward of others’ work and lives.  It allows me to be human, make mistakes, repair my mess-ups and take risks while remaining grounded in my human frame, not just my therapeutic frame.

It asks more of me. And it gives more back.

This Is Still About Relationship

At the core, this expansion isn’t a departure from my original work.

It’s an extension of it.

I believe healing happens in relationship. I believe safety is built slowly. I believe both learned and lived experience matter. I believe therapy is a craft and an art, not a formula.

A group practice allows me to live those beliefs in community, not just with clients, but with the therapists who walk alongside me in this work.

This is why I expanded. Not to do more, but to do this differently, together.

If you’re here reading this, whether you’re a client, therapist, student, or fellow traveler, thank you for being part of this unfolding.

We’re building something meaningful. And we’re not doing it alone.