Hi! Welcome to Keep On Growing! My name is Deyanira Cavazos and I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas. This channel is about building community centered around mental health, personal growth, and tips for other therapists in training. I wanted to make the kind of videos I wish I had before going into this career field so I'm excited to share all the helpful tips with you I wish I'd been given. I filmed my post-grad journey from working in private practice to now launching my own virtual private practice and being the owner of Coze Mental Health Services, where I offer Individual therapy and consultations for other counselors in training.
Disclaimer* These videos can be used as tools but they do not replace therapy, counseling services, or supervision.
I was a family specialist at a non-profit mental health agency for more than three and half years while I was in grad school, it was an overall great experience. I basically was a therapist but just didn't bill for it, did a lot of counseling and DBT exercises with at risk youth either on probation, in foster care or family court, loved the Wraparound program and family centered approach, loved my coworkers and management was super supportive, quick with implementing change. Community based work, driving your own vehicle from client to client is a LOT... added over 100k miles in a few short years (I traveled all over the Bay Area). Loved the flexibility, but there were long workdays, lots of clients, working with kids and their schedules, IF you don't have supportive teams or managers, it can be overwhelming quickly. But you learn so much clinically. Now at a county clinic serving adults as an AMFT, there is a lot more work/life balance, but insanely high caseloads and lots of pressure to fill your schedule, 3 day turnaround time on notes which feels impossible with the number of clients you have. I guess pick your hard, but community mental health gave me a solid foundation of providing quality services, gave me an idea of what populations I enjoyed working with, it's just great experience all around to have!
I'm up to take my NCE.How you're able to be LPC-A and in owning your private practice without your Licensure stamped 3000 hrs??? Because officially, I was told that's not how it is done...
Muchos saludos. Gracias por compartir tu conocimiento. Encontré tu vídeo y me dio mucho placer y emoción. Acabo de terminar mi maestría en salud mental y tengo mi licencia LPC_A. Por otro lado tengo mucha experiencia en los negocios y me gustó mucho este video. Me gustaría poder contactarte y hablar contigo. Vivo en ele area de Houston.Hablo inglés y español.
I found you recently and have been watching all of your videos! Would you be willing to make a video about difficult parent and adult children relationships, specifically related to Latina culture? You speak a lot about our culture and I would really love to hear what you have to say about the topic of difficult parent/adult child relationships, having to cut off those parents, and how difficult that can be in our culture. 💗 thank you for everything you’re doing! I wish you were in Arizona!
Thanks for this video! Would you be able to make a video about skills you learned for trauma informed care? What goes into making a crisis plan with a client, what happens when a client goes into crisis in session, etc, we don’t get taught that enough in grad school and it would be great to know how someone in it has navigated it!
Be true to yourselves. One thing I learned early is : If you don't take care of You, there will be no You to take care of anyone and that is not just in our jobs but in our personal lives too Agencies are not always honest about expectations and quotas until you have already started the job and at times signed a contract often with a no compete clause.
Thiiiiiis 💯 It’s a hard truth when you love the work you’re doing BUT essential. One of the most important lessons in our career for sure. Appreciate you, thank you for sharing 😊
Thank you for sharing your experience. I currently work in community health and can definitely relate to many of the issues you brought up. I love the work I am doing with my clients and see the impact being made to people who really need services, but I have also had to make sure I have really healthy boundaries and self-care to maintain my own mental and emotional health. I just got fully licensed in Oklahoma on June 6, 2024 and am taking my time exploring the options I now have available to me. I appreciate this video and you!
First off, yeeeeees CONGRATULATIONS on being fully licensed! 🎉🎉🎉👏🏼 I’m so happy for you! It really is hard when you know the urgency and how important the work you do is. Thank you for your time and the work you do for your community❤️ So proud of you for looking into other options and exploring.
I appreciate you speaking about your experience. I am a mental health counselor in New York and work at an agency. I’ve unfortunately had to cut my hours due to some health concerns and have experienced so much anxiety due to the scheduling pressures and certain policies. I have been thinking strongly about finding a new environment and I appreciate your thoughts ❤ I laughed at the drinking the koolaid part because it’s been such a rollercoaster of that and wanting to leave. The clients I work with definitely make it hard to leave too. I too wish I had an exit plan lol that being said my agency seems to have the smallest caseloads but we still have so much pressure and have unrealistic workloads.
Thank you so much for sharing 🫶🏼 Your health matters more than any quota or policy, so proud of you for trying to care for yourself. You get it 💯🫣 it’s so hard when the unrealistic policies get in the way of our work and health. I hope you’re able to transition into something that’s more sustainable, I’m rooting for you🥹👏🏼
I appreciate your honest share with this! I’m in internship at a private practice, but I’m seeing others in my cohort under the agency pressure already! And of course, friends that have already graduated. I can see how it’s rewarding and it feels like a badge of honor, buuuut then you really have to consider how much it’s affecting your own health. This whole experience is so interesting and special! Are you FT in your virtual private practice? I’m curious about your supervision experience- are you in your post 2k hrs? If so, are you getting supervision at a practice as a 1099? Or paying for supervision on your own? I’m so curious of what my experience is going to be like at the end of internship and also when should I start my PLLC… What did you get going while you were still in school? Any and all guidance is appreciated, nice to see you again! 🙏🌙☺️
Thanks for sharing your experience!😊 I’m part-time and see 6-12 clients a week. I finished supervision (3,000hrs) so I’m on my own now as an LPC but when I was an LPC-A and was supervised I worked one year for someone else’s practice and then when the rules changed in Texas I launched my practice as an LPC-A. I would meet once a week with my supervisor virtually.
Your videos have been very helpful and informative being a grad student in my practicum from Texas. This video has great tips and I feel more confident. Thank you. 🤠
Hi, idk if you have already commented on this, but how are you billing insurance for your practices? Bc I know insurance does not allow LPC-A’s to bill them. Unless there is something I am missing?
I graduated in 2002 and never studied. I took a sample exam and passed it online!! The majority of these questions were hardly presented in my grad program.
I am going to be going for my master's this fall and I am so excited. My biggest concern after graduation and getting my LPC is opening up a small office to practice but how do you get clients/patients? I keep forgetting there's a business aspect to it. Any ideas? Tips?
What are the benefits versus costs of having your own private practice? I am assuming that LPC-As are still only covered by certain insurances and probably still have to give a reduced rate whether they are self employed or work for someone else. Also, aren’t there costs with opening up your up own business? For instance, you have to pay for SimplePractice and probably a Psychology Today subscription at least. Also, how hard is it for you to deal with insurance companies? I’m asking because I found a practice that will let me work there. Although, I’m still looking for an LPC-S. I’d love to hear stories about which is the better option!
Has submitting the unofficial scores worked for others? Thank you for letting me know. I've just been sitting here waiting for them. BUT I need a supervisor still. So, I guess I'll just keep calm about it.
I’m in New York and just finished my hours and passed my exam. I have almost quit so many times because of them changing the goal post for clinical hours midway into my journey. In NY we cannot have our private practice as a limited permit. We literally fought to be able to fight for our ability to diagnose once we are fully licensed. So right when I hit 1,500 hours they pushed the limit to 2000 in order to diagnose smh! I had three Latina classmates who quit before becoming interns and associate therapists due to the ridiculous hoops needed to work in the field. If I knew what it truly took to become a therapist in grad school, I would’ve went to medical school as a psychiatrist instead.
Thank you this is very helpful. I’ve been watching your videos since you were in grad school. I have now completed grad school and having to retake the NCE, this video provided me with some calmness 😊
This is so inspiring and encouraging. You radiate a lovely light of positivity! The footage of you watering your garden made me so happy, I want to start a garden too. And omg bunnies!!!
Omg I’m in south Texas too and I hope to become an LPC! Right now I’m in community college (majoring in psychology) but my GPA is really good so I’m hoping to get into a good university once I transfer after my 2 years at community college are done and then of course get my master’s after my bachelor’s. I’m nervous about grad school but this is my passion so I think I can do it! I have the necessary knowledge and empathy as a psych patient of many years and now that I’ve been doing really well in my recovery, I want to get actual experience academically. Looks like I’m doing well so far!
It definitely depends per state because they require different things. Most important thing is knowing what you want to do with your degree post-grad and pick the program that offers you the best path. If the rules hadn’t changed in Texas for lpc-a’s to have their private practice and I knew what I know now I would’ve gone the social work route instead. I’m glad it worked out though because I loved my program. All of these fields offer career opportunities but definitely go with the one that gives you the opportunities you want. 😊 You can look at it more in-depth on O*NET online and see the breakdown for each career field to get an idea.
Hi Deyanira! TY for your video! You mentioned many awesome points! Yes! We need more representation in the mental health career field! I think it must be a beautiful feeling to hear the realization (of your client) in truly how helpful mental health services can be. To make someone realize that therapy is not for "locos," and that therapy helps people get to know themselves better and reflect on themselves, we all need someone to talk to, which is where genuine mental health practitioners come in!!🤍
Thank you so much for starting this channel and sharing your experiences! Know it or not you are now a mentor and paving way for those of us trying to stay motivated on this journey.
