Libsyn Directory

Salley Schmid | How To Self-Publish & Diversify Private Practice Income | TPOT 187

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Release Date: 07/19/2021

Beyond the Diagnosis: The Stories That Shape Our Clients | Dr. Travis Heath | TPOT 454

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

What do we miss when a diagnosis becomes the whole story? Dr. Travis Heath joins Gordon Brewer to explore how narrative therapy helps us understand the stories clients tell about themselves—and the stories their families, communities, and culture tell about them. Together, they discuss how labels can both offer clarity and limit understanding, why slowing down matters in therapy, and how curiosity can open up new possibilities. Travis also shares ways therapists can reflect on their sessions, question familiar assumptions, and move beyond simply listing a client’s strengths to hearing the...

What Growing a Group Practice Really Takes | Whitney Owens | TPOT 453

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Growing a private practice takes more than adding clients and hiring therapists. It also means learning to delegate, trust your team, and let go of doing everything yourself. In this episode, Gordon Brewer welcomes back Whitney Owens, founder of Water’s Edge Counseling and Wise Practice Consulting. Whitney shares her journey from solo therapist to group practice owner, including the challenges of building a leadership team, navigating staff turnover, and creating systems that support growth. Gordon and Whitney explore how confidence develops through experience, why clear values matter in...

How Therapists Can Practice What We Preach About Mindfulness | Debi Trent Brown | TPOT 452

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Therapists spend a lot of time encouraging clients to slow down, practice mindfulness, and become more aware of what they need—but practicing those same things in our own lives can be much harder. In this episode, Gordon talks with Debi Trent Brown about mindfulness beyond meditation, the importance of creating small moments of joy, and what it means to live more authentically. They explore how the “rules” we pick up from family, culture, and society can quietly shape our choices, why pausing before we respond can help us better understand ourselves, and how consistency—not...

How to Make More Impact Without Adding More Clients | James Marland | TPOT 451

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

What happens when being “successful” in private practice starts to look a lot like burnout? In this episode, Gordon talks with James Marland about the three traps that can keep therapists stuck in one-on-one work: the clock trap, calendar trap, and couch trap. They unpack why being fully booked isn’t always the same as being free, and how tying your income, time, and impact entirely to client hours can eventually become exhausting. James also shares practical ways therapists can begin thinking beyond traditional one-on-one work through workshops, courses, trainings, and other resources...

Supporting Postpartum Moms Through Private Practice | Hannah Short | TPOT 450

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the work we feel most drawn to often has some connection to our own experiences. That doesn’t mean our story becomes the center of the therapy room, but it can absolutely shape the populations we care about, the problems we notice, and the kind of practice we want to build. In this episode, I talk with Hannah Short about how her own experiences with eating disorder recovery and postpartum helped shape her clinical niche. We also get into thoughtful self-disclosure, creating a practice where clients feel genuinely understood, moving from...

Branding Your Private Practice: How to Stand Out and Get Found | Ritu Riedweg | TPOT 449

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

When therapists think about branding, it’s easy to immediately think about logos, fonts, colors, and websites. But your brand is so much more than what your practice looks like online. It is also the feeling people get when they encounter you, the story they associate with you, and ultimately, whether they feel like they can trust you. In this episode of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Ritu Riedweg about personal branding, marketing, and what therapists can do to make their practices easier to find and easier to connect with. Ritu brings an interesting...

Working With High-Risk Teens in Private Practice | Katie K. May | TPOT 448

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Working with high-risk teens can feel overwhelming, especially when self-harm, suicidal thoughts, emotional dysregulation, or repeated hospitalizations are part of the picture. So how can therapists provide both compassion and structure without letting fear drive the treatment? In this episode, Gordon talks with Katie K. May about working effectively with high-risk teens and their families. Katie shares why validation matters, how therapists can provide strong clinical leadership, and why caregiver involvement is such an important part of the process. They also discuss proactive safety...

Why Rapport Matters More Than Ever in Private Practice | Nora Anger | TPOT 447

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Building rapport isn’t just about helping clients feel comfortable. It can play a major role in whether they trust you, open up, and keep coming back. In this episode, I sit down with Nora Anger, LPC, to talk about building stronger therapeutic relationships in private practice. We discuss what clients really want from their therapists, common reasons they leave therapy, thoughtful self-disclosure, creating safety and trust, and how to balance compassion with challenging clients when they need it. Resources Mentioned In This Episode Meet Nora Anger Nora Anger, MS, LPC, is a...

Is Your Private Practice Too Dependent on You? | TaVona Denise | TPOT 446

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

What happens to your private practice when you step away? In this episode, Gordon talks with TaVona Denise about what her Private Practice Vitality Report revealed about owner dependency, burnout, delegation, and the systems that keep a practice running. They explore why hiring more staff doesn’t always create more freedom, how to tell if your practice still depends too heavily on you, and the simple 30-day question that can uncover exactly where your systems need work. If you want to build a practice that can grow without requiring you to be involved in every decision, this conversation is...

The Systems Your Private Practice Needs to Run Smoothly | Lisa Permar | TPOT 445

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

A private practice can look successful on the outside and still feel exhausting behind the scenes. Clients are showing up, revenue is coming in, and everything appears to be working, but the owner may still be answering every question, fixing every exception, following up on loose ends, and carrying far too much of the practice in their own head. In this episode, Gordon talks with Lisa Permar about the small, repeated friction points that quietly drain a practice owner’s time, attention, and energy. They explore how everyday tasks around intake, scheduling, billing, documentation, and team...

More Episodes

In this episode, Salley Schmid takes us through her journey to creating journals for her clients. Not only is creating products a great way to diversify your private practice income, but it also is a fantastic way to help people who wouldn't typically be in your reach. One of Salley's journals is a tool for clients to calm their emotions and thoughts when they are running amuck. Tune in as Salley talks about the self-publishing process, what to know before writing a book, and the importance of multiple income streams in private practice.

Meet Salley Schmid

I am a Kansas native, having been transplanted to Texas from Colorado. I am pretty sure I was supposed to be born in Colorado, but my parents forgot to move there. For several years now, I gladly call Waco, Texas my home and love this community and the people I have come to know and call my friends. I consider it a privilege to begin a business in such an entrepreneurially focused community. My passion is helping people succeed. I am the proud mother of teenage twin daughters. They keep my heart very full. I am blessed with a very supportive husband. I also enjoy time with his son, who is the same age as my twin daughters. My favorite times in life are with my family, especially when all 5 of us can be together.

I earned a Master of Science in Family Therapy from a small school in Wichita Kansas, Friends University in 1996 and a Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University. I have worked in a counseling and administrative capacity since that time in out-patient, in-patient, day treatment, residential, foster care, educational, and private practice settings. I have worked in the field of mental health and human services since 1985.

I understand and respect the important role personal values play in self-evaluation, change, growth, healing, relationships, and success. I practice from a holistic and resilience-based approach to helping people. I help people explore their strengths and learn to harness the success that already lies within them for visible, life and relationship change. Discovering the hindrances present in life and while planning to overcome those obstacles to achieve their best.

"One of my greatest honors has been to help people emerge strong and successful on the other side of a difficult or unplanned life transition"

Currently, I provide Professional Development Training for human service professionals as well as Counseling services.

My counseling practice specializes in helping people transition to a place of strength after experiencing trauma, traumatic grief, and difficult or unplanned life transitions. I work with individuals (adolescents and adults), families, and parents from a family systems perspective. I have extensive experience working with individuals who have experienced trauma, traumatic grief, divorce, parenting difficulties, blended families, and attachment difficulties. I am Certified in the Daring Way by Brene` Brown as well as being a Certified Positive Discipline Trainer.

Creating A Journal For Clients

The pandemic had a lot of gifts that were hidden in it. One of those hidden gifts was Salley putting into book format the visual processes she does with clients. Her clients are responding very well to it. It's a journal that's really designed to help people understand how they get emotionally dysregulated and give them some tools to get out of emotional dysregulation. The journal is great for clients when they aren't able to get on the therapist's couch. However, it's not meant to be a replacement for therapy. Instead, it's a supplement for therapy. Check out Sticky Emotions Journal

Working On Your Products

The longest process was the art journal because Salley worked on it for a couple of years to draw all of the images in it. Then, she got them turned into digital images. To create a book on artist-quality paper is very expensive. Salley quickly realized that it would not make any money or serve enough people. A friend of Salley's told her about Direct Publishing. So, she gave up her hope of artist quality paper and introduced her art journal on Amazon. It became a big success! Plus, Salley can sell them out of her office. Check out Find Your True North: A Soul Finding Art Journal.

Learn About Self-Publishing

Salley looked at different self-publishing options, and the cost was high. Trying to get a publisher was also tricky. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is super user-friendly. Salley didn't have to learn a lot. Instead, KDP tells you everything that you need to do. It's one of the fastest and most efficient ways to self-publish a book. For eBooks, authors can directly upload their book files, and it will appear in the Kindle store as an eBook for readers to purchase and instantly download.

What To Know About Creating A Book

It is imperative to have someone edit your work and look at it. When you're writing, you know what you mean. However, does someone else understand what you mean? Another set of eyes will be invaluable on your self-publishing and book-writing journey. If you're looking to have art in your book, you will need to find someone who knows how to digitize art. Don't try and do everything yourself because you can't know it all. Also, don't be afraid to invest money in places where there is the expertise that you don't have.

Diversifying Income In Private Practice

Having a book allows Salley to have another set of income. Salley is running a business – she needs to earn income. Products are a wonderful way to make extra money. Plus, Salley gets to extend her reach. Now, she gets to add value to people and can bring healing and transformation into their lives. Not everyone wants therapy, and not everyone can afford it. Salley's products make the healing work more accessible for people. Lastly, Salley is passionate about what she does. Remember to do the things that you're passionate about.

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