Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Kennedy.
Hi Kelly, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After I graduated from my PhD program at The University of Georgia in Child and Family Development with a Specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy, I knew I wanted to create a clinic that welcomed all kinds of families to help them access high quality mental health care. I got sidetracked when I took a position at Converse University as a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy Master’s Program. I loved teaching and it was easy to put my energy into students and building a career as a faculty member. About 6 months after starting, the Program Director of the Program left, and being the other faculty member, I was promoted to a Program Director position. Meeting that challenge was exciting and rewarding for me, and I enjoyed excelling in the career. After becoming Department Chair and receiving tenure, I asked myself what I felt like was missing and was drawn back to my original dream of opening a group practice. Although I felt confident as a leader and clinician, I didn’t feel confident as a business owner. I spent the next year learning, preparing, and planning to open a practice, and in 2019 I announced to my employer that I would be stepping down after the academic year. I never imagined that I’d be opening my practice during a pandemic, but that’s what happened. Modern Wellness Family Counseling opened April 2020 and no one was coming through the doors….Luckily, our business picked up rapidly as others began needing connection after socially isolating, but it was a challenge for sure. We saw so much success in our first year, that we opened a second location in 2021. We began as a 6 clinician practice and have almost quadrupled to 23 clinicians in a little over 5 years. Our communities have embraced us, and we’ve embraced the Upstate. We’re thankful to have the relationship we do with them.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hmm, I think I addressed this before. Here’s what I can add:
Loving your career and building a business rapidly has personal costs. Being a business owner, I’ve been the first to arrive, the last to leave, answered emergency calls on weekends, handled client issues, and dealt with employee issues. Being a business owner isn’t for the faint of heart, and I’ve had to learn to say no, set personal boundaries, and to prioritize my family. Creating healthy boundaries hopefully models work-life balance that is consistent with our company values and what I hope for our clients and employees to find.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Modern Wellness is a insurance and cash pay group mental health therapy practice with 23 clinicians and 28 employees total. We serve clients across the lifespan, but specialize in working with young families. We have over half of our therapists trained in play therapy to work with children, and many of our other therapists specialize in working with couples, parenting, and post partum issues. We offer both in person and virtual counseling. What sets us apart are our company values, that we created as a team and use throughout our decision making progress at Modern Wellness:
Diversity: Embrace and celebrate diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds.
Humanity: Treat coworkers and clients with dignity, recognizing their inherent value as individuals.
Fairness: Foster accountability and uphold consistent expectations for all.
Accessibility: Empower coworkers to deliver services with consistency, while ensuring clients have access to high quality, engaging care.
Balance: Maintain well-being, sustainability, and harmony in all aspects of life. Challenging and caring for the self and the professional.
We work really hard to welcome and embrace diversity and have the following on our website: All are welcome here. Honoring diversity means involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. Inclusion is acknowledging and appreciating the reality and value of diversity, embracing the spectrum of different identities and experiences, and respecting what each person brings to the table. Diversity of thought and inclusion of different perspectives can help us generate new ideas, enhance problem solving, and increase flexibility, creativity, and effectiveness of therapy.
What’s next?
In the future, we really hope to expand our practice into areas with high mental health needs so that we can be more accessible. Some of our clients drive over 45 minutes to get to our practice, and that makes us inaccessible to some. Rising gas prices and time for travel make it difficult for many clients to have that far of a commute. We’re looking at how to expand in high need areas to continue to offer services in the Upstate.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.modernwellnessfamilycounseling.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/modern.wellnessfc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/modernwellnessfamilycounseling/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-kennedy-4894b934/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@modernwellnessfamilycounse8319
