Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Bennefield.
Hi Michele, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story started many years ago. I always wanted to help people, and pursued my Bachelors Degree in Psychology and later a Masters in Counseling. For many years I did agency work with adults with mental health conditions in North Carolina, emotionally disturbed children in the Foster care system of South Carolina, at one time I was the Director of an emergency Children’s shelter here in the Upstate, a therapist in a psychiatric residential treatment facility, and later an Outpatient Chief with Child & Adolescent services with the Department of Mental Health in the Upstate.. It was during my time as a therapist in residential treatment that the counseling industry was becoming more insurance driven which meant therapists needed to be professionally licensed. Due to how long it had been since I was in graduate school I needed to return to graduate school and take three graduate courses, and then take the licensure exam for Counseling. In South Carolina a therapist has to be provisionally licensed and supervised for two years before they are fully licensed. It was during this time that I had the idea to attempt private practice part time while working full time for DMH. God had plans I didn’t know were coming which was growing the private practice into full time employment in December of 2016. I have been in private practice for fourteen years now and there have been many challenges, times of personal and professional growth, a pandemic, a natural disaster with Hurricane Helene, ups and downs in the economy, however, mental health needs continue. In the summer of 2017 I started my PhD in Clinical Christian Counseling. I completed the program in September of 2019 by turning in my dissertation and my doctorate was awarded in October 2019. And lastly, I have my “sidekick” Chewbacca, aka “Chewy” my 9 year old Shih Tzu that comes to work everyday to help love on the clients that enter our office. He learned how to “work” the waiting room as a puppy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The challenges of starting a private practice are building clientele to support yourself financially, whether to be a cash pay versus insurance practice, how to manage “no show” clients, growth of the practice to have additional therapists, and many other things that you don’t learn in graduate school about being a business owner. There is no manual on how to create, build, and maintain a private practice. You learn as you go, at least that was my experience. I rented my first office in private practice in the summer of 2012. It was a one room space on the second floor of an eyecare practice with no elevator. One thing you learn when being a therapist is that handicap accessibility can make a difference. In May 2016, I moved the practice to a 1000 square foot space, with handicap accessibility and the practice started to grow. In 2019, we had the opportunity to grow the practice again by doing an office expansion to the unit next door which grew us to a 2000 square foot practice with 7 clinicians. As you know, in early 2020 the Covid pandemic hit the world and everything stopped momentarily and we didn’t know what was next. I had just invested in the office expansion, making sure the offices were rented, and then in March 2020 the world stopped momentarily and we had to pivot to telehealth, and eventually back to in person appointments to meet the needs of our clients. The pandemic also impacted the demand for mental health services. My practice had a waiting list that we started in October 2020 and this continued until the Fall of 2024. Many days it felt like we were treading water to survive with the demands. Therapy was in high demand for children and adults during those years as the rise of anxiety, depression, and trauma continue in America.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bennefield & Associates,?
We provide individual and family counseling to children, adolescents, and adults.
What does success mean to you?
Success is wanting to go to work every day because you love what you do. Success is doing the best you can one day at a time. Success is having a good reputation in the community and with the people you work with. Success in my profession is to “do no harm” meaning that we strive to provide quality mental health services, being present for our clients, using evidenced based practices, and “showing up” for them each session. Success is being able to lay your head on the pillow at night and go to sleep knowing that you did the best you could that day to care for each person that came into your therapy room that day.
Pricing:
- $110 per session
