Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Zare.
Hi Jennifer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I established Pathways Counseling Center in 2009. My vision was to build a practice that would strengthen relationships throughout the community and help promote widespread resiliency and healing.
I have always felt a strong calling to serve others through psychology and counseling. After having my first child, I realized how important it was to me to have a work-life balance that would help me to provide a nurturing environment for myself as a wife/mother/therapist and for my growing family.
It is hard to be a good therapist if you don’t take care of yourself; my mission was not only to provide a service to the clients we serve but also to the therapists that choose to work with me. I believe therapists are often too quick to sacrifice their own happiness for others, and I wanted to make sure they see how valuable they are and how important it is for them to care for themselves as well.
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?
I aim to see challenges as growing opportunities and thus am very thankful for all of the challenges that have crossed my path.
Starting out it was challenging to find the right space/rent and afford the startup costs of a new practice.
Shifting mindset from social service to business mindset was often an obstacle to my business’ growth at times (often wanted to give services away, or charge too little, but later saw that I’d be out of business soon if I kept it up!
Learning best business practices – how to handle “no shows” and create policies that both protect the practice/therapist and respect clients’ rights
Early in the establishment of my practice my mother was diagnosed with dementia and multiple myeloma. I had two young girls with a third girl on the way. My third child, Colleen, was born just 6 weeks before my mother passed away. It was to manage the emotions of gradually losing a mother while also figuring out how to be a mom, caregiver/support for my parents from many states away, a new business owner, and also counseling those with big life challenges.
My mother was a 16-hour drive away, and for quite a while I would drive with my young children to visit (approximately 1x per month) to spend time with her and help care for her. Having my own practice provided me with the flexibility to do so, but also the loss of income for the time I was not seeing clients. I no longer had “vacation” time or “sick days” as I used to have in an agency setting.
Covid created an interesting challenge in figuring out ways to safely provide services. Initially, we had to stop providing services. Then we figured out quickly how to provide virtual services. We have now incorporated virtual services into our means for providing therapy and it’s been a great and effective addition to in-person therapy.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in a small town of 4,000 people in Viroqua, WI. I was the youngest of 4 children (2 older sisters and an older brother). My parents were teachers at the local public school. I grew up playing golf and doing gymnastics, swimming in the summer and had a very happy childhood.
Contact Info:
- Email: jennifer@pathwaysofgreenville.com
- Website: http://www.pathwaysofgreenville.com/
