Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Finley.
Hi Sarah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Thank you for your interest in myself and Upcountry Counseling and Mental Health Services, I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself to you and your readers. My name is Sarah A. Finley and I am the sole owner and provider of services through Upcountry. I am a 52 year old wife, mother, and Grammie to some of my most favorite people in the world. I have a Christian faith and worldview that I believe allows me to care for clients beyond traditional therapies, although I do not practice Christian counseling services without being asked.
I began my college career believing that one day I would be an attorney so I got an Associate’s Degree in Legal Assisting. Then I found myself involved in youth ministry and pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Religion and Biblical Counseling. Ultimately I stepped away from youth ministry and obtained my Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling and now I offer services to a much broader range of people.
My professional counseling career began as a school-based counselor in a large Middle School in Greenville through community mental health. It is during my time in community mental health that I also gained extensive experience in crisis counseling and assisted our local police/sheriff law enforcement agencies with trainings in intervention and community response. I left community work for a position in a pediatric office offering collaborative mental health care. Here I was introduced more to the business side of mental health care, and I gained an appreciation toward the integrity of care that could be offered to clients. Throughout my counseling career I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of mental health and the care that is available.
A combination of these experiences and my personal faith brought me to the conclusion that I could provide both ethical and carefully planned mental and non-mental health care to my fellow citizens, community members, and counseling professionals and peers.
I have a handful of supporters and of people who have not been supportive; but they all get a nod of thanks because I am the type of person who meets adversity head-on, and each one gave me encouragement and motivation to strike out on my own. I made my decision slowly and carefully began the steps toward creating a business that I believed would have the ability to provide excellent, personal, client-centered care beyond the constricts of diagnostics, of meeting a quota, pushing paperwork, and being profitable above all. And, toward creating a business model that places appreciation on the work completed by the counselor and provider, a model that supports the counselor’s role as both human and clinician. Don’t get me wrong, making a living is a good thing, but placing profit above self, and quality care should have no place in mental health care.
My dream for Upcountry Counseling – which may or may not come to fruition – is to become a standard in care for the Upcountry, the State, and beyond. I created it with the ability to scale, and possibly provide additional services besides counseling and coaching to include psychiatric care and medication management for those who need support. I also have a dream to expand into some form of equine therapy, as horses are my personal ‘happy place’ and I have such respect for the work horses do with people. All I can say is, whether Upcountry remains small or scales up, I will always view it as the dream that keeps on evolving…even if the evolution simply remains in dream state.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I love the concept of a “smooth road” and although I would love to say I have travelled one to get where I am today, I can not. I think I set out to live the most non-smooth road anyone could imagine. I met my husband when I was a senior in high school. I became pregnant during the second half of my senior year. I found out I was pregnant in January, turned 18 in March, got married in April, graduated in June, and had my first child in September, all in 1991. I took night classes, online classes, day classes all throughout my children’s adolescence and school years, and earned each of my degrees while being a stay-at-home mom who sporadically worked for extra income in different phases of our life. At the age of 20 my son was diagnosed with cancer – at the prime of his college and football career, and just prior to me graduating with my Master’s Degree. I put my education on hold several times throughout life – to take care of and tend to my family. It took me over 20 years to obtain all of my schooling to become a mental health counselor. In 2017 I graduated my Master’s program with a 3.26 GPA; passed the Clinical Mental Health Counselor’s Exam with one of the highest scores, and have since obtained both my LPC and LPCS licenses. This year I will celebrate my 35th Wedding Anniversary.
I have not fit the proverbial mold, in both my personal and professional life. I really do believe I chose the most non-smooth roads to travel. I also have had several professional struggles along the way, notably with poor support, and other’s professional disregard for ethical behavior. But, now, as a private practice owner, one of the biggest challenges I face is financial.
Upcountry is a small practice with a small budget, and me with little training in business administration at the helm. I do not have a traditional brick and mortar office, nor do I advertise. I created my own website, and have done all of the work myself using tools to teach myself all of the ‘what’s next’ steps to building a business. I still don’t fully understand SEO, social media hooks, and the use of AI to build all of “the things” for me. And the greatest professional foes I face are the giants known as Insurance Companies.
I do not take insurance. Not taking insurance hurts a practice. If you aren’t paneled, you don’t get referrals. But taking insurance also hurts a practice as a clinician receives less pay, has unlimited risk of clawbacks, and must provide insurance managed care as opposed to clinician/client managed care. Insurance companies tie the hands of the mental health world (for many reasons) notably by requiring diagnoses for counseling; extensive paperwork and supports for services rendered; which often leads to haphazard diagnosing, poor care plans, and minimal oversight of services.
We’ve been impressed with Upcountry Counseling and Mental Health Services, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Upcountry Counseling and Mental Health Services, LLC is a provider of both mental health and non-mental health counseling. Upcountry Counseling provides individual and family counseling, life-coaching services, consultation and professional license supervision. Our services are provided in-person (on a limited basis) and via telehealth. I utilize solution-focused strategies, counseling, and life-coaching techniques to help people navigate life stressors, mental health issues, and everyday challenges like separation, divorce, job loss, or family changes. I also provide support for counseling professional through consultation, and supervision for licensure. I provide access to quality care as an experienced professional through platforms that offer the greatest flexibility.
What sets my services apart from other counselors and agencies is my ability to fully meet a client where they are in terms of their mental health. I am not bound by the insurance companies to provide what they deem as appropriate care. I can focus on areas like relationship advice, personal and professional development/skill building, and difficulty with decision making. I can provide support, guidance, and strategies to help navigate various aspects of life that traditional therapies can not address due to insurance constraints; yet, I am also able to offer mental health related assessment, counseling and supportive services. As an individual provider I am known for being straightforward, understanding, yet challenging and willing to confront the lies and deceptions we often tell ourselves about ourselves.
I also provide supervision and consultation services to other counseling professionals and businesses. I mentor the counseling community, and help support/build a healthy network of providers for the residents in the Upcountry of South Carolina. I pride myself on maintaining ethical behaviors and standards, and believe it to be a privilege to practice, lead, guide, and support others in a manner that supports a flourishing network of competent mental health providers.
As a Supervisor/Consultant I am known for guiding counselors and their practices toward upright, ethical, and knowledgeable practice, encouraging providers to make their own way as providers without needing to reinvent the wheel.
Upcountry Counseling has been in full-time practice since January 2024, and in September 2024 our area and region suffered great loss after Hurricane Helene. Since beginning operations one of the biggest and most fulfilling accomplishments as both a company and individual, I have had, was in coordinating a group of local mental health professionals to volunteer their time and services at a community center in Burnsville, NC. I was personally able to transport several truck-loads of supplies as a coordinated effort for Bald Creek Relief. I was blessed to have the time and the resources to work with friends, colleagues, and local churches to provide both physical and mental support. Being able to meet the needs of others at times when needed the most is why being in Private Practice matters to me – Upcountry Counseling is free to place humanness above material gain.
How do you define success?
I am not quite sure how to define success, because success often means something has been achieved and there is nothing left to do. I suppose success will mean that I can continue meeting people where they are, helping individuals, families, and other professionals work toward and achieve their own success. Success will hold room for continued focus on my faith and family and making the world around me a better place because I am/was in it, and it will be sustained long after I am gone because something I may have said or done mattered to someone else. Professional success could be measured in fiscal terms, and it is my hope that Upcountry Counseling provides me with a longstanding opportunity to remain able to offer quality unfettered care to my community and beyond.
Success will mean that I can keep providing counseling services no matter what stage of life I am in. Success will mean that what I am building in others, whether clients or peers, doesn’t collapse in my absence. Success will mean that my work contributes to a legacy and not just income.
In a nutshell: Success is having the freedom, health, and integrity to do meaningful work, at my pace, without sacrificing the people or principles that matter most.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.upcountrycounselingservices.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17z2oAnfV5/?mibextid=wwXlfr
- Other: safinley@counselingmail.com
