Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in mental health care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anna Prudovski, Founder of Turning Point Psychological Services, located in Thornhill, ON, CA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We specialize in the treatment of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. When left untreated, OCD and anxiety often take over people's lives, leading to the constant struggle with intrusive thoughts and worries and neglecting meaningful and important things.
We utilize evidence-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP), and metacognitive therapy. We are also constantly on the lookout for emerging new approaches and have added Rumination-Based ERP and Inference-Based CBT to our toolbox.
Our goal is to help clients learn skills to approach their anxiety or OCD in a different way and stop allowing it to dictate how they live their lives.
Tell us about yourself
Treatment of OCD and anxiety disorders requires highly specialized education and training. From the very start of my own private practice, I devoted at least a few hours every week to training new therapists. This gradually led to starting our group practice -- Turning Point Psychological Services.
As a clinic, we take great pride in investing a great deal of time and effort into training our new therapists and providing opportunities for continuous education for our established therapists.
Treating OCD and anxiety is very rewarding. Every day we get to witness our patients standing up to their fears and taking steps toward regaining control over their lives. We also enjoy watching our practicum students and new therapists grow professionally.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The biggest accomplishment is learning to persevere when things don't go well. Running a business involves unexpected things thrown at you daily, which sometimes gets discouraging and exhausting. Learning to be steady and methodically deal with obstacles is a skill I had to master as a business owner.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Being on your own sometimes feels stressful and lonely. There is no boss to ask for direction or to complain to. There is no real vacation or sick time. Even when I'm away on a different continent, I stay connected and prepared to resolve issues if they arise.
But I love being free to follow my vision of how I want my business to run, and this freedom compensates for all the difficulties.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Expect to need to learn numerous skills that may not currently seem related to your business. Be it accounting, utilizing numerous apps and software, building a website, HR skills, drafting workflow processes, marketing and advertising, networking, creating infographics and visuals, writing blogs, administrative skills, or customer service. There are endless new skills to master. You'll hire people to help you in the future, but at the beginning, you'll probably need to wear multiple hats to get your product or service going.
- This second tip is directly related to the first one. As soon as you can delegate -- do it! It can be scary to let go of control, but it's better to concentrate on what you do best and leave the rest to professionals.
- Learn to live with unpredictability. It's easy to freak out when the demand for your service or product slows down or abruptly increases. It is helpful to accept and embrace that this will happen all the time and adjust accordingly.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.turningpointpsychology.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TurningPointPsychology
Twitter: https://twitter.com/turningpointpsy
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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