Kayla: Welcome back to The Designer Practice Podcast, and I'm your host, Kayla Das
In today's episode, Jamie Rowswell, Registered Social Worker and owner of Good Life Collective, will discuss how to build a private practice in a rural area.
Hi, Jamie. Welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here today.
Jamie: Hey Kayla, thanks so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
Kayla: Jamie, before we dive into today's episode, please introduce yourself, where you're from, and tell us a little bit about your own practice journey, specifically as it relates to building a private practice in a rural area.
Jamie: Sure thing. So, yeah, again, just thanks for having me here today. And as you mentioned, I'm Jamie. I'm a registered social worker and owner and founder of Good Life Collective.
So, we're a rural mental health practice based in Wayne Wright, Alberta. We serve a fairly big area through Wayne Wright, Lloydminster, Provost, some of those surrounding communities.
My journey to private practice was really shaped by like my background. I came from a background working as a paramedic for close to 15 years, and then decided that I kept seeing the results of systemic problems. And so I thought maybe if I could get ahead of that in more of a social work realm, it would be really beneficial for me for others, that sort of a thing. And given that I had always worked in a rural area. And EMS, it just felt like a natural transition to really focus on that same population. Rural areas that are, I don't know, often underserved. So that's where we grew up. And we're a small but mighty little team here in Wayne Wright.
Kayla: You know, that's amazing. And a lot of listeners may not know. I mean, you might be able to tell from the accent, but I'm actually from Newfoundland, so I'm from-- I would say a medium sized town Carbonear, Newfoundland. So, when we are talking about rural areas, I totally understand some of the things that we're going to be speaking about today. It's going to be a really great conversation for people to kind of consider some of the things that you may not necessarily have to consider if you're in an urban center.
Jamie: Yeah, absolutely. It becomes pretty packed and you're right, there are definitely some big advantages and disadvantages to it if people are drawn to those without a doubt.
Kayla: So you alluded to this, but why did you choose to work in a rural area?
Jamie: Yeah, so I grew up in a rural area and like I said, worked pretty much my whole career in a variety of rural areas. At the end of the day, I just find there's something to be said for that sense of community and connection that I never really found in more of an urban setting.
So, there's just such a deep, deep need for services in rural areas. Like I mentioned, they're very underserved a lot of the time. But that sense of connection and community becomes such a support, I think, in rural areas as well. So, if you can integrate into that, I think it feels really supportive. I mean, to start something like a private practice can be really daunting, but yeah, there could be a lot of excitement in it too, from the community aspect. People that are just stoked to have another resource at their fingertips, right? And to be able to tap into.
The other piece being, I think people in rural settings face some pretty unique stressors Like access to resources is pretty limited a lot of the time. There's often more stigma, more isolation, just pieces like that. So, I mean, to be able to offer like I said, a small and mighty team here to offer more humanistic connection based, very accessible, non-judgmental relational services from people who are just members of their community versus having this really big power differential of professional and client kind of really aim to even that out a little bit by being members of the same community.
Kayla: A hundred percent. And I just know from growing up in Carbonear, like the nearest mental health therapist, would have been St. John's, which is around an hour away. And as a result, most people do not drive that often to go there. Up until Covid, there really wasn't virtual therapy either, so you didn't have kind of some of the options that some rural areas may have access to now. But again, there's still advantages and disadvantages from seeing a virtual therapist as well instead of seeing someone in your town.
Jamie: Yeah, without a doubt. I know, like when I was still working in EMS, I ended up seeing a therapist and like the nearest specialized therapist for the services that I was looking for. It was a three-hour drive, one way. And so to be doing that weekly was a huge expense. 600 K of driving and a full day off work and yeah, there's just so much need in rural areas for quality service.
Kayla: A hundred percent. So, we've been kind of talking about this, but when considering to build a private practice in a rural area, what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so and how did you navigate the disadvantages in particular?
Jamie: As I alluded to, what I find the biggest advantages is just the depth of connection. You get to know your community from a lot of different angles, which is also one of the disadvantages, I think. So, it kind of falls on both sides of that fence. But I think it also really makes the work itself really meaningful. It's really purposeful because you see that impact and see that your presence in that community matters.
I find that like the word-of-mouth aspect is really the big reward at the end of the day, right? When you have, for example, a late-stage older farmer come in who heard from his buddy down the road that, hey, maybe therapy isn't so bad and this is the clinic where I really had a good experience. That's what makes it really meaningful, right? People really value that, that authenticity, that consistency and that humanity in it, I think. So that is really a big advantage.
And as I mentioned some of the challenges to that, limited access to other providers. We only have so much capacity here, right? So even things that fall out of our scope, it becomes a challenge as to where do we refer them or how do we get them connected with the service that they need to be connected with, because it just is so limited out here and so many people are just not comfortable with virtual services yet either, which is an additional challenge.
Another aspect, of course, is as I mentioned, the sense of community and being integrated and developing those relationships. It can become too much in a way as well when you know too much about so many different aspects of community and about different relationships, and you're constantly on this ongoing road of navigating dual relationships.
How do you go to a yoga class when there's six of your clients in the yoga class? How do you navigate going for groceries when there's the odd person that sees you and really doesn't want to see you out in public, right? And you can tell that they're uncomfortable with it, and the next person that you see at the grocery store wants to catch up and having a good chat in the aisle.
So, it's a lot of being really intentional, I find about setting those boundaries ahead of time with clients and setting that expectation. I think every time that I meet with a new client, and I know my colleagues as well, we usually have that conversation to set that up with clients. That this is a small community and we're in a rural area. Chances are we are going to see you out and about. And if and when that happens, you're totally welcome to say hi to us, but we're not going to initiate contact with you just to protect your privacy.
So, it's interesting. I mean, you can put as much intention behind that as you possibly can and still find those situations that can catch you a little off guard with that. Right.
Kayla: No, that makes complete sense. Something you said earlier was having a therapist around breaks down the stigma, right? Because it's like now it's word of mouth, like one farmer saying, hey, I went to Jamie. She's amazing. You should give her a try. It's like, oh, I never thought about that.
And I just know, you know, me growing up in a small rural area that didn't have any therapists. Really therapy wasn't the conversation because it was kind of out of sight out of mind. There was nobody around. So why would you talk about it? Because it didn't exist. And I would assume, now, this is a total assumption that even with virtual therapy, that again out of sight out of mind. If you don't know a therapist, if you don't see a therapist. If you know the nearest therapist is, like you said, three hours away. It may not be as accessible because people don't really know that it exists.
Jamie: Yeah, absolutely. I think there's definitely that running in the background as well. Yeah. And I think like a lot of people as well, really, like I mentioned that the sense of everyone knowing each other's business in a small community, there's even a lot of hesitance sometimes for people to come in the building.
So, there's some people that really benefit from the virtual aspect because it's a little bit of an entry point there. Like another piece that we're very intentional about here is even scheduling our clients so there's enough time in between that nobody's overlapping in the waiting room and like things like that to keep a little bit of distance that way. So, I mean, you can put a lot of intention into that, keep it as much flexibility, but I mean, having those conversations well ahead of time I think is really vital.
Kayla: those are really great points. So, when it comes to marketing, what strategies have you found to be the most helpful in building your rural practice? And do you have any advertising tips for any listeners considering opening a practice in a rural area?
Jamie: I would say maybe a bit of an anomaly here. I've just never found any traction with traditional marketing in this market. When I first started, I was trying Psychology Today and like those sorts of pieces, right? Social media. I found in this setting anyway got me so far. What I found to be the most impactful thing, as I mentioned, was word of mouth, ensuring that everyone who calls the practice gets a call back, right? That nobody's left hanging. And even if we aren't the right fit for them, that we make sure that they're connected with the right fit.
The other piece, making sure that we're connected with community agencies, so we've developed some really beautiful relationships with a couple community agencies. Both here in Wainwright and then another couple surrounding towns as well. And have developed really great working relationships with them in order to deliver like subsidized counseling for people who maybe don't have benefits or maybe don't have access through Recovery Alberta or something along those lines. So, we're able to offer a subsidized rate to those folks with the support of some of these community agencies.
It's also really helped to partner with these agencies and do some psychoeducational chats and that sort of a thing that are open to the public or targeted to different audiences. And I think even just that gets your face out in front of these communities is you're just another person, just another member of the community who has a little bit of a different skillset, a little bit of knowledge and experience to share with them, right? So, I've, I've found that that really. Breaks things down a significant amount. Even a couple weeks ago I gave a chat in a neighboring community and it was, you know, an hour and a half chat and just the amount of people who reached out following that was really incredible to see. So, it's a little bit of a more non-traditional, I would say, approach to marketing, but really emphasizing the importance of those community connections.
Kayla: I love that you highlighted kind of those referral relationships or word of mouth, because really, and this is even in urban centers. They will always be the number one marketing strategy, even though a lot of people find like they're the last I want to do, right? Because they're scary. You have to reach out to people you've never reached out to before, but they will always be number one.
They did kind of go down a little bit during the beginning of the pandemic because people weren't really seeing each other and things like that, but it's really ramped up again. And especially going back to what I said earlier, if you are in a rural area that really kind of out of sight, out of mind, and people don't even know that therapists exist, they may not be Googling or going on Facebook looking for a therapist. What they're doing is they're talking to people saying, hey, I have X issue. Oh yeah. Well, guess what? There's Jamie over on this street. And that is how, again, in a rural area, people are kind of talking to each other, kind of learning from each other. They're talking to friends and families.
And one of the things that I do with my business coaching clients all the time is we go through what I call a private practice persona. And the very final thing is identifying where are your clients? What are they looking up? Are they even looking for a therapist? If they're not, where can you show up? Like you said, like those workshops, right? If someone's having stress at work and you have a stress at work workshop. And they're like, oh, that's super cool, and then they learn about you and that you're a therapist and they reach out to you. And all of those types of things, whether it's rural or urban, can be really effective because now people are building that trust with you, but you do need to know who are they talking to, where are they? And you know, it's other people within the community or other organizations in the community.
Jamie: I would absolutely agree. I think like the other big one that's really helpful to get tapped into in rural practice is connecting with your local healthcare providers. Because when you say, where are these people, a lot of times they're at their doctor, their nurse practitioner, the primary care network, right? And those healthcare workers that are serving these folks often don't have access to the resources either, right? Are often wondering what's out there, where to point folks. So that's a really valuable connection as well. Or even your local physiotherapy clinic or chiropractors or, I found those connections really, really meaningful and helpful in those early days, and continue to be really great relationships and great referral sources as well.
Kayla: And depending on the types of clients you see, it could be even like lawyers, right? Especially if you're dealing with child custody, divorce. It could be motor vehicle accidents. Lawyers are seeing people first as well, and that might be a great connection to also reach out to in your community. Should a lawyer exist in your rural community.
Jamie: Yeah, that's exactly it. But I think that really shows the importance of building those connections. Like I said the best and toughest part of rural practice is those connections, right? And building those professional relationships for those referral sources over traditional marketing I found just far more success in that.
Kayla: Yeah, I completely agree. So, do you have any additional advice, insights, tips for listeners about how to build a proper practice in a rural area?
Jamie: I think the biggest takeaway that I have found, and the biggest piece that I would share with anyone is just to not underestimate the power of trust in a rural community and doing everything within your power to build that trust and maintain that trust.
And to really prioritize integrity. Good, honest, quality, integrity, filled ethical practice. I've found just to be a really meaningful, meaningful part. I think that's what takes you from being a resource that's floating around in the ether to one that is a foundational part that people have no problem referring to.
So, leading that with that humility, that presence aiming to be connected, starting small and not being afraid to fail. Tracking different things and seeing what connects with the community, what doesn't, what resonates, what doesn't?
The other piece I guess that I would touch on as well is just that rural practice can be isolating sometimes too. So, the importance of building out your network of people that you, yourself as clinician can be checking in with.
And as I mentioned, I'm really lucky here and that I employ a couple of my really great friends who are also therapists, and so we're often checking in with each other and having those hallway conversations over coffee or grabbing a meal after work. We're also very intentional about connecting with others outside of our practice as well, right? Making sure that we're engaging in our own supervision on a regular basis. Making sure that we're consulting with others to build out those connections. And make sure that we're not just working in our little cave here in isolation. So, building out those networks I think is really critical for our own wellbeing of longevity in this as well.
Kayla: That's a really great point. Jamie, if any listener would like to reach out, how can they connect with you?
Jamie: Yeah, absolutely. I'm always happy to connect with anyone, professionals just to bounce ideas around or if you're curious about the work or curious about conversation, I'm always thrilled to connect.
You can find me at my website at www.goodlifecollective.ca, or on usual Instagram or Facebook at Good Life Collective.
Kayla: Amazing. So, check out Jamie's website at goodlifecollective.ca, or you could simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.
Jamie, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today to discuss how to build a private practice in a rural area.
Jamie: Thank you so much for having Kayla. It's been a pleasure to chat.
Kayla: And thank you everyone for tuning into today's episode, and I hope you join me again soon on The Designer Practice Podcast.
Until next time, bye for now.
