Honoring Mental Health Professionals: Reflections on Growth and Success

You're about to embark on a reflective journey with us as we celebrate the fruits of our labor and express gratitude to those who've been instrumental in our growth. From Biz Radio providing a platform that amplified the voices of mental health professionals to the invaluable guests who enriched our show, we're truly grateful. We've seen our personal business grow beyond our expectations, and we owe a chunk of that success to the power of networking. Strap in as we delve into our success story, and perhaps you'll pick up a few tips to apply in your own journey.

Brace yourself for an insightful conversation with a special guest, an accomplished art therapist who's turned her visions and dreams into reality through drive, ambition, and manifestation. Learn about the transformative benefits of art, the importance of community, and how accessibility to mental health resources can alter lives. Hear about her new art studio, a haven for guests to share experiences and undergo intensive therapy sessions. We'll also be peeping into the future - discussing potential hires, events, and ways to connect with us. Are you ready for an inspiring and transformative journey? Tune in now.

This program is brought to you by:
Kindred Art Therapy
Visit https://www.arttherapync.com/ to schedule a free consultation.
- and -
Alynee Davis, PLLC
Visit https://alynnedavis.com/ to connect.
Alynne is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Coach.

Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.

Transcript

Aubrey: 0:59

Welcome to Kindred Conversations, the show where we shine a light on local mental health professionals, who are the unsung heroes of our community. Join us as we delve into their journeys, strategies and the art of healing minds. Together, we'll break down stigmas and celebrate resilience. So today we have a special episode. It's going to be me and my producer, aaron, here and we're just going to be talking and reflecting on the year and different milestones that have happened, and then we're going to be looking at the year to come. So we're at the end of 2023 right now and just looking back, and one thing that I really want to say is just how grateful I am to Biz Radio for giving me the opportunity to be here, to be podcasting, to radio show, to do all of the voice things. I started out this year with the goal of having my own podcast and I did even better than that and got a radio show. So thank you, aaron, thank you Matt, for bringing me on. Yeah, aaron, how has it been so far? We've been working together now since March.

Aaron: 2:05

Yeah, it's been pretty incredible seeing the show not just the show grow, but you as well really leaning into this, because it's not easy. There's a lot that goes into running a radio show and not just producing content and sitting behind a mic and talking, trying to build a platform for people inside of your industry and relevant to the story you're trying to tell, give them the opportunity to share their stories. It's not an easy task and I think you're killing it.

Aubrey: 2:47

I appreciate that so much. I did a lot of networking early in my career, early in my opening my practice last year, and a lot of it was somewhat arbitrary networking, just meeting a lot of different business professionals. I got to meet just really incredible people and learning all about the different things that they do and it really opened my mind up in terms of what's available and what opportunities are out there for business. In that process I was like why don't more people know? Or the reason that they don't is just they don't have that same opportunity, they don't take the time, they don't meet those people. Sometimes it has to do with social anxiety, sometimes it has to do with just accessibility and time.

Aubrey: 3:36

The radio show is really a great way to be able to bring some of those guests on. The longer that I was doing that, I realized that the clinicians that I was networking with every week really didn't have a place to get to share about their practices and get to just get a chance to really practice getting to talk about their practices in this format, and so this becomes somewhat of like a unique space where people get to come on and and shared as the relatively short clip about what their business is all about and just getting to Express that to build more traffic for their business. But just yeah, it's also having an opportunity to spread their word with other clinicians as well.

Aaron: 4:26

Yeah, and it's um, it's. It's an interesting thing. After, after doing this for so many years, you kind of realize that a lot, of, a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with kind of kind of that imposter syndrome or that Reluctance to to spread their knowledge and spread their their story. You know a lot of a lot of people will kind of keep it to themselves and not think that them just expressing their you know trials and tribulations to get them to the point where they're at Is is beneficial to other people. And then, on top of that, you don't really go around and and Ask to be on shows, you know, unless unless it's a marketing campaign, you know, for a specific event or or product or whatnot. So it's really important for you know, the the people on biz radio and yourself to to reach out and Let these people share their story and reinforce the value that they do give to the community. And we've seen that throughout the year with with your incredible guests that you've had.

Aubrey: 5:40

Well, I really appreciate that, Aaron, and you know I don't really think of it as like letting my guests to to come.

Aubrey: 5:47

It's more like offering them the opportunity and being excited about the fact that they're willing to accept and that they're willing to come on, because you know it's funny, because this is something someone else taught me was like if you walk around and you Offer a bunch of people pizza, like pizzas delicious and most people like pizza, but even at that, the majority of the time, like you're still only gonna get so many people to take the slice of pizza.

Aubrey: 6:18

And the same thing goes with, you know, having a radio show appearance. It's like a lot of people would love to have a radio show appearance, but they get so nervous about it that that they and they get in their head about whether or not they could do it that they decide that they're not going to. And so I'm really encouraging the people who do decide to come on that like it's not super intimidating, it's just us. It's like a time that we can just catch up and get to have a conversation about what's going on in your business and you don't have to feel a lot of pressure about that, and and it lowers the bar enough that people feel more welcome to coming and and I really hope that that our guests feel that way.

Aaron: 7:04

Well, I think, I think you're easy to talk to which it's it's. It's no small feet to get me out from behind the board and behind a mic.

Aubrey: 7:20

Well, thank you for thank you for being my co-host today. Aaron, the, the shy one in the background, yeah, so I mean I'm just, I'm just really grateful. And then you know, so my business is undergoing some some really great growth. In the first year it's not how I had envisioned it. I had no idea what to envision, honestly. But yeah, so last year at this time of year I was still, I mean, frankly, just like desperate to be able to Pay my bills at home, to be able to. Yeah, I mean, I was so fearful at this time of last year about what was going to happen next. I was excited to, but I was really scared because we had I, I, I, I had started shortly after my daughter was born, around like August, of trying to work on my website and trying to do the whole networking thing and everything.

Aubrey: 8:23

But I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know how to go about it. And so at first there was a lot of stumbling. I hung out for like two weeks straight in a coffee shop, just like trying to figure out what do I do, and I just sat there working on trainings because I just didn't know. And then finally, I actually, just by serendipity, had met this woman at my son's school, who also happened to meet her on social media, and I recognized her because of the label that was on the side of her car for the business that she was running, and I decided I was just going to say hi and she ended up inviting me to an excuse us while we succeed event and that was run by Ash Sanderhal and actually before we got on this call, I was literally just telling you I was talking to Ash and I didn't know Ash at the time. But I went to this event and there was like 30 women there in the room and there was one man and later on this one man he ended up getting a lot of flack for being there, but I ended up going and talking to him about some potential coaching, just like learning, business, trade related things, and that was Alex Cardona. He was the one who ended up connecting me with biz radio and he connected me with Western Women's Business Conference, with Mountain BizWorks, with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, like just basically like all of the networking in this area in western North Carolina. He was like oh, let me open up your eyes to all of this that already exists here for you, and so I mean I as much as like there were challenges later on in our relationship that I've still like so grateful just for like that experience, you know, because that was so we start.

Aubrey: 10:17

I met him probably like in September or October of last year and then, and then, just totally independently, I ended up working with the Unicorn Universe through LinkedIn and that was there in a their group. That is somewhere else, just like they're out in like Arizona or something, but they're also like all over the world and they're they're they just do like these zoom calls and they connect people and their whole thing is all about making lots of connections and Daniel Knight, who I had on as a guest earlier this year, had introduced me to his coach, who was Brandon Gadoras, and Brandon was just so pivotal in terms of like kind of pinning me down to like what do I need to do in order to get to where I want to go? And just so simple, like, very simple things like he was, like he helped me develop a spreadsheet and a tracking system and things like that. Unlike, how are you going to take daily and weekly action so that you're going to get to where you want to go. What I realized from working with Brandon was that I wasn't going to be able to move at the pace that I needed to to be able to keep up with what Brandon's expectations were. So I ended up parting ways, just more so for Brandon's sake, because he was really going to need a lot of patience, because in the background I also still had, you know, my daughter, who's now 18 months old, my son, who just turned seven, and my husband and we're, you know, managing a household over here in the background.

Aubrey: 11:57

So I'm trying to both grow this business and do all of my networking and do my radio show and do my weekly events right. So I'm just like I want to kind of keep with what I'm doing here anyway. So the whole while, like I had to kind of trim some things back of like what, where can I spend my time and where should I not be spending my time. And so over the last like probably nine months or so, like since I started with biz radio, has just been really growing my caseload. I'm trying to bring in more revenue to the business and I'm just I'm really proud of where I'm at right now.

Aubrey: 12:38

Honestly, like I was able to have just an average of like 25 clients a week over the last quarter, which has just been incredible. Wow and oh yeah. And I opened the art place my studio, over the art place studios with the art league of Henderson County. That's. That's a whole other thing that I opened up to. That I'm really excited about, and I never even knew that that was going to happen. I literally, like you, know the law of attraction, erin, like I swear, I swear, this manifested for me literally in my backyard.

Aaron: 13:16

It's funny that you know the term when it rains at, pours kind of goes both ways that you'll you'll notice that your drive and ambition will continue to snowball. You know for the not just for the bad things, but for the good things too. You know whenever, whenever you have that, that traction, and and you ride that train to success, it, it, it's really limitless and it blows down to the connections that you make and and you know optimizing the opportunities that that you know come, come across, your you know what, what you're, what you're trying to accomplish.

Aubrey: 13:58

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, let me just talk really just shortly about the, the art place studios, because, like I think that this has so much to do with, like the vision for my company. Now here's the thing is, like I don't necessarily have like a clear vision of where this company is going. That's the. That's part of the challenge, and part of that is that I don't always know what's available for me. So I'm learning and I'm creating the vision as it goes. But to me it's very important to just be able to integrate these parts that are really important, like community art, just accessibility to mental health and just being able to to bring people together and grow things and do things in ways that are innovative and new and just exciting. You know, I have ADHD and I work with my clients around ADHD strategies and I think like having that flexibility while also kind of that drive to move forward is really like at the pinnacle of both entrepreneurship and being and like living with ADHD. So to me it's like all of these kind of things come together in what I call is like my vision, but not really a vision, and so, you know, last year I was like I kept thinking about this space, I would be on Craigslist or I'd be on Facebook or I'd be on Google like looking for a space. And last year I was working at an office space that was literally right next door to where this space is that I'm at now and I drove by and there was a sign that said like the Art Place Gallery. And I never knew that this place existed. But I was like, oh, there's a gallery there. I wonder if they know other artists, if they know you know of something or another. So I ended up joining because it's is a nonprofit called the Art League of Henderson County. I ended up joining for like $50 for the year. I was like, yeah, that's no big deal, professional membership fee or whatever, so not a big deal for me to sign up. There is really grateful for that opportunity.

Aubrey: 16:11

Went to a couple of different membership meetings and got an email in mid March saying, hey, we have these spaces that are opening up next door to our gallery here and we're we're inviting anybody who wants to come and see them, but you have to come on this day at this time and I was like, absolutely, I'm being there so that I can get this space, because if I'm not there, I might not get a space and, lo and behold, the people who didn't go that day ended up on a waitlist. So I was there, I picked my space, I picked the best space for my business. It's literally in the center of the studios and it to me it's just like there's this therapeutic heart in the middle of all of these different artists, studios and a place where a community can come and sit in this like peaceful and relaxing space. And we have like wonderful lighting. Everybody comments on the lighting. They come in, they're like, oh, this feels so peaceful, it feels so inspiring, you know.

Aubrey: 17:17

So these are the types of things that I'm enlistening from people and yeah, and they come in and they can create so one. I mean I've been able to have families in there, I've been able to have individuals in there and we've also had a few different events that have come through for the art place in the art league of Henderson County. Where I want to be able to expand into is being able to provide more groups and Intensives. So intensives being like if we have a family that's coming in, instead of working for just a 60 minute session, we would work for like half a day or a whole day and Just being able to really dig into the things that are going on in that family and then being able to Offer follow-up care to that. So it's actually like a slightly different model than like our hourly model.

Aaron: 18:08

So that's one of the big things that I'm looking to be able to use this space in particular for in 2024 and I think too, what, what you've done with your, your space, you know, your physical space, creating that atmosphere has very much translated to what we record and kind of from a outside looking in perspective. Obviously I'm your number one fan. I listened to all your shows, you know. I've noticed that a lot of your guests not only have, you know, expertise and so much to share in their experience in, in art, therapy or different, you know navigating different challenges, whether it be psychological or business. There's there's kind of an atmosphere that's very unique where your guests start to open up about their own stories and and you know some of the some of the reasons why this is so important to them and that's, that's not, that's not a common thing.

Aaron: 19:17

You know most, most shows. Over the years I've noticed how they they turn into kind of infomercials or infomercials, you know, little 30-minute promos for a business and it's hard to break that, that routine, and it's easy to slip into kind of it. It turns scripted and which is totally natural to happen, but it is. It is pretty incredible to watch this. You know, you, you using that space that you've created for your clients, bringing that over onto the airwaves is is Incredible and it's. I've really enjoyed watching that develop and and and see the see the results of it, not just, you know, with the, the people listening into the show, but also Seeing how, how much your guests are gaining from it.

Aubrey: 20:14

Well, aaron, I'm so humbled and thank you so much for those lovely compliments for all of the work that I've been doing and I really appreciate that. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I mean. It's weird when we come to this time of year, it's the end of the year and we look back on everything that we've done because, like throughout those days, we're like okay, like we're not making it anywhere, feel like we're spinning our wheels doing the same thing over and over. But the reality is, when you look at a whole year cumulatively, you're like out, I Accomplished a lot, like I didn't realize it was gonna take so much, but I was able to do all of that. So, yeah, it's exciting. And yeah, just like to two more things that I want to touch on you know that that are exciting, that are coming up, that are being planned for the new year and I Probably bring Shane on within the next, probably early next year just to get to talk about it.

Aubrey: 21:11

But Shane mixon is with him. He's a luxury travel advisor and I met him through the Chamber of Commerce in Hendersonville and for the last like month or so, him and I have been collaborating about a week-long cruise in. I think we've narrowed it down now that we're probably gonna go to Paris not Paris itself, but like the countryside in France. We're gonna do a river cruise and have it based Around the idea of like an art therapy retreat. So this would be for therapists and other professionals, but it would have that art therapy spin on it that I would be offering. We'd also be getting to see like different, like museums and things like that.

Aubrey: 21:58

So that's one thing that I'm really excited about. That's going to be coming up with more details for that in the new year. And then we're also talking about a ribbon cutting for my business and like a big brunch, like just being able to get together at the Art Place Studio. So that's gonna be late March, early April. We haven't picked a date for that yet. So when that date comes, then I'll probably have Ash on and we'll talk about it and share all about what's gonna be happening for that event and that's really exciting. So just getting to do some more events in the space, being able to travel more and, yeah, continuing to see lots of clients this year and being able to provide good services to those clients and may also be looking at the possibility of hiring in 2024. So just lots of cool things in the new year.

Aaron: 22:56

Yay, that's so exciting.

Aubrey: 22:58

Yeah, yeah, so, yeah. So I'm gonna wrap up now. Anyway, anybody who enjoys our show, please reach out. You can reach out to me through the Biz Radio website and also my website. So my website is arttherapynccom and bizradious is for radio station. So be sure to like and subscribe our shows and go back through and listen to any of my previous guests if you're interested.