Staying Small on Purpose: Building a Practice That Actually Fits Your Life with Bianca Stefina

You're listening to Empowered to Lead, the therapist practice. I'm Lisa Catello, therapist, business coach, and your go-to for all things leadership and sustainable practice growth. This is your space for real talk, smart strategies, and grounded support to help you lead with confidence, work with intention, and build a business that actually works for you. Let's dive in.

Welcome back to the Empowered to Lead podcast. This is a podcast for mental health practice owners and multidisciplinary clinic owners, and one of the things that we are doing this summer is just meeting with regular clinic owners and hearing their stories. And so, what I really want through this podcast is for you to know, as a business owner, as a CEO, that you are not alone. And so, we all have different choices that we make for our businesses, how we show up in them, and whether we stay small or get big. And sometimes we get imposter syndrome because we want to stay small, but we hear these people that have multiple sites. And so Bianca Steffina is joining me today, and she is one of those that has chosen to stay smaller, and so just really want to hear about your story. I'm so glad that you're here. It's been a while since I've seen you face to face, so I'm excited just to interact and hear a little bit more about where your practice is now. So let's start with who are you and a little bit of your journey with being a group practice owner.

Sure, thanks for having me, Lisa. You have been instrumental in my group practice journey, and I'm so grateful that I found you back in 2022 because you were really the catalyst that helped me feel confident into building the what now is really me psychotherapy clinic. So my journey. So I guess quick background about me. I worked in community mental health since I was 20 years old, and I'm now 30. So, for the past 10 years, I've worked in community mental health in all different domains, from residential to clinical to youth justice to this education setting, and then it led me into private practice back in 2020 or 2021 actually was private practice, and I started my private practice, and I have some pretty unique credentials as well, which I I will maybe touch upon for those RSSWs who might be joining in from Ontario. But I was in private practice, and quite literally in six months, I filled my caseload to a full scale. I could leave my full time job at the school board, and I was working in private practice. It was amazing. I was so grateful for it. And I do think one of the things as well for the listeners, if you're struggling to find who you are in your voice and trying to stick out among you know the 1000s of therapists out there, it's really finding what you're passionate in in and what you're passionate about, and allowing that to really just soar. And when you really start to speak out on things that you're incredibly passionate about, you will attract the right people. And that's within my practice. So six months filled my practice, helped a couple other people fill theirs because I was working in a group practice-ish setting. It was more of collaboration approach rather than like a split fee, and I helped some other people build theirs. And then I got to the point where I was referring out into the community about like three to four referrals, almost a week out into the community. It was asinine at that point, and I'm so

grateful. And there were some other things that I did too for marketing, and then I I sat there and I said, okay, I want to trust that the individuals that I'm referring out to really believe in the same mental health pieces that I do. I truly believe in challenging the Western pathogenic approach to mental health. I believe in a very holistic view, and I specialize in trauma. My title is a certified clinical trauma specialist, and I specialize in experiential therapy, so IFS, EMDR, brain spotting, all of the things that I say really get to the root, and really looks at a person's whole life. And it's what did they learn from their experiences, and how is it showing up in their current day functioning? Which you know, DSM five will call symptoms, and again, this approach doesn't work for everybody. But the clientele I work with, it does work with. So I was speaking out about this on social media, and a lot of people started the referrals kind of came flowing in. So then I was starting to put my feet out there in the community of other professionals who've kind of spoke the same language before trauma care. This is right at the beginning before nervous system regulation, quote unquote, exploded. Right, this is so back in 2021, where we're just getting, you know, some some people online were talking about nervous system, talking about the autonomic nervous system. So that's kind of what I started in really my education in 2020 was all about. So they start to look for professionals in the community that really had extensive trauma informed training and trauma treatment. I found one. She was later my business partner, and she was wonderful. And I just threw the. I came across you, and I threw the idea out there. Of I literally took her for coffee. Well, I took down two espressos. She's never met me in her life. Was sent to her referrals in the past. Lady has never met me in her life, and I'm like for coffee. She's like, okay. And she actually works

down the street from me, where I was renting space. I just pitched this idea to her. Never met the lady, Robin. If you're listening, I love you.

But I literally said, will you put up a group practice with me? And the thing with being an RSSW as well in Ontario work granted the ability to have third-party billing, so our supervisors at that time we can bill underneath our supervisors for services provided for most insurance companies. So a big piece of this was that I needed an MSW supervisor or an RP one to strengthen my clinical skill set, two to make sure I'm doing things properly, but three, be able to have my services more accessible for client. So I pitch this idea to her. She looks at me. She goes, "Yeah, like hi, nice to meet you too. I'm going to be really transparent with you. I have plans to move out of the country actually within the next six months. And I'm like, "Are you for the opportunity? So I left, and I was like, "Okay, going back to the drawing board, and then essentially she texted me that night and said, "You know what, Bianca? The wheels are turning. Let's meet again. And we started looking for office space. In that July, I remember writing in my journal, and I came across it. I said, "I I own a beautiful practice space with like-minded practitioners. It has beautiful windows. We are making an impact in the community and really challenging the narrative of mental health. I wrote that journal entry in July. We started looking for office space, and october 1, we signed our first commercial lease, and it was incredible. And at the time, before I had met you, I was thinking, you know what? I didn't really know about the split fee business model. I was just going to invite other practitioners in to rent space from me to help me pay the rent, and then I came across you, and then I started to think about how much I love leading, and I have some histories while teaching psychology at the postsecondary level with the program I graduated from, and I've always wanted to be a teacher. It's so funny. Before I became a therapist, I've always wanted to be a teacher, and my

parents thought that would be my career path as well. But as I started to get into your group coaching program, that is phenomenal. If anyone's on the fence about it, highly, highly recommend it. Not sponsored.

I haven't paid her for that. Not sponsored. This is not my work beginning.

You know, I highly recommend it because it was such digestible, real information for me. And I don't know if we'll talk about this later about some of the other group practice coaches. Obviously, like some of the marketing tactics that they use that I don't fully agree with. Regardless, though, yeah, I found you, and then I learned about the different business models. And the thing about micro practice that some people I'm really interested to share because I actually have a really unique dynamic. I have some renters who are so near and dear to me. They are amazing practitioners who have already been established in the community that I looked up to. They were clinicians with years of experience, EMDR, somatic experiencing, brain spotting, art therapy, all of the things that I knew that I wanted to bring into my realm, and then I have some virtual clinicians, and then I have some in-person clinicians who are both all of them are on a split feet. So that's I have a little bit of a mixed business model, and I want to talk a little bit about that. Maybe if someone's a little bit apprehensive to bringing on these people, or perhaps having this big overhead cost, what is actually sustainable, and what could help you feel a little bit more comfortable? So yeah, that's and we opened up our doors, and it kind of grew since then. And I essentially poached some therapists in the community, and I didn't poach them. I just met with them, and I said, "Hey guys, we'll be up a group practice. And it's it's something to note too. Before I actually had approached some of these practitioners, I started posting about. I was doing some trainings for CYC assets about the polyvagal theory, window of tolerance, working with children and youth. And a lot of these therapists had actually signed up, but they were local to me. So then they would message me after and be like, "Hey, can I come by your office and just pick your brain? And that's who I actually reached out to

to ask to join my practice. And as of today, I have five full-time renters. And with that also being said, it's important to like to note that some of those renters started on a split fee, and this is a very unique way I do business. And I understand that if it's not for other business owners, but for me, and what I'll get into as well about, I guess, the way that I run my business is that I am not solely a group practice owner, and in the future, that might be the role that I step into. But I'm also a full-time therapist, trauma therapist, paying 27 clients a week. I'm also a clinical supervisor, and I have a second business. With a friend in the field, the corporate resilience advantage, and we do corporate trainings, and I do some EAP corporate trainings. So I have a couple like I, and so with that being said, my group practice is a source of passive income and a source of passion. But I wouldn't say it's my full identity as a group practice owner. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah. So just renters right now. Then no contractors.

Okay. Tractors. I have okay four in-person contractors ICs, and then I have three virtually. So I do have seven, but most of them are part-time, and they have community mental health jobs. Which, if you're maybe a clinician that's at a group practice. Something I've also kind of seen a lot in some other individuals coming to my practice, where they were told at their group practices that they weren't allowed to work anywhere else, but they were nice. And I remember our our conversation. Yep, that's a big no no, and that is really inappropriate. So I've, you know, what one of my contractors has her own private practice on the side, and we have a very good relationship. And I trust her that any referrals that I send to her, she keeps within the practice. Yeah, and and there's been times where she was full of my practice. Nobody else really had the expertise that she did. I sent it to her private practice. So, and I truly believe, and there might be some business, really big business people listening to this and saying, "Well, like, you know, are you going to get the results that you want? And I think when we go into a little bit about my leadership style and my values in business, I am a little bit different than I would say the full business model. And right now, it's working for me, but you know, maybe in the future we tune things, we look at things. But right now, everything has worked really beautifully. Where I've kept my clinicians, I've only had my turnover rate has been two clinicians, which one I had to let go. And this is when we opened in 2022, so I had to let one of them go, which probably remember my panic too. Yes, I remember that. And one of them deciding it wasn't a good fit. She went back to her community mental health job. But sister, I've kept all my ICs for four years. That's awesome. Thank you. And yeah, was the biggest thing is I didn't want. I'm a big relationship person, and I want a revolving door of

therapists and everything that comes with that. Is a therapist leaves, and then they bring one. Is that obviously? And again, this is the way that I practice. I do if the client has established a relationship with the therapist they're working with. Of course, I'm not going to be the one to say you know they have to there you they have to stay in the clinic and I try to work really it's a fine line between having therapists come to you and build up their private and perhaps leave with a full client loo yeah right because I've seen that happen yeah this knock on wood not for me I stopped it before it got there or they, you know, and I don't. There's a fine line, so I just am really intentional about the people that I bring on, and I try to get their intentions up front, which people can be deceitful, of course, you know, yeah. But that's kind of, yeah. So that's kind of, I guess, my long-winded answer is right now we have four renters, and I have 12345678, ICs, and I have pretty small office space. However, not everybody is full time, and it seems to be working for the last years or four years. It's worked decently in my favor.

There's so many questions I have, but let's start with the question that I ask everybody: How would you describe yourself as a leader? I think you've alluded to it a little bit, but a formal answer to that question,

I would say mindful, which goes right into our kind of our title of the practice is mindfully me, and I would say I want to be conscious, I want to be regulated, and I want to be mindful. And I think all of those things combined really truly make a leader that leads by example. And I really wanted to make decisions out of a place of okay, I'm calm and regulated. I didn't want to make decisions out of places of scarcity because I've been around individuals who have made decisions out of scarcity mindset, and I've seen the way that it's gone against their personal values and the things that got them in afterwards when it came to ethics and boundaries, and you know some things that were crossing some really fine lines. So for me, and you know what's crazy too, and I'm really into energy as well, and some people can relate to this message. But I found when I really started to put time and effort into myself, and truly the way that I showed up, more so about like the business things, about just really focusing on my mental health, my physical. Health in my regulation. That's when things started to flow a little bit more naturally, and maybe that's just me being like woo woo. But I found that when I really focused on the things that I could control outside of the things that I couldn't control, and really showed up with my best intentions, the business followed really successfully, which is really interesting to me.

Yeah, and we teach our clients that, and then we tend to forget that in real life for us, right? Yeah, yeah. One of so when we first said, "Hey, let's let's have you on as a guest, we talked about staying small, so some people might not think seven is small for contractors. Really, you're managing 11 or 12 people between renters, even though renters don't require as much. What makes that size good for you right now? You've got all these other pieces. You like over full time therapist, you've got teaching and all of these other avenues. So, what makes that size work for you and your energy?

That's a great question, and I would say that. So, the one thing that has been really helpful again is that most of these folks have been with me since year one, which the onboarding, we did the coaching. We did a little bit of okay. This is what my expectations are of you. Let's ride it out. So it's been easy because knock on wood, I've been so grateful that the turnover rate hasn't been high. That I'm not starting over with people and get catching them up to speed. If that makes sense, with you know my policies, my procedures, the way that I do things, and on top of that, I would say that not everybody's full time, and I really try. I'm not as I will say that I'm not as present as I'd like to be physically. I'm always available for them. They can text me anytime, really, and that's maybe not great boundaries, but they know that I'm available at any time for them to text me, especially if there's an emergency, but they all work. I only have three office spaces, so I have people. But those are just they're straightly virtual. But I only have three office spaces, so a lot of us share office time and space. So I'm not always physically present with them, which is one thing that I wish was a little bit different. But supervision monthly, it's peer, and either they come to my house or they we meet online. And I think that's a big thing about staying smaller.

Yes, yeah

Is that they've all been to my house. They sit in my basement. They sit in my backyard. We eat together for our Christmas parties. Obviously, I've taken them out for dinner, but even one year we went to my Nona's house and got a real authentic Italian experience. Pretty cool. Yeah, like they both met my family. Like it's fine. It's a very relationally based, and that's who I am as a therapist. I'm a very relational therapist, and I think that is you know I would add that to my leadership style. I'm relationally based as well as a leader, and yeah, I think I answered your question. I guess yeah. Just yeah, it's been it's been really solid since the start. And I will say, two of those people who are renters started off as ICs, came to me and basically said, you know what, I'm really thinking about you know wanting to rent space in the community, and this is the power of the relationship that I shared with them because I was really grateful that they came to me and said that rather than building on the side, and then they just got up and left. So now these people that I've they obviously made me money through the IC route, and they are established. They have two feet on the ground. They've left their full time jobs. I wanted them to stay with me. They're great therapists, and we had a conversation, and we moved them over to a rental fee split, and I know them. I trust them. They're working underneath my name that I've built for myself, so I'm a little bit flexible in that way. Where they're going to leave regardless. So if I could keep them in house because I trust have a great relationship, that was really really important to me. So they always have my ICs do have that option if they want it. Actually, if they get to the point where they want to be their own boss, but they know everything that goes into it too, they it's really great because we're so close. They know how much time admin, myself, I do admin. I don't even have an admin person,

which is one thing you're working on. But they know, like, and they thank me for my time, which is so kind. I think keeping it slow like that, I have such a good relationship with them where they know me personally, and I think they know my business practices and my leadership style, where they feel a sense of trust, and I trust them too. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it totally makes sense. And even as you were talking, like quite often when I'm working with people, I will say like once you get about eight to 10 therapists, the dynamic changes as a leader, and so now you start. I think you should start seeing your therapists as your clients and kind of exchanging some clips. Client time, so that you can take care of your therapist when you stay that small and up to about seven. There's still that intimacy. I remember sitting in our waiting room and having pizza and sushi for our team meetings. And then as you grow, first of all, there's people seeing clients at that time, and second of all, we can't all fit in that that space, and things change, right? So that it sounds like that connection, that relationship piece, is important for you as a leader and for mindfully me as well.

100% You know, some might say it's my dashboard styles and my leadership role, right? Something to work on one of them before I just lost that. That's where I feel really safe is just knowing, like knowing who I have underneath me, and I'm the first point of contact for each client that comes into the clinic as well, email wise. And again, this could be some control issues that we're that's another topic on top of. But when people when people email and inquire about our services, because I know my therapist so well and of their their therapeutic interventions and the way that they show up even as a human, when someone comes to me and I have that first consult or I have the the email back and forth, I'm like, oh, I think you might be a good fit for so and so. And again, this is still control issues we're working on because I'd like to offboard this job, but I like being the first point of contact because everybody in the clinic knows. Oh, Bianca's the owner, and it's not an ego thing. It's more of like, oh, I know who owns this. I feel I I trust this place because I'm their first point of contact. Does

It makes sense, and I would gently push back to say I think there's some really good ways of having admins step into that role. They can know your therapist really well. You can have meet and greets. You can have them come to those meetings and stuff like that to take that off your plate. You are juggling a lot of things right now, and I imagine there's not a lot of sleep happening. Maybe that's just me, but

Like I okay. So, firstly, I just made a document for offloading admin because that is my next role. That is my next thing: is hiding to do billing, to do the inquiries. It's quite literally my next job on my plate is to. It takes a little bit of work to find that person, but I'm going to do it. And secondly, it's really funny, Lisa. I went through an extended period of severe burnout, and again, there was part of me that said we can work through burnout. Like burnout, it's not going to hit me. Oh, it hit me. It hit me mentally, physically, spiritually, socially, emotionally. It hit me like a truck. And I would say that this point in in time, I am fully two feet on the ground, feeling a lot better. And again, with these all of these other roles, I'm not teaching right now for the college. I'm saying about 22 to 25 max a week with cancelations of my own clients. Then on top of that, our corporate presentations are maybe about once a month, once every three months, because we are just starting out. Okay, and then clinical supervision. I have five therapists right now that I'm supervising, and they're about. It's a little bit different with like the Ontario College of Social Work, social service worker regulations, but they're more like once a month, like they don't have required hours, yeah. So I would say, believe it or not, there is a decent balance happening, and sleep is my main priority because I will never let myself get to the point that I did, where business wasn't sustainable and living life wasn't sustainable.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm a huge proponent infrared men because I think that that frees you up as an owner. So I'm happy to hear that you're thinking about that. And so many of us, like even like you said, I love being the first point of contact. Everybody knows me. I know everyone else, and so a lot of times we think we have to hold on to a role because we think we're the only ones, or we know that best, or how do I trust somebody with my clients or my therapist? And part of that is like I might think you should have an admin, but you know your life, you know your energy, and so if even if that's a part of like this actually gives me energy and helps me be the leader that I want to be. Then, like, who am I, right? And noticing what's actually draining you and filling you, and what are you holding onto that you could and should should be releasing because you're looking at the full picture. And so, I'm curious, why are you looking at admin now? Because one of the things that you talked about at the beginning was kind of like, for now, this is where I want to be. So that's that's another piece that stands out to me because like just because you're doing this now and this way now doesn't mean you have to stay. Like that, either right? You're gonna you've grown and changed as a leader in the last four years. Who knows what you're gonna be like in the next four years? Are you thinking admin so that your your role is gonna change or your practice is gonna change?

I'm thinking admin because one is I'm actually planning a wedding on top of all of this as well. I'm thinking about my honeymoon and just any vacation I've gone on hasn't been a big deal. But I bring my phone or my laptop, and usually in the morning I'll check emails, check in with like if anything urgent needs to be addressed, and then my laptop away and I enjoy myself. But when it comes to my honeymoon, we're going to go to Europe next summer. There was a big part of me that says, and not even just my honeymoon, just like with life in general. There was a big part of me that said, "Okay, Mika, are you really gonna bring your laptop to Europe and check your laptop lately? And you know, so it's just the way that life is transitioning as I'm getting a little bit older. And we thought about thinking about a possible family, I'm still on the fence about that. Like, and I wonder any other women who are watching this, or even men too, if they think about these things, right? Like, when you're so my business is my baby, it's yes. And but then when real life hits, it's like I don't know. Like, do I seem? There's a part of me that sees myself as a parent, and there's a part of me that says that my baby. Like this is my priority, and I want to normalize that for a lot of people. And I'm working through some brain spotting actually to really get what my life might look like the next couple of years. But yeah, it's just kind of wanting to take a little bit of time back for me for admin. And those times where I'm doing admin work, where I could be truly even doing some professional development, we're not not even work related, and just being me outside of who I am as a a leader and as a founder, you know, yeah,

Yeah, and even that part of like so looking down the road, we can get especially when we're first starting. It's so much like yeah, like a new baby, right? It takes up nights, it takes up days, and all of those things. And then as it grows and you grow as a leader, some of your relationship with time and effort and all of that changes there. And whether you call it your baby or an investment, this is a huge investment of time and energy. So if you're not looking ahead and kind of projecting how this is going, you're missing a lot of sustainability and how do I take care of me as I picture that down the road too?

Absolutely,

Yeah. Which could mean you stay at seven therapists for 20 years because that's the mix that you need and that's totally okay. It doesn't have to be okay. So when am I going to make this bigger?

And I wanted to comment on that too because one of your questions you asked me was really thought provoking, and I think I'm kind of I'm going to be the question asked for Andy. You know that that comment that you said about staying at seven therapists, I think that we live in such a society where everyone is like on the hamster wheel of the next best thing, the growth, and especially with some some coaching, definitely not your coaching, but some targets are insecurities and are pain points, and it really sells us the idea of like you're successful when your practice hits seven figures, you're successful when you can finally step away, and I would argue and say there is such a younger version of you out there that is in belief, or a past version of you that has is in disbelief that you've built. Even if you have one therapist, even if you just have a private practice and you left your corporate job or your community mental health job, there is a part of you that is in disbelief. So slow down, enjoy what you have, and of course, it's so important to have goals and to think future forward and while growth. I think that's healthy, but I do think that sometimes we cross a fine line of just constantly wanting more and really not enjoying the ride and enjoying what is, and we get stuck on what could be. And that was one thing that caused my burnout. It was I didn't sit in the success that I had. I didn't sit and appreciate what I had in front of me. I was literally on a hamster wheel, petrified it off. I compulsively could knock it off, and that's where I just felt a sense of I felt nothing, no purpose. I didn't put enough anywhere in my life. So, growth goals are incredibly important, and they're so important. But don't also don't be afraid to really sit in the gratitude to what you have built, and the more regulated you are, the more better the the better decisions you're going to make, and the more calculated decisions you're

going to make that align with your internal values as a business owner and personally, in my opinion,

And growth might be that you're taking a training as a clinician, or you're taking a leadership course, or something like that. So I'm growing as a person, and then I make a decision about how my business looks, kind of thing.

And I think for my internal growth right now, personally. Would actually be? Do I want to hire another virtual therapist? I do because referrals are very steady. But Black Girls is actually wanting to learn who I am outside of just success and productivity. That is my growth goal because I'm someone who's always put my worth into my output professionally, successfully, and I'm at the point in my life where I was on a walk and I literally realized there's no end goal in life. It's not like we reached the end. We're like, oh, okay, I made it. Yes, life is the journey. I sound so cliche right now. I sound like a big transport, but life is really the journey, and it's how we're experiencing at this very moment. And you know, I've lost a lot of people in my life, very young, a lot of friends, mental health, addictions, all the things, and really, tomorrow's not guaranteed. And again, I sound a little bit like little ridiculous, but really, life is not guaranteed. Tomorrow's not guaranteed. So if you spend your whole time just wanting more, more, more, for success is important for growth. But again, my growth, personally, for me at least, just the way that I'm in my journey right now, my growth is finding out who Bianca is, what she actually likes to do outside of professional development, outside of all the things that I've put on my plate with my downtime.

Yeah, I love that. Thank you for being here, Bianca. It's been so good to touch base again and just hear some of that story. To hear what full looks like for you right now, and I think it's real a really important message in all of that. Like it's okay to stay small, it's okay to take care of you, it's okay to have growth goals that are both business oriented and within you. If people wanted to check out your business or even connect with you because something resonated with them. How would they find you?

Sure. So it's mindfully me on Instagram. It. I try to post on there. That's another thing. I tried. I tried out so social media that I said. Well, this doesn't sound like me exactly. There's some control issues we're working. What broke is actually is my control issues, but my point B on Instagram, and then I'm also on LinkedIn, and yeah, you can email me, ask me questions. I'd be really happy to connect.

Awesome, thank you for being here. And for the yeah, for those who are listening, yeah, tune in next week, and we are just going through some stories, and this over the summer period, and hopefully you hear a little bit of you and some encouragement and what that looks like to have a practice that works for you and your leadership style and the overall goals and well well being. So, until next week, have a great day.

Thanks for hanging out with me on Empowered to Lead, the therapist practice. I hope you're walking away with something that you can put into action, because leadership isn't about doing more; it's about leading with purpose. If you're ready for deeper support, I'd love to see you inside the group practice connection, my monthly membership, where Canadian therapists like you get coaching, community, and the tools to build a business that actually supports your life. You can check it out at GroupPracticeNetwork.ca. The links in the show notes. And hey, don't forget to hit follow so you don't miss what's coming next. We're building something great here, and I'm so glad you're a part of it.