Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Vince.
Hi Dana, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am originally from New York. After high school, I was working full-time trying to put myself through college and going nowhere fast. I could only afford to take 2 classes at a time.
At the age of 22, I decided I needed to do something to help myself get to where I wanted to go, so I joined the Army. I went to school part-time during my 4 years of active duty. I also excelled in the Army and was made Sergeant after 3 years. When I was honorably discharged from the Army, I did so with my bachelor’s degree in Psychology in hand. I then moved to Florida where I began work in the mental health counseling field while obtaining my master’s degree.
I began the process for Licensure as a professional counselor and soon became pregnant with my first child. I started my private couples counseling practice as a new mom in August of 2006. It was a learn as I went process. I taught myself how to build a website, how to make it show up on google searches so clients could find me, I rented office space and felt like I was winging it. I had to learn what worked and didn’t work for marketing, as well as develop my skills as a therapist to retain the clients that walked through my door. My first year was a big success and my practice has steadily grown since.
My family decided to move to Knoxville, Tennessee in 2010. Having learned the lessons the first time around of what marketing strategies worked and which didn’t work, I was able to quickly transition and build my practice in its new location. It grew bigger than it was before and I was constantly turning new clients away, something that never sat well with me, so I started hiring and training clinicians in my chosen specialty. Over the next 11 years, my practice continued to fill up, and I continued to hire more clinicians. It soon became apparent that this mission and passion was bigger than me.
So in 2019, I brought on a like-minded and equally passionate partner and the practice has become what it is today. We have 13 employees and are continually hiring more. I have always had a strong passion for helping couples heal and bond and now I have the added privilege of supervising and training upcoming clinicians in the work of developing their proficiency in helping couples as well. My dream has far exceeded what I thought it would be since I first started this journey 15 years ago.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As I look back, on the surface it seems like a smooth road because my practice was always steadily building. Year after year, income increased, my competency, skills and confidence grew, I developed strong relationships with my clients and peers, and am more successful today than I ever dreamed I’d be. But if I let myself deepen my reflection, there were definite emotional hurdles along the way.
Learning how to set boundaries and protect my time and schedule has always been a challenge. Early on in building, I would schedule clients in whatever time slots they wanted resulting in a chaotic schedule that left me little room for anything else. So I learned how to create a set schedule and offer clients what I had. Being a mom of two active little boys, I had to learn how to balance running a business, serving clients and taking care of my family, never an easy feat. When my schedule would get full, I’d struggle to say no to people in pain and in need, so sometimes I’d get overfull and lose that balance yet again.
Learning to hire independent contractors and later transition them to W2 employees was definitely a big hill to climb. I went to school to be a therapist, not a business owner and employer. While the Army helped me develop strong leadership skills, it has still been a learning process to succeed in the areas of marketing, business development and being an employer. Life experience was my teacher.
When I hit a crossroads with how the business was growing, it was a big decision to bring on a partner and take a risk on bringing someone else into the fold of all that I had worked so hard to build. A risk I am very grateful I took. For it to get to where it is today, I had to be willing to take risks, lean into areas of discomfort and really challenge myself to push to the next level.
I definitely made mistakes along the way, things I look back on and would have done differently had I known better, but I believe what lent to my success was my willingness to learn from those mistakes and try again to find a better way.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My business is a thriving group practice of couples counselors. We specialize specifically in a type of therapy called Emotionally Focused Couples therapy. Emotionally Focused Therapy is the only therapy model for couples that research has shown to have long-lasting effects on couples who receive this type of counseling. It is a model of counseling established by Sue Johnson (author of the book Hold Me Tight) in the 1980s that sees relationships through an attachment lens.
It is a treatment model that is based on the knowledge that we are wired for connection. We all need to feel special to an important other in our life. We need to have a secure base, a safe haven to function and live a healthy and vibrant life. When couples are in distress, they get stuck in negative patterns and cycles that threaten that secure connection with one another. We help couples recognize these patterns and turn moments of conflict into moments of comfort and support to build bonding moments and create a secure connection.
I am most proud of the culture we have built within our business. We have a wonderful team of therapists that are very dedicated to the work we do, to learning and growing, and to being valuable members of our team. We provide a lot of training and support and this allows us to provide top-notch therapeutic services to our community.
We are committed to providing the most quality care to the therapeutic clients we serve as well as consistent and holistic support to the therapists we employ.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was always a caretaker. As a little girl, I used to love playing teacher or mommy in my pretend play. I was always empathetic of others and felt other’s pain deeply and wanted to always be someone who made others feel better. I was also feisty and spunky and not someone you could easily tell what to do. I liked to forge my own path and was very independent. I always loved to learn and challenge myself.
I became fascinated with psychology and family dynamics at a very young age and knew for as long as I could remember that I wanted to be some kind of helping professional. I also always wanted to be a mom, so I wanted to choose a career that allowed me to balance both. I’ve always been a creative and intuitive person and my heart and intuition have always been my greatest guide in taking risks to achieve my goals.
Pricing:
- Our counseling fees range from $50 per session for our intern clinicians to $175 for our most seasoned clinicians
Contact Info:
- Email: healingheartshelpdesk@counselingsecure.com
- Website: https://marriagecounselingknoxville.com
- Instagram: @healing.hearts.counseling
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healingheartscounseling
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/danavince
