WP159 | Making Your Mission and Vision Matter - Live Consulting with Nathan Hansen, LPC
Hey friend, Whitney here. I’m fired up about today’s episode because we’re pulling back the curtain on how clear branding, mission, vision, and values can fuel real growth in your faith-based practice.
I’m coaching my friend Nathan Hansen, LPC of Great Lakes Wellness Counseling, and we get super practical on turning values into hiring, culture, and clinical excellence, and how to rally your team around a shared purpose.
Quick heads-up: the Wise Practice Community opens tomorrow with a limited-time promo of 89 cents for your first month, November 12 through 14. If you’ve been wanting weekly live trainings, expert Q&As, small-group accountability, editable paperwork, and a supportive community that understands your faith, this is your moment. Learn more here: https://www.wisepracticeconsulting.com/community
Why Your Mission and Vision Matter
When Nathan started his practice nearly a decade ago, he was a solo practitioner juggling everything himself. Now, with a thriving group and a full team, he’s realizing that growth requires intention. We talked about how your mission and vision statements are more than words on a website—they are the roadmap for your decisions, your hiring, and your leadership.
I shared how I went through this process at Water’s Edge Counseling when we opened our second location. We gathered the whole team, took a half day away from clients, and worked together to define who we are, what we value, and where we’re headed. That experience brought so much alignment and renewed purpose to our practice.
Bringing Your Team Into the Process
Nathan and I both believe that mission, vision, and values should live and breathe in your practice, not just be written once and forgotten. Whether you have W2 employees or 1099 contractors, you can invite your team into the bigger picture.
We discussed simple ways to do this—like using your values to guide interviews, celebrating professional wins that reflect your mission, and encouraging ongoing growth and education. Even casual conversations can become opportunities to reinforce your shared purpose.
As Nathan put it, “I want my practice to provide real solutions, change lives, and offer expert care.” That’s the heartbeat behind Great Lakes Wellness Counseling, and it shows in the way he leads his team and serves his clients.
Faith as the Foundation
For both of us, faith isn’t something separate from our work—it’s the foundation that shapes how we lead, how we serve, and how we build community. In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to integrate faith authentically in a professional setting and how being part of a faith-based network like Wise Practice makes that easier.
Living Your Values Daily
It’s one thing to write a mission statement… It’s another to live it out every day. I encouraged Nathan to weave his values into regular practice rhythms: asking team members about their wins, highlighting success stories that reflect growth, and celebrating certifications or continuing education that help his clinicians better serve clients.
Values aren’t just wall art; they’re a compass for how your team interacts, how you market your services, and even how you make financial or hiring decisions.
Building a Culture of Growth
A key takeaway from our conversation was the importance of encouraging professional and spiritual growth within your practice. Nathan and I talked about practical incentives like continuing education stipends, certification bonuses, or mentorship programs that help therapists feel valued and supported.
When your team knows you care about their growth, they naturally invest more in your mission. That’s how you retain great clinicians and create a culture that thrives.
The Power of Community
Nathan shared how being part of the Wise Practice Membership has provided him with guidance, accountability, and lasting friendships with other Christian practice owners across the country. He’s attended every Wise Practice Summit so far and loves the chance to learn, recharge, and connect with others who share his values.
Community is what keeps us grounded and moving forward, especially when private practice gets lonely. Together, we sharpen one another and remind each other why we started this work in the first place.
Nathan Hansen’s Resources
Links and Resources
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
-
[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Hi, I am Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time.
Now, let's get started.
[00:00:29] Jingle: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:00:47] Whitney Owens: Hello, wise practice listeners. So excited that you're here 'cause I am fired up about what's ahead. Starting tomorrow, November 12th, the doors to the Wise Practice community are opening for a limited time with an amazing deal. So yes, the doors are open throughout the year, but this special deal is only gonna be available November 12th through the 14th.
And that is. 89 cents for your first month in the community. Yes, you heard me right? For less than a dollar, you step inside a supportive, faith-based, driven community of Christian practice owners who are learning, growing, and cheering one another on. Within this community, you will find weekly live trainings on topics that matter most to you and your practice expert sessions with live q and As.
Small group. Accountability, encouragement, paperwork that you can edit and use in your practice. Resources that are easily accessible, discounts on your events and tools to help you grow your practice. It's a place where you don't have to do it alone. You're surrounded by people who understand your challenges, celebrate your wins, and relate to you and your faith.
Here's the real fun part. Over the next few weeks, you are gonna continue to get a taste of what it's like inside of this community. So even today, I interview an amazing practice owner. He's been in the community for years. We talk about branding, mission, values, such great stuff. Nathan is so supportive and great, and he also is at the summit every year because we come together once a year for that Wise Practice Summit.
We meet online throughout the year, and we are a community that supports and helps one another. So if you've been listening to this podcast, I know that faith means something to you, and I know that you're a practice owner. If you're not a part of the community, now is the time. So remember starting tomorrow.
Only for a limited time, you can get the access to the community for 89 cents for your first month, November 12th through the 14th. So to sign up, head on over to wise practice.com and click the community link. And there you'll get this special discount. Now remember, the doors to this community are open all the time, so if you're listening and you missed the 89 cents.
No problem. You can still join the community for just $89 a month, not even a full client session, but if you're listening and you can access it between November 12th and 14th, I strongly encourage you to do so. I look forward to seeing you in the community, but until then. You've got the podcast. So we have got the interview today with Nathan, who is a group practice owner based outta Michigan, and we talk live consulting on rebranding and considering how do I convey my mission, my vision, my values to my team.
So I'm looking forward to introducing you to Nathan and answering his question here on the podcast.
Welcome back to The Wise Practice Podcast. I'm looking forward to this interview today with my good friend Nathan Hanson. He is the owner and founder of Great Lakes Wellness. Counseling, a medium sized group practice located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he isn't conquering the private practice world, his busy being a real life renaissance man.
A master of many domains, crafting perfectly smoked meats, tinkering on projects, hunting, running on islands, or sipping a cup overlooking his freshly mowed lawn. His true joy comes from being with his wife, two kids. Friends and family. He's a lifelong follower of Christ active in his church and does his best to infuse his faith and dedication to everyone and everything he does.
I love that intro, Nathan, that does describe you well. Well,
[00:04:32] Nathan Hansen, LPC: thank you. Appreciate it. Glad to.
[00:04:35] Whitney Owens: Yeah, so glad to be here. Well, why don't you first share your intro, shared a lot, but share a little bit also about your practice, kind of the dynamic, when you started it, why you started it, just so people can kind of get to know you and your passion.
[00:04:48] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Sure. So my practice will turn 10 this coming January. So I've been in practice for nine years. I have a pretty extensive background in helping people. I've worked in the mental health field since the late nineties. I work in the education sector, both in residential life and housing, as well as being a assistant clinical director of a university.
Counseling center, and I also worked in the medical healthcare field working in emergency rooms and urgent care centers, not as a therapist, but as a medical personnel. So I have a, a, a broad net. I make moves under the, I guess lateral moves under the Helping Professions umbrella. And after kind of, uh, fighting with God, preferability speaking, I surrendered.
And became a therapist. 'cause I wanted to be an ER doctor. So I, I came back to the private practice world and so Great Lakes Wellness Counseling is in, in Jenison, which is outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I started off on my own as a solo practitioner kind of when the, I guess maybe when the private practice coaching world maybe came unseen.
Yeah, that was back in 2016 ish. At least that's when I encountered it. So I had my own office by myself for three years and I moved to another office location with two office suite, if you will. I started growing my team and now I have, there's six of us in a nine office suite, so I'm working on filling up.
We serve mainly adults, but we do have some kids and teens that we work with and we kind of provide. A little bit of everything. I like to have different birds in my nest, you know, to go along with that. Birds of a feather flock together idea. So yeah, that, I guess that's a brief intro. Yeah. As far as the practice, yeah.
I'm married, I got two kids, and my son's 13, my daughter's 10, and my wife is a special ed teacher for a local public school district.
[00:06:42] Whitney Owens: Hmm. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing more about yourself. Mm-hmm. All right, so what is your question for consulting today?
[00:06:51] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Sure. So I am an established practice. I'm looking to grow and I think part of the, the growth process is to clarify kind of like my mission, vision, and values.
You know, get to know more the why and the what behind that. Mm-hmm. I'm also working with another consulting company to help me with my branding and messaging on my website and stuff. Mm-hmm. So I thought it would be effective for you and I to talk today about that process for me. And as you've gone through that with Water's Edge,
[00:07:20] Whitney Owens: right?
[00:07:21] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yeah,
[00:07:21] Whitney Owens: yeah. That's right. Mm-hmm.
[00:07:23] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yep. And so just your experience with that and kinda glean off of you what you've learned from that. You know, throwing me some tips and tricks and then also asking me some questions and, and my opportunity to ask some questions to you too, just about this. Yeah.
[00:07:36] Whitney Owens: I think that's so great and I love that you're bringing this back up because a lot of people will start out with, this is who I am and this is what I do.
And usually that's when we're solo practice owners, a lot of group practice owners. I don't know if you can feel the same, but like, did you know you wanted to have a group practice when you started your solo practice?
[00:07:53] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Not, not fully. It was something I wanted to do. My wife and I talked about just the, the jump into private practice and I said, Hey, I don't wanna be.
You know, 65 and I'm on the verge of retirement or whatever and look back and say, what if? Mm-hmm. You know, I wanted to say, Hey, so we prayed about it and talked about it and, and we agreed that I had a three years to get my private practice up and running and, and if it didn't work, I'd do whatever I gotta do to put bread on the table.
Right. So, that's right. Thankfully, God has blessed, it's grown every year since.
[00:08:22] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, and, and I, yeah, I say that like we start our practice as a solo practice owner, and we don't necessarily think about the branding mission, vision for a group, you know? Mm-hmm. And so a lot of times we start a group, and when we're starting the group, we're just so busy getting it up and running.
We're not really thinking about all that, you know? Mm-hmm. And then it starts rolling, and then you're like, what am I doing here? Like, where are we going as a team? Who are we in the community? So, so that's how it's been for me. But I would like to first start out with what kind of brought you to a place of wanting to kind of rebrand and rethink about this.
[00:09:00] Nathan Hansen, LPC: I think a lot of it has to do with. It goes back to my, my tagline for the practice. So I, I remember receiving some coaching a long time ago, and I've had some different coaches too, and currently you're the longest one I've been with, which is great. Mm-hmm. But part of that was, you know, you gotta be able to give your 32nd elevator pitch if you're gonna say to somebody or ask them, or if someone asks me What is Great Lakes Wellness Counseling and it's real solutions, changed lives, expert care.
So I spent a lot of time thinking about what do I wanna convey to people. And then even the group practice name, great Lakes Wellness Counseling. I knew I didn't want to do or be a solo practitioner, and I know that if you are a solo practitioner and you wanna move on to a group, it's hard to use your name as the practice because let's say you wanna sell it or grow, it's gonna be hard to do that.
So, great Lakes, geographically speaking is I'm in Michigan, so we're surrounded by most of the Great Lakes and wellness is just, you know, holistic wellness and then counseling. So that's kind of a bit about. Kinda what the name and the tagline and what I'm trying to communicate. So I just would like some help flushing that out and kind of talking about that.
So I can do that more on a, maybe on paper more or even more in conversation with people when they ask or when it's read about or communicated.
[00:10:21] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like you already have a good idea of your name and mm-hmm. What your, your tagline, so kind of a little bit like your mission statement.
I'm saying mission statement's a little bit, usually more fleshed out, but, but it's very similar to what you just said and so you're really looking for ways to convey who you are through what you do in your community, right? Yeah. Okay. And what is your,
[00:10:47] Nathan Hansen, LPC: beyond the website, right?
[00:10:49] Whitney Owens: Definitely. What is your logo?
[00:10:52] Nathan Hansen, LPC: It is, so it kind of looks like a water drop and it has like Great Lakes wellness counseling next to it. And a little nerd fact that I just kind of discovered the other day is the, the water drop has five sections of it. Which coincidentally represent all five Great Lakes. Right? I didn't plan it that way, but water, you know, water has, has a lot of power in it, right?
There's a lot of symbolism in water. If you look at our website kind of, we talk about that a little bit. It's, it's powerful. It has a lot of energy in it. It can, you know, smooth over round corners it can cut gorges and then in the rain of Christian counseling for those who want that at my practice or if that interest folks, you know, there, there's a lot of symbolism in the Bible with water and you know, Jesus tells us that the well come to me, those who are thirsty now we'll give you life and living water.
So that's a little bit about the logo.
[00:11:43] Whitney Owens: Love it. Well, and I love that you warrior. Polo today with the logo on it. Oh, thank you. Great logo. Yes, that's right. Looks good. So, so now I can like talk about your branding while I'm looking at it. Sure. So I can kind of share a little bit of my experience of kind of why I came about rebranding and kind of what hap not technically rebranding, but kind of my experience.
And then if you have questions we can kind of flesh that out. Mm-hmm. So for me, part of it was I had grown and so I was sitting at. And I can't even remember, probably 15 people. Maybe a team of 15 if I had to guess. Mm-hmm. And then we were starting our second location, so this was back in November that I started, well, a little before that, but I started really working on, okay, I need a more stable leadership team.
It was kind of me and, and a clinical director and, and I had someone managing the office, but we didn't like meet regularly. We didn't have like structure to it the way that I wanted to have structure to it that it probably needed at that size. Mm-hmm. So some of it was I want to be more focused and intentional and I think.
Really looking at my mission, vision, values is gonna create that for us. And we were opening our second location in February, so I wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page as a team before they're going over to another building, you know? And so the idea would be that we're able to replicate water's edge at multiple locations, and they all have the same feeling when you walk in the same branding, the same vision, the same values.
That was kind of how that came around. And so what we did was got the whole team to fill out surveys in advance. And I actually have all this in the Wise Practice community if you wanted to look at it and use it.
[00:13:27] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:28] Whitney Owens: But we did questionnaires and it was things about like, what do you think we provide the community?
Where do you see us going? What are services that you love that we do? What are services you wish we had? I gave them a list of 15 characteristics. Or values. And I said, which ones of these do you feel like we are? You can only give us five. You know, and then you could add in words. So we did a lot of that kinda stuff.
So that gave me a lot of feedback because who we are is us. Mm-hmm. You know, and so I wanted to hear what they thought. And so we took all that, put it all in ai, got a summary, discussed it as a team, and we did like a four day, or not a four day, a four hour workshop together. So we all took off. Mm-hmm.
From one to five, and we sat in a room together and we went through questions and we wrote out our mission and we got into small groups and each group did a mission and we shared it with everyone and we put it all together. And then we created our vision about where we were going. You know, where do we see ourself?
A year, two years, five years? Mm-hmm. And then we really sat down and started honing in on our values. You know, took those words, what do those words mean? Like compassion? I can't remember exactly. I'd have to look at my website. Mm-hmm. Compassion. We help others, you know, or something like that. I'm sure it's more than that, but we started working on those.
Our values are like integrity, compassion, humility, some of those things. Growth.
[00:14:52] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:52] Whitney Owens: We're always looking for. Mm-hmm. Like growth spiritually, but also mentally. So we kinda started putting those things together and then really honing in and how are we communicating that. So we started communicating that in our interviews.
Like we put in, actually, I love this and you'll, you'll probably like this. We went to chat GPT and put our values in there and asked it to produce questions for the interviews based on a therapist and scenarios would help us see if they had that value or not. Hmm. That's been really fun and it's, it's very helpful
[00:15:25] Nathan Hansen, LPC: to get those questions.
[00:15:27] Whitney Owens: Oh yeah. And it's been really, so how many
[00:15:28] Nathan Hansen, LPC: times do we sit around and rack our brains? Like, what's the best question to ask?
[00:15:33] Whitney Owens: Definitely.
[00:15:34] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Or what can we ask or can we not ask
[00:15:36] Whitney Owens: based on laws, right? Uhhuh. Yeah. And what's been also interesting is the ways different people respond to the questions. Mm-hmm. So, like one of them was if you're, if you're at work and the therapist in the office next door is consistently coming late and asking you to cover for them, how would you handle that?
You know, I've gotten a lot of different responses for that. So anyway, so, so we've been using them for that, but now we're really using 'em to determine like, which team members are the right fit for Water's Edge, you know? And are they, yeah, that's, that's a good point. Amplifying it. So I was gonna
[00:16:08] Nathan Hansen, LPC: ask you about that, like, from your experience, how does a clearly defined and communicated, you know, mission, vision, values, impact, water's eligibility to attract and retain clients and professionals?
Mm-hmm.
[00:16:23] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I mean, I think that it definitely retains clients in the sense of, they usually see it on the website. I mean, that's how they, we get most of our clients, I would say 50 to 60% of our clients come that way, so, mm-hmm. I don't know how many of them are going and reading about all that, but it is communicated on our website.
And so when we put things, pictures, all those things, we have these values to think about when we're putting that on the website. I think it also brings us together as a community. As a, as a team to say, Hey. Mm-hmm. We are working towards this. So recently we set our 10 year goal, and I'm not gonna say it yet on air because anytime I say something, anyone on my team could hear it.
And I want it to be a surprise. We're gonna have an unveiling of like what our 10 year goal is and it's gonna be fun. But the point is like when we created that, I was like, wow. I need everyone to jump on board to make this happen, and we're doing it.
[00:17:14] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:15] Whitney Owens: Together. Mm-hmm. And so it brings that sense of community to all of us, which I think is really special.
[00:17:22] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Could you tell me a little bit about how, 'cause your practice is a W2 and currently mine's a 10 99, so there's some differences there, but what would your advice be for a 10 99 in communicating some of what you just talked about? Because I quote, can't tell them. Unquote what to do because I'm not a W2.
[00:17:43] Whitney Owens: Yeah, but I don't think you have to, like, I think you can encourage them that this is where we're going as a group. Like they still choose to work there and choose to see clients there because they care about what you're doing together, right?
[00:17:55] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:56] Whitney Owens: Community and mission means something to them, or they'd just be doing it on their own.
[00:18:01] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:18:02] Whitney Owens: Right? Mm-hmm. So it's not as so that you're telling them they have to do it a certain way. But you're giving them the opportunity to join the mission,
[00:18:10] Nathan Hansen, LPC: right? Like hop on board, right?
[00:18:12] Whitney Owens: That's right, that's right.
[00:18:14] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Okay, awesome. Yeah,
[00:18:16] Whitney Owens: yeah. Yeah. So that's a little bit of how, how we've done it. And I would say since, since that meeting, I've really structured more of my leadership since then.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, now we have, we have like regular meetings every single week and when we are making bigger decisions for the business. We do go back to those mission vision values saying, okay, well here's, this is who we are. Mm-hmm. This is what we provide, is this decision in line with that. But I would say more than anything, the values are the things that I go back to the most.
So like if I'm making a decision to invest in something, like is this showing us growth mindedness? Is this showing us to be reliable? Is this a humble thing to do? And I can go and look at those and say, well, this really isn't like in these characteristics of who we are. And that's been helpful. Or having a team to say back to me like, that's, that's not what we said.
You know? Mm-hmm. So that's been really important too.
[00:19:17] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Okay. So some accountability not only to the, the vision of the practice, but to the direction that you're taking the team as the owner and leading them toward.
[00:19:27] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's a good way to say it.
[00:19:29] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Cool. So what strategies do you guys use or could I use Right, to move simply just beyond stating the mission, vision, and values.
So you had a, a brainstorming session, right? Where you talked with your team about that. What are the things have you done or could I do? 'cause I'm in the midst of this. Right?
[00:19:49] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's great. Okay. So it could be something like, what if part of your mission is we want to serve the unserved, let's say That was kind of part of who you are, what you want be.
Well, you and I'm a private pay practice, so that becomes mm-hmm. A little more challenging in a lot of ways, but you know, I can put it back on my team. Okay. What are some things that you see in the community? That you wanna make happen? I think it's really important that us as the business owners don't just take it all on.
Mm-hmm. Like we gotta have it together. Because if we take it on, then we tell them what to do. It's just not as fun. We want them to take that ownership. So that might be that we, oh, ex for an example, like we're gonna. I'm pretty sure this is gonna happen. We're still in the process of planning it, but we're gonna do a table at a fundraiser for an organization that supports women with breast cancer, you know, to help fundraise.
And so we're gonna put some time, energy, money into our table so that we can support that. And so these are people that that need that funding. Right? Mm-hmm. Things like that. Or maybe if we want, if we're saying we wanna have more of a mission mindset, then maybe we offer a couple of pro bono sessions at the practice.
And so looking at what the mission statement is and how can the team members jump on board with aspects of it and saying back to them, okay, here's who we are, what do y'all wanna do about it?
[00:21:15] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:21:16] Whitney Owens: As opposed to me just saying, this is what. I'm gonna do about it
[00:21:20] Nathan Hansen, LPC: again, an invitation opportunity for the team to, to join you in doing something.
Mm-hmm. That aligns with what you wanna do.
[00:21:29] Whitney Owens: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think so much of that day long meeting or we did a half a day meeting. We actually did all day. We had, you know, William Hemp Phil, we had him come, it's that morning. I know. And he did a training with us about diversity. Mm-hmm. And being aware and how to care for one another.
And it wasn't ju, it was diversity in all different kinds of ways. Mm-hmm. So that was a really cool training. So we did that for half the day, and then we had lunch together, and then we did the mission, vision, values part of the training.
[00:21:59] Nathan Hansen, LPC: I really liked his imposter syndrome one. I think he did in think it was it.
He did that in summit year
[00:22:05] Whitney Owens: in 2023 actually.
[00:22:07] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yeah. In Savannah, right?
[00:22:08] Whitney Owens: That's right. Now he's a keynote this year.
[00:22:11] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yeah, that's, yeah. I'm sure he's got something good lined up for us.
[00:22:14] Whitney Owens: He's so great. He's so great. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, great public speaker, but yeah, so he came and did that training and so I think there's also something to be said for like.
We show our team what's important. Mm-hmm. By what we put our time and energy into. So for me to say, Hey, I'm gonna pay you guys and you're gonna take a day off, and we're not gonna get any income that day because you're not seeing clients. Mm-hmm. But this is important enough to me. And so they see, oh, this is important to us.
[00:22:43] Nathan Hansen, LPC: How does that tie into Water's edge, mission, vision, values? Like what one does that touch
[00:22:49] Whitney Owens: well? I wouldn't say we have that specifically on our values, but community's a big one.
[00:22:55] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Sure.
[00:22:56] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Right. That makes sense. And the essence of being together, we're stronger together.
[00:23:01] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:02] Whitney Owens: That's something that we talk about a lot.
And teamwork. I think that humility is one of our values. Mm-hmm. And so I kind of roll teamwork into that because when we think we can do everything ourselves, that's the opposite of humility. Mm-hmm. But it's being able to look at someone else's needs and care for those. Mm-hmm.
[00:23:19] Nathan Hansen, LPC: And
[00:23:19] Whitney Owens: so that teamwork component, I think shows in that.
[00:23:24] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you have any other questions for me?
[00:23:29] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Is there, yeah. So do you feel like there's something you're thinking about that you want to implement as you consider your mission, vision, values? Like, I kinda get the sense there's something else you're thinking about. Am I missing that, or is that right?
[00:23:44] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Well, no, I'm, I'm just thinking about, you know. How can I take like my tagline, right? Real solutions change lives expert care, right? Which is which. If I expand on that for a moment, great Lakes counseling. I want all of us here to provide real solutions for people, right? When people are in the midst of.
Trying to solve a problem or a puzzle, right? That's what brings people through a door or a moment where enough is enough. They've had whatever it is in their life. Enough is enough. I need to make some change. So I want my practice. Part of what I think the mission of it is, is to offer that real solution, like practical boots on the ground, real life help.
Yeah. As, as private practice owners or clinicians, we can hang out in the academic clouds and, and certainly even some of our clients, right? But that's not what they're there for, right? And so real solutions change lives. Right. We wanna. Work with someone because there's a change that they're looking for.
And so we wanna help them do that. And that leads into expert care. Like we're experts in the mental health field, but they're certainly experts in their own lives, and it's a privilege for us to be invited in there. And so there's the, the collaborative nature of it, like when I work with my clients, I don't call 'em patients or, or clients maybe on paper, their client, but when I'm face to face with them, I'm like, you're my people and we do life together.
Right? That's, so that's, that's what I wanna. Convey, uh, through that. So I guess based on that, how could you, what kind of question?
[00:25:08] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I love that. Or what did you ask? I
[00:25:09] Nathan Hansen, LPC: got lost in that. Sorry.
[00:25:10] Whitney Owens: That's okay. You were sharing with me your kind of your mission there. I love it. So thinking through things like, okay, so how do I teach my team?
Mm-hmm. To do things that involve real solutions. That made me think about how often people say, I went to a therapist and you know, they just listened to me and I walked out and that was it. You know?
[00:25:29] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:30] Whitney Owens: Like, so, so the change that you make is maybe it's that we encourage every therapist to provide homework every session.
Mm-hmm. That's real solutions. Here are the three things you're gonna do after you leave this session and you're gonna come back and tell me about it next week. Right?
[00:25:44] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yep. Yeah. Or like that, training
[00:25:46] Whitney Owens: your team to say, Hey, the client is the expert in the room. You know, and making them aware of that consistently.
You're talking about that in your staff meetings. What did your clients teach you this week? Mm-hmm. So you're kind of reemphasizing the values by what you talk about with your team and honing in on it over and over again. I was also thinking about the expert's idea of that would show that. Good clinical care is important to you as far as mm-hmm.
People that are trained in different modalities that they can offer. And so that might be that you're making sure you're hiring people that have certain modality, it's already in their training. I don't know if you can really do this as in a 10 99 model, but at least, like if I think about a W2 model, like part of the income is invested in continuing education.
Mm-hmm. That shows my team that a value of ours is. Continuing education. You know, maybe there's something you could do, a stipend bonus or some kind of thing. But
[00:26:45] Nathan Hansen, LPC: yeah, that could be, it's, it's kind of a requirement of the contract that just commensurate with your license. You're supposed to stay up on, you know, on trend and, and be mm-hmm.
Making sure you get your certifications updated as needed, et cetera. But yes, I could offer a, Hey, if you meet this many clients or something, it is just contract language, right. Trying to figure that out. But I like the idea of. Of putting it in there, or hey, or here's a, a contract renewal incentive. You renew your contract and stay on board.
A provision of a a dollar amount towards getting a certification or something could be offered as part of that expert care idea.
[00:27:23] Whitney Owens: Yeah. And
[00:27:23] Nathan Hansen, LPC: supporting them and thus the clients.
[00:27:26] Whitney Owens: That's right. That's right. Mm-hmm. And depending on how you do your pay model, if it's a percentage or flat rate, but if it's a percentage, then you can say.
Hey, once you're, and I'm just using this as the easy example, like once you're MDR R trained, we're gonna raise your rate. Well then that incentivizes them to go get EMDR trained because then they're gonna make mm-hmm. More money when they do.
[00:27:46] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yep. Which then keeps them there too. So. That's right. The retention factor, right.
[00:27:51] Whitney Owens: That's right.
[00:27:53] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:54] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So what was the right, you said it was real solutions expert care change
[00:27:59] Nathan Hansen, LPC: lives. Yeah. Real solutions, change lives, expert care.
[00:28:04] Whitney Owens: Yeah, so maybe another thing you could talk about in your staff meetings is how our lives changed at your practice. You know, sharing examples. You know, we've, we've been doing lately in our staff meetings at the very beginning, share one personal win and one professional win.
And I've really enjoyed it as a practice owner. 'cause I don't get to hear a lot of the good stories, you know, I'm so working on the business and so they'll share
[00:28:28] Nathan Hansen, LPC: mm-hmm.
[00:28:29] Whitney Owens: Clinical stories of successes with their clients. And so you're really emphasizing that changed lives piece mm-hmm. In your staff meetings?
Mm-hmm.
[00:28:37] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yeah, I like that. My staff meetings are few, just because it's a contractor model. I can't tell them to show up.
[00:28:45] Whitney Owens: Nope,
[00:28:46] Nathan Hansen, LPC: you can't. Um, and we all kind of jumble in and out of the, of the office, but. As the leader of the team. Right. And I'm supposed to be spearheading mission, vision, and values. I can just ask them that individually when I meet.
Mm-hmm. I do that, I make a, I make a point to make sure all my people know me and I know them and mm-hmm. Whether they're new or they've been here, you know, a few years. But I, I like that idea. I think you just asking about the personal and professional one that kind of comes up just in conversation anyways.
Sharing life together here at the office, but being more strategic about it would be a, a good help. Thank you.
[00:29:22] Whitney Owens: Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah. And so even like when team members get certifications or do something great that you're sending out an email or making a newsletter for your practice, just internally to say, Hey, here are the cool things that we're doing to educate ourselves and to change lives and to move forward.
[00:29:38] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Even I even like that. That gives me an idea of what you just said. You know, one of my clinicians recently acquired their full license.
[00:29:46] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:29:46] Nathan Hansen, LPC: But then I could, I could, everybody knows it 'cause. We had talked to each other and we're happy for each other that way, which is great, and I'm very thankful for that.
But just communicating that in a, in an email, the, hey, you know, Amber, who is the fully licensed one, is gonna continue changing lives, even more so now as a fully licensed clinician. And she can now supervise new clinicians that come in so she can change lives that way too.
[00:30:13] Whitney Owens: Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, you know.
That's something you could also put on your social media kind of stuff. Consistently showing here are the expert therapists, here's how we're growing so that we can best serve this community.
[00:30:29] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
[00:30:31] Whitney Owens: So I love it and I can hear your excitement as you talk about it.
[00:30:35] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yeah. It's, it's good to have these conversations.
Talk about these things. That's one of the reasons why I like doing this and being around the wise practice community.
[00:30:44] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Is
[00:30:45] Nathan Hansen, LPC: to get plug. Shameless plug.
[00:30:48] Whitney Owens: Well, I love, Hey, hey, I'll, I'll take the plugs. So to
[00:30:51] Nathan Hansen, LPC: just bounce ideas off of, of people that are different than you and, and that are that, in my case, around the country.
I'm in Michigan, you're in Georgia. I've met people from all over and it's just great when we all get together, like at the upcoming conference in October. Wink wink.
[00:31:08] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, you know, Nathan, I think that the other thing I just love about it is we can have these conversations with like-minded faith-based practice owners.
Mm-hmm. And just the way that we think about things can be different because we feel called to it. Like we find God in what we do. And what I also love about the community is we don't feel like that shame or. Or, and that shame's not, probably not the right word, but like discomfort talking about our faith.
I can feel that way. Mm-hmm. With other people sometimes. So it's like this accepting space to talk about that.
[00:31:39] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I like that too in the, the small group little meetings we have year round as part of the community too. That's where a lot of these conversations, I've gotten some great ideas. From some of those too.
So
[00:31:51] Whitney Owens: yeah,
[00:31:52] Nathan Hansen, LPC: that just is a good reminder for me to plug in and ask those folks some of the same questions we're talking about today too.
[00:31:57] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So if somebody was listening and they were like, what do you mean when you say wise practice membership, community. Mm-hmm. How could you describe that to them?
[00:32:06] Nathan Hansen, LPC: I'd say business coaching community for faith-based clinicians, whether how I describe it as whether you are a, or whether you have a.
A Christian practice, meaning you market it that way specifically, or in my case, where you offer that service. I'm not, my practice isn't at this point in time, a Christian counseling practice, but we do offer Christian or faith-based counseling for those who want it. So I would say it's, it's a place for, you know, solopreneurs, right?
Solo practice owners or group practice owners where we can comfortably, as you were kind of talking about a few moments ago, talk about our faith and how the impacts the work we do and how we serve others. And some of the unique aspects of that. And it's a business coaching community, right? That's, that's a very helpful thing.
'cause a lot of us, and even those listening that are part of a private practice world, know that it can be lonely, right? It can be, you feel like you're on an island, even though there may be other practice owners you talk to, but it's just a community, right? Yes. It's where we get to hang out. In person, you know, sometimes, I mean even that, that can happen in your personal community too.
Like here in the Grand Rapids area there's Elena Smith who is part of the community who is nearby. So she and I have met before. And then other people who are listening probably have that same aspect of, of others in their community that are part of the private practice or wise practice community that can meet.
So it's, it's very beneficial and you get opportunities like this.
[00:33:31] Whitney Owens: That's right. That's right. In fact, one person that came to the summit last year who's on the West coast was like, oh my gosh, I met this other girl who has a practice just a few hours for me, and now they get together. And she was like, we don't have a lot of faith-based therapy, you know, group practice owners over here.
And so that was really cool. Mm-hmm. And I was like, gosh, y'all met. On the East Coast. Mm-hmm. Now your friends on the West Coast, I thought that was just really cool. And it's so true. Like you can make some really cool friendships through the community.
[00:34:00] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Mm-hmm.
[00:34:01] Whitney Owens: So, Nathan, what do you, you come to the summit, you've come to everyone so far.
So what, what makes you keep coming back to the Wise Practice Summit?
[00:34:09] Nathan Hansen, LPC: I think I like to see my friends and I get to travel. Mm-hmm. And I get to listen to great speakers. Like there's a lot of really good information, you know, and what you do with it is up to you. Right. There's, there's a lot of information that's just.
You just soak it in and that's cool to hear about and learn about. And then there's, you know, opportunities to engage with other business, like ancillary support business owners. You know, you know, whether there's A-A-E-H-R soft EHR software person there, a branding and marketing person there, an accounting person there.
You know, there's that opportunity there. But honestly for me, it's, I get to see my friends and travel and learn some cool stuff.
[00:34:49] Whitney Owens: Yeah. And get continuing education, right?
[00:34:51] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Yes. Yep. For those that need that. Yep. That opportunity is there. Yep. That's great.
[00:34:56] Whitney Owens: Well, Nathan, it's my pleasure. I guess I've, I was thinking about this the other day we met, I mean, I'm gonna go with like four years ago something.
Yeah. Back in
[00:35:04] Nathan Hansen, LPC: Nashville.
[00:35:05] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. That's right. I knew of
[00:35:06] Nathan Hansen, LPC: you through the coaching community you were part of then, and then I had some exposure to that coaching community too. And then I went to the Nashville conference and we got to chat, and then here we are.
[00:35:17] Whitney Owens: Well, I'm, I'm grateful to know you and consider you a friend and likewise.
I look forward to. Thank you. Look forward to seeing you soon in person, and thank you for coming on the podcast.
[00:35:27] Nathan Hansen, LPC: You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Anytime.
[00:35:32] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:35:48] Whitney Owens: And special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
