WP101 | How to Pray for your Practice - Podcast Takeover with Amy Dover
In this special episode of the Wise Practice Podcast, Amy Dover takes over the mic to share her powerful journey of integrating faith and business. Amy's private practice story, which began in 2015, is deeply rooted in her dedication to God—a foundation that influences every aspect of her work. For Amy, owning a business isn't just about making strategic decisions; it's about aligning those decisions with Christian values and allowing faith to guide the path forward. One of Amy’s key messages is the power of prayer in business. She sees prayer not only as a spiritual practice but as a direct line to God, helping her make critical decisions, from hiring the right team members to finding the perfect office space. Through her transparency about the struggles and triumphs of faith-driven practice, Amy provides listeners with practical steps to invite God into their business, praying for protection, guidance, and specific outcomes.
How Amy Dover Integrates Prayer and Christian Values into Business Success
Amy’s journey into private practice began in 2015, and from day one, she dedicated her work to God. This spiritual dedication has been a cornerstone of her practice, shaping everything from her client interactions to her business decisions. Amy emphasizes the importance of viewing business ownership through the lens of faith, recognizing that how practitioners conduct themselves is a reflection of their Christian values.
One of the most compelling aspects of Amy's message is her belief in the power of prayer as an untapped resource in business. For her, prayer aligns intentions with faith and values, allowing practitioners to serve others with pure motivation. Amy underscores that faith-based practice owners should not only pray for guidance but also for specific outcomes, such as finding the right team members, securing office space, or making financial decisions. By praying for these specific outcomes, practitioners invite God into their daily business operations, trusting that He will provide wisdom and discernment in all aspects of their practice.
Seeking God's Protection and Guidance in Private Practice
Amy also highlights the importance of praying for protection—not just physical protection but emotional and spiritual safeguarding as well. Working in an environment where clients often bring heavy burdens can take a toll on practitioners, and Amy encourages practice owners to seek God’s protection over their workspaces, teams, and themselves. This practice of praying for protection creates a spiritual shield that guards against the challenges and attacks that may arise.
Amy’s transparency about her own struggles is relatable for many business owners. She candidly shares how she sometimes grapples with distinguishing between her own ambitions and God’s plans. This honesty serves as a reminder to all practitioners to regularly seek God’s guidance and to ensure that their decisions are aligned with His will, not just driven by personal desires.
Amy believes that prayer is not just a spiritual exercise but a direct line to the Creator of the universe—a channel for divine guidance. For those contemplating expansion, she encourages them to talk to God about their goals, trusting that His plan is perfect, even when it diverges from their own.
Pruned for Growth: Amy Dover's Faithful Transition and the Power of Prayer in Private Practice
Reflecting on her own experience, Amy transitioned her practice from a 1099 contractor model to a W2 employee model, a change that brought significant challenges. Losing half of her staff was painful, but she views this pruning as necessary for new growth. "Even though I’m half the size I was, this is just the pruning that needed to take place before the new growth will begin," she shares. Her faith has kept her hopeful, eagerly anticipating what God will do next in her practice.
Amy’s journey highlights the importance of staying connected to God through prayer, especially during difficult times. She encourages practice owners to carve out time for prayer and Bible study, no matter how busy life gets. While her routine has evolved since becoming an empty nester, she remains committed to daily prayer. She recommends creating a special space at home for quiet time with God, just as she has—a room that is uniquely hers, where she meets with God each morning from 6 to 7 a.m.
Building a Prayer-Centered Practice
If you’re considering making prayer a more intentional part of your practice, Amy offers practical steps. For her, keeping a prayer journal has been a powerful way to track God’s faithfulness. Whether writing or typing, she records her thoughts, prayers, and significant events in her practice. Looking back on answered prayers has been a source of encouragement, reminding her of God’s constant presence and care.
Amy also integrates prayer into her workday, praying before and after client sessions and during meetings with her team. She fosters a prayer-friendly culture in her practice, where team members feel comfortable asking for prayer. This openness has not only strengthened bonds within her team but has also made her practice a place where clients feel the peace of Christ, regardless of their faith background.
Aligning Your Practice with Divine Will
Ultimately, Amy’s message is clear: aligning your desires with God’s will is essential for both personal peace and professional success. Through prayer, you invite God to lead your practice, ensuring that growth happens according to His perfect plan. Whether you’re a seasoned practice owner or just starting out, incorporating prayer into your daily routine can transform your journey and help you navigate the challenges of building a practice that honors God.
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Leading a group practice is not easy. We did not go to school to learn about business or really leadership skills. We went to become therapists. So as you grow your group practice, it's hard to know where to go to learn more about being a good leader. Years ago, my practice felt out of control for me. I had six to eight therapists.
I wasn't really sure what leadership roles I needed, what my policies and procedures were. And I was scared to communicate because I didn't know what my therapist would say to me and I wasn't sure how to communicate effectively with them. That was when I reached out to ARC Integrated and began my coaching package with Michael Dietrich Chastain.
Then I learned how to appropriately communicate with my therapists. I began to understand what was happening within me that was making me so nervous about those conversations. I began to put policies and procedures in place. that brought structure and organization to the practice, and I was able to put therapists in leadership roles so that the pressure wasn't all on me.
Looking back at my work with Michael, I see that I was changed, and the practice changed, and we started on a trajectory of growth and success. In fact, my practice is double the size now from what it was then, and I adhere a lot of that to my work with Michael. Because it helped me become a better leader and more confident in my skills.
So if you're a group practice center or organizational leader, and you're looking to grow your skills, understand yourself better, bring more team cohesion and retain your employees. I encourage you to reach out by going to arcintegrated. com slash coaching. Let Michael know you heard about him from me on the wise practice podcast.
And he would love to work with you. In fact, if you head to arcintegrated. com slash coaching, you can schedule a free leadership consultation. I know when I did my free consultation, I learned tons and you will too. Hi, I'm 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.
Want to grow your practice? Want to grow your faith? Want to 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. Where
[00:02:26] Jingle: she grows your practice, she don't play.
She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:02:44] Whitney Owens: Hey, hey, welcome to the wise practice podcast. I'm so glad that you are hanging out with us today. I am particularly excited because you're about to have a podcast takeover. So this is the first podcast takeover I've ever had on the wise practice podcast. So in case you're wondering what that is, it's when someone comes and takes over the podcast and they do their own episodes.
Now, I would not just let any old person come on in here and do that. It has to be someone super special. So Amy Dover is 1 of the consultants with wise practice is phenomenal. I had her on the show a few months ago. She does consulting specifically for those that are in group practice, starting a group practice who are mother entrepreneurs.
Women in business, all the things she's excellent. And I just love the way that she integrates her faith into everything that she does. So you're going to get to experience her for the next four weeks. So pretty much the whole month of October, and I'm excited for you to meet her more. Um, if you get to know her and you've got questions for her, shoot her an email, Amy at wise practice consulting.
But I want to tell you a little bit, but that is, Look, after this, you're going to only hear her voice for the next two weeks. Um, but let me tell you a little bit about what she's going to be doing. So her and I brainstormed and chatted through this podcast takeover and kind of what were some things that she would want to talk about and what are some things that I think we all want to talk about.
So her first episode that she's going to be doing is on how to pray for your practice. And she's going to talk about the different ways that's changed over time, how she prays for herself, how she prays for her team and for her clients. And that's a topic I haven't talked very much about. So I'm looking forward to you learning from her on that.
She's also going to do an episode on faithful hiring, how to choose the right therapist for your practice. That is a challenge for any practice, but specifically when we're talking about integrating faith in the work we do with clients, you've got to be particular about those therapists that you're hiring.
So we're going to walk through that with Amy. And then she's going to also talk about that transition from a 1099 to a W2 practice, how that changed her practice. In fact, Spoiler alert, she was working with me when that happened, um, and when we first started working together, she didn't even realize that that's what her practice was, but she was in essence, she, she, I don't know, treating the W 2s like 10 99s.
So, She's going to walk through why that was helpful for her and how she did that. That's going to be an episode full of great content. And then the last episode she plans to do is leading the way, changing your mindset from a solo to group practice owner, because as a solo practice owner, we'd still run our business for sure.
And we have our business hat on our clinical hat on, but then when we start running a group practice, we have to change that. And really a big component of that, not only is the managing people because that might be what you're thinking about, but I think a lot of people don't realize that you have to change how you're seeing clients and decrease that and it kind of becomes a different role in a lot of ways.
So she's going to walk through that with you. So this podcast takeover is jam packed with great content. That you are going to love and Amy is a fantastic presenter. So this is your intro to the podcast takeover. She will be taking it for the next four weeks. And today is the first one.
[00:06:13] Amy Dover: Hello friends and welcome to the WISe Practice Podcast. My name is Amy Dover and I'm a group practice owner down in Enterprise, Alabama, as well as a WISe Practice consultant. With Whitney Owens and David Sturgis, and I'm so excited to be with you today. I'm actually going to be with you for the next few episodes, because guess what?
This is a podcast takeover. Yes. Whitney has given me the opportunity to just sit in her seat for a few episodes and just kind of share some things with you and topics that are near and dear to my heart. And I've been a therapist for over 20 years and a group practice owner for over 10. Well, I'm sorry, almost 10.
And I just have some things I'd love to talk with you guys about that I hope will be. practical and helpful for you as you go through your solo practice and your group practice. So today, again, is episode 101. This is how to pray for your practice. And before I launch into what we're going to talk about today, I do want to take just a minute and talk about summit.
So, this is the end of August when I'm actually recording this, and we are putting the finishing touches and going into the final weeks before Summit 2024, which is going to be in Charlotte this year. And then at the 2024 Summit, we are going to be announcing all the details or a good amount of the details about Summit 2025.
So, If you have not had a chance to attend the Wise Practice Summit, I really encourage you to do that. This is a time when all of us from across the country who are faith based practice owners can come together and just be with each other in person. And I'm very much like Whitney in terms of I love community.
I love to be around people. I love to see your face actually in person and not on the screen. Zoom is great. All of it is great. It makes life a little easier and and just more convenient at times, but it's just not the same as being together. So if you have not thought about doing summit, or you have not been able to make it, I really encourage you to try and make it for 2025.
Okay, so let's dive into our topic. How to pray for your practice. So, some of you are probably already doing this and some of you may even be thinking to yourself, why are we talking about praying, praying for our practice? I already do this, but I just want to talk to you today about some specific things.
So we're, we're going to talk about understanding the role of prayer in your practice. And then we're also going to talk about practical steps that you can take to integrate prayer into your daily routine and into your practice and with your team, and then even some sample prayers. Thanks. So, just to give you a brief overview or brief history of me, um, I opened as a solo group or a solo practitioner in 2015, January of 15, and I had a friend of mine come and bless, um, the, the office that I was in.
I was in a small suite on the second floor of a pediatric office here at Enterprise. Because I knew that even though I had been a therapist for 10 years at that point, I knew that I was going to need God as I began the private practice adventure with him, because there was no way I was going to be able to do it on my own because it was just so much.
I just didn't know. And so she came and she blessed the space. And at the time I dedicated it to him. I said, this practice is yours, even though it has my name on it, it is yours. And I'm going to be the steward of it. And I'm going to do my best to hear you and trust you and be obedient as we, as we move forward on this adventure together.
So I'm going to tell you, he has been with me since day one, and my prayer life has evolved since that time. And there have been times and seasons when. I didn't maybe go to him in prayer the way that I needed to. There have been seasons where I didn't really hear his voice very much. Uh, these are seasons of, of trials and, and some wilderness seasons, but I will tell you through it all, he has been with me every step of the way.
And if you are not harnessing the power of prayer, you're leaving your biggest resource on the table. So let's talk about that today. Why pray for your practice? Let's just kind of start there. So, we're faith based practice owners. We're called to view business and ownership and the details of our lives through the lens of our faith.
How we conduct ourselves, the way that we do business, all of those things are very, very important because of the way that we are to have Christian conduct. So, if we're already faith based practice owners, we're Christians, we should be thinking about how to pray for our practice. Also doing this when I'm praying, it's going to align my intentions with my faith and my values, you know, God searches our hearts, and if our motivations and our intentions are not where they need to be, then he's going to do his thing to align them and make sure that our intentions and our motivations are where they need to be.
If we're really honest with ourselves, sometimes we struggle in those two areas. But if I'm praying, if my prayer life is where it needs to be, then my intentions and my motivations are pure and how I treat my clients, my team members, my community partners, even the non believers that I'm in relationship with, they will get to see Christ through me.
And that is really the goal of what we're doing here. And as we pray and lean into the power of prayer, It gives us the capability to do that even more for others to see Christ in us. So let's talk for a minute about praying for guidance versus praying for specific outcomes. I pray for both of those things.
I pray for wisdom and discernment when I'm making decisions about the practice, when there's certain situations with people, with team members, with people in the community, with clients that I need to do. If I'm sitting in a client session, oftentimes. In my head, I will say, Lord, please give me the words that this person needs to hear from you.
Please use me in this moment. Give me the words to say. And that's guidance. That's asking for that guidance. And that's asking him to use me as his instrument in that moment to, to serve his, his hurting children. And that's what we're called to do. So also in praying for guidance. I've asked him, show me how I can be kind in this situation.
Show me how I can be generous, but also practical and realistic because as a practice owner, I want to be wise in my decisions and in my interactions with other people. But at the same time, I also need to maintain boundaries and make sure that I'm looking at the reality of things, particularly the realities of business and finances and my prayer life.
I have really come to lean on that. There are decisions I need to make around those areas. I do my very best to take all of that to God and allow him the time and space he needs and wants to, to show me that the path that he wants me to take, to, to have the wisdom he wants me to utilize in those situations.
Braiding for specific outcomes might look like asking God to give you, to bring you the right team member for your practice. If you need to hire someone part time or full time, if you are looking for an admin, hover that in prayer, just pray for that. You know, do all the logical steps that you need to take to find someone that will align with your practice, to do all the advertising you need to do for the position, get the word out.
But at the same time, just pray over it. And I'm one of those who firmly believes in pray without ceasing. So whether you're in your car, whether you're sitting at your desk, washing the dishes, whatever it might be. Pray without ceasing and pray for those specific outcomes for a new team member, for finding the right office space, for whether to purchase or lease, for whether or not to, to go and take this training, even though it's really expensive, for what to do in this financial situation, specific outcomes in I'm growing, I'm growing into a group.
And I need this to happen. You know, God, if you want this to happen, I know that you will show me in your time and in your way. And if that's what you want to happen, then you will make it happen. Please give me the patience as a light on that. So lots of different ways that you can, you can pray for your practice.
And those two, those differences were specifically between guidance versus specific, specific outcomes. So let's talk for a minute about the types of prayers for your practice. We've got prayers of gratitude. Um, we want to thank God for, for our clients and for the opportunity to serve them, to serve our community.
Uh, I, I pray often and thank him for allowing me to partner with him and helping his other children. It is such a sacred privilege to be able to do that, to sit with people, sometimes in the middle of their greatest agony. And then walk with them on that journey to healing and seeing them become more hopeful and make changes in their life.
That is such an honor to do that. And I'm so grateful that I get to do it. And then gratitude for the opportunity to serve and guide my team. Some of them don't have the faith that I have and I have the opportunity to show them Christ. And again, that is That is our purpose. We want, we want people to see Christ in us.
We want to be that, that city, that city shining on the hill. And we get to do that with the team that we, that we have assembled or that he has assembled for us. If we have been prayerfully seeking him and his wisdom and hiring people for our practice. I've spoken about prayers for wisdom and discernment.
We want to seek guidance in difficult sessions or difficult seasons of our practice and our business. And let me just say this for the record, being a practice owner is not for the faint of heart. You have got to be bold and courageous to even step out in faith to open your own practice. And then all the things that go along with that private practice and owning one, there's such an element of spirituality to it.
You know, I've always heard that it's something that's physical can be measured in a lab, right? So someone will say, well, what about money? Is money spiritual? I would say that money is both physical and spiritual. It can be measured. It can be counted. It can be made. But there's also things about money that you can't measure.
So when I go and I take on a new client, I am, I'm just trusting that they're going to pay me each session that the insurance is going to be able to reimburse me at every session. If I, if I do a new training. I am stepping out in faith, believing that I'm putting the money down for this and I'm going to learn something new and that it will help me as I move into future endeavors with the practice and learn new things.
So there's, there's a lot of spirituality happening with private practice anyway, and seeking that wisdom and discernment and guidance is so important. One thing that. I struggle with too as a practice owner is understanding the difference between what is my own ego and my ambition versus what are his plans and desires for me.
Can I, can I get a witness on that one? Anybody, anybody struggle with that one? So, let me give you an example. So, a few years ago, it got into my head that I wanted to buy out another counseling practice here in town. They're not really a rival practice. It's a very different practice for mine. They do business differently.
They see a different type of client, but. I just got it in my head that I was gonna buy out this counseling practice and I was gonna go in and I was gonna clean house and take it over and do what I think needed to be done. Saying it out loud is kind of embarrassing, I will admit, but I prayed about it. I talked to two of my close people here in the practice about it, talked to my husband about it.
And after a few days, I came to my senses and recognized that it was my own ego, and that was not something that the Spirit was leading me to do. And so when I told my colleagues my decision, yeah, that was, that was just an ego thing. That was not what the Spirit was leading me to do. Their responses were, Oh, thank God.
We didn't know what you were talking about. We didn't know what you were doing, Amy. So. Finding that line between what is my ego and my ambition here and what is, what is the path that God is trying to lead me on and really, really praying for that discernment and that guidance of please, Lord, I want to die to my flesh.
I want to do what you would have me do and give me the wisdom and discernment to know what that might be. Another thing that I do is, I always say that I have like four really good business ideas before I'm even getting ready to go to work in the morning. But that doesn't mean that they're any good or that I need to do them.
So that goes along too with, I always ask him, you know, Lord, this is not what you want me to do. Just please take this idea out of my mind. I only want to move forward in the things that your spirit leads me to do, because those are the things that you are going to bless and that are going to have an impact on others and in my community.
So I encourage all of you to do that too. As practice owners, it can be really easy for us to fall into doing things on our own, getting ahead of him and really falling into that, that ambition and the ego. Prayers for protection. For those of you praying for your practice already, I'm, I'm curious about how many of you might pray for prayers of protection.
So I bring this up because this is something that I try to do often because when we already work with people in, in such an environment where they're bringing A lot of heaviness, a lot of burdens with them, a lot of trauma, and we're meeting them in that. And if we don't guard our minds and guard our hearts and our souls, then it can really be easy for us to get caught up in that too.
And we're, we need to protect ourselves. We need to be asking for protection because we have a lot to do. We're called to do a hard task and there's much to do. There's much work to be done. And so making sure that you're asking for protection from God is really important. So I ask often for spiritual and emotional protection for myself and for my clients, as well as for the practice and my team members.
And I have sort of this visual picture in my mind. I will picture my building when I'm saying this prayer. And as I'm praying it out and I'm seeing my, my building in my mind, I will, I will envision just sort of this force field surrounding my practice, sort of beginning at the top and coming down and completely shielding my practice.
And that. In my mind, that's just, that's just God protecting the building, protecting the people in it, the clients, my staff, me, all of us as we do his work, because we know that the enemy is alive and well, prowling around, looking for people that he can attack. And if we're not taking care of ourselves, if we're not seeking that protection and asking for it and being mindful of it, we could be ripe for the attack of the enemy.
[00:22:11] Whitney Owens: Struggling to market your therapy practice? Most practice owners prefer focusing on clients and practice growth rather than marketing. That's where TherapyFlow comes in. They specialize in done for you marketing for solo and group practice owners. TherapyFlow has helped thousands of practice owners attract new clients.
Ready to grow? Visit MyTherapyFlow. com to book your free marketing consult today.
[00:22:38] Amy Dover: And again, we're talking about the power of prayer, our direct pipeline to the creator of the universe. And again, we want to tap into that. So prayers for growth. You know, I have the wonderful privilege right now of leading a mastermind group or solo practice owners who are looking to scale into a group.
And let me just say my my mastermind group is amazing. These women are wonderful. And. If you're thinking about expanding your group or your solo into a group, or if you're looking, if you're a solo provider and you're looking at maybe expanding your offerings and your services, I really encourage you guys to request help from him in that.
Talk to God about your ideas and your desires, but also be at peace and rest with his desires and not yours for your practice. I have come to learn over the last 10 years that my idea of growth and expansion is not God's idea. I have most, most definitely learned that lesson this year. Earlier this year, I transitioned my practice.
from a 1099 contractor practice to a W2 practice. And let me tell you, this has been a hard year. I've lost half my staff. Uh, I started out with 15 therapists. I've lost eight of them. And, uh, I think the mass exodus is over, but I've come to see that it needed to happen, and I'm going to go into more details about this in a couple more episodes when I talk about how the transition from 1099 to W 2 changed my practice.
But let me just say, God has been with me every step of the way, has confirmed that my decisions in all of this were the right ones, and even though I'm half the size that I was, This is just the pruning that needed to take place before the new growth will begin and I'm so So anticipating what he's gonna do with this practice.
I cannot wait to see what he does. I'm eagerly anticipating There's been a lot of hurt and pain this year But that's what happens in the pruning and again, I'll share with you guys in a future episode Please know that If you're looking, if you're looking to grow and expand, make sure that you are trying to align your desire, your will with His, because His is ultimately the best and perfect one.
So let's talk a little bit too about practical steps to integrate prayer into your daily routine. And let me just start by saying, I, my husband and I are now empty nesters. We just sent our younger son off to college earlier in August. And it's, even though we. You know, our older son started college four years ago.
So we, we've kind of been in the transition of being empty nesters for four years. It has definitely felt different with a house, not having a kid in it, even a teenager. It's just different. And so my prayer life now and my daily routines. But it looks different than, than what it was when my children were younger.
So all of you out there who are parents to little kiddos and you're like, I don't have time to sit for an hour every morning to do my prayer, my Bible study. I hear you and just know that our prayer life and, and being in his word looks different depending on the season of your life. So, and you do what is best for you and, and best for your time.
But I will tell you that. If you, if you carve out the time for prayer and reading his word, amazing things will be happening. You will see amazing things happen. So first things first, that is what we are told. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. So I'm in a place in my life where I'm up every day at 530.
I have two dogs who insist on going outside at 530 a. m. And so I'm up with them and as soon as they do their business and eat, I'm in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. And then I have this wonderful little room in my house that I have created as mine. If any of you have read Jordan Peterson's book, 12 Rules for Life, he talks about creating a space in your home, a room in your home that's That's for you that you can make beautiful.
So I took his advice to heart and I made this one. It's a smaller bedroom in my home. I just made it into Amy's study and it's my favorite color paint on the walls. And it's my favorite colored bookcases. And I've got my desk in there and a really comfy reading chair. And so after I've made my cup of coffee in the morning, That is where I go and meet God.
And from six to seven a. m., that's where you're going to find me. I'm going to be in my reading chair, probably with my two dogs curled up next to me. And sometimes I'm reading the Bible. Most of the time, that's what I'm doing. Since January of 2020, I have been reading the Bible straight through. And it's so ironic that I started doing that in January of 2020 before the world blew up.
Right. But in 2020, I started it and then it took me about a year and a half to get through it. And then as soon as I finished. In the summer of 2021, I started reading it through again, just with a different translation and I had not, I decided to do that because I had not read through the Bible and probably about 30 years.
So, I really wanted to do that. And if you have not read the Bible through, let me just tell you, I highly encourage it. Just the, you can be a Bible student your whole life. But if you haven't read the Bible through in its entirety, and just seen the whole Word of God laid out in front of you, and the story of Christ from Genesis all the way to, to Revelation.
Oh, friends, I highly encourage it. So in the mornings between six and seven, I'm in my chair in my study, and I'm typically reading the, reading the Bible, or sometimes I'm just reading a book from a Christian author that I like. Sometimes, if it's just one of those days where, or one of those seasons where I need to pray, but I'm not even really sure of what I need to pray for, or I'm just overwhelmed, sometimes I won't even read.
I'll just sit there and I'll listen to hymns. I love the old hymns, or I'll listen to praise and worship music, and I'll just be still. And I do, it's very easy to get into the routine of Bible reading and. And reading a Christian book and check in the box, but not actually having a prayer time. And so I really encourage you to be mindful of that and intentional, have those conversations with the Lord.
We have such a privilege that we can come to him directly and just sit with him and be still and feel his presence. And I'm telling you, if you incorporate that into your daily life. It will be, it's amazing. It's amazing. I just encourage you in those moments of quiet. To just not try to fill the space with noise or activity.
Just, just be still with him. I also like to keep a prayer journal. And for those of you who have thought about it, or it seems like a lot of work, or you want to do it, but you're just not really sure how to get started, just do it. My prayer journal is really a combination of my thoughts and feelings, Recording the days and events that are happening in my personal life.
I usually record when someone new comes on to the practice or when someone leaves the practice. And I, sometimes I'll just write prayers out to God in my journal. A lot of times I'll just cry out to Him in my journal. And, and I love, I love looking back in my journals and seeing how God has answered prayers three or four years ago while I've written, you really need a new therapist to come and work with this population.
This is a need in our community, and I haven't been able to find anyone. And a year later, I'll read in another journal, Hey, we hired this person and they specialize in this, and they're a great fit with our team culture. And it's just so neat to see how God Answers our prayers, and when we have it recorded like that, it makes it even more powerful and prayer.
As we all know, it is a spiritual discipline. We're called to do that. We're called to be in communication with God. But so is the active remembrance. The act of remembrance is also a spiritual difference, spiritual discipline. And when we pray and then we have the act of remembrance that we're engaging in, we get to see God's faithfulness and that sustains us through those tough times.
So definitely utilizing a prayer journal if you can, and you don't have to write, you can type. My journal is a combination of. My terrible handwriting and typed pages that like if I just didn't have the time to write or my hand was hurting I would just type out some stuff on my computer Print it out and just tape it or glue it into my journal.
So this does not have to be pretty It does not have to be perfection Uh, some of us are definitely type a and want things to look a certain way But it doesn't have to be because this is between god and us and it is Intimate and it is private and it is he's the only one who knows anyway So, also, some of you may be doing this, but praying before and after client sessions and then also before meetings with your team members.
I told you a little earlier that I pray often in client sessions. I want to make sure that I'm giving words of life and encouragement. I want to be used as God's vessel in those moments, but also with my team, it's, it's been important to me to have a prayer friendly culture in my practice. And let me begin by saying too, that up until a couple of months ago, I had several unbelievers on staff with me.
Um, I'm going to go into more detail about this in another episode when we talk about hiring people. But when I interview potential team members, I have a set of core values that I give to them before they come back for the interview and then in the core values, they see that faith is a part of what we do here.
Just it's just a part of the overall practice culture from the interview questions. I don't bring up God. I don't bring up faith, but the way that my leadership team and I have written our interview questions. We're going to know, and the person interviewing is going to know, that faith is a component of how just we do business within the culture of the practice.
And then I'm pretty up front with people that, that interview here. I let them know, Hey, I don't need to know your faith background and your belief system because really legally, we're not supposed to ask in interviews. But I'll let them know where I am. You know, I am a Christian. My faith is very important to me.
My business decisions are made through the lens of my faith. Um, you're going to hear me pray before our staff meetings. I will pray before leadership meetings. We ask for prayer requests from each other. And if that's not something that's. That's comfortable for you. This may not be the practice for you.
I just let people know that up front and that way they can make that informed decision about whether or not they want to be here. I can't tell you also what a privilege it is when a team member comes to me and says, Hey, Amy, I'm really struggling. Do you mind praying over me? And like, even now it kind of makes me emotional because We do such hard work.
We're called to do. I've heard it said before that we're called to be soul healers. And I truly believe that this is a huge task that we've been given. And so when people come to me and say, hey, can you pray over me? Can you pray for me? Oh, what a privilege that is. And to know that my team members are doing that.
are comfortable enough to be able to do that. So powerful. So powerful. And just the, the meaning and the bonds that it creates between team members, between them themselves and between your team members and you as the practice owner, folks is powerful. And so I mentioned that I open up my staff meetings with prayer, I open up my leadership meetings with prayer, and I'm always, before we even get into any kind of a practice business at our staff meetings, I'm asking, Hey, what are your prayer requests?
Do you have any prayer concerns that you want to say today? Do you have any praise reports? What are some amazing things God has done? How has he answered some prayer? And then we go, we, I lead them through prayer. Sometimes I'll ask another team member to lead prayer. I always check to make sure that they're comfortable with it.
Not everyone wants to pray in front of everyone and that's okay. But again, even for those non believers who were with me for a season, even if they didn't share my faith system, my faith and my belief system, they were able to see, Hey, the air is different around here. The air at Dover Counseling is, it's not like the air over at that agency I worked at or over at that practice I was at.
It's, it's lighter here. It's good. It's healthy here. And even, even if I'm not a Christian, I like what they're doing here. It's healthy here. I love being able to expose nonbelievers really to what a Christian practice culture looks like and the care and concern that we have for one another. And that, again, that's powerful too, the influence that you can have over others and the ability to show them Christ.
We also have a, an internal chat. We typically use the, the Google internal chats. For our messaging systems within the practice, and we have 1, that's dedicated to asking for prayer requests and to give praise reports. And I love that. And sometimes a therapist will come out of a really hard client session and they'll put in the chat.
Hey. A client I saw today is really struggling with this or that. Can you just remember this person in your prayers? And the name doesn't have to be given because we want to, to protect their privacy. But God knows, and the fact that they feel comfortable to even put that in the chat and ask for that prayer, it just speaks so much about, about the culture of the practice.
Now in terms of client interactions and prayer, I don't ask clients if they want to pray. If they ask, I will certainly do that for them. My practice up until recently has not been a practice that specialized in Christian counseling. I've always said that we'll walk with anyone, we'll work with anyone who walks through the door, ages 4 to 64, and we work We work with people of all faiths.
We know a lot of people in the community do know that most of us are Christian here are all of us now are Christian. And so we, we do automatically attract people with Christian beliefs, but we also attract people who don't share our faith because they They trust that they're going to get, even, even they were Christians, and they don't believe the same things we do.
They know they're going to get counselors who are ethical and honest and care about their work and want to do the right thing. And they're going to get someone of good character. And so I've got plenty of clients where I've had plenty of clients in the past who did not share my belief system. And so asking if a client wanted to pray was not something that I did.
But again, if they ask for it, I will certainly do it with them. But whenever I meet someone new, and most of us do this anyway because it's part of an intake, I will ask about their worldview and their belief system and their faith. And if they have a faith that they adhere to, particularly Christianity, I will ask them if they want to integrate their faith into, into the sessions.
So no matter what, I pray for clients often, whether they're Christian or not. I pray that when they walk through the doors of Dover Counseling, they're going to feel the peace of Christ. That they are going to feel warm and welcomed and important and seen, and that even if they don't believe in Christ, they are going to know that He is here.
And even if they can't say His name, that they don't identify that it's Him that's here, there's just something different about Dover Counseling. There's something different about the air there, and that's where I want to get my counseling services. All of that comes with prayer and covering your practice in prayer, covering your team with prayer and asking for that guidance and that discernment and that wisdom in your life.
And we know if we ask, we will receive. If we not, he will open the door. So the last bit of our time today, let's talk about some sample prayers for your counseling practice. So you can do daily prayers that focus on asking for that guidance and wisdom and protection. You can ask for prayer during your client sessions, asking for discernment and understanding and compassion in each client interaction.
And also asking for the tools that you need to be available for that client in session. Sometimes, well, particularly for seeing clients back to back, it can get really hard and I might not be as sharp emotionally as I need to be. And so asking for that, and being mindful of how many people I'm seeing back to back, or how many people I'm seeing in a week and making sure that I'm mindful of my time and asking for the wisdom in my scheduling.
It's okay to ask for that to prayer for growth and provision, asking for God's blessing on your practice, asking that it that it will flourish according to his will prayers for balance and well being again. I've said it multiple times in today's episode. We do hard things and that's just professionally that doesn't count the roles we play in our private and personal lives You know as husband and wife, mother, father, friend, daughter, son all the things and Asking for balance and well being and strength and peace and if you have the peace of God on you Oh, that is a piece that the world just cannot give only he can get that kind of peace.
So in the midst of chaos, in the midst of difficult seasons of your practice, or just your personal life, that strong prayer life, that daily prayer life, that connection to him is going to get you through it. So friends, we're ending, we're coming to the end of our time together today. And I really hope that I was able to speak some words of encouragement to you, that I was able to, to give you maybe some inspiration of how you can integrate prayer more into your practice, If you already are using prayer in your practice, good for you.
Keep doing it. Keep talking to him, keep writing to him, keep seeking him. He wants to be there. He wants to be involved in the details of your life and in your practice. And isn't it amazing, the creator of the universe. The Creator of you wants to know the details of your life. He knows your name. He knows the number of hairs on your head.
He cares about what is happening in the practice, and He cares that you want Him to be involved with it. So, the last thing I want to end with, too, on top of that encouragement, is encouragement to trust in God's plan and trust His provision. What may be happening in your practice right now may not be what you want.
But trust that it's what he wants and that he's making all things come together for your good because ultimately it will end up showing his glory and it will be to his honor and it will help his hurting children. Okay friends, that is it for today. Thank you so much for those of you that stayed with me today and listened to me.
I'm so humbled by you giving your time today and I cannot wait to be with you. For a few more episodes in this podcast takeover month of October, and I hope all of you have a great day and enjoy the rest of your week and definitely keep praying without ceasing.
[00:43:32] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:43:50] Whitney Owens: 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 dot 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.
