IAM1184- Founder Leads a Holistic Mental Health Practice Group

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00:15 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:43 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. And I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Luanne Oliver of Heartswell. Luanne, it's great to have you on the show.

00:52 – LuAnn Oliver

Great to be here and thanks for having me.

00:54 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Luanne so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Luanne is a psychotherapist and founder of Heart Swell, a holistic mental health practice group in Arlington, Virginia. She believes in a balanced approach to overcoming addiction, depression, and anxiety that integrates mind and body.

In addition to leading the practice group, Luanne raises her 3 young boys with her husband, Jeff. They enjoy camping, biking, and skiing, among other outdoor activities. And I love everything that Luanne has built and is doing. You hear the spirit and the reason why she started her business is something that's very exciting and something that's so needed, especially during this time. So Luanne, super excited for the work you do, and more excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:38 – LuAnn Oliver

Yes.

01:39 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I want us to rewind the clock a little bit. Here is a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:48 – LuAnn Oliver

Well, it really started with a feeling that we could really just do more as psychotherapists. You know, I was done private practice like a lot of therapists and it's, we have that one-hour session and, and it's great, but I feel like there's a lot more we can do for healing beyond that. And it's really hard to do when you're just a sole proprietor in your private practice.

It's time-consuming to offer those things. It's costly to market them. And I also just love a team approach. We do couples work. And when we can be on a team, if people need individual therapy or therapy for their children, it allows us to kind of help the whole system from kind of a collaborative place. So it just came, I came to a realization that I couldn't really offer the kind of healing that I want to offer as a sole proprietor. And so I hired one associate and we've grown from there.

02:54 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And I think so many times, even just, you know, in the impact that you make when you're able to make that impact, having the opportunity to kind of find people that are within the same, I guess, vibe for lack of a better term and in spirit, a lot of times allows you to not just make an impact amongst the 2, but I think it starts to reverberate in so many different ways, I imagine.

03:16 – LuAnn Oliver

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, we really value the training, the models that we use, and the approaches that we use. And it's just really nice to have collaborative work with people who approach things the way you do and that you can have confidence in them. So.

03:35 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about how you're doing that work and take us through how you work with your clients, how you serve them, and what that process looks like.

03:48 – LuAnn Oliver

So the model that we primarily use in our practices, is emotionally focused therapy for couples. And it's really about looking beyond the surface-level issues that we seem to be fighting about and realizing that it's usually something much deeper, there's an underlying emotional need or something under the surface that needs attention, that we don't always have conscious access to, and we don't always know how to articulate.

And so when we can't do that, we tend to get upset with our partner for the trash or for all kinds of things. And we just want to be known and valued and feel like we can count on them and trust them. And so we're looking to uncover what's under the surface and let it be known in a more conscious and tangible way so we can ask more clearly for what we need. And our partner has a better sense of how to respond to us and how to be a partner that we trust.

04:57 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that. I love that you used the word unconscious. Because I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of times we have maybe traumas or things that we've gone through in our life and past that sometimes we, I guess, cover or can't even, as you said, as a well, like articulate it or even have awareness of what it is, but knows it's something. And it kind of comes up and blossoms up, I guess, in other issues, but that's not really treating the, I guess the root cause or the issue that it might be.

05:25 – LuAnn Oliver

Right, right. Yeah, I mean, different traumas and conditioned ways of thinking from, from that started a really young age, just we get caught on that path. We build up habits around them to kind of make them easier which helps us to survive at times. But in the end, don't really allow us to have the kind of relationships and life that we want. So, yeah, uncovering unravels.

05:59 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and I think so many times that I guess the experience of life we sometimes don't realize how, you know, those things are not even having the opportunity or maybe even the space to kind of talk about that can affect our relationships, the way that we are interacting with others. And it's so important to kind of, I guess, treat others and sometimes even serve others. It's just as important, if not more important, also make sure that we're treating ourselves.

06:22 – LuAnn Oliver

Right. Right. Absolutely.

06:25 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so you do that in kind of the sessions that you have with couples and people that are looking to have those, I guess, opportunities to kind of speak through that?

06:38 – LuAnn Oliver

Yeah, we see a lot of couples and we also do a lot of that work individually. Most people have relationship challenges and everybody has relationship needs. So a lot of the struggles that we have really tie back to relationships. So that's just a big focus of the work that we do.

07:01 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And I think I love that you kind of talked about it. Sometimes we don't know the things that we have experienced when we're younger, when we're children, sometimes manifest themselves into relationships we have later. And we haven't really, we don't even know that it is because it's unconscious and it's so important to kind of have those, I guess conversations and that work so that we can, you know, at the end of the day, get better.

07:24 – LuAnn Oliver

Right. Right.

07:27 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself individually or the business or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of set you apart in McChieng?

07:38 – LuAnn Oliver

It would be the collaborative approach that we have where people can come and we can work in partnership with their individual therapist and their couples therapist. I would say the other thing is the level of training that we have. We aren't, we don't see clients that don't, that we aren't trained to see, we refer them out.

We really make sure that everyone in our practice has the emotionally focused training and we have someone in the practice now doing trauma-focused training and the internal family system is another model. So these words may not mean a lot to the layperson, but my point is that your level of training matters and we value doing work that is impactful.

08:32 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Nice. Absolutely loved that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:47 – LuAnn Oliver

I use a company called Level Up Strategies. They have really helped me organize the business. You know, this is kind of a passion business. So for a few years as you know, the bookkeeping was okay. And you know, we were doing great therapy, you know, and, and training people well and really valuing that. But in order to grow to the next level, I really feel like just outsourcing some of those things.

Honestly, I don't know how to run a business. I'm not an entrepreneur. I never set out to be this. It was just something that grew from my heart. And I think a lot of business owners are in that place. And especially the more right-brain professions, maybe have a messy business, but you know, something they love. So just being able to turn over things that I didn't want to do has been a big boost for us.

And I feel like we're really heading in a direction and able to offer more of the services that we want to provide, the things that heal, that just take more planning and some, you know, things around it to support and make that program move. And they really helped me to organize it. So a business strategist, if you will, or something like that has just been really huge for me.

10:28 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So You might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hop into a time machine, you might tell your business self.

10:42 – LuAnn Oliver

Like I said before, just get started. Just start somewhere and find success in any failures that you might encounter. If you learn, you can't fail.

10:57 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, Luanne, truly appreciate that. And I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question. And we might've already touched on this, but it's the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

11:12 – LuAnn Oliver

Well, like I said before, I don't like to see myself as the CEO or the boss. So it means to me, it means being a team player and a leader at times, but definitely not being a boss. So that's my unclear, nebulous description of what being a CEO is to me.

11:40 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, well, you know, I love that I love that team player piece. And the reason I love it is because you use the word collaboration and get the opportunity to kind of work together. And I think, and it sounds like even when you're working with your clients, it's not being a boss, it's not telling them to do X, Y, and Z. It's more a collaborative approach.

It's more of a team approach, whether we're talking about somebody working with us or even clients that we have. So I love how that sounds to me, it resonated through your definition because it becomes something that you do in tandem. It's like a dance. You can't, I guess you can't dance by yourself, but it's probably not the same as getting the opportunity to kind of dance and collaborate and really co-create with other people.

12:16 – LuAnn Oliver

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, that's what I try to do and how I try to be with the people on my team. So.

12:27 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Luanne truly appreciate you for all the awesome work that you're doing. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

12:45 – LuAnn Oliver

Sure. Yeah, I would just say follow your heart don't be afraid to reach out for help, and to take the opportunity to understand yourself better. Seeking help from a professional is not a sign of weakness. It's really a sign of strength courage and willingness to grow. And people can reach us by going to the website, liveheartswell.com. There are lots of good blog posts there and information they can learn about our team and our services. And they can follow us on Instagram at live hearts well as well. So.

13:28 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we'll definitely have the links and information and the show notes as well. And Luann truly appreciate you for kind of reminding us of you know those gifts and this kind of specialness we have within us and how it's not a sign of weakness it's actually a sign of strength and being able to ask for help because we all need help in some form, shape or fashion. So I love and appreciate you for being helpful to us today and being a resource for so many people. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

13:54 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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