What is "Build Your Private Practice"?
What exactly is the "Build Your Private Practice" community all about?
Let me tell you a little of the backstory...
In 2011, I (founder of BYPP, Christine Hakkola) was managing a yoga studio in Calgary, Alberta and I had spent the past decade engaging in a lot of personal development work including studying yoga, meditation, and mindfulness, taking leadership and coaching courses, and travelling around the world.
And I was tired of working for someone else.
I didn’t want to work on someone else’s schedule and be limited in terms of the amount of time off I could take, how much income I made, or the kind of work I could do. I wanted to run my own business, feel in charge of my life, and be free from the constraints of working for other people. I quit my job at the time, as a yoga studio manager, and spent a year and a half travelling around the world. I taught at yoga studios in Australia, Canada, and the U.S.A., I led yoga retreats in Belize, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, and I worked online with coaching clients, supporting people to create more meaningful lives.
By 2013, I realized that as much as I loved teaching yoga and life coaching, I wanted to do more.
Through my own personal journey, I had learned that in addition to the benefits of a spiritual practice (yoga, meditation, mindfulness) and all of the life coaching work I had done, that psychotherapy and counselling was also needed. I’d had some wonderful experiences with therapists who finally helped me overcome some of the patterns and stuck places leftover from my childhood, and experience relief from limiting beliefs, anxiety, and insecurities. I knew that I, too, wanted to help people in an even more meaningful way, by becoming a therapist.
I decided to stop travelling, and returned to my hometown of Barrie, Ontario. There, I completed my Masters degree in Counselling Psychology through Yorkville University, and opened my private practice. Prior to managing yoga studios, I had been a leadership trainer for the Lifesaving Society of Canada and the Red Cross, and had spent over a decade managing aquatics centers in Toronto and Calgary.
I had also worked as a business consultant, and dabbled (for a very short time!) in commercial real estate. The business side of things had always come really naturally for me. Organizing systems and procedures, marketing and advertising, budgeting and finances, were things I actually enjoyed! I left those industries because I longed to make a bigger impact in people’s lives by helping to relieve their suffering and experience the fullness of life.
When I graduated with my Masters degree, I was extremely fortunate that I already had all of the skills needed to build a very successful practice. Three weeks after I graduated, I opened my doors to a full private practice. And it has been that way ever since. Six months later, other therapists and counsellors were asking me how I did it.
One summer, I found myself on the phone for 2-5 hours per week answering requests for support from other counsellors to help them understand what it took to create a thriving private practice. That fall, I launched the very first iteration of the Build Your Private Practice Mastermind Course. Fast forward to now several years later, and I have helped hundreds of therapists and counsellors understand the steps required, make key decisions that have led to their success, get clear on the types of clients they want to work with and which income streams to offer, and how to successfully market themselves. At the same time I began fielding calls from other therapists asking for help in their private practice, I also packed up my in-person office and moved out to New Brunswick. At that point, I transitioned my practice entirely online, with clients from across Canada.
While I currently live in Maine, U.S.A., my client base is in Canada and a large part of my practice now focuses specifically on helping Canadian counsellors to be successful in their private practice (even though the principles apply to U.S. based practices, and to others around the world). My life experience, from management, leadership and consulting — to life coaching and teaching yoga — to running a thriving, successful private practice … has led me to where I am now. And now, I am in the perfect position to be able to support therapists and counsellors across Canada build and launch the private practice of their dreams! Today, Build Your Private Practice consists of the following:
A free Facebook Community to support Canadian counsellors and therapists in private practice (or dreaming of private practice!) with resources and inspiration (including articles, Facebook lives, free webinars, Q&A's, and more).
A website, featuring out private practices, stages, our team, free articles, and our programs.
Programs designed specifically to support you at each stage of Private Practice.
Private Coaching for therapists & counsellors who are actively growing their practice and taking the right steps to reach the next level of success!
Don't hesitate to reach out if you need further support or have questions about anything we offer!
