Everyone comes to private practice from different paths, but there can be a common thread between them: wanting to help others.

For my guest today, Alison, she had a very personal experience of becoming a mother, and noticed that there was a gap in the market wherein many new parents needed pre- and peri-natal support. This sparked a passion project to fill that need and spread support, ultimately helping both clients and clinicians along the way.

In this podcast episode, join us to learn more about building a collective, an affordable website, and how to live and work by your values.

MEET ALISON

Alison is a Registered Psychotherapist with over 10 years of experience across diverse practice settings. She co-founded Collectivus Psychotherapy in response to the increased isolation often experienced in private practice. Alison is passionate about fostering spaces where both clients and clinicians can thrive. She believes that when clinicians are connected and supported, their work becomes more authentic: helping clients truly thrive.

Learn more about Alison on her Psychology Today profile and website.

In this episode:

• Getting into private practice

• Building a collective

• Setting up a private practice website

• Incorporating your values

Getting into private practice

For Alison, getting onto her private practice path came from a very personal experience.

Throughout Alison’s work with youth in her previous years in mental health, she always made an effort to support the parents too. Now, with her personal experience of becoming a mother, she wanted to combine and align these values into her new private practice.

Building a collective

Alison, her partner, and her best friend are all therapists and decided to go all-in on building up this new private practice.

It was a shared passion project, and in 2025, they decided to rebrand and shift the practice to welcome more clinicians and therapists, since they were getting a lot of inquiries about hiring additional staff.

This is why Alison and her team wanted to create the collective: to serve therapists and clinicians who can then better serve their clients.

Setting up a private practice website

At the beginning of a private practice journey, things can get costly very quickly. Alison and her team built up their website using some affordable stock images and videos, but as their business grows, they edit, upgrade, and elevate their website piece by piece.

Alison and her team also invested in some marketing experts at the beginning to help them launch their practice online with their best foot forward.

Incorporating your values

Collaborating with experts, professionals, and other therapists is a central pillar of Alison’s business approach, both when it comes to hiring people to help maintain the business, and to help give the clients the best experience.

She firmly believes that when therapists come together to support each other, their clients end up benefiting as well. Therefore, the business that Alison strives to create nourishes and meets the needs of professionals and clients alike.

Connect with me:

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Resources mentioned and useful links:

Finding Clients in a Saturated Market | EP 176

Learn more about the tools and deals that I love and use for my Canadian private practice

Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an Online Canadian Private Practice

Jane App (use code FEARLESS for one month free)

Get some help and freebies on your website with WordPress!

Learn more about Alison on her Psychology Today profile and website

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