Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jazmin Burns.
Hi Dr. Burns, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I began my private practice in December 2021, when I first moved to San Antonio, Texas, with my husband, my then 2-month-old son, and our cat. I had been hired to start and run a brand-new department for another agency, so planned to do my private practice on the side on weekends. I’m licensed in TX, CA, and under PSYPACT, meaning I can work with folks in 40+ states. My private practice is completely virtual so that I can maximize access to care, which is extremely important to me. I specialize in psychological and neurodevelopmental (Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, etc.) testing for all ages. I also began doing psychological testing for immigration and naturalization cases. Needless to say, with the services I offer, plus my practice being completely virtual, things took off quite quickly. I was working 7 days a week between both jobs and after more than a year of this, I realized I needed to rethink my priorities. When I wasn’t working, I felt like I wasn’t fully present for my family because I was so tired, and that made me feel awful as a mother and wife. I knew I needed to make a change for my family and, honestly, for my own mental, physical, and emotional health, so I ended up going from working full-time for that agency to working in a contract role. I started to run my private practice full-time from home, and let me tell you, this has been such a better arrangement for me and my family, and we’re all so much happier. I thank God every single day for blessing me with the courage to make this exciting yet scary transition and for providing me with such a loving and supportive network of family, friends, and colleagues. I have been able to expand my practice over these two short years. I now have two administrative assistants (one in CA and one in TX), a Licensed Professional Counselor-Associate (LPC-A) in TX, and a certified yoga instructor/speech-language pathologist (CCC-SLP) in WA. I’ve been able to create a supportive work environment for my team, which was important to me since we’re all mothers or mothers-to-be. For me, family will always come first and that’s something I stress to my team often. If their kiddos are sick, I encourage them to be with family. There will always be work, but time with family is something you can’t get back. I have plans to continue to expand my team nationwide and conduct trainings for families wanting to learn more about speech, autism, and more. I also plan to conduct trainings for mental health professionals interested in offering some of the services I offer. For example, on January 13-14, 2024, I will be conducting a two-day training for psychologists wishing to learn how to do immigration evaluations and add that service to their private practice. I’m really looking forward to it! Additionally, I plan to get my team and me trained in additional behavioral interventions. Right now, we offer Parent-Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM). This is a behavioral intervention that supports parents wanting to learn how to best help their neurodivergent children at home. We plan to expand and offer even more behavioral intervention options that can all be done from the comfort of the family’s home.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
So far, it’s been fairly smooth, but running a virtual private practice in the way that I’m doing it is still fairly new. COVID changed everything and showed the world that mental health/psychological services can indeed be done virtually. Now, would I recommend virtual services to everyone? No, it needs to be an appropriate fit. But yes, so far, things have been running pretty smoothly. I think part of that is because I worked in other agencies and took a lot of mental notes on what I felt worked and did not work systematically. I talked to my colleagues about things they enjoyed and things they wished they did differently. I spoke to patients and family members about their experiences. I gathered all of that information and used it to create a comfortable, supportive, and validating environment and experience for not just patients and families but for my team and other collaborating partners.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
In addition to being able to see individuals in 40+ states and being virtual, we also offer social skills groups for young adults (PEERS Social Skills Group) wanting to learn more about how to engage with others effectively while still loving and honoring their neurodivergence. Additionally, we offer individual and group therapy, yoga, postnatal services, speech therapy, brain mapping, job support services, and more! I take insurance (Aetna and Optum), and we also offer payment plans and superbills. My team and I know finding help can be daunting, so even if we’re not a good fit, we try to point families/patients to agencies that would be able to help them more effectively. We also take a “handholding” approach when working with patients and families and make ourselves available via phone, email, and text in case they are struggling to complete forms, cannot read, need an interpreter, etc. We’ve received many compliments from patients and families about how helpful we are every step of the way, and I think that sets us apart from other companies. Another unique aspect of my practice is that we work with immigration attorneys, regional centers, community mental health providers, doctor’s offices, the VA, and other local, state-funded, and federal agencies across the U.S. Something very exciting that recently happened is I was contacted by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and because they’ve heard such great things about the private practice and how we’re a trusted business, we’ve been labeled as a “BBB Accredited Business,” so families can be even more assured of the quality work that we provide.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Yes! Virtual services work, even for things such as autism and ADHD evaluations! We’ve been able to confidently diagnose individuals of all ages. We offer comprehensive testing that is all completed virtually/electronically to ensure that our families/patients are getting the most accurate diagnoses so they can then get the most tailored and appropriate care (whether that’s with us or another agency).
Pricing:
- Immigration Evaluation Training for Psychologists is $2500 (currently having an Early Bird Special for $500 off, ends 11/30/23) – includes two-day training, access to report templates, monthly consultation groups, marketing strategies, and more (payment plans available)
- Therapy ranges from $40-$250 per session (depending on the provider)
- Psychological testing ranges from $1500-$3500 (depending on patient’s age and type of testing)
- PEERS (social skills training) ranges from $1500-3500 (depending on if we’re running a special)
- P-ESDM/Speech Therapy ranges from $100-210 per session (depending on the needs of the family)
- Postnatal Services ranges from $35-$100 (depending on the type of service and how many sessions are needed)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bvpsychsolutions.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ bvpsychsolutions/ - Facebook: facebook.com/
burnsvirtualpsychologicalsolut ions - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/burns- virtual-psychological- solutions - Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/
biz/burns-virtual- psychological-solutions-san- antonio - Other: https://www.
psychologytoday.com/us/ therapists/burns-virtual- psychological-solutions-san- antonio-tx/904648
- To register for the Immigration Evaluation Training for Psychologists, email jazmin@bvpsychsolutions.com
Image Credits
Passion Vista Magazine
