Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Thomas, Zully Schultz, and Jenifer Costigan.
Grace, Zully, and Jenifer, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We first opened the doors of Reconnecting Relationships Therapy in May 2015. Which at the time, we felt was the biggest milestone of our business. The months leading up to our open house had been a crash course in marketing strategy. Something we knew very little about, primarily as we were all recent graduates in a completely different field, Marriage and Family Therapy.
Try to imagine three therapists, passionate about strengthening relationships and learning all things relationships and suddenly having the desire to start a business! The foundation of how we approach business is intertwined in who we are as therapists, colleagues, but most of all friends. We all met at Texas Wesleyan University and attended the same graduate program. Throughout our graduate program, without knowing, we created our mission statement for our business. We encouraged one another in challenges and motivated each other’s individual growth. After graduation we found that the environment and quality of work we wanted to offer clients could best be offered by starting our own practice. We contacted each other and soon applied the same skills we developed in graduate school to start Reconnecting Relationships Therapy. We researched, sought out the expertise of others, and took a leap of faith to invest in our passion.
Today, despite our limited knowledge in business, we continue to apply these same qualities to be successful. Set our business goals and expectations higher while continuing our mission to strengthen and restore relationships.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think the biggest challenge of all has to do with balancing the business side of our private practice and continuing to focus and work effectively with our clients. As therapists, we are more comfortable in doing what we have been trained to do. It comes naturally for us to want to put all our energy into helping our clients. However, we’ve learned that we cannot neglect the business itself. We have to constantly adjust our attention to things such as marketing and advertising, creating a brand, networking, and taking care of our finances. Otherwise, we have no place from which to do our work.
When we first opened our practice two years ago, we realized that not only were we a new business, but we were new therapists. We had no history, so to speak. Nobody knew that we existed. Nobody knew what we did or what we specialized in. And all the three of us wanted to do was begin seeing clients. But that’s not how it works. Therefore, we had to begin learning something that was very foreign to us – marketing!
Marketing has not always been an easy task for us. We’ve read many articles, watched plenty of videos, and sought the advice of other professionals to find out what advertising strategies are best for us. And even so we continue to learn as we go. Some marketing options are expensive and out of our budget so we have to be careful in how we spend our money. Although we are not social media savvy, we have chosen to go in that direction since most of our demographic tends to be “connected.” So that in itself has been challenging for us.
Nevertheless, each of us is pretty lucky to have family and friends that are supportive of our venture. And we’ve met some wonderful people who have shared their insight and personal experiences with business, extended their generosity, and keep encouraging us to grow. So even though we’ve been met with some challenges, the process has helped us see improvements in ourselves as not only therapists but as business owners which was more than what we had expected when we completed our degrees.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Reconnecting Relationships Therapy has a strong foundation of three dedicated, passionate, and supportive women. We strive to help our clients rekindle and reconnect their relationships with the most important people in their lives. We provide our clients with a warm, homey, confidential environment that allows our clients to feel comfortable processing their life challenges. On numerous occasions we have had clients complement our atmosphere stating the feel and service made them so comfortable they wish they could come back and just hang out!
We all hold a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and are Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associates. Therefore, our primary focus is on relationship issues, as well as couples/family conflict. We provide services for couples, families, and individuals.
Fortunately, because Reconnecting Relationships Therapy was built by three unique individuals, we are proud to offer a variety of services to our clients. Some of our combined and individual areas of interest include: self-esteem, anxiety, depression, parenting difficulties, infidelity/affair recovery, abuse, life transitions, intimacy issues, sexual dysfunctions, sexual addiction, and sexual identity.
What were you like growing up?
Zully: When I was young, I was a pretty good kid. I was a straight A student, introverted, and teacher’s pet. I didn’t find it difficult to stay out of trouble. My family struggled financially and that drove me to be resourceful and creative in getting what I needed or wanted. I was that kid who couldn’t wait to grow up. I would often try to give my mom financial advice. I figured if you can get yourself into a mess, you can find a way to get out of it.
My interests growing up were books and music. I would read forever! I’d go to the library and check out the maximum allowed which I think was around 10 books. I’d be back in a week to check out 10 more. And my favorites were always mysteries or thrillers. I loved trying to figure out who did it and how. My interest in music really sparked in my middle school years. When everyone else was listening to mainstream pop, I went a different route. I gravitated toward darker, moodier music. I listened to The Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and Echo and the Bunnymen, just to name a few. And still, I enjoy listening to music that has a little edge and maybe strays from the norm.
Grace: Growing up, I was extremely inquisitive! My parents were usually confronted with my favorite question, “Why?” I was obedient, extraverted and nurturing to others. I loved reading, cooking with my mom, and listening to music. Music connected my love for different cultures, as we would listen to classical music, 70’s R&B, and music in Spanish.
Throughout my life, relationships were always important. I treasured my relationships with my family, friends, neighbors, and church members. And since I grew up in a low-income apartment in downtown I had a variety of people I could get to know. My parents always encouraged me to get to know and respect everyone. So living next to someone with Schizophrenia never seemed threatening or different, just another opportunity to make a new friend. When my parents divorced it fostered more questions about relationships. And when they later remarried, it sparked my interest in how relationships could be nourished and rebuilt.
Jenifer: I was the meek and mild child who was always hiding behind mom’s leg when meeting new people or hiding behind the podium/poster/computer while giving presentations. My parents never allowed that to stop me from trying new things I had an interest in. Throughout the years I dabbled in T-ball, coach pitch, ballet/jazz/tap, cheerleading, middle school band (I played the clarinet), guitar, soccer, choir, and drama. Alas, nothing really stuck and lasted. My greatest passion growing up was taking care of our family cat and taking care of my many baby dolls.
Being the youngest child, and the only girl, I was the family buffer. I always wanted to keep the peace between all members. If I felt there was conflict between anyone, especially between my two older brothers who are close in age, I always wanted to know what was going on and I would want to help them figure out a solution to their problem. This was the same for friends as well. I was the middleman, go-to friend who would always lend an ear and a shoulder to cry on.
Pricing:
- $75 per 50 minute session.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1509B S. University Drive, Suite 212
Fort Worth, TX 76107 - Website: http://www.reconnectingrelationships.com
- Phone: (817) 885-7777
- Email: info.reconnectingrelationships@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconnectingrelationships212/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reconnectingrelationshipstherapy/
Image Credit:
Aaron Thomas Photography
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