Meet Gina Behm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Behm.

Hi Gina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My interest in psychology as a study started in high school when I had a really fun teacher for the subject. So when I went to college, I actually was pre-admit to a physical therapy program at my University, but despite the program’s suggestion I make exercise science my major, I insisted on psychology being my major knowing I would have to take a handful of additional courses. This was the best move I could have made because fairly quickly into my first semester, I realized PT was not for me considering I tend to gag whenever people share about their injuries. My parents weren’t thrilled when I dropped the pre-admit to PT, and they were skeptical about me pursuing psychology as a degree because, “what can you REALLY do with that”?

Despite their hesitancy, I completed my psychology degree in addition to a communication major. I attended a Master’s program immediately after receiving my bachelor’s, and the story begins there. In the final year of my Master’s program, I had to complete an internship; I had already completed my practicum and knew I wanted to work with PTSD, particularly sexual assault victims. My advisor at the time recommended I work with a different population for my internship in order to avoid early burnout, and so my naivety at the time led me to applying for a space with an eating disorder facility. I got the position and quickly learned that PTSD and sexual assault are VERY prevalent concurrences in the eating disorder community; I guess you could say this worked out well for me!

I completed my internship at the facility and accepted the position of program director with them right out of school. I spent a lot of time with clients in the group setting as well as individually helping them navigate treatment team recommendations and building life skills. In addition to that, I was also managing the business side of the program; it was a lot. There were many demands on me in the position outside of the counselor role, and I was missing my true passion of being in the therapy room, so I started a small private practice on the side one day a week. As my practice grew, I built up the confidence to leave the facility job and go fully private practice. I started in a group practice, and after about a year, realized the “benefits” of a group practice, such as client referrals and co-worker camaraderie, weren’t really occurring; turns out my own marketing on the side was pulling in the majority of my clients, and the competition amongst coworkers for those clients who were getting referred did not sit well with me. These realizations in addition to a couple of conversations with loved ones, gave me the second confidence boost I needed to leave the “safety” of a group practice and begin my own solo practice. I am now a bit over a year into this new chapter of my career, and I can confidently say it is everything I needed and more.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I laugh this question only because what is a smooth road really? There have been many a roadblock to get to where I am today; some big, some small, all felt terribly unmanageable at the time and yet, here I am!

The most obvious struggle that arose while I was transitioning my career path was the COVID-19 pandemic, but I mean, really… who out there can’t relate to that struggle these days? This crisis hit the U.S. a mere two months after I left my facility job. Adjusting my practice, my clients and myself to a Telehealth platform and working from my own home without a desk and two dogs was a feat I will forever pat myself on the back for!

Then there are of course, the basic struggles of learning how to open your own business when it is the complete opposite of what you went to school for; learning about LLCs, taxes, marketing, keeping up with scheduling & inquiries, making sure you are in accordance with HIPAA laws, and the financial burdens that arise just to name a few. Learning how to market myself was its own beast because I am not the type to brag on myself, I’m really more of a boost up your neighbor kind of gal. Speaking of the type of person I am, I inherently tend to fall on the perfectionist side of things. This characteristic has proven most difficult in my line of work for a few reasons: therapists have limitations, and you have to be more selfish than you might expect. When it comes to mental health careers, most of us are helpers and empaths; we want to fix things. When it comes to mental health clients, they are seeking help; they usually want things fixed! However, the truth of the matter is that while there are adjustments to be made that can help improve quality of life, nothing has a magic fix. This was hard for me as a perfectionist to accept, and often times is difficult for my clients to accept as well. When my clients pressure me for answers, I have to redirect and set boundaries, even though everything in me is screaming “just tell them to do this!!” – that would not be helpful for anyone in the long run 🙂 Setting these boundaries both in session and outside of session is a form of self-care, which some people view as selfish or even uncaring. But the truth is, I know many therapists who overextend themselves; they have too many clients on their caseloads, work too many hours, run too many businesses etc., and both they and their clients suffer for it. Knowing when to step back and say no in this career is imperative to so many people’s health, and it is a terribly difficult thing for a perfectionist helper to do.

But the biggest bumps in the road for me came in the form of other people; bosses, co-workers, clients, professors… it is a hard pill to swallow that not everyone has your best interest in mind and that just because someone is in the same field as you doesn’t mean they have the same intentions. As you kind of heard in my story, there were people trying to derail me at every turn: my parents’ skepticism about the degree, my bachelor’s advisor telling me to do something else to make more money, the master’s advisor suggesting a non-trauma population, the group practice owner insisting going out on my own was not a good idea. Do I think all of these people were out to get me or wanted me to fail? No, not all of them. Most of them were just worried, but those worries wore on me, and sometimes it was hard to continue forward and trust myself with so many voices telling me to stop. But for each voice that expressed hesitancy, there were equal and additional voices who knew I would succeed, and for those supervisors, co-workers, family members and friends, I will forever be grateful.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a mental health therapist for adult women, specializing in anxiety and eating disorders. I thrive most when working with young adult individuals struggling to cope with significant transitions and life stressors such as breakups, job changes, loss, relocations, etc. More often than not I find my clients are struggling with communication and boundaries, which bleeds into their relationships with others, as well as their relationships with themselves. I think what sets me apart from others who are treating this population is that I am highly relatable because, well, I’ve been there. I am a millennial myself, one who has experienced a highly emotional break-up, a toxic workplace, a rocky relationship with spirituality, a crazy loud inner-critic, so on and so forth. I have put a lot of work into healing these stressors myself, and now in my work helping others do the same, I don’t hold back.

While I base my practice off of research & theories and complete all the continuing education, all of which I agree are necessary and helpful, I find that my blunt honesty, accountability, humor and fierce compassion for my clients is what help them heal most. Does it work for everyone? Definitely not. But not all clients are for me and I’m not for all clients, which is why I emphasize right off the bat that you have to find the right fit in your therapist. This is where my social media account comes into play; it is difficult to get a good feel for a therapist from a few paragraphs on Psychology Today, and even then, you know that everyone puts their best foot forward in those spaces. So I utilize my social media platforms not only to push out useful information but also as a resource for potential clients to check out the way I speak and the issues I help resolve. I feel passionate about being authentic and transparent right off the bat, and my website, Instagram page and offering free phone consultations prior to any sessions or financial commitments helps me to achieve that.

In regards to my services, I provide primarily one-on-one individual sessions with clients and then also perform the occasional family/couple session to help my clients’ support systems get on the same page and address any concerns/issues. I find these support system sessions are also excellent practice for clients to engage in the skills we are working on, such as setting boundaries and advocating for themselves and also allows me to observe and help correct the process as well. For my eating disorder clients, in addition to these individual and support system sessions, I also work on the backend with their other providers (dietitians, physicians, psychiatrists, etc.) to help ensure full, supportive wrap-around care is happening.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I get asked this question a lot considering I am a St. Louis native who arrived in Kansas City for college over a decade ago and still has never left. Despite my extensive practice responding to this question, I still find it difficult to answer, because honestly, it is hard to explain! There is an air of camaraderie in KC that extends much beyond the sports teams. There is creativity here that I just don’t think is found in many other midwestern cities. Once I was giving a tour to a prospective co-worker from out of state and she asked me what Kansas City’s main industry was, wanting an answer like “corn” or something like that. I told her I didn’t know the correct answer but based on my experience, I almost feel like our main industry is entrepreneurship; there are so many artists, small businesses, family restaurants and the like that survive and thrive in this city thanks to our ferocious support of them. One of the only negatives I can think of about the city is when you take into account the suburbs, it gets quite widespread, which makes it nearly impossible to explore and support all of the wonderful entrepreneurs here! Even with both my office and home so centrally located in the city, I struggle to make it everywhere. Then there is the landscape of course, it would be nice to have a mountain or ocean view every once in a while 🙂 But nothing warms my heart like heading downtown and getting that first glimpse of the KC skyline; I have never felt that way about the Arch! I used to always get told, “When you have kids, you’ll go home”. Well, I have a kid, and I can comfortably say Kansas City is our home!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.ginabehmwellness.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gina.behm_wellness/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginabehmwellness
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/ginabehmwellness/_created/

Image Credits:
Glenwood Creative