How to Start a Membership Community with Dr. Mēgan Pickens | GP 169

How to Start a Membership Community with Dr. Mēgan Pickens | GP 169

Do you and some of your colleagues interested in creating a group that’s beneficial to your practices as well as your skillsets as therapists? Would you create a membership community? How can you take what you already have and build from it?

In this podcast episode, LaToya Smith speaks about membership communities with Dr. Mēgan Pickens.

Podcast Sponsor: Blueprint

A photo of the Blueprint podcast sponsor is captured. Blueprint sponsor the Practice of the Practice podcast.

Providing great therapy day after day can be challenging – even for the best of us!

At Blueprint, they believe that nothing should get in the way of you doing your best work, which is why they created a platform that provides therapists with an array of clinical tools – things like therapy worksheets, intervention ideas, and digital assessments – that are designed to help you and your clients can stay connected and confident throughout the care journey. Even better, Blueprint helps streamline your documentation so that you can spend less time on your notes and more time on the things that matter.

To learn more and request a free 30-day trial, visit blueprint-health.com

Meet Dr. Mēgan Pickens

A photo of Dr. Mēgan Pickens is captured. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor. Dr. Mēgan Pickens is featured on Grow a Group Practice, a therapist podcast.

Dr. Mēgan Pickens is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor with nearly 20 years of clinical experience. She provides supervision and training for counseling students and associates new to the field (about LPC Supervision).

Dr. Mēgan was once a High Achieving Black Woman (HABW™) who struggled with setting boundaries in all of her relationships. During a ten-year troubled relationship, she learned that the more you accept and allow people to take what they want, the more they will continue to take. She worked in the counseling field for several years before realizing that she had a calling to help other HABW™, specifically black women who have been socialized to believe that the only normalcy is not having healthy boundaries. 

Visit The Volition Collective and connect on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

In This Podcast

  • The MBHPN
  • How to start a membership community
  • Create a variety of offerings

The MBHPN

The Multicultural Behavioral Health Provider Network is an organization made up of therapists.

Dr. Pickens created a group of therapists with her supervisor – and later mentor – to facilitate and create a space where black mental health providers could connect.

As the organization began to evolve, they could start providing CEUs.

MBHPN right now is a membership group. We have a private network, [and] I still answer questions [personally].

Dr. Pickens

MBHPN hosts talks, continuing education, supervision, peer revision, and much more. It’s a community of black mental health providers where people can learn from and support one another in their private practice journeys.

How to start a membership community

At a foundational level, you can just start it! Meet with people and start collaborating. Dig into your existing network, see where you can create a network, plan a day and a time, and invite them to join with any questions or ideas to dive into.

Therapy can be very isolating, especially if you’re an individual practice, and I think even more so for group practice owners because you’re the boss, so there’s a layer between you and the employees in a sense … so, I would say, just start it!

Dr. Pickens

If you don’t yet have a following, think twice about charging a joining fee. Build up a base and a name first before charging people to join, otherwise, it might be difficult to get people in the door.

Create a variety of offerings

Once your community starts building a following and your attendees are committed enough to invest in it, consider offering a variety of different choices that they can choose from.

Have free events or meetings available, and then events or speakers too.

We have the regular monthly events and then … bonus events … so if you’re a member of MBHPN you can get that for free as part of your membership.

Dr. Pickens

If your membership is well-structured and well-resourced, it could be cheaper than other CEU programs that your attendees might be considering.

A membership community of therapists is not only then a place for networking and support, but also more affordable continual education and skill development.

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

Check out these additional resources:

Meet LaToya Smith

An image of LaToya Smith is captured. She is a consultant with Practice of the Practice and the owner of LCS Counseling. LaToya is featured on the Practice of the Practice, a therapist podcast.

LaToya is a consultant with Practice of the Practice and the owner of LCS Counseling and Consulting Agency in Fortworth Texas. She firmly believes that people don’t have to remain stuck in their pain or the place they became wounded. In addition to this, LaToya encourages her clients to be active in their treatment and work towards their desired outcomes.

She has also launched Strong Witness which is a platform designed to connect, transform, and heal communities through the power of storytelling.

Visit LaToya’s website. Connect with her on FacebookInstagramStrong Witness Instagram, and Twitter.

Apply to work with LaToya.

Email her at [email protected]

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