Today we’d like to introduce you to Damien & Sarah Robinson.
Hi Damien and Sarah, can you introduce yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Our practice is co-owned by a husband-wife clinician team, Sarah and Damien Robinson. We met when Damien moved to Georgetown as a business development specialist to open Rock Springs, the first psychiatric hospital in Williamson County. Sarah was newly hired by the therapist team there and began helping them open an adolescent treatment unit and treat adult patients. Damien was also able to make a very successful residential program treating active duty military members with trauma and substance abuse, now called Help for Heroes. We had no idea we would ever open a practice together then. (Damien still needs to get his clinical license!).
After we married, Sarah began working in outpatient settings and building her private practice. Damien eventually decided to work toward his clinical license in his (very little) spare time and was ultimately fully licensed. He started to use his license and transition out of business and hospital management when he began working at a substance abuse rehab as a Clinical Manager. Sarah also convinced him to try out private practice, and he was a natural fit. After the birth of our first child, we were looking for more flexibility and began learning about building a full-time private practice. We are so grateful that therapists in Austin are generous with their knowledge and passion for helping new business owners build and thrive and received wise counsel about setting up something successful.
Just as we were beginning to figure out our private practices, the COVID-19 pandemic started. We were forced into virtual counseling and found that our efforts could be better combined to create a group practice. We were able to adjust quickly and didn’t take any time away from helping people process how difficult that time was. We remember how odd it was to figure out how to do therapy with masks on or how to meet people online in a confidential way. We are particularly passionate about treating trauma and helping people recover from PTSD, and the pandemic exacerbated everyone’s trauma responses to the max. We just had the goal to create more to meet everyone’s needs – more connection, more help, more openness to therapy and we figured it was time to create ATX Mental Health. It was an exciting time because we were also going through many of the things our clients were going through, and we really wrestled with how to acknowledge that overlap. That was the birth of our motto, “Humans Treating Humans,” and allowing the discussion of therapeutic self-disclosure to evolve with our culture. Our team today has grown to 10, and we count it an honor to be invited to help anyone manage their mental health or treat mental illness. We are building a diverse group of backgrounds and viewpoints and aim to constantly remind our clients that they aren’t broken and that someone cares about them and wants to personalize their care so that they experience life the way they want.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced?
It is challenging to open a business and scale the learning curve there. Still, it takes more work to figure out how to do it during a historic worldwide pandemic. So much of our industry was turned upside down, and some things like virtual therapy that we love now needed to be running smoothly then. Sarah comes from an entrepreneurial family, and Damien had essential business and marketing skills, but many of our familiar resources were unavailable then. The number of people wanting therapy also accelerated our timeline, so that was a massive balancing act while raising a newborn! We’ve stabilized post-pandemic and can settle into the new resources in our industry, growing our team and helping people recover. And it’s been lovely to see our oldest kiddo (now there are two!) grow up in our offices and see what it’s like to run a business.
Thanks for sharing that. Please tell us more about your business.
Our team specializes in treating trauma, anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, transitional stress, executive skill growth, and self-esteem. We are known for being a practice that focuses on creating a safe space in every way you interact with us. In our practice, we pride ourselves on inclusivity and celebrating in any way that someone wants to experience life. We are an interracial couple, and our team is equally diverse and inclusive. Our team is proud of being local, treating local, and being unique in its focus on hope for recovery. We are located in Round Rock and offer treatments such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Brain Spotting, Enneagram coaching, and ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention). We accept many major insurances and have providers who offer a lower-than-average out-of-pocket rate as well. We also provide LPC and LCSW supervision and love to train new clinicians. We want people to know that therapy does not have to look like the traditional model that can feel flat or mysterious; here, you get to know that the therapist in front of you is also a person working on themselves, living life next to you, trying to find joy just like you are. We are a therapy home base where you can feel safe, be yourself, and experience growth and healing.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
A few different kinds of mentors are essential in our industry, and you want to have all of them on your team. Having someone to supervise you or discuss complex cases and having a solid team around you with various ideas and experiences is essential. It’s important to be connected to professionals who have a different background than you do so you aren’t stuck in one view and can remember the many ways of ‘humanity’ that all deserve loving support. Networking looks so different from how it used to be pre-pandemic, so we are learning about the new ways that mental health professionals want to gather and share resources. Right now, we love exciting content on Instagram and support new business initiatives that wish to provide their team with mental health support.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atxmentalhealth.com
- Instagram: @atx_mental_health
