Consultation for Clinicians Seeking Deeper Practice
When Laura Todd, LPCC, and I first started bareWell Consulting, we knew we wanted to create something different. Not another supervision requirement to check off or another professional development course to sit through passively. We wanted to build a space where clinicians could bring their real questions, their stuck places, and their curiosity about doing this work more deeply. The truth is, most of us didn't become therapists because we wanted to follow a script. We came to this field because we were drawn to the complexity of human experience, the mystery of healing, and the privilege of sitting with people in their most vulnerable moments. But somewhere between graduate school and building a full caseload, many clinicians find themselves wrestling with the normalized hyper-individualism and isolation within our field, wondering if there's more to learn, more depth to access, more ways to be truly present with clients. That's where consultation and authentic connection come in.
Traditional Training
Traditional clinical training does essential work. It teaches us diagnostic frameworks, evidence-based interventions, and ethical guidelines. It helps us understand theory and develop foundational skills. But it often stops short of helping us integrate all of that knowledge into our actual presence in the room with clients. Many clinicians graduate feeling competent in technique but uncertain about their clinical intuition. They can name interventions but struggle to trust their own responses. They know what the research says but wonder how to adapt it to the unique person sitting across from them. This gap between knowing and embodying, between technique and artistry, is where many of us get stuck. There's an unspoken expectation that once you have your license, you should have it all figured out, and admitting uncertainty can sometimes feel like admitting inadequacy. So many therapists practice in isolation, wrestling privately with questions that could be transformed through conversation and reflection.
What Makes bareWell Consulting Different
At bareWell Consulting, we believe in the power of relational, reflective consultations and nuanced clinical case discussions to deepen the understanding of mental health, maintain clinical integrity, and enhance abilities to facilitate meaningful change. Consultation here is different from supervision in important ways. Supervision often focuses on ensuring competence, meeting requirements, and protecting clients. These are crucial functions, but they can create a relationship where the supervisee is primarily trying to demonstrate adequacy rather than explore uncertainty. In consultation, you're being met as a colleague who is choosing to deepen your practice. This shift changes everything about the conversation. Instead of presenting your best work or defending your choices, you can bring your genuine questions. You can explore the moments when you felt lost, the clients who confuse you, the interventions that fell flat, and the sessions where something unexpected happened that you're still trying to understand. Good consultation creates a space where not knowing is valued as much as knowing. Where your confusion is treated as a doorway rather than a deficiency. Where the goal isn't to give you the right answer but to help you develop your own capacity to stay present with complexity.
Going Deeper: What Does That Actually Mean?
When we talk about developing a deeper practice, we're talking about cultivating skills that help you show up more fully in the therapy room. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Being present with yourself while being present with your client. You know that moment when you notice a flutter of anxiety in your chest during a session, or when you feel an unexpected urge to rescue someone? Deeper practice means catching those reactions without either pushing them away or immediately acting on them. Your internal experience becomes valuable information that helps you understand what's happening in the relationship.
Tracking what's happening on multiple levels at once. The content of what your client is saying matters but so does how they're saying it, the patterns showing up between you, what their body is communicating, and all the little things being expressed indirectly. It's like learning to listen to several instruments playing simultaneously and hearing how they create something together.
Getting comfortable with not having all the answers. Humans are complicated, and real therapeutic relationships are messy and unpredictable. Deeper practice means you can stay grounded even when your carefully planned intervention falls completely flat, or when you sit down for a session and genuinely have no idea what's happening or what to do next.
Holding your theoretical knowledge lightly enough to actually use it. You've learned all these frameworks and models, but deeper practice is about knowing them well enough that you can draw on them naturally, mixing and matching based on what this specific person in front of you actually needs.
Treating your own clinical experience as your best teacher. This means you start noticing patterns in your work: which interventions tend to land for you, which clients you struggle with, what happens when you're most effective. You get curious about your successes and your failures, and you develop the ability to step back and reflect, to learn, and to keep evolving your understanding of who you are as a clinician.
The Practical Side: What Consultation Actually Looks Like
In our practice, consultation sessions are conversations. We don't follow a rigid format because every clinician's needs are different. Some people come with specific cases they want to explore. Others come with broader questions about their clinical approach. Some are looking for help with a particular population or presenting problem. Others are working on their own patterns or stuck places. Typically, we start where you are. You might describe a client you're working with, a session that left you feeling confused or unsettled, or a pattern you've noticed in your practice. We listen carefully, asking questions to help us understand not just the clinical content but also your experience of the work. What are you noticing? What are you feeling? What are you wondering about? From there, the conversation unfolds organically. We might explore different ways of understanding what's happening. We might consider interventions you haven't tried. We might look at relational patterns or countertransference. We might connect what's happening in this case to broader themes in your work. The direction depends on what feels most useful to you. Our role is to help you think more deeply, see more clearly, and access your own clinical wisdom. Sometimes that means offering a perspective you haven't considered. Sometimes it means asking a question that opens up new possibilities. Sometimes it means simply witnessing your uncertainty and helping you trust that you can stay with it.
By Therapists, For Therapists
Laura and I have built our reputations on clinical expertise, innovative case conceptualization, and delivering workshops and keynotes that actually land. But here's what matters most: we draw from both our professional training and our lived experience. That combination brings a different kind of authenticity to the work. We see the complexities of today's mental health landscape clearly: the systemic barriers, the access issues, the ways the current system fails so many people. We're not interested in perpetuating harmful norms, and we're realistic enough to know we can't dismantle the system single-handedly. What we can do is create something different. That's why we founded bareWell Consulting: to foster a community built on integrity, resistance, and meaningful change. As women who hold privilege and power within the current system, Laura and I see our responsibility clearly and we use our positions to advance dialogue, push for action, and champion innovation. The goal is to move this field toward a more accessible, equitable, and inclusive future of mental health.
Building a Practice and a Community That Sustains You
One of the things we hear most often from clinicians is that they love their work but feel depleted by it. They care deeply about their clients but worry about burnout. They want to keep learning and growing but don't know how to make space for that alongside everything else they're managing. Our mission is to build a trusted community where licensed clinicians can find authentic connection, combat the normalized hyper-individualism and isolation within our field, and feel deeply supported in both their personal and professional lives. Grounded in research that shows authentic connection as a key antidote to burnout and isolation, we provide structured consultation and peer support that strengthens clinical competency, nurtures resilience, and restores meaning in the work. When you have a space to process your clinical experiences, to think through challenges, and to reflect on your work, the work itself becomes less isolating. You're not carrying everything alone. This kind of support also helps you develop your practice in directions that genuinely interest you. Instead of taking every referral or trying to be everything to everyone, you can think intentionally about the work you want to do, the clients you want to serve, and the approaches you want to develop. You can take risks and try new things, knowing you have someone to help you process and learn from those experiences.
An Invitation
We started this practice because we believe in the power of reflective conversation and authentic community to transform clinical work. We've both experienced how much difference it makes to have people who can help us think more deeply about our clients, our approach, and ourselves as clinicians. We wanted to offer that to others. The future of this field depends on therapists who are grounded, connected, and ready to grow. If you're reading this and feeling curious, we'd love to talk with you. Whether you're just starting out and wanting to develop a strong foundation, or you're experienced and looking for new depth, there's always room to grow in this work. Through collaborative consultation, reflective dialogue, and a commitment to clinical integrity, we create a space where healers can sustain their well-being, grow in their craft, and redefine what it means to truly thrive in the field of mental health.
Welcome to bareWell Consulting. We're so glad you're here.