Purpose and Profit: The Sustainable Therapy Practice Podcast

35 | Treating Yourself as the Asset: The Identity Shift Most of us Resist

If you are a therapy practice owner who treats her own time as a discount line and dresses up depletion as service, this episode reframes treating yourself as the asset of your therapy practice — not as selfishness or entitlement, but as the most ethical leadership stance you can take. Cecilia walks through why your wisdom, energy, decisions, and creativity are appreciating assets in your business, what shifts the moment you start protecting them with systems, and how the asset frame extends outward to your associates, admin, accountant, supervisor, peers, and clients. This is Purpose — and it is the piece most established practice owners skip entirely. In This Episode * Why treating yourself as the asset of your therapy practice is not entitlement, objectification, or transactional language — it is the precondition for everything else you actually want to build. * The gut-punch leadership question Cecilia sat with for years: who in your business, including you, is being protected as the asset whose time, energy, and decisions are systematically guarded — and what does it tell you that this isn’t how you treat yourself? * Why “I’m behind” misunderstands the nature of who you actually are — your wisdom and decision-making capacity are appreciating assets, and every year you’ve spent in this work has made you more valuable, not less. * What changes when you extend the asset frame outward — to associates, admin, accountant, supervisor, peers, and clients — and how it reshapes feedback, hiring rejection emails, conflict, and how you respond when someone (including you) makes a mistake. * The difference between asset-based leadership and entitlement — why “take what’s yours, demand what you deserve” is the patriarchal version of this teaching, and what the feminist collaborative version actually sounds like. Reflective Questions — Cecilia’s Rumbling Questions Cecilia explicitly asks listeners to sit with these. Pick the one that feels most uncomfortable and stay with that one first. 1. Where are you not seeing yourself as the asset right now — your schedule, your time, your attention, how you’re managing your team, your hiring? 2. How are your time, energy, decision-making, creativity, and health the assets of your business — and how are you currently treating them? 3. What conversations do you need to be having from the position of being an asset, with whom, and about what? What conversations have you been avoiding? 4. How would you deliver a hard conversation differently if you believed the other person was also an asset? 5. How would you rise from a failure as an asset, gathering another layer of value rather than feeling diminished? 6. What is different when you see your business as a lasting asset — yours and everyone else’s — for years to come? Resources + Links Mentioned Website: ceciliamannella.com [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/] LinkedIn: Connect with Cecilia [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-mannella/] The Practice CEO Circle — application-only mastermind for established group practice owners (next cohort starts July). Apply to The Practice CEO Circle™ You’ve built something real. A full caseload, a team, a practice that mostly runs on its own steam. And if you’re honest, you’ve been treating your time as a discount line — free for everyone — while the wisdom and decision-making capacity that built this practice goes unprotected. The Practice CEO Circle™ is where that stops. Inside the room, we learn to see ourselves and each other as assets — protecting time, decisions, and energy with systems, rumbling with the hard conversations together, and leading from recognition instead of depletion. The next cohort starts in July. Application takes about fifteen minutes, followed by a fit call. → Apply to The Practice CEO Circle [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/ceo-circle-apply] → Learn more about The Practice CEO Circle [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/the-practice-ceo-circle] Subscribe + Share If this episode landed for you, share it with one therapist who needs it. You know who she is. Leave a review — it takes 90 seconds and helps more Canadian therapists find this work.

EP 34 | The Identity Shift for Group Practice Owners: Why We Running Every C-Suite Role Off the Side of Their Desks

This episode names the CEO identity shift group practice owners actually need — and why every other decision in your business gets easier the moment you sit in that seat with intention. Cecilia shares what three months inside her own mastermind, The Practice CEO Circle™, taught her: the women who broke through didn’t get there by learning more tactics. They got there by occupying the CEO seat with intention. This is Purpose — and it is the piece most established practice owners skip entirely. IN THIS EPISODE * Every group practice owner is already running CEO, CFO, CMO, and COO functions in her business, often without ever consciously stepping into any of those seats * The shift that changes the business isn’t tactical — it’s positional: making decisions from the CEO chair instead of the therapist chair, with intention, every time * The woman who breaks through and the woman who hits a wall aren’t separated by talent, intelligence, or experience — they’re separated by the intentionality of the seat they’re occupying * Marketing decisions made from the therapist hat — trying to please everyone, capture the biggest net, avoid feeling salesy — are what keep practice owners stuck, not lack of marketing knowledge * Three months of identity work (not curriculum) inside The Practice CEO Circle produced revenue increases, dropped clinical hours, scaled service offerings, a first in-person location, and an open house where the mayor showed up RESOURCES + LINKS MENTIONED * Website: ceciliamannella.com [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/] * LinkedIn: Connect with Cecilia [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-mannella/] * The Practice CEO Circle™ — application-only mastermind for established group practice owners (eight seats, second cohort open for enrollment) APPLY TO THE PRACTICE CEO CIRCLE You’ve built something you’re proud of. A full caseload, a team, a practice that mostly runs on its own steam. And if you’re honest, you’re running every C-suite role off the side of your desk and feeling every decision land heavier than it should. The Practice CEO Circle™ is a small, curated mastermind for established Canadian therapy practice owners who are ready to stop doing CEO work in the cracks and start leading from the CEO seat with intention — fewer clinical hours, cleaner decisions, a team built around the version of the business you are actually building, and a room of women who will call you forward when you’re shrinking. Eight seats. Application only. Second cohort opening for enrollment. ➤ Apply to The Practice CEO Circle [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/ceo-circle-apply] ➤ Learn more about The Practice CEO Circle [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/the-practice-ceo-circle] SUBSCRIBE + SHARE If this episode landed for you, share it with one therapist who needs it. You know who she is. Leave a review — it takes 90 seconds and helps more Canadian therapists find this work.

EP 33 | We Need to Talk About the Term "AI Therapist"

"Therapy, at its core, is about relationship. And relationship is the one thing AI cannot replicate." I've been sitting with a Facebook post I came across this week — one of dozens I've seen in therapist groups about AI therapists — and I can't stop thinking about the words we're using. Not just what we're debating, but the language we're reaching for to describe it. In this solo episode, I'm deconstructing the phrase "AI therapist" and asking whether we — as a field — are doing ourselves harm just by using it. In this episode, I'm sharing: * Why the words we use to describe AI in therapy aren't neutral — and why merging "AI" with "therapist" is doing real damage to how we understand both * What AI actually is right now: an LLM drawing on curated, publicly available information that reflects the biases of dominant culture — not a thinking being, not a relationship * What therapy actually is at its core — and why I still can't define it in one paragraph after 20 years * The diversity of therapeutic relationships that makes the art of therapy so irreplaceable: the therapist who connects with nonverbal children with autism, the one who builds trust with trauma survivors, the one who earns credibility with skeptical high-achieving executives * Why AI can reproduce the structure of CBT, DBT, IFS, and narrative therapy — and why that is fundamentally not the same as practising any of them * The data question: why would billionaires who built these platforms actually want access to the deepest, darkest secrets of millions of people? * What my dad — a Chilean refugee who came to Canada after the assassination of a president — said about things that are offered for free * Why arguing with each other about AI in therapist Facebook groups is not the same as having the discourse we actually need * A call to reclaim the word "therapist" as human-centric — and to stop providing language that normalizes the merger This episode is a question, not an answer. If it sparked something for you, I want to have a real conversation about it. Come find me on LinkedIn — link in the show notes — and weigh in. This discourse needs more voices, not fewer. 👉 ceciliamannella.com ABOUT YOUR HOST: Cecilia Mannella is a Registered Social Worker, Clinical Counsellor, and therapy practice coach with 25 years as a mental health practitioner and nearly two decades building her own practice from solo therapist to seven-figure group practice. She helps Canadian therapists build profitable, sustainable businesses without apologising for their ambition — or compromising their values. Connect with Cecilia: Website: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/ [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/] This Episode: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/purpose-and-profit-podcast [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/purpose-and-profit-podcast] LOVED THIS EPISODE? ⭐ Share this with a therapist who's been using the phrase "AI therapist" without thinking twice about it ⭐ Leave a review if this episode gave you language for something you've been uneasy about ⭐ Send this to a colleague who's been arguing about AI instead of having the harder conversation ⭐ Hit follow for more honest conversations about what it actually takes to lead a therapy practice PURPOSE AND PROFIT: THE SUSTAINABLE THERAPY PRACTICE PODCAST Burnout Is Not a Business Model New episodes every Tuesday © CM Consulting — All Rights Reserved WORK WITH ME: APPLY FOR COACHING https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnLHz7NPQMjMruYHZij6SJbSBI8JibryK-dGxHcDFhM9VZ9A/viewform [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnLHz7NPQMjMruYHZij6SJbSBI8JibryK-dGxHcDFhM9VZ9A/viewform]

EP 32 | Vancouver Therapist on Building a Group Practice: Why Therapists Make Reluctant Business Owners

"I've never wanted to be in a position where I'm making decisions based on I just need this session booked because otherwise I can't pay my bills." That's how Nicole Neufeld, Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), describes the financial philosophy behind building The Commons Wellness — a virtual group practice based in Vancouver, BC. In this episode, Nicole shares what most therapists are never taught: how to actually run a business — and why avoiding that identity comes at a cost. Nicole’s path into private practice wasn’t linear. With a background in retail management, insurance, and catering, she entered the therapy world with something most new grads don’t have: a working understanding of how businesses operate. That foundation shaped everything from how she built her practice to how she leads her team today. This conversation explores the structural loneliness of therapy work, the gap between clinical training and business reality, and what becomes possible when you stop treating your practice like an accident — and start treating it like a business. In this episode, Nicole shares: * Why her pre-therapy career gave her a level of business confidence most clinicians lack * The loneliness built into the therapy room — and why group practice is more than a revenue model * The mindset shift: becoming a business owner who is also a therapist * Why the lack of business training in grad school sets therapists up to struggle * How she approaches creativity and innovation instead of following “this is how it’s done” * Niching as burnout prevention — and how aligned clients change everything * Why she has never used Google Ads and focuses on SEO, relationships, and organic growth instead * How she structures her practice around her life goals, not just income targets * The role of long-term vision (5–10 years) in decision-making and sustainability * Why collaborative leadership works — and what trust actually looks like in a group practice If you’ve ever felt like you’re running a business without a map, questioning whether the rules you’re following actually fit your values, or quietly burning out trying to do it all alone — this conversation will land. RESOURCES + LINKS MENTIONED: 🎙️ Apply for business coaching: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnLHz7NPQMjMruYHZij6SJbSBI8JibryK-dGxHcDFhM9VZ9A/viewform [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnLHz7NPQMjMruYHZij6SJbSBI8JibryK-dGxHcDFhM9VZ9A/viewform] 🎙️ Book a discovery call: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/business-coaching [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/business-coaching] 🎙️ Listen to The Sustainable Practice Framework: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/purpose-and-profit-podcast [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/purpose-and-profit-podcast] ABOUT YOUR HOST: Cecilia Mannella is a Registered Social Worker, Clinical Counsellor, and therapy practice coach with 25 years as a mental health practitioner and nearly two decades building her own practice from solo therapist to seven-figure group practice. She helps Canadian therapists build profitable, sustainable businesses without apologizing for their ambition or compromising their values. Connect with Cecilia: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/ [https://www.ceciliamannella.com/] ABOUT THE GUEST: Nicole Neufeld, MC, RCC, is a counsellor and group practice owner at The Commons Wellness, a virtual therapy practice based in Vancouver, BC. With a background in retail management, insurance, and training and development, Nicole brings a strong business foundation into the therapy world — shaping how she builds, hires, and leads. Her practice operates as a collaborative collective of counsellors and interns working within an AEDP-informed framework. Connect with Nicole: Website: https://www.thecommonswellness.ca/ [https://www.thecommonswellness.ca/] LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/nicoledneufeld [https://ca.linkedin.com/in/nicoledneufeld] LOVED THIS EPISODE? ⭐ Share this with a therapist who feels like they were never taught how to run a business ⭐ Send this to a group practice owner who is questioning their current model ⭐ Leave a review and tell us what shifted for you after listening ⭐ Follow Purpose and Profit so you never miss a Tuesday episode PURPOSE & PROFIT: THE SUSTAINABLE THERAPY PRACTICE PODCAST Burnout Is Not a Business Model New episodes every Tuesday © CM CONSULTING - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

EP 31 | Sustainable Doesn't Mean Easy: What It Actually Takes to Build a Practice That Lasts

"If you've been waiting for your practice to feel calm, predictable, and maybe even low effort before you call it sustainable — that moment is not coming. Not because something is wrong with your practice. Because you've been working from the wrong definition." In this solo episode, I'm taking on the fantasy that's been sold to therapy practice owners - the passive income, the systemised-while-you're-on-the-beach version of sustainability - and offering something more honest, more useful, and actually achievable. Because a sustainable practice is not effortless. It's intentional. And there's a significant difference. IN THIS EPISODE, I'M SHARING: → The dominant narrative sold to practice owners - and why chasing it sent me into a spiral of 'let's just sell it or burn it down' → What sustainability actually means: intentional integration of values, vision, time, and attention - not the absence of responsibility → Why leadership isn't only a group practice concept - solo practitioners lead themselves in relationship to their business every single day → The identity claim that changes everything: not 'I am a therapist who has a practice' but 'I am a business owner and a leader - right now, not someday' → Why sustainability and stress are not opposites - and the shift from personalising every stressor as failure to reading it as information → Team conflict, revenue dips, packed decision-making weeks - what these are actually telling you → Two real experiments from my practice: the print mental health magazine that's working beautifully, and the $20,000 operations manager hire that taught me exactly what I didn't need → What a sustainable practice actually looks like: knowing your numbers, making decisions from values, having one honest peer relationship, and stopping the wait to call it a success If this episode is landing somewhere specific for you and you're sitting with a real question about where you're going and what sustainable growth looks like in your practice - let's talk. I keep a few discovery call spots open each month for practice owners ready to have that honest conversation. No pitch, no pressure. Just a real look at your practice and what's actually possible. Book your discovery call at ceciliamannella.com Explore the Sustainable Practice Framework: ceciliamannella.com/sustainable-practice-framework ABOUT YOUR HOST Cecilia Mannella is a Registered Social Worker, Clinical Counsellor, and therapy practice coach with 25 years as a mental health practitioner and nearly two decades building her own practice from solo therapist to seven-figure group practice. She helps Canadian therapists build profitable, sustainable businesses without apologising for their ambition - or compromising their values. Connect with Cecilia: Website: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/ This Episode: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/purpose-and-profit-podcast LOVED THIS EPISODE? ⭐ Share this with a practice owner who's been chasing the effortless passive income dream and quietly feeling like a failure ⭐ Leave a review if this episode reframed something you've been carrying as stress into something you can actually use ⭐ Send this episode to a colleague who needs permission to stop waiting for calm before she calls her practice a success ⭐ Hit follow for more honest conversations about what it actually takes to lead a therapy practice PURPOSE AND PROFIT: THE SUSTAINABLE THERAPY PRACTICE PODCAST Burnout Is Not a Business Model New episodes every Tuesday © CM Consulting — All Rights Reserved WORK WITH CECILIA Apply for Coaching: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnLHz7NPQMjMruYHZij6SJbSBI8JibryK-dGxHcDFhM9VZ9A/viewform