How the Healgood Collective Came To Be: Over a Decade of Noticing Gaps and Building Community
By Chelsea Fielder-Jenks, LPC-S, CEDS-C, PMH-C
The Healgood Collective didn't begin with a business plan, market analysis, or clever brand exercise. It began quietly, in real conversations and connections, over many years.
What I now recognize looking back is a consistent pattern since 2012: noticing gaps in how we support clinicians, building what didn't exist yet, and watching community naturally form around it.
The Collective is the formalization of that work.
It's not a departure from Healgood's foundation as a holistic counseling center or our commitment to a training-focused environment. Rather, it expands what has always been true. I will continue offering supervision, consultation, and clinical services. The Collective simply articulates, with intention and structure, what I've been building all along.
I invite you to come along on this origin story. I promise it doesn't start with a business plan. It starts in 2012 with a confused, newly licensed clinician and a missing roadmap.
(Surprise: that clinician is me.)
2012: The First Gap
"How do I move from student to licensed professional?"
As an LPC-Intern (now called LPC-Associate), I quickly realized that graduate programs excel at teaching clinical skills but rarely prepare students for navigating the transition from graduation to licensure.
I relied heavily on the solidarity of my grad school cohort as we pieced together requirements, interpreted board rules, and prepared for the NCE in what started as a study group but really looked more like a process group.
It frustrated me that this stage was unnecessarily confusing… that each generation of students was having to recreate the wheel.
So I built my first workshop to fill the gap: The Journey to LPC.
I covered licensure and supervision requirements, job and supervisor search strategies, interview and NCE preparation, plus self-care strategies to support the journey. I'm proud to say I held versions of this workshop consistently over several years, including in my private practice, at the 2013 Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth Conference, and for local university counseling programs like St. Edward's.
What I expected to be useful information became something more. Attendees became colleagues, consultees, supervisees. Connection emerged naturally.
Lesson learned: Build support structures and community forms around them.
2017: Launching My Practice
"Why is no one talking about what it really takes to launch sustainably?"
When I opened my practice, my priority was staying aligned with my values. I already knew isolation was the downfall of many solo practitioners, and I wanted to avoid that trap.
So I started weaving my web of support:
✓ I subleased office space with like-minded clinicians and colleagues
✓ I joined a consultation group where I could process hard cases and practice dilemmas without pretending to have all the answers
✓ I sought guidance from professionals outside our field: lawyers, CPAs, business owners
✓ I explored private practice coaching programs—and quickly noticed they often fell into one of two categories:
Pre-recorded, passive courses (helpful in theory, lonely in practice)
Large cohort coaching calls with limited time for individualized feedback
…Neither offered what I most needed: ongoing, relational support that understood both clinical realities and business demands.
I pieced it together over time, and it worked. I built a thriving practice doing work I loved with clients who were a good fit. I developed systems that felt sustainable. I learned how to market in ways that felt authentic rather than morally icky (iykyk).
But I kept coming back to the same question: How nice would it have been if all of this infrastructure was already in place? If I could just show up with my laptop, books, and my favorite handouts (anyone who knows me knows I love a good handout!) and focus on the clinical work I was passionate about?
Lesson learned: When values guide and the safety of a web of support is felt, a sustainable, fulfilling practice will follow.
Becoming a Supervisor
Introducing "Practice Development"
As an LPC-Supervisor, I found that many of my supervisees knew they wanted a private practice eventually, but graduate school hadn't provided the preparation they needed.
To meet this need, I naturally expanded my supervision focus to include not just clinical competencies but also what I began calling "Practice Development" competencies: boundaries, fee setting, practice values and policies, marketing, and systems. These conversations weren't an add-on. They were necessary for long-term sustainability.
Over time, I formalized this approach, creating a specialized supervision track with benchmarks focused on building the competence needed to run a successful private practice. I continue to offer this track in my supervision practice, refining it with each cohort.
Honoring the need for a web of support, I also began hosting social gatherings so my current and past supervisee cohorts could build their own peer networks beyond the supervisory relationship. From my own experience, I knew these collegial connections are essential to sustaining the clinical work we do.
Lesson learned: Practice Development occurs over time, yet exponentially faster within a web of support.
2018–2024: The Informal Collective
Structure Emerges Without Being Named
As colleagues and former supervisees became fully licensed and launched their own practices, some reached out asking to sublease space.
I said yes.
What began as informal, timing-dependent subleasing evolved into something meaningful:
✓ An all-inclusive office with predictable overhead that eased new practice financial worries
✓ "Kitchen consults" between sessions that supported quality clinical work and clinician self-care
✓ Access to shared resources (e.g., "I need a 'values vs. goals' handout." "I have one you can use.")
✓ Referrals circulated naturally
✓ Collaborations formed
✓ Gatherings outside the office built a stronger sense of community
✓ And the laughter… the inside jokes, the all-knowing glances, the therapy puns… brought joy and connection
Reflecting now, this wasn't just an office. It was the earliest version of a collective.
Lesson learned: When you create the right conditions, community doesn't have to be forced — it emerges organically.
A few of our past Healgood Socials
This is what community looks like.
Not networking. Not forced connection or professional posturing.
Just clinicians coming together to create, laugh, and be human.
2024: When Two Paths Converge
Collaboration Becomes Clarity
When I started thinking about expanding Healgood's clinical capacity, I took the traditional route by posting a formal job opening to my various networks. Then, to my pleasant surprise, a long-time colleague and friend reached out expressing interest in joining me at Healgood.
Bernadette Chavez Piñon, LPC, SEP, and I have a professional relationship spanning over a decade. We worked together earlier in our careers at UT Counseling and Mental Health Center. We're both members of the Central Texas Eating Disorder Specialists, having each served on the board at different times. We spent years in the same consultation group, supporting each other with tough clinical cases and through the challenges and victories of solo practice.
When Bernadette joined Healgood as Lead Therapist in 2024, she brought far more than clinical expertise. She brought nearly a decade of solo practice wisdom — all the gifts and all the costs of that independence. She understood what clinicians actually need because she'd lived it. Long before joining the Collective, she'd been vocal about rejecting hustle culture and the illusion of "work-life balance" in favor of values-driven decisions — a philosophy congruent with how we support clinicians at Healgood.
She also brought an ability to create psychological safety that makes other clinicians comfortable sharing their concerns, their perceived mistakes, their clinical questions without fear of judgment. She picked up a continuing education course I'd shelved, dusted it off, made it sparkle, and presented it with clarity and warmth to an eager group of clinicians. She joined our Healgood Socials (now a well-established tradition) and enriched them with her thoughtfulness. Our team meetings became deeper, more well-rounded — and often devolve into roaring laughter.
I still pinch myself that we get to work this closely together.
As we brainstormed her values-aligned service offerings — book clubs, workshops, continuing education events, mindfulness meetups — the pieces of our collective puzzle began taking shape. Not because we had a master plan, but because we were both asking the same question: What work feels rewarding and would actually support clinicians and clients?
And I realized: we'd been building the answer all along.
Lesson learned: When collaboration is grounded in shared values and mutual trust, the path forward becomes unmistakably clear.
2025: Formalizing the Healgood Collective
I began assembling what I’d learned into something cohesive. Now, with intention and structure, the Healgood Collective offers independent clinicians:
✓ A present, stable hub where clinicians can belong and practice in community
✓ An all-inclusive subleased office space that simplifies overhead and eases the transition into private practice
✓ Consultation and coaching that support the development of a sustainable, values-aligned practice
✓ Regular peer consultation to deepen clinical insight, uphold ethical care, and support the human behind the clinician
✓ Access to continuing education and practical resources to strengthen both clinical work and practice systems
✓ A community that facilitates longevity and grounded connection — not surface-level networking
✓ A professional home where independence and connection can coexist
This doesn’t replace what Healgood has always been. It clarifies it. It expands it.
Why This Matters
Many clinicians face the same dilemma:
✗ Agency or group practice roles often lead to burnout and limited flexibility
✗ Solo private practice can be overwhelming and isolating
✗ Course and coaching models rarely provide ongoing, relational support
What has been missing is relational infrastructure. The Healgood Collective exists to provide it.
Why I'm Telling This Story
This is not a model replicated from somewhere else. It's the result of over a decade of building what was missing, forming community around it, and continuing to refine along the way.
I've made mistakes. I've overextended myself. I've learned (more than once) that sustainable support for others requires sustainable structure for myself.
We're intentionally keeping the Collective small. Depth over breadth. Relationship over recruitment. No plans to replicate or franchise. Just supporting what is here and what is true.
When you join the Healgood Collective, you're not just renting an office. You're engaging with a framework that has been organically refined and intentionally structured to sustain clinicians long-term.
The Invitation
Our Collective Values
The Healgood Collective is for clinicians who:
✓ Value both clinical excellence and business sustainability
✓ Want the autonomy of private practice without isolation
✓ Believe work is stronger in community
✓ Feel tired of rebuilding every wheel alone
✓ Prefer to spend energy on clinical work rather than business logistics
✓ Want a professional home that honors their values
Three Tiers to Meet You Where You Are
Healgood Collective Membership Tiers
The Healgood Collective offers three tiers of support so you can choose the level of space and structure that best matches your season of practice.
Starting at $650/month. For therapists who want a professional, fully furnished office within a welcoming environment, without the hassle or expense of managing overhead.
- Fully-furnished private therapy office (desk, therapeutic seating, professional decor)
- All-inclusive monthly rate: rent, utilities, wifi, cleaning, property taxes, general liability insurance
- Shared waiting room with beverage and snack station for clients
- Use of professional business address and access to group/workshop room
- Member resource drive with forms, templates, referral lists
- Twice-yearly Healgood Collective socials
- 15–20% discount on Healgood CE courses and workshops
Starting at $900/month. For therapists who want a professional office within a supportive community, with consultation that deepens clinical thinking and supports ethical, sustainable practice.
- Everything in Tier 1
- Bi-weekly clinical consultation group (2 hours) facilitated by Chelsea & Bernadette
- One individual consultation session (50 minutes with Chelsea)
- 20–30% CE discount + priority registration for limited-seat trainings
- Enhanced referral network and collegial relationships
Starting at $1,250/month. For therapists ready to grow their private practice with confidence and community: a professional office, a supportive network, and practical guidance to build a practice that is both sustainable and deeply fulfilling.
- Everything in Tier 2
- Private Practice Launch Workbook (digital + exclusive print copy)
- Four individual coaching sessions with Chelsea
- Community Enrichment: weekly Mindful Moments, monthly Book Club with CE credits, enhanced socials
- Premium CE discounts (30–40%) + free attendance at select workshops
- Priority support for practice development challenges
A Final Thought
Private practice was never meant to be a solitary pursuit.
The overwhelm many solo practitioners experience is not proof they're not cut out for this work — it's proof the current model lacks adequate scaffolding.
Therapists enter this field to help people heal. We shouldn't also need to become experts in business management, marketing, and financial operations simply to do that sustainably.
When clinicians are well supported, the quality of care they provide expands. When we have structure and community, we don't just sustain our work — we thrive within it.
And that matters, because the work we do matters.
