Two years. That’s how long (or short) ago I had the opportunity to open up my own private practice, Vici Psychological Care LLC. People always ask me what “vici” means and how I came up with the name. Vici is part of the Latin phrase, Veni, vidi, vici, which translates to “I came, I saw, I conquered.” I can tell you that finding a name for my practice was one of the more challenging aspects. I knew I didn’t want to use my name in the title and that I wanted it to be unique. That is where I started brainstorming. I wrote down everything that psychology, mental health, and therapy meant for me. I wrote down favorite words and phrases, favorite things, how I conducted therapy- you name it! After about a week, my now-husband asked me what I wanted people to get out of therapy. My answer was simple: for them to conquer their goals and what brought them to therapy. Thus, vici was born!
Opening up a private practice on your own can be scary, but also fun at the same time. I mean, who doesn’t love to shop and decorate? I was finally able to use everything I learned from the past decade in school and the long hours of supervision, and put my own twist on it. I knew I still wanted to work with children, teens, and adults. I still wanted to bring all my cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) training to help those dealing with anxiety, depression, and anything else standing in their way of a happy and fulfilling life. I just had to go out and do it!
About a year into my private practice endeavors COVID-19 hit and it was challenging. However, I was thankful that I had already received training on how to provide effective and ethical online therapy, and had about 25% of my caseload online. Yes, I did online therapy before it was cool. I was able to jump right into virtual sessions without having to worry about getting the correct forms or fearing that I was about to do something I had no idea how to do. About 8 months prior, I had just opened up a second practice location in Sparta, NJ, and realized pretty quickly that COVID-19 was not going anywhere. Three months later I found myself downsizing and sticking with my main location in Waldwick, NJ, while still being 100% virtual.
Here we are… almost a year since I last saw someone in my office (March 13, 2020, was my last day). The last year has been a rollercoaster to say the least and a time for growth in private practice. I have learned a lot, I have upgraded and downsized, I found time to start creating a newsletter for my practice and to start blogging. Yes, this is my first official blog. Most importantly, I am healthy and continue to be able to hold space for my patients.