Rising Stars: Meet Emily Ferrara of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Ferrara.

Emily, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Ever since elementary school, I knew I wanted to be a therapist. Growing up, my mom would play 2 main types of shows on the radio: Dr. Laura or Dave Ramsey/Clark Howard. While my peers were listening to New Kids on the Block, I was listening to Dr. Laura teach a caller about her codependency patterns or Clark Howard offering budgeting tips. As a kid with crippling social anxiety, perfectionism, and ocd, I loved learning about agency and how no matter how challenging a situation might feel, we are never truly stuck.

Spending every summer in internships doing things that I thought would be relevant, ranging from studying orphan care and living in rural Ukraine to working in pediatric oncology wards, I didn’t know exactly what it would look like, but I desired to help others. Through a series of events, I went to grad school and then returned to Atlanta to finish my PhD in counseling.

While I started as a sole practitioner, I realized that I had a passion not only for helping others but also for entrepreneurship. After working at another practice for several years, I desired to create a nurturing culture where staff, from interns to seasoned professionals, were invested in as much as the patients we served. In the process of starting the practice, I used my own story, as one who grew up in various Atlanta private schools, riddled with anxiety and unaware of tools to cope, to help me identify the practice’s specialization. I wanted to use my past as a way to connect with students and parents struggling with the pressures of school, sports, social anxiety, college prep, and everything else in between. I know that life can be very complex, so I created a brand with a very straightforward focus: simplify.

The business grew nearly overnight, and through a lot of hard work and harder leadership lessons along the way, we are now in 2 locations, serving metro Atlanta area for over 15 years with 12 therapists and growing. With so many practices starting up since covid, I pride our practice on standing out through our specialized, measurement-based care. We primarily focus on anxiety and ocd and refer out for most other disorders, which allows me, as the practice owner and clinical trainer, to help our team hone in on the specifics and offer the best counseling in our field. The journey to get here has been a really challenging yet beautiful process, and I look forward to many more years to come where we can help simplify anxiety in Atlanta!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not! Just like with many other professions, I had a passion but lacked the training to lead, manage, and grow a business. I knew a lot about counseling but I knew nothing about being a leader, hiring the right people, and having sustainable business practices. At one point, I literally asked if everyone wanted to just move to being renters or suite mates instead of staff because I was so overwhelmed. One person stayed, and that person helped me rebuild the practice from the ground up, but this time for good! I spent a lot of money and time with coaches, business leaders, and in consulting groups, so that I could have a more sustainable practice where I didn’t burn out again. I’m so thankful for the gift of failing in the beginning because it helped me stay hungry, humble, and recognize that I needed a team of wise advisors to succeed.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m really proud of the brand we’ve created here at Simplify Life Counseling. With over 2,000 different therapy practices in Atlanta, it’s a pretty saturated market for therapists. However, through the wisdom of mentors and coaches, I’ve created a practice that is pretty unique in what we offer. As a practice that offers measurement-based care, meaning we take assessments to identify the type of anxiety a client has and then use assessments throughout to gauge progress, the treatment plan, and the time the client is in therapy. This means that the data drives our treatment plan, just like in other fields of medicine. Sadly, roughly 12-18% of clinicians offer measurement-based care, which is vital when working with anxiety disorders. Since anxiety can be so focused on needing certainty, structure, and outcomes, research shows that measurement-based care offers the best results because it doesn’t leave the client wondering if therapy is helpful….they see it in their assessment results every few weeks. I love being able to confidently talk a potential client through the treatment planning process and help them leave the call more hopeful and even excited to address their anxiety in future sessions. The approach is research-based yet very simple; we want to help our clients feel better faster.

Pricing:

• Session fees vary depending upon the clinician

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.simplifyatlanta.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-ferrara-phd-lpc-651b425/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/simplify-life-counseling-and-coaching-atlanta