Kristen Spear loved psychology since her senior year of
high school, but the thought of operating her own therapy practice seemed too
daunting.
Until recently.
Spear’s path to becoming a mental health practitioner
began with a fork in the road as her initial degree and early profession was in
the creative writing and editing field.
“I went to therapy, realized how much I loved psychology
and that’s what I wanted to do,” said Spear, the sole practitioner of
Newtown-based Clarity
Mental Wellness, LLC. About the same time, she had gotten laid
off from her editing position, which enabled her to pursue her master’s degree
in a full-time capacity. “It actually all aligned.”
After graduating from La Salle University in 2012, Spear
worked in community mental health, then as part of a group practice.
“When you work for a group practice, you’re giving away a
significant amount of money. It’s very hard to make a livable salary,” Spear
said. Still, she continued, “I didn’t think I could do it on my own.”
Her therapist encouraged her to start her own business.
In August 2023, Spear established her LLC. By October 2023, she began
counseling her first client, on the side from the group practice.
In February, the Bensalem native started mentoring with
SCORE Bucks County mentor Kathleen Donohue, who supported Spear and guided her
with budget tracking, financial projections, a transition plan, task
prioritization, and identifying software programs. Donohue connected her with
SCORE Bucks County mentor Robert Purdy to assist with business insurance.
“She was very helpful,” Spear said of Donohue, adding
that she’s been recommending SCORE mentoring to her patients. “I’ve been promoting
it to anybody I know that’s considering their own business. I thought it was
something I couldn’t do. I’m so happy I did it.”
By April, Spear had officially launched her own practice,
which has since grown to include 45 clients. Spear counsels individuals 18
years and older who are dealing with depression, anxiety, ADHD, transition into
parenthood, postpartum depression, building healthy personal boundaries and
more.
“Ms. Spear had to accelerate her transition plans, but
her planning enabled her to adapt to the new situation and get her business up
and running quickly,” Donohue said. “Within a few months Ms. Spear had a full
book of clients, tools to track her accounts and keep her data safe, and to
deal with all the other work beyond her client meetings that an entrepreneur
has to take on herself without the company team of being an employee. Her
launch was quite smooth and quick.”
As both a patient and provider of therapy, Spear offers
sound advice for choosing a mental health practitioner.
“The relationship with your therapist is always the most
important. You have to like and feel comfortable with the person,” she said. “If
you don’t like them, you’re not going to go.”
Spear uses psychodynamic therapy – “not just the here and
now” – to better understand the things that shaped her clients from childhood
and throughout life.
“Look for someone who wants to see progress, someone who
is as motivated to see you doing better as you are,” she continued. “Ultimately
if you’re trying to make progress you want someone who wants that progress too.”
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17
million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE provides small business
mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000 new and growing small
businesses.?With more than 70 members across Bucks and Eastern Montgomery
counties, SCORE Bucks?County?provides free mentoring services annually
to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and
small business seminars.
