Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Rivera.
Hi Sarah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I knew at an early age I wanted to be in the social service field. I turned into the world of volunteering at 15 years old and saw how harsh the world can be at times. I ran through school at lightning speed and found myself completing my masters degree at 22 years old. I quickly jumped into the mental health profession where I was overworked, underpaid, and under supported. This is not a unique experience, unfortunately. However, it simply highlighted to me how important the profession is and the need that surrounded me. After working in nonprofit for many years, I saw the many loopholes that were having to be jumped through, the lack of support and funding and the frustrations taking place behind closed doors when frustrated therapists were unsuccessfully advocating to the “grant gods” for their clients needs to be met. In 2017, I had enough. I decided to do it my way. I started my own private practice and began developing a solo private practice that grew into a group by 2020. Since then, I’ve maintained my commitment to offer high quality and competent counseling services to individuals when they need it most. My company, La Luz Counseling promises the first session within one week of a client reaching out for an appointment. We never have a waitlist, ever. We also never leave anyone empty-handed. If we are unable to help clients for whatever reason, we offer an external referral, 100% of the time for somebody who can help them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The business world has certainly not been a smooth one, especially early on. Building a small business is no walk in the park. I entered into brand new territory and lacked the support and guidance I desperately needed to build a successful business and brand. I found myself pinching pennies but losing dollars. I was attempting to do things on my own, learning from scratch how to build a website (which turned out mediocre at very best) to creating documentation and paperwork (which took hours and hours) when in reality I could have easily contracted the services to someone else who could’ve done it in half the time and much much better. I presumed that if I was doing it, I was somehow saving money. How wrong I was. Because my time equals money.. I was busy doing different endeavors such as website building and successful marketing come out. I was losing time to service the clients and consumers who needed it. In addition, I found myself feeling isolated and lonely within the business world. I looked around for places and spaces and felt I was losing myself to an ocean of other business owners. It took some time, but I was able to develop various masterminds and meet ups to help build community and bridge connections.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about La Luz Counseling?
My company is La Luz Counseling, which means “the light” in Spanish. We are a faith based, Christian organization that specializes in treating traumatic events and anxiety. We offer evidence based counseling services to individuals, families, and couples. We hope to spread “the light “by being present to walk individuals through some of the darkest aspects of our clients lives. What makes us different is our bold faith and to unwavering commitment to offer high-quality care. We have double the amount of administrative staff required because we know that when people give our office a call, they want to talk to a person, not a robot. We offer a guaranteed appointment option within one week, so no person ever has to wait for a counseling appointment. There are many times we have even been able to offer a same-day appointment. We know that when people need help, they need it now.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
What’ has been key to my business’s ’success is identifying the vision and creating a mission and value system that alliance with a vision. A vision is in many ways a checkpoint towards the end goal. The mission and values along the way are those mile markers that let you know you are on the right path. Without clear imagery of where you want the business to go, it is difficult to know which direction to scale or grow the company. It’s imperative to maintain clarity around your vision, so you can better highlight the purpose and reasoning to the team in an effort to get them on board as well. For us, having a vision that was aligned with God‘s over arching vision for us (to reach and shed light into lives who are most hurting) is our primary purpose in day-to-day operations both with our clients and with one another.
Pricing:
- $160 for the initial session (fully licensed therapist)
- $145 for 1 hour sessions (fully licensed therapist)
- $85 for the initial session (associate licensed therapist)
- $75 for 1 hour sessions (associate licensed therapist)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://laluzcounseling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laluzcounsel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/la-luz-counseling-llc/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rivera-lpcs?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
