If you’re thinking of starting a practice or ramping up your supervision service, you have to follow Sydney, Australia’s Jo Muirhead (@Jo_Muirhead)! She’s a Business Coach for Health Professionals and Founder and CEO of Purple Co, the colorful counseling clinic she started in 2009. It stands for Purpose for People, a pledge she promotes to help people cope with crisis and return to work following illness, injury, or trauma.

A full-time therapist, supervisor, life coach, and entrepreneur, her book The Entrepreneurial Clinician is an exemplary guide for those looking to learn the trade. A CEO and colleague of hers describes Jo as “a forward-thinking leader in her own right who has the excellent capacity to educate, coach, mentor and collaborate with those she works with, and help them achieve. It takes a special talent to direct the focus of entrepreneurial clinicians in a meaningful manner that consistently produces results: and she does it daily.”

This September, Jo’s hosting the Future Proofing Health Symposium, a conference with interview sessions, panel discussions, skill-building workshops, and CE credits available for the U.S. and Australia. Dr. Amy Parks, child psychologist, “Brain-trainer,” and Founder of the CSD kicks off the Conference on September 19th as the keynote speaker.

Jo says this annual event’s ultimate objective is to empower people to build sustainable, profitable practices. She helps people value their worth while doing the work they love in the manner they prefer. She explains, “Our future does not need to be this dark, it's time for us to shine the light back on the amazing contributions that we bring to this world. And we can't do it alone. We need each other. And we need to be inspired and encouraged and affirmed. And that's what this symposium is all about.”

Click here to register, see the event schedule, and browse the contributors on board to make this Symposium an incredible learning and networking experience!

Did you know 160 million Americans live in areas without enough mental health providers? Although Federal law and the U.S. Department of Labor advocate parity across all types of healthcare, the mental health industry contends insurance companies don’t offer the same access to quality care. The White House recently pledged to “ensure mental health benefits on private insurance plans more closely mirror physical health benefits.” President Biden described the action as “a real step forward to help millions of people get the mental health care they need and that insurance should be providing.”

According to the medical journal Psychiatric Services, our nation needs upwards of over 31,000 more psychiatrists to navigate the mental health and addiction crisis. How can we attract newcomers when reimbursement rates are much lower in behavioral health than in primary medical care? That's why about 50% of therapists bypass insurance and bill patients directly. There’s also a cap on federally funded mental health residency positions which limits the pool of up-and-coming talent eager to undergo supervision, get licensed, and get to work. Chief policy leader of the Kennedy Forum, David Lloyd, admits, “Without a doubt, we need more mental health and substance use providers. No one disputes that. But the payment system is a major cause of that shortage.”

On a brighter note, experts see a slight uptick in mental health professionals entering the field starting in 2025 thanks to steady growth in population and more young professionals open to exploring a career in clinical healthcare. President Biden’s administration has been driven to get mental health care on more equal footing with ideas like expanding the number of residency slots, working with insurance companies to implement programs that expand networks and increase access, and granting more coverage under Medicare to professionals such as peer support specialists, marriage and family therapists, and mental health and substance abuse counselors.

The gap between therapist and patient is concerning, but it’s comforting to know mental health well-being is under close surveillance and top of mind.