Good Morning, and welcome to Counselor Weekly, the best newsletter for counselors and mental health professionals you'll ever receive (based on my own personal opinion 😃)!

You might be wondering why you're receiving this random newsletter?? At some point in the past, you chose to join my previous newsletter at mattbierds.com. I appreciate you subscribing and I am transitioning into a weekly newsletter format called "Counselor Weekly" where I'll be sending you useful content once per week right into your inbox. Of course, if you're not interested, I completely respect that and you are welcome to opt out at any time, but I hope you give it a chance over the next few weeks and see all the amazing articles/updates/info and cat pictures (yes, each week an entertaining cat picture 😼 created by my son) you'll receive will make it worth your while to stick around.

That's me 👆

Shameless self-promotion below!!

I'm launching a new site in the next couple weeks and you can sign up to be notified when it's ready to go! Just click HERE, or the photo above and it will take you right to the site. If you are an LPC Supervisor in Texas (sorry, starting in Texas only and will look at options for other states down the road), or a potential Supervisee looking for a Supervisor, this is the place for you! It's a directory for LPC Supervisors to market their services by listing their information so that potential Supervisees can connect with them and hopefully find a perfect match! If you have any questions, click REPLY to this email and I can answer any questions you have. Thanks again for allowing me this personal promotion! 🙏

So let's get to it!

Today is 2/1/23 and it's National Dark Chocolate Day! Apparently dark chocolate has some health benefits such as: rich in antioxidants, may reduce cholesterol, protects from sun damage, and may even improve brain function! With that being said, I think I should go eat some dark chocolate now.

Here's the short and skinny of today's newsletter:

• Some cool resources for counselors

• Interesting articles related to mental health

• Introducing Margaret Alvarez

• Cat Photo

Cool Resources:

Every few weeks I'll be sharing some different resources that may be beneficial to your practice

Today is about one of my favorite (sike!) subjects:

In all seriousness, insurance can be a major benefit when growing a practice. Sure, I assume most of us want a full caseload of self-pay clients (and Counselor Weekly will help you get there), but it can be helpful to have additional income streams. Just make sure you research which insurance companies are in your area, and which one pay the best rates! Here are a couple of interesting insurance resources I came across recently and wanted to share:

• Just an FYI: none of these are affiliate marketing links and I don't have any personal interest in these sites. Just found them to be interesting 🙂.

Ever wanted a company to take care of the insurance part for you? Advekit works as a liaison between your client and the insurance company.

• What's interesting about Advekit is you don't have to get on insurance panels. They work with your clients to help them receive reimbursement for you being an Out of Network provider.

• Check out more HERE!

The HIPAA Basics: What Every Therapist Needs to Know by Jocelyn Van Saun

Want to be on insurance panels, but don't want to mess with the process? Alma has a HIPAA compliant platform like other companies, but what makes them a little more unique is they have an insurance program that takes care of everything for you.

• To learn more, click HERE!

And now some interesting articles:

What's a Mental Health Tip You Thought Was Bull**it, but Actually Helped You? 

Do you sometimes think the suggestions we offer clients are nonsense, or even so simple if feels dumb even bringing it up (i.e. exercise and diet)? Here's a reminder that it's still important to address it in sessions.

Make Health Habits Stick With "Habit Stacking"

We live a life of habits. Some good, some not-so-good. This article presents the idea of "Habit Stacking". Something you might share with a client that's struggling with breaking a negative habit. Since we're starting a new year, this is a good time to set goals and create healthier habits!

Researchers Have Followed Over 700 People Since 1938 to Find the Keys to Happiness. Here's What They Discovered

Oh, that magical word: happiness! In therapy, we hear clients talking about a desire to be happier and removed from the stress/depression/anxiety that interferes in their daily lives. Here's some insightful strategies on how your clients could engage in a lifestyle that leads to more happiness (hint: one important area is cultivating relationships 🧡).

A Quick Shout Out!

I'm going to call this my first sponsor. It's actually a friend who is specializes in art journaling:

Margaret Alvarez is an art teacher and creative coach, specializing in teaching people how to combine art journaling with gratitude journaling. In fact, she recently presented at the NAMI Texas Conference this past November! I think this could be an opportunity for clients, but also implemented as a wellness practice for mental health professionals. We need to stop and smell the roses sometimes also!

To learn more about Margaret, you can also go here to get a better idea of what she's doing:

And, Finally the Cat Picture

A Super Cat Floating on a Pizza! by my son, Cole.