Your therapists are the buffer between the world and the work, and you’re their leader, asking them to embrace the complexity and nuance of clinical work.
And if we’re being honest, you need support!
We know because we were you. Managing large teams with a high chance of rupture but without the resources to match.
When we felt like we didn’t have what we needed, we learned the power of relationships in supporting employee retention.
Emotional fluency and trauma-informed leadership replaced old leadership paradigms and transactional factors.
Honoring the employee and their lived experiences became the priority, along with accountability to metrics, meeting our service goals, and upholding our shared group agreements.
We know from experience what it will take to battle burnout, keep employees engaged, and withstand overwhelm — is TRUST culture.
We support you in Cultivating TRUST so your employees have the capacity to shepherd clinical outcomes, absorb collective energy, and hold space for deep emotions.
Julianne Guinasso, LMFT (she/her)
Story
Throughout my life, I was the listener of stories, keeper of secrets, and diffuser of pain. I created a sense of safety for the people and peers around me.
Facing a need for mental health providers willing to combat stigma and offer essential services, I found myself working as a clinician with high-risk and low-resourced populations.
Working in high-intensity environments for years, I watched my peers (who did exceptional work) decide they weren’t “cut out” for the field due to the lack of psychological safety and support.
When I transitioned into a management position, I adopted a team of 11 and became their seventh supervisor in less than one year (yes, you read that right).
I remember thinking, “I don’t think I can do this...” I recall feelings of dread and uncertainty about my ability to lead, alongside my determination to serve my team.
In 2014, I met Poonam. We bonded over the belief that taking care of providers would provide the clinical outcomes our bosses and communities craved.
Yet, I watched other leaders suffer turnover and continued intrateam stressors. I asked myself, "How is it that competent and kind people who I respect aren’t able to lead their teams through high-demand situations?" and "How can I not only support my team but also guide other leaders?"
It wasn't long before these questions led me to a position in which I led a leadership team of my own. Our teams continued to flourish despite leadership missteps and errors. We tripled our contracts (80+ employees), maintained high retention rates and client outcomes, and our stakeholders used our programs as a template for other agencies.
This all came to fruition because we had transparent yet imperfect conversations with our employees that stretched us. We established foundations to encourage authenticity, inclusivity, and a community that engaged in emotionally intelligent conversations.
Eventually, seeing this impact led to dreams of shifting outdated leadership paradigms in the mental health industry—and from that, Level Up Leaders Inc. was born.
Bio
Courage, curiosity, and service are the leading values that drive me at all times. I find that I am most alive and aligned with my values when I take time to come back to nurture my internal landspace. I hold a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and am a licensed practitioner (LMFT 79601). I have over 10+ years of leadership experience, including leading large teams of employees and leadership teams in mental health.
As a co-founder of Level Up Leaders Inc., I aim to help you feel less alone in your leadership. By focusing on the energetics of relational trust in the workplace and by leading with emotional fluency, your employees can provide the highest clinical care, and you can feel fulfilled to be a part of the community you created.
Poonam Natha, LMFT
(she/her)
Story
I had never intended to go into the field of mental health. I was a good Indian girl and I was going to be a pediatrician.
But in my first psychology class, the understanding of human behavior gave me a new perspective on the way I viewed myself and the people around me. It gave me compassion and understanding.
As a natural nurturer, I became an accidental leader. I became the one with the answers. I was the person who supported new employees when they came on board. When there was a gap, I created guides and training manuals, or found myself getting in trouble for overstepping and making suggestions.
Leadership was often haphazard at best, and harmful at worst. As a Clinician I saw good providers go unsupported — and the way this impacted client care.
I wanted to set a new standard of warmth in leadership. I found myself “adopting” employees who were under the leadership of other supervisors. When my employees let their guard down, the stories of disregard or micromanagement — of questioning their work and their worth — started to emerge.
I started a peer supervisor group — to support each other in the absence of formal training and consistency of communication. In a field with expertise in relationships and well-being, I wondered why we were prioritizing tasks over people. It was enough for me to dedicate myself to taking down the status quo of leadership in the mental health industry.
In 2014 I gained an office neighbor — Julianne. We believed that if we could create a healthy and inclusive working environment for our employees, they would thrive and provide the best clinical care to our communities.
We knew this from our personal experiences, and we know this through the decades of research conducted on this topic.
More than any other factor, relationships at work predict team performance. Mastering relational leadership through cultivating a culture of TRUST is what combats turnover, overwhelm, and disengagement.
Bio
Nurturance, growth, and integrity are the driving forces in my way of being. I am most aligned when my heart and moral compass guide me. I find the most joy when I am a witness to growth, both for myself and those around me.
After becoming a licensed practitioner of the healing arts (LMFT 50522), I sought to lead my own teams in non-profit community based mental health settings. In my 10+ years as a leader in mental health, I have been able to develop trusting relationships with my employees and create inclusive working environments in which people want to stay and grow.
As a co-founder of Level Up Leaders Inc., I help you navigate the path to your success as a leader and the health of your practice or organization by prioritizing the working relationship.