“I’m an elder millennial, and so folks coming into the workforce now and being able to learn from them and being able to adjust and grow with them is really such a beautiful thing.” – Rebecca Slusher
There’s an obvious throughline that runs from productive feedback to authentic relationships. And vice versa. Unsurprisingly, when group practice owners let their fears overwhelm constructive criticisms, they may find their businesses mired in resentment, secrecy, and messy employee turnover.
Righting these imbalances requires a lot of self-awareness, vulnerability, and a genuine desire to improve from the inside out. Good news, besties: you can hone these skills on the job.
Rebecca Slusher, LPCP, is the owner of Balanced Life Counseling in Chicago. She understands that managing the group’s needs for connection, empathy, and equitable conflict resolution, while navigating the daily realities of doing business, is a work in progress — and that’s okay!
“I lead with anxiety,” Rebecca laughs.“That’s my first response when somebody’s like, hey, I’m gonna resign.” To be fair, no one on either side of the owner/employee relationship enjoys an exit conversation. “But, I take a beat and remind myself that my anxiety is not theirs to hold. They need to be able to go when they need to go.”
Settling into feedback has helped Rebecca improve her ability to handle relational aspects of emotionally charged interactions, such as staff resignations, interpersonal conflicts, and incompatible requests. “Your job is to say no, and not in a punitive way,” she observes. “Your job is to provide structure, and I find that very, very hard.”
A lot of practice owners struggle with feedback. Maybe we don’t like who we become when our defenses are activated. Or perhaps we don’t know how to evaluate criticism without the faulty filters of guilt and shame. I love Rebecca’s “take a beat” tactic because it gives literal pause to our baser protective instincts. That beat allows curiosity and maturity to bloom in the space between receiving and reacting.
“My initial reaction is often, f*ck that. I’m out!” Rebecca confides. “But, I will always sit with it, ruminate on it for a little while. Then, eventually, I get to a place where I’m like, okay, I can’t change what happened. Here’s how I move forward to either keep it from happening again or manage as much as I can around it.”
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
A Therapy Revolution: Why Healing The Healer Is The Future Of Mental Health
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Rebecca Slusher (she/her) is the owner of Balanced Life Counseling and has been in practice for 15 years in the Logan Square community. The practice specializes in working with both individuals and relationships in the LGBTQ+ community. Their clients are often struggling with mood and have a history of traumatic experiences.
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