From 5 clients to 70 in two months, without losing their evenings

A practice built on lived experience

Elizabeth and Dennis didn’t take the straight road into this work. Dennis was a truck driver at 20 before therapy, an X-ray tech career, and a master’s degree led him into treating addiction and, eventually, dual-diagnosis mental health. Elizabeth went from volunteer, to peer support, to a Master of Social Work. They met working in public mental health, where they spent the better part of a decade between them: crisis calls, jail cells, emergency rooms at three in the morning. That experience is now the foundation of how they practice. ### “There’s nothing you can tell either one of us that we haven’t heard. So it creates a really safe environment. No stigma, no judgment. We listen and we guide. We don’t ever tell.” Two years ago, they took the leap. They spent their entire life savings to open their own practice in McMinnville, a community they’d come to love. ### “We just decided, you know what, let’s come together and let’s make our own practice, partner with Carepatron, and do this the right way.”

The first year: when billing became a second full-time job

Starting from scratch meant doing everything themselves: getting paneled, chasing credentialing, and learning the ins and outs of billing on an EMR that just didn’t flow for them. The admin didn’t stay at the office. It followed them home. ### “Billing is a full-time job. We were finding ourselves not getting home until late, having other people watch our children for us.” For two clinicians whose whole reason for being there was the people in front of them, the math wasn’t working. Time spent fighting with billing was time not spent with clients, or with their own kids. ### “I wish we’d known about Carepatron when we very first started. It would have been so much easier.”

The switch they almost didn’t make

Dennis found Carepatron on Facebook and pushed to move. Elizabeth, buried in admin and wary of yet another change, resisted: “Please don’t make me switch.” ### “He said, ‘This system isn’t working for me. I really want to go with Carepatron.’ I’m really glad I listened to him.” Once they moved their billing across, the difference was immediate. A responsive partner who actually answered their billing questions quickly, something they’d found rare in the industry, meant the work stopped piling up at home. ### “Carepatron has been literally invaluable to us. It allows us to be home, and it allows us to focus on our clients. Like don’t ever go away.”

Getting their evenings back

With billing handled, the founders could do the thing they’re actually good at: be present for their clients, and present for their family. That mattered even more during a hard season. When Elizabeth’s father passed away, having the practice’s admin running smoothly gave her the room to step back, communicate honestly with her clients, and come back when she was ready. ### “It’s knowing when to put work down and go home. Our family comes first.”

From 5 to 70 clients

Free of the admin drag, and newly settled into a location right on Main Street, the practice took off. ### “We went from five to seventy clients in just a couple of months.” The growth was so fast they did something most practices only dream about. They turned off their advertising, because they needed to hire clinicians before they could take on more people. They’re actively interviewing now.

What’s next: waterfalls, books, and twenty clinicians

Elizabeth and Dennis aren’t slowing down. The vision is a full wellness center for their community. ### “I want ten to twenty clinicians in here, really making an impact. Massages, nurse practitioners, people who can prescribe, waterfalls, plants. I want that for our community.” Both are writing books. Dennis is building a program he can train other clinicians to deliver. And they want to be woven into McMinnville itself: the hometown football games, the parades, the Christmas tree lighting on Main Street. Their advice to any clinician sitting on the fence? ### “Just do it. Get Carepatron, sign up, jump in. It saves so much time and so much money. Think about what’s on the other side of fear.”