Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast and I’m your host Kayla Das.

In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Daniel Gospodarek, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice, who’s going to share his own recovery story from a traumatic brain injury to starting his own private practice to supporting others who’ve experienced trauma.

Hi, Daniel. Welcome to the show. I’m so glad to have you here today.

Daniel: Hey, Kayla. Thank you for having me. It’s an honor to be here.

Introduction

Kayla: So, tell me a little bit about yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about your recovery journey and how that’s informed your own private practice.

Daniel: Sure. So, I’m originally from the Wisconsin area in the United States. And then fast forward to now we live in Colorado. So, a few miles away from each other, but really the center of everything that started, if you will, was this auto accident I was in where I sustained a traumatic brain injury. And through that recovery process and especially the length of it. And even to this day, right, being aware of not hitting my head and just around making sure I get adequate amounts of sleep still impacts me and also has guided me to the social work profession for undergrad as well as then my master’s in social work.

Kayla: So, I know offline we talked a little bit about your recovery journey and how it’s informed your private practice. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Daniel: Mm-hmm. So, through my time in the hospital, even just backing up, right? TBI. I had to have brain surgery. I was in the ICU. The doctors weren’t sure, is this person going to make it through the night? We don’t know. So, the 10 days in the ICU, seven days in inpatient rehab, and then three months of outpatient physical therapy, and then 17 months of speech therapy afterwards. And that was like two to three times a week for each PT and speech therapy or SP.

And through that process, I was like, okay, I know I’m going to land somewhere here. Where is it going to be? Nurse, PT, OT, speech therapist, social work, whatever it might be. Even recreational therapists I worked with briefly while I was in inpatient. And somewhere in there, I just don’t know where.

And during the hospital stay, my sister who is a social worker in Wisconsin actually modified her course schedule so she could spend time with me, especially at home, since there’s a lot of unknowns when it comes to a TBI. Is there going to be a lagging seizure disorder? What is recovery going to look like? Are they going to be able to get up and feed themselves? So she modified her school schedule for social work and then through that process down the line, we started having conversations of what does the curriculum look like? What can you do with social work? And just the latitude just was incredible when I was like, you mean I can go to school for this and not have to do exactly what I went to school for. Like I could do grant writing. I could do therapy. I could do VA work with veterans. Anywhere you can really land, insurance companies even. And I was like, neat.

So, I finished high school too, because I was in the TBI. I was going into my senior year of high school, which was a challenge because I had to modify stuff. And we can get to that and more questions. And then once I graduated with my bachelor’s, I was like, after a year or two of work, I was like, I can’t really do what I want to do yet. I can’t have that impact. And then I was like, “Okay, here it goes. Let’s go social work, Master’s Degree.” And that’s where it’s led me. And it’s been a long process.

Kayla: Wow, it sounds like you had overcome many hurdles.

Overcoming Barriers

So, was there any barriers connected to going into private practice and social work? And when I say barriers, I mean, really, any barriers, whether it’s accessibility, whether it’s in terms of TBI in general, whether it was even like in the process of starting private practice. Was there anything that had impacted you in regard to your start-up and ongoing private practice?

Daniel: Yeah, I think from the start-up phase, I think it’s this weird balance of your self-worth and self-esteem and your self-doubt. As well as there’s this thought of I can provide this value, but then it’s like, how do I get my message out there? And I would say from a business standpoint, that has been the challenge. B, I think schools also teach a lot around self-disclosure. Don’t share your personal story and stuff. And what I found too is that I wouldn’t be who I am without my personal story. And that then informs my interventions, how I show up to therapy, how I show up to just even organic networking events, right?

And I’ve noticed that if I can share that or a piece or just even a little chunk that I feel much more authentic in how I approach things. And I also think then on a client level, there’s already an inherent power differential between therapist and client. And that’s one of those factors where it’s like, “Hey, like I’ve gone through some stuff as well. Not exactly like yours. But patience is hard when we want to rush the process. Right. Having self-compassion when you want to do something, but your body can’t physically do it.”

So, then kind of interweaving all these different aspects into how I approach clinical work. Also, eventually expanding into group practice of who do I hire and how do I look at who do I hire to almost not only interview them, but to say what do they bring that kind of also aligns with my values as a practice?

Values and Private Practice

Kayla: I love that you’re connecting also the values into like how you grow your practice because our experiences and our values and our beliefs all are informed by the business that we want to create for ourselves and. You mentioning that going into hiring people, you’re like, what are my values? How do the people that I hire align with these values? Because that’s a key piece of building the business or building the private practice that we want for ourselves.

Daniel’s Journey to Choosing His Practice Niche

I’m curious on how you decided to also work with people who have had a TBI or had experienced trauma. How did you decide your private practice niche and what was your experience learning the processes and supporting people as a social worker with a TBI?

Daniel: Sure. There’s a lot of questions inside that one question. So, I will say that a lot of my post master’s work has been shaped by inpatient psychiatric work. And I still work a W2 job, right? It’s not this, “Okay, I’m going to do a private practice. Everything’s green lighted and the clients, the money, the office. The furniture is all there.” It’s not like that at all, right? It’s hard and it’s difficult and it can be done. So, I’m balancing both and I still am.

And I will say that what I’ve done in the past also informs a lot of what I do now. Inpatient psych is some of those more acute illnesses: thought disorders, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar. Oftentimes traumas interlaced inside those illnesses, inside those experiences related to the illness, and then that person. So, that has really been a big part in informing why did I develop this practice.

The other part has been my TBI. It was not an is not an easy recovery process. And I think looking at that I’m like, who do I want to serve in the community, or who do I want my practice to serve in the community. And how do I identify those people that I know we can support or I can support right. And it was just kind of a click, I’ve already have experience here. I already have personal experience here. And it was just like 1 plus 1 equals 2, and it was like, this is it. Let’s do this.

TBI Work and Therapeutic Modalities

Kayla: In your private practice, what does TBI work look like? For instance, do you use specific therapeutic modalities or strategies or approaches? Or do you incorporate other best practices when working with others who’ve experienced trauma?

Daniel: So, it depends on the TBI. Every person’s different in their recovery. Every TBI is different, even if it’s a similar injury. And I think a assessment is crucial. I’m trained in EMDR. And I think it’s a beautiful modality to help process those dysfunctional aspects that might be stored inside of a TBI, inside of a rape, whatever it might be, or a rape experience. Also, be mindful that if you jump into doing EMDR with somebody who has a TBI, and you’re doing eye movements without checking with their doctors, you could induce a seizure, maybe. Knowing and having experience around those nuances is very crucial. It’s very informed care.

Outside of that, I really love using acceptance and commitment therapy in terms of we know this TBI is there. We know this trauma is there and it has some sort of effects on your life. Maybe we can target that with EMDR. And the injury itself is there. We can’t change that, structurally, we can’t. Now, structurally, our brains have a lot of plasticity, and we can create new neural networks, right? But that takes time in therapy. That takes time learning self-regulation skills. And then just learning how to pay attention to those sometimes very fast changes in our physiology, in terms of emotions, sensations, and then mood.

Kayla: Something you said there, I think, is really important is many social workers or therapists in private practice, tend to navigate more towards mental health related concerns than physiological related concerns. And even highlighting the different therapeutic approaches like EMDR might have side effects for existing or pre-existing physiological issues is really important because sometimes we don’t always think about that. Because we think about the mental wellness or the emotional wellness and not that we don’t think about the physical, but not always understanding the other symptoms. So I’m glad that you highlighted that.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and TBI Work

And I also love that you highlighted ACT because I come from ACT as well. And I think that it is such a great therapeutic approach when we want to serve almost, I don’t want to say every population, but a lot of populations because it’s very value-based. How does your values influence who you are? And having a physical or emotional issue doesn’t change that. Your values are your values, right? So, I love that.

Daniel: And actually, my main ACT trainer, I believe he was from the Vancouver area. And I fell in love with it. I did a three-day PESI training in ACT, and then I’ve just been reading books. And there are many different places where you can find people who have created their own to do modules online that you can purchase for $199. And some of them are not the best. Some of them are very good too. And if you can find those and then learn how to through your experience and through your client, how they’re showing up to tailor those interventions to meaning in their lives. For example, I’ve noticed that people who work in the engineering or computer programming fields sometimes tend to do better with CBT because it’s more black and white. And then it’s also just an adaptation. ACT is a derivative of CBT. But how do we modify ACT to link with their kind of thought process where it is very black and white in terms of how they see work, how they see maybe even the world, how they see themselves.

Kayla: Yeah, I agree. Different approaches fit different styles and I work from CBT and ACT, but I also, in my private practice, work with workplace burnout, specifically people in leadership positions. Now, I do work with people in non-leadership positions, but majority of the people I work with are in leadership positions. And kind of going back to your example of people in IT might want that black and white. A lot of people in leadership positions, like the strategy, the systems, the process. And ACT and CBT gives that, whereas some other therapeutic approaches may not, whereas there might be other populations who may not necessarily resonate with the systems, the strategies, the process, and they may more adapt to other therapeutic approaches. So, I love that you highlighted that.

Daniel: Mm hmm. And I think you mentioned values. And I think, obviously, I’m already biased towards ACT listeners now, right? But we can also live out those values in very different ways depending on our ability or physical challenges. And sometimes physical, cognitive, emotional challenges stem and trickle down from TBIs. So maybe you aren’t able to go to the gym anymore and squat or do hard leg workouts because maybe you were in an accident with a TBI and you were paralyzed. But you can still work out your arms, your chest. And you can still pursue that value just in a little bit different way.

Best Practices When Working with Clients Who Have a TBI

Kayla: Yeah, 100%. I love it. So, for any listener who might have never worked with someone who experienced a traumatic brain injury, or maybe even a therapist who wants to start working with someone with a TBI, do you have any advice, insights or best practices that they can use to help them support the client if a client comes in who have experienced a TBI?

Daniel: So, A, if you don’t feel comfortable refer them out. B, I don’t think that there is a shortage in, not just therapists, but also neuropsychologists, neurologists that would not be willing to do consulting work. And consultations really, really big. I mean, whether you’re doing it with a release of information and you’re sharing HIPAA or you’re not sharing HIPAA and you’re just keeping it vague and making sure that those laws are followed, that consultation, especially if you’re not familiar with how a TBI may present, what could be related to a TBI, what might not be related to a TBI. I think all those pieces are very nuanced and consultation can be invaluable.

There’s also, I’m sure there are others, but in Colorado, we have the Brain Injury Alliance and they offer, a Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado. They offer, I forget the acronym. I think it’s a TBIS, so like a TBI specialist training course. And I forget how long it is. And I think some of it might be even in person. So you can also do those advanced trainings, right? We all have to do CEUs. You can start pursuing that through whatever kind of organizations that you find and that are also offering the CEUs.

Consultation with Daniel

Kayla: Yeah, and you talked about consultation. Do you specifically provide consultation to therapists if they’re looking for consultation?

Daniel: Yes, 100%. And not just with TBIs, but also sometimes people aren’t very familiar working with thought disorders. And kind of opening up that door to say, “Yeah, it’s something different.” But it doesn’t mean that the person’s not there. It’s just like, how do we figure out how to work with that? And ACT can be a very powerful modality in terms of schizophrenia because it’s like, how do you live your life with these voices and pursue your values? There’s a lot of acceptance and psychological flexibility within that.

Kayla: So, if a listener would like to chat with you, whether it’s a consultation or just to chat with you more about TBI work, how can they reach you?

Daniel: So, they can visit me on my website, submit a form there, give me a call. My number is on the website, but it’s 720-295-6703 so I will try to reach back out within 24, 48 hours. Depends on the weekend, the holiday, whatever might be going on. And then that could be somewhere where it starts. And then we could talk about, is this just kind of like a 15-minute chat? Is this going to be an ongoing consultation? Because there’s a fee around that consultation work. So looking at that and trying to figure out what might be plausible in terms of is this weekly consultation, monthly, what are we looking at, right?

Kayla: So, what is your website if someone wanted to check it out?

Daniel: Yeah, so www.revitalizedmentalhealth.com is the website and submit something there. And I’ll try to get back to you via email or phone call within that 24 or 48 hours as quickly as I can.

Kayla: Fabulous. So, if you’d like to check out Daniel’s website, I will link it in the show notes as well. So, if you’d like to get in contact with Daniel, just simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the links.

Daniel, thank you so much for being on the show today. It was so great to have you.

Daniel: It was great to be here and just an honor to share a little bit about my story as well as some of the work we’re doing in practice.

Kayla: Yeah, it’s so fabulous to have you here and sharing your story.

Thank you everyone for tuning into today’s episode and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

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