Meet Suzanne Wallach: Psy.D, LMFT / Psychotherapist and Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Suzanne Wallach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Suzanne, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
I feel like the conventional advice when it comes to the psychotherapy world is to be risk averse when taking on clients and also when it comes to building your business. I disagree with this wholeheartedly. I have chosen throughout my whole career to work with acute clientele because they need it more than the average person, and also I feel like I would get bored sitting with the “worried well” week after week. When it comes to business, too, therapists usually stay small and aren’t the best at marketing. My plan was always to own a group practice and to expand slowly and strategically. I don’t feel like being a therapist and being a business woman have to be mutually exclusive; one can be both and be successful in both arenas.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I run a group psychotherapy practice called Suzanne Wallach & Associates where we offer evidence based psychotherapy, and I also own a comprehensive DBT program called SoCal DBT.

I think what sets us apart from others is collectively our level of training and knowledge of the modalities of therapy we provide. When it comes to DBT and other evidence based treatments like EMDR, CBT, and PE, you won’t find a better trained and more clinically savvy staff than I have.

I got to where I am today by being mindful about growth, hiring very carefully, marketing strategically, and I never stopped training. I believe that if you want to do something you should do everything you can to be the best at it, so everyone at my business continues to train in their areas of specialty so that we can provide the very best treatment possible. It hasn’t been easy, growing my business has taken a lot of hard work and heartbreak at times, but the challenges made me stronger, and shaped my life to where it is now, where I am only surrounded by the best people I can be.

Lessons I have learned along the way: everything is impermanent, and it’s best to remember that. No one person, employee, mentor or colleague will last forever, and I think as a business owner you have to radically accept that people will come and go, and your business has to survive. Don’t expand too fast, that could be the kiss of death. Enjoy your work, and the minute you start to dislike it, it’s time for a change. And last, the saying that you won’t be on your deathbed wishing you worked more is true. Having my daughter has taught me this lesson in spades. While work is always a priority, my time with my family is number one always.

I want the world to know that I went through a lot to get here. I think a lot of people think therapists have it all together, and we don’t! We are human and fallible. Most of my clients know my story, but it took me a lot of twists and turns to get here, and I want people to know that they can relate to me and the services I provide because of my life experiences, and I’m really no different from any client calling for help. I have been there. Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, my life has changed a lot in the past two years, so the places I go now are different, but if my best friend was coming to town I would tell her to book a room at The Beverly Hills Hotel so I could go eat at The Polo Lounge and lay by the pool. I would take her to ballet classes at Align Ballet Method and Bjarne Ballet, and pilates at Gazelle Pilates in Sherman Oaks for exercise, and I would make sure we made it out to Paradise Cove in Malibu. Gentle Barn in Santa Clarita is one of my favorite places on earth because I love helping farm animals, and I would also do a day trip to Ojai, my favorite place on earth. As far as food and drink, Davenports in Encino is so yummy, and I also love La Cava in Sherman Oaks! For a casual lunch, Fat Sals in Encino makes the best sandwiches I have ever had in my life. And it’s not a trip to LA without some shopping in Beverly Hills.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost I think the people that deserve the most credit are the people that told me I couldn’t do it, the ones that told me I was “difficult” or my aspirations were “too big” or that my goals were “lofty”. They were right, and without them throwing up roadblocks and challenging me I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today, so I thank them immensely. I would not be anywhere without my amazing staff of clinicians, in particular my program director Rachel Jones, LMFT, who is my literally ride or die person in life. She has saved my sanity more times than I can count and I trust her implicitly. My other clinicians are all amazing and deserve a shout out: Daniele Lewin, Angelique Poisson, Molly Ackerly, Lucy Swank and Susan Horvat are just amazing therapists and women. My husband helps run the business and has always been my touchstone, and of course my daughter inspires me to get up and work hard every day.

Website: www.suzannewallach.com and www.socaldbt.com

Instagram: @dbtspecialistsla

Linkedin: Suzanne M Wallach

Image Credits
Annie Vovan, Charlie Nunn