Meet Sydney Micheletti, LPC | Mental Health Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sydney Micheletti, LPC and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sydney, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process behind starting my own therapy practice was all about me getting the freedom and flexibility that comes with that. At the time I was working for a private practice where the owner was trying out having an employee for the first time. To make a really long story short it was the worst experience I’ve had job wise, I was miserable and that really gave me the push I needed to want to be my own boss. At the time I thought I was stuck in a contract for 2 more years at that job but things were so bad that they agreed to break the contract. I had very limited time to make a decision and I knew this was a great opportunity to make that jump into solo private practice so I basically found an office and did all of the research on my own and set it up over the course of 2 months while finishing up my previous job. At any job I’ve worked I’ve always felt like I am pretty self sufficient and prided myself on that. Once I felt like I had the confidence to be completely on my own, everything else just fell into place.

What should our readers know about your business?
Currently I am doing a lot of work using EMDR which is a modality I am trained in to help people process and move through traumatic experiences. I really enjoy working with the LGBTQ community, college students, and young professionals dealing with trauma, anxiety, and life changes. I feel that clients enjoy the comfort and safety that I create in the therapy room, I have had a lot of feedback about people feeling like they can be open and their true selves and talk without fear of judgement and that brings me so much joy. I have a laid back style that is conversational while also keeping people’s goals in mind and working to make progress in whatever way that looks like for them. Something that is different about my practice is that currently I have been bringing my golden retriever, Rigby to work with me as she has gone through professional training and my clients as well as myself have really been enjoying this. I’ve even started an instagram that talks about and shows mental health through personal examples and showcases Rigby and bringing her to work as well @heynotyourtherapist

I love the path that I took to get to owning my own practice. During graduate school I chose an internship that would give me the most diverse experiences and I got just that. I worked at Advantage doing community mental health in the outpatient setting and was lined up for a job there when COVID hit right before I graduated and that opportunity no longer existed. That led me to interview at Advantage’s Crisis Center where I worked as a clinician during the pandemic for 2.5 years. There I experienced working with those in crisis, either severe mental illness or substance abuse, and I would help get them into our inpatient facility or other appropriate resources. This job definitely had it’s challenges but overall I am so grateful for the experiences here because my confidence to handle anything at my job is unmatched. After leaving there and wanting to try some more private practice (I was doing it part-time) this led me to a job working for someone who wanted to hire their first therapist at their practice. Someone recommended me the job and there were actual benefits which is rare in private practice so when I was offered the job I took it. This ended up being a pretty traumatic work experience, I was working for someone who was very controlling and mentally unstable, which led to there being so many uncomfortable situations including sexual harassment. This was such a hard time in my life, I had never experienced anything like this and was coming home every day upset and telling my wife about a inappropriate interaction and not knowing what to do because I was stuck in a contract and this job did not have an HR department or anything like that, it was just the two of us. After finally addressing these issues, the owner actually agreed the experience had been so bad that I was allowed to break the contract no strings attached. This is where things started looking up once I could cut ties with this person. Things were not easy and I did all the research on my own, but with the support of my wife I was able to get everything done and get my practice up and running pretty quickly. My entire caseload followed me to my new practice which was a huge confidence boost and I have continued to grow and am always learning more about what I want the future of my business to be.

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.
Being from Athens and living here I love our local spots and supporting small business owners. I am also a runner so if my friend is a runner we definitely would go to an Athens Road Runners group run on a Saturday morning and hang out at Hendershots afterwards for coffee and social time. Any other day we would definitely start with some good coffee from Sips in normaltown, then go for a walk with my dog along the greenway to see the river or in Watkinsville at Thomas Farm Preserve. For lunch I would definitely recommend Hi-Lo for casual vibes and drinks and dinner there’s too many options! Some of my favorites are ZZ & Simones, Pretty Boy, Seabear, and the National. Athens has a great food and drink scene and outdoor scenary for walking/running.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a shoutout to my wife, Rudi, who supported me all throughout graduate school and through all of the experiences leading up to owning my own business. She worked long hours and sacrificed a lot to make sure we could pay the bills. Every doubt that I had during the scary time of trying to get started she would be that voice to let me know I have every reason to believe I’m going to be successful and she was right! She’s always believed in me and still encourages me to reach all my goals and for that reason I am where I am today.

Website: https://www.sydneymicheletti.com

Instagram: @heynotyourtherapist

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-micheletti-2a9683155/

Image Credits
Katelyn Leblanc Studio