In this colorful, unadulterated first-person expression, licensed psychotherapist and clinical executive officer of PsycYourMind, Crystal Joseph shares five components: Flour, Eggs, Butter, Sugar, and Vanilla … the chief ingredients used to make the practice what it is today. Did Crystal always want to be a psychotherapist? Yes. Was a recipe for private practice handed to her? No.

As a Black woman navigating clinical and business worlds, Crystal notes transparency is important. The good, the bad, and the ugly. In November 2016, less than one year in private practice, a wait list formed …and then grew. Faced with a good problem to have, Crystal began blogging about her experiences; the skeleton for her second book. After learning by falling on her face not once, but several times and encountering more than a few gut-wrenching moments, she realized she had an inexorable spirit and passion for those who do not let their circumstances define them.

In her second book, Crystal uses her own experiences as a self-made business woman to uncover the main ingredients of maintaining a successful practice. From the highs of signing her first commercial lease and making clinical connections to plunging to the depths of her soul, the reader will be clear on the accompaniment of race, power, and educational deficits present in an unmapped journey to success.

POUNDCAKE & PRIVATE PRACTICE: 5 THINGS I LEARNED DURING MY FIRST YEAR includes Crystal’s cautionary tales on dealing with bureaucracy, low-key jealous supervisors, and her personal triumphs and challenges in learning to trust others in the fashion her clients trust her. With around-the-way moments, sharp humor, backed with a resource appendix, Crystal shows readers this psychotherapist is human too. Through tenacity, research, and support dreams do come true.

Please note: Blank pages exist for those who wish to document, doodle, and sketch their journey to private practice. This space also serves as a notetaking section for those signed up for the PoundCake & Private Practice continuing education course. Please contact the publisher with any questions.