Miranda Walton, Founder and Executive Director of Restorative Pathways Counseling in Zanesville, Ohio, shares her journey of building a behavioral health practice that prioritizes quality over quantity. She discusses navigating rural healthcare challenges, surviving difficult seasons as a business owner, and maintaining sustainable mental health services in an underserved Appalachian community.

Background & Journey into Behavioral Health

• Transition from nursing to psychology and counseling
• The divine intertwining of entrepreneurial spirit, helping others, and faith
• Decision to pursue private practice over community behavioral health

Business Model & Philosophy

• Quality over quantity approach to mental health care
• Focus on sustainable caseloads and consistent client contact
• Navigating insurance requirements while maintaining care standards
• For-profit model with sliding scale and pro bono services
• The importance of boundaries and client accountability

Serving Rural Appalachia

• Addressing cultural stigmas around mental health
• Creating welcoming, non-clinical physical spaces
• Working with community coalitions and health initiatives
• Meeting needs in an underserved area with provider shortages

Navigating Crisis & Growth

• Adopting a medically complex daughter in 2022
• Leading remotely during 8-month hospital stays
• Managing team transitions and cultural challenges
• The "pruning season" philosophy
• Growing from 8 to 11 team members through organizational phases

Key Insights

• Business growth cycles: infancy, toddlerhood, adolescence, and adulthood
• Importance of clarifying mission, vision, and values during hard times
• Building the strongest team through intentional culture alignment
• The practice of "being where your feet are" for grounding and presence

Miranda Walton Founder & Executive Director, Restorative Pathways Counseling

• Website: restorativepathways.com
• Facebook & Instagram: @restorativepathways
• Location: Zanesville, Ohio

"We just think that behavioral health can be done differently than the way it's been done in the past, and that there's a lot of opportunity for change and shift there."

"What we're trying to emphasize is quality over quantity."

"I cannot say that there were not days that I just wanted to burn it all to ground... But it really challenged me to kind of get deeply rooted in what my vision is and why I am doing this."

"Our team is the smallest that it's been in five years, but it is one of the strongest teams that we've ever had."

"Be where your feet are... this is where we can make the most change, is where we're actually present."

[00:00:00] - Introduction and background
[00:01:00] - Why Miranda chose behavioral health over nursing
[00:03:00] - The entrepreneurial path to private practice
[00:05:00] - Quality vs. quantity in mental health care
[00:07:00] - Navigating insurance and business model challenges
[00:11:00] - Serving rural Appalachia and cultural barriers
[00:15:00] - The two-and-a-half-year crisis period begins
[00:16:00] - Adopting a medically complex child while running a business
[00:18:00] - Accreditation, billing challenges, and near burnout
[00:20:00] - The "pruning season" philosophy
[00:22:00] - Current team size and organizational stability
[00:24:00] - Business growth phases explained
[00:25:00] - Where to find Restorative Pathways Counseling
[00:26:00] - Final wisdom: "Be where your feet are"

The ALC ChangeMakers Podcast, hosted by Jennifer Sconyers, features conversations with social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and community change-makers who are creating positive impact. Each episode explores the real challenges and victories of building mission-driven organizations. Learn more about Abundance Leadership Consulting at jennifersconyers.com

About Amanda Kern

Amanda Kern is the founder and CEO of Emerald Creative Content, a marketing agency that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) for small to mid-size businesses.

Starting as a copywriter, Amanda discovered her passion for SEO when working with keyword briefs from SEO agencies. She was mentored by a woman-owned SEO agency and combined her creative content skills with technical SEO knowledge to create a unique approach to digital marketing.

Key Topics Discussed

• The SEO Landscape for Small Businesses
• Why SEO is particularly powerful for businesses with limited marketing budgets
• The myth that SEO is purely technical and expensive
• Building EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) as the foundation of good SEO AI and SEO Integration
• Smart, ethical ways to use AI for SEO purposes Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) - optimizing for AI search engines
• Using AI for research, ideation, and breaking down complex data
• Where to draw the line: avoiding AI for final content creation and original thinking

Practical SEO Tips for Beginners

• Focus on demonstrating expertise through consistent, original content
• Build content clusters around your services or products
• Start with one SEO-focused activity per week
• Expect to see initial movement at 3 months, business impact at 6 months

Business Evolution and Market Changes

• How Emerald Creative Content has adapted to AI disruption
• Emphasizing the human touch in creative work
• Why SEO isn't dead - it's evolving alongside AI tools

Actionable Takeaways

• Start with EEAT: Focus on showcasing your expertise consistently across all content platforms
• Use AI as a Tool; Not a Replacement: Leverage AI for research and ideation, but maintain your original voice and ideas
• Be Patient but Consistent: Commit to weekly SEO activities for at least 3-6 months to see results
• Think Beyond Google: Optimize for both traditional search engines and AI-powered search tools
• Quality Over Quantity: Original, authoritative content will naturally appear in AI search results

Timeline for SEO Results

• 3 months: Start seeing movement in organic traffic
• 6 months: Begin seeing business impact and revenue growth
• Long-term: Compound growth as authority builds over time

Resources Mentioned

• Free SEO Audit: Available through Emerald Creative Content
• Strategy: Focus on building content clusters around your expertise
• AI Tools: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude for research and ideation

Connect with Amanda Kern

• Website: emeraldcontent.com
• Instagram: @emeraldcreativecontent
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-kern-a96ba2224/
• Free SEO Audit: Available via website booking

Connect with Jennifer Sconyers and Abundance Leadership Consulting

Website: https://www.jennifersconyers.com/

Jennifer’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-sconyers-0776955/

Abundance Leadership Consulting’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abundance-leadership-consulting-llc

About the Host

Jennifer Sconyers hosts the ALC Changemakers Podcast, featuring conversations with entrepreneurs and business leaders. Both Jennifer and Amanda participated in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and are members of the Haven Collective coworking space in Columbus, Ohio. This episode is perfect for small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and entrepreneurs looking to understand how SEO and AI can work together to grow their online presence and reach their target audiences more effectively.

In this rich and reflective episode, Jennifer Sconyers sits down with Cedar Landsman and Lucien Demaris, the visionary co-founders of Relational Uprising, to explore how relational culture can transform organizations from the inside out. Together, they unpack the limitations of individualism in U.S. culture and make a compelling case for centering relationships—within teams, communities, and movements—as a radical and necessary act of change leadership.

Relational Uprising supports mission-driven organizations in building deep connection, mutual understanding, and sustainable team cultures. Their approach is a powerful counter to the transactional norms embedded in dominant systems, and one that honors embodiment, belonging, and collective resilience.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

• What relational culture really means—and why it's critical for sustainable change
• How individualism undermines social change work and what we can do instead
• How somatics and embodied leadership intersect with systems change
• The role of storytelling and resonance in rebuilding trust and community
• How Cedar and Lucien work with mission-driven organizations to cultivate collective capacity
• When organizations should consider relational culture work (hint: it’s not just when there’s a crisis)
• Why tending to bias and inclusion requires more than a checklist—it requires connection

🧠 Wisdom & Insights

• “We tend to think of relationships as a side effect of the work. But what if relationships are the work?” —Cedar Landsman
• “We must tend to the relational aspect of embodiment—it’s essential for protecting our communities and building resilience.” —Lucien Demaris
• “Isolation is not a resilient state. Leaders thrive when they are well supported.” —Cedar Landsman

💡 Highlights

• Cedar’s journey from food justice and urban planning into relational systems change
• Lucien’s background in somatics, wellness, and his critique of disembodied wellness culture
• How their methodology is different: not plug-and-play, but a deep practice of collective awareness
• ALC’s swimming pool analogy: shallow, medium, and deep work—and how
• Relational Uprising fits in Real-life applications across sectors: nonprofits, cooperatives, higher education, and faith communities
• Why this work is especially important now, amidst DEI backlash, organizational burnout, and social isolation

📆 Upcoming Opportunities

• Relational Uprising has a residential advanced workshop coming in Fall 2025.
• A prerequisite intro workshop is required.

Join the interest list at relationaluprising.org to be notified when a new intro workshop is scheduled. They’re also hosting a leadership convening focused on the unique challenges in progressive and social justice organizations.

🔗 Connect with Relational Uprising

🌐 Website: www.relationaluprising.org

🎧 Subscribe & Follow Want more stories of bold leadership and culture change? Subscribe to the ALC ChangeMakers Podcast on Spotify and follow us at jennifersconyers.com