In this podcast interview, Sivie Suckerman speaks with Megan Ellow, a licensed clinical social worker and the creator of Therapist CEU. They discuss the growing corporatization of mental health, specifically how large entities and private equity firms have taken over the field of continuing education. Megan shares her frustration with generic, low-quality trainings offered by major conglomerates and explains how her new online directory empowers independent clinicians to share their specialized expertise. The conversation highlights the importance of human-centered therapy over insurance-driven models that prioritize profits over clinical depth. Megan talks about a circular economy where therapists support one another by exchanging knowledge and diversifying their income away from exploitative systems.

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Megan Ellow, is a licensed clinical social worker and the owner of Nest Counseling, a small group practice in Media, Pennsylvania. Her team focuses on child, adolescent, and family therapy, with specialties in play therapy and perinatal mental health.

She also founded TherapistCEU, an online directory built to solve a problem she kept running into herself: finding good continuing education without wading through overpriced, low-quality options. The platform connects independent therapy trainers with licensed clinicians looking for trainings worth their time and money. She built it because she wanted the money therapists spend on CE to go back to other therapists, not to the corporations and private equity firms that have bought up most of the field.

Website: TherapistCEU.com and Nest-counseling.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapistceu

On the directory sign-up page: Clinicians/trainers enter Founder60 when creating an account on the Therapist CEU directory website to claim a 60-day free trial to list their continuing education trainings.

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, Sivie Suckerman interviews Dr. Lauren Lawson, a licensed marriage and family therapist, coach, and founder of Hope Counseling Center. They discuss the financial and operational pressures facing private practice owners including corporate tax burdens, widespread clinician burnout, and the limitations of traditional fee-for-service models. Dr. Lawson dispels widespread misconceptions about nonprofit healthcare, outlining her four-pillar framework (formation, governance, revenue, and implementation) while highlighting how therapists can earn competitive salaries, mitigate individual liability through board oversight, and tap into local county and state grants. This conversation provides a practical roadmap for clinicians seeking an innovative model to deliver affordable care to their communities without sacrificing long-term financial stability.

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About Lauren Lawson, PsyD, LMFT

Lauren Lawson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, nonprofit founder, and the founder of Lauren Lawson Coaching. She has spent more than 13 years building and sustaining her own nonprofit group practice, HOPE Counseling Center. Today, Lauren helps therapists who want to serve their communities on a larger scale build nonprofit practices without recreating the burnout, underpayment, and unsustainable systems they’re trying to leave behind.

Her signature Therapist Nonprofit Framework™ focuses on four essential pillars:

Formation — creating the proper legal foundation
Governance — building the right board structure, protection, and oversight
Revenue — creating financial sustainability and multiple revenue streams
Implementation — launching, operating, and growing the organization

Lauren’s work is rooted in a simple belief: therapists shouldn’t have to choose between serving their communities and building financial stability. With the right structure, it’s possible to do both.

Connect With Lauren

Website: Lauren Lawson Coaching
Instagram: @nonprofit_therapy_leaders
YouTube: Nonprofit Practice Mentor
Facebook Community: Nonprofit Therapy Leaders
LinkedIn: Lauren Lawson, PsyD, LMFT

Free Resource for Listeners

Join Lauren’s free live workshop, “Build a Nonprofit Therapy Practice That Works for You and the Community You Serve,” on September 16, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Register for the free workshop

Listeners can also get Lauren’s free Nonprofit Practice Blueprint, designed to challenge common myths about nonprofit therapy practices and help therapists understand what building a sustainable nonprofit can actually look like.

Get the Nonprofit Practice Blueprint

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, Sivie Suckerman interviews Michael Desposito, a counselor and advocate leading the Insurance Accountability Committee in Ohio. They speak about the systemic challenges facing mental health professionals, including low reimbursement rates, the threat of insurance clawbacks, and the complexities of clinical integration. Michael highlights recent legislative successes in Ohio, such as the passage of anti-clawback protection, while warning about the long-term impact of vertical monopolies and corporate interests on private practices. Ultimately, the call is for unified advocacy and better civic education for therapists to ensure the profession remains viable.

Wellife

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Michael Desposito is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervisory Designation (LPCC-S) in Ohio and a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist (DBTC). He earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Bowling Green State University and serves as Vice President and co-owner of The Wellife, LLC, a private counseling practice in Canton, Ohio. For more than a decade, Michael has worked across a variety of behavioral health settings, providing services to transitional-age youth, individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness, dual-diagnosis populations, LGBTQI+ communities, and those seeking support with emotion regulation, grief, and wellness. His professional interests include transdiagnostic and third-wave behavioral therapies, counselor development, private practice, and behavioral health advocacy.

Michael has served in numerous leadership roles within state and national organizations, including the Ohio Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (OASERVIC), the Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities Association of Ohio (SAIGEO), the East Ohio Counseling Association (EOCA), and Leadership Stark County (LSC). He currently serves as Chair of the Behavioral Health Providers Insurance Advocacy Committee of the Ohio Counseling Association (OCA), Secretary of the Ohio Association for Counselors in Private Practice (OACPP), and Secretary of the Together in Hope Foundation (THF), a national suicide prevention nonprofit organization.

A frequent presenter and educator, Michael has previously served as an adjunct instructor in a CACREP-accredited graduate counseling programs and has delivered more than 50 presentations at local, state, and national conferences on topics including emotion regulation, mood disorders, affirmative counseling practices, counselor wellness, supervision, private practice development, and behavioral health policy. He has published on counselor wellness, affirmative practice, and leadership, and has received multiple awards recognizing his contributions to the counseling profession and behavioral health policy and advocacy.

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS