Brave and Well

Brave and Well Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Brave and Well, Business consultant, 5800 Berkman Drive, Austin, TX.

We support fellow mental health professionals launch or grow their private practices through business consultation, leadership coaching, workshops and community events.

05/22/2026

Walking into a VIP day today with a consulting client.

Gemini season. Too much on my plate if I’m being honest. And somehow — feeling grounded.

This is the thing about building a life on your own terms. It’s not always light. Some weeks it’s heavy and beautiful at the same time. Today is one of those weeks.

Today I sat down with a therapist who is doing the brave thing— she is choosing differently. Midstream. While scared. While the easier thing would be to stay exactly where she is.

She asked me to help her figure it out.

I don’t take that lightly. Not even a little bit.

Because I know what it costs to make a different choice when everything around you is telling you to stay put. I know what it feels like to want something different and not be sure you’re allowed to want it. I know the specific kind of courage it takes to say — out loud, to another human — I need help building this.

That’s not weakness. That’s the move.

This is what Brave & Well is for. Not the polished version. Not the highlight reel. The real moment — where a woman decides she is worth the risk and shows up anyway.

I am so grateful for this work. For this Friday. For Gemini season and the audacity it brings.

For every woman who has ever asked someone to sit with her while she figured out how to be brave.

What a gift to get to be that person.

→ If you’re that person right now — the one making a different choice while scared — I’m rooting for you!🔥

Nobody talks about what it actually costs to be the person keeping the lights on. We talk about how group practices expl...
05/18/2026

Nobody talks about what it actually costs to be the person keeping the lights on. We talk about how group practices exploit clinicians. We never talk about what it takes to run one with integrity.

I opened my group practice because there were so few clinicians of color in my area. Every new referral that came to me had the same story — desperately seeking a therapist who looked like them. I wanted to build a place where therapists who never imagined private practice was even an option for them could land safely and do good work without having to worry about the business side.

That’s still why I do this.

But here’s what I don’t say enough — it’s heavy. We are constantly building inside a system that devalues therapists, pays us poorly, and doesn’t even see us as a credible profession. And inside that broken system, I am trying to build something sustainable for an entire team of people whose livelihoods depend on the decisions I make.

Someone will always feel like they’re not getting paid enough. Someone will always want more. I had to learn that I cannot make everyone happy — and that doesn’t make me a bad owner. It makes me human operating inside an impossible system.

Today is one of those days where I just wish I was a therapist. Just a therapist. Not the person responsible for making sure everyone has a place to practice.

I’m not complaining. I chose this. But I think it’s important we see both sides — because the conversation is incomplete if we only talk about one.

Let me say something that might be uncomfortable.We spend years — and I mean years — becoming clinicians. Supervision ho...
05/12/2026

Let me say something that might be uncomfortable.

We spend years — and I mean years — becoming clinicians. Supervision hours. Licensing exams. CEUs. Ethics trainings. The whole thing.

And then we open a practice and realize: nobody taught us anything about running a business.

Not how to set a fee that actually covers our expenses and pays us well. Not how to market ourselves without feeling gross about it. Not how to hire, manage, or lead other humans. Not how to read a P&L or know if we’re actually profitable or just busy.

We were handed a clinical license and pointed at the door.

And then we wonder why so many therapists are burned out, underpaid, and drowning in the business side of something they built with their whole heart.

This isn’t a personal failure. This is a systemic gap.

The mental health field produces world-class healers who are completely under-resourced as business owners. And until we name that clearly and loudly, it stays invisible.

You are not bad at business. You were never taught business. There is a difference.

And that difference is exactly why Brave & Well exists.

Drop a 🙋🏽‍♀️ if nobody taught you the business side of practice ownership either.

→ Share this with every therapist you know who’s figuring it out alone.

05/11/2026

The identity split is real.

You trained to be a clinician. You became a business owner. And somewhere in the middle of those two things you’re holding a clinical caseload, making payroll decisions, managing a team, and trying to figure out which hat you’re supposed to be wearing today.

Nobody warned you about this part.

The loneliness of building something where almost no one in your personal life understands the specifics. The weight of being both the healer and the CEO.

I’ve lived this. I still live this. And I’ve built an entire ecosystem to support the people in the middle of it.

If you’re a group practice owner who is exhausted from figuring it out alone — there is a room for you.

Group Practice Circle. Final seats. Link in bio.

→ Final seats. You’re not doing this alone anymore.

05/07/2026

I stopped apologizing for knowing what I need.

I’m a Gemini. I’m extroverted. I need variety, I need people, I need novelty - and for a long time I treated all of that like a character flaw I had to manage instead of a personality I was allowed to have.

So 1 built a life around it instead.

Want to watch my kid while I go on a date with my husband? Yes please.
Hand-off is at 6.

Girls trip to a new city? Booked. Guilt-free. See you Thursday.

My calendar ends at 3pm so I can be in carline. I don’t offer 5 or 6pm appointments. That boundary has never once been up for negotiation.

Spa day on a random Wednesday? That’s called a business expense and a mental health strategy. I schedule it before I schedule anything else.

Here’s what I figured out:

Knowing yourself isn’t just about knowing your values or your goals. It’s knowing what lights you up.
What your nervous system actually needs.
What kind of day makes you feel like a human being instead of a machine.

And then building your life around THAT - instead of building a life and hoping you survive it.

I’m not a better mom because I sacrifice everything.

I’m a better mom because I stopped.

Real talk — I wasn’t sure I was bringing this back.I had stepped away to focus on my group practice and my tech company....
05/05/2026

Real talk — I wasn’t sure I was bringing this back.

I had stepped away to focus on my group practice and my tech company. I wasn’t returning to anything unless it was I had a found some solid ground scaling the two.

But then the messages came. Emails. DMs from practice owners who were stuck, spinning their wheels, desperate for a room where someone actually got it.

That’s when I knew. This wasn’t optional. This is the work.

The Group Practice Circle is back.

8 clinicians max. Monthly virtual sessions. Real business strategy — not clinical consultation, not therapy. Pure CEO work.

3 members are already in. 5 spots remain.

$100 per session. No registration fee. Just show up and do the work.

If you’ve been waiting for a sign — this is it.

Link in bio.

05/04/2026

Let me say it louder for the helpers in the back.

Wanting money doesn’t make you greedy.

Charging your worth doesn’t make you selfish.

Talking about what you’ve built doesn’t make you a braggart.

We have been sold a story — especially those of us who grew up in helping professions, in immigrant households, in communities where you gave because that’s what good people do — that money is somehow at odds with being a good person.

It’s not.

I’m a therapist. I spent years believing that my value was in how much I could give, how available I could be, how little I could ask for in return.

That’s not service. That’s conditioning.

Money is not just for lawyers.
Not just for doctors.
Not just for men.
It’s for the first-gen Latina who figured it out anyway.
It’s for the helper who finally stopped shrinking.

It’s for anyone willing to normalize saying this out loud:
I made over $1 million in revenue across 3 businesses in 2025.
I’m on track to double it this year.

Not to flex. To prove it’s possible.

Because nobody can want what they’ve never seen.

So I’m going to keep showing you.

Come with me.

05/03/2026

This is me at 7am on my walking pad.

I do this now because I almost lost myself trying to build something worth being proud of.

At my heaviest I was running a group practice, launching a tech company, hosting a podcast, consulting, and raising two kids. From the outside it looked like I was winning.

The cost of it all? I was on multiple medications. Managing conditions that continued to topple on top of each other as each year passed.

Irritable. Exhausted. Completely underwater with no idea how deep I had gone.

Almost 100 pounds down later I have reversed 2 medical conditions. Removed 3 medications from my regimen. And for the first time in a long time I feel like myself again.

I want to be clear about something before anyone comes for me about a number on a scale — this was never about weight. This was about a woman who was so deep in the work of building that she forgot to tend to herself.

The bigger I got the deeper I was in the water. Mind. Body. Spirit. All of it.

I’m not sharing this for applause. I’m sharing this because I know she’s out there. The one who is in it and doesn’t even know she’s drowning yet.

You can build something incredible. And you can be well while you do it.

That’s the whole point of Brave & Well.

That’s always been the point.

05/01/2026

I built a 7-figure therapy practice... and almost lost everything postpartum.

Not because I didn’t care.
Not because I wasn’t capable.
But because I built a business that depended on me too much.

For a long time, I believed this was just part of it.
Being a therapist meant showing up no matter what.
Holding space.
Pushing through.

Even when I was exhausted.
Even when my life had completely shifted.

And on paper, everything looked successful.

But behind the scenes, I was stretched thin trying to hold it all together.

At some point, I had to be honest with myself:
I didn’t want a business that only worked if I was operating at my max capacity.

So I started rebuilding.
- How I make money
- How I spend my time
- What I actually want my life to feel like

Now, I don’t see many clients.
I run multiple businesses.

And l’ve built a structure that doesn’t fall apart when I step away.

This page is where I’m sharing what that actually looks like.

If you’re a therapist or business owner trying to build something sustainable...

you’re in the right place.

- Vanessa

I built my practice before social media was this. It was phone calls, coffee meetings, referral relationships, and doing...
04/30/2026

I built my practice before social media was this. It was phone calls, coffee meetings, referral relationships, and doing really good work.

The fundamentals haven’t changed — only the platform has.

What I see now is therapists spending more time worrying about how they’re going to be perceived than actually building something. So focused on whether the content looks right that they never go after it at all.

And sometimes it’s not even about the look. Sometimes they’ve just decided they’re not worthy enough to be listened to. They talk themselves out of showing up before anyone else even gets the chance to tell them no.

Here’s what I keep learning over and over again — we all have something to say. Every single one of us. The only question is whether you believe in yourself enough to be heard.

Because bills can’t be paid if you’re too busy waiting for things to look a certain way. Nobody can compete with you when you’re actually being yourself. And anyone — your audience, your clients, the people you’re trying to reach — can smell fake from a mile away.

You don’t need a perfect grid. You need the audacity to show up as you actually are.

The therapist down the street with 200 followers and a waitlist? They’re not worried about your grid. They’re working.

Less grid. More grit.

→ Share with the therapist who needs to hear this.

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5800 Berkman Drive
Austin, TX
78723

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