Head/Heart Business Therapy

Head/Heart Business Therapy Professional healing and transformation for therapists and mental health organizations.
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Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, NMT is a speaker, educator, consultant, therapist, and the founder of Head/Heart Therapy and Head/Heart Business Therapy. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Dual Diagnosis Professional, Certified Alcohol and other Drug Counselor, and NARM Master Therapist. She holds a master’s degree from Loyola University in Chicago and undergraduate degree from Mi

ami University in Oxford, Ohio. For more than a decade, Sarah has applied her social work skills supporting individuals, groups, helping professionals, and organizations with issues as varied as wellness for helping professionals, shame resilience, anti-racism in healthcare, and healing developmental trauma. Sarah founded Head/Heart Therapy in 2014, which quickly grew into an important resource both in Chicago and nationally.

One of the clearest signs a workplace has a culture problem is when everyone is being nice to one another, but talking b...
06/05/2026

One of the clearest signs a workplace has a culture problem is when everyone is being nice to one another, but talking behind each others' backs.

In this scenario, I’ve seen clinicians spend more energy trying to decode workplace dynamics than actually supporting their clients.

Trying to figure out:

- whether feedback is actually feedback
- whether a boundary is real or mood-dependent
- whether “we should talk sometime” means a nconcern, conflict, or something beneign
- whether honesty is welcome even when it's hard to hear
A lot of therapy workplaces become emotionally foggy over time when we don't learn how to navigate conflict effectively.

That kind of emotional labor is exhausting.

Especially in group practices and mental health organizations where therapists are already carrying high relational demand all day long.

As therapists, we can teach people conflict resolution skills all day, but struggle to put them into practice.

I'm curious what others have noticed:

What’s the difference between a genuinely kind workplace and a workplace that avoids directness?

If you've ever felt frustrated by the limitations of traditional therapy, exhausted by workplace dynamics, or curious ab...
06/04/2026

If you've ever felt frustrated by the limitations of traditional therapy, exhausted by workplace dynamics, or curious about what authentic healing really looks like, check out Sarah’s interview on The Innovative Therapist with Shawn Hondorp.

06/03/2026

Therapists just out here vibin' in the year of our lord, 2026.

06/01/2026

Dr. Jamie Marich on discovering true faith lies in understanding and compassion for human experience, not in rigid adherence to dogma, as taught by white Christian nationalism. Get the full story on Conversations With a Wounded Healer in your favorite podcast app or on YouTube .

A lot of therapists are prepared to hold pain, but far fewer are prepared to cause disappointment.There’s a specific kin...
05/29/2026

A lot of therapists are prepared to hold pain, but far fewer are prepared to cause disappointment.

There’s a specific kind of leadership anxiety that develops when your identity has been built around care, attunement, and relational safety and suddenly your role requires decisions about money, boundaries, policies, performance, or capacity.

Especially in group practices and mental health leadership, even small business decisions can start feeling emotionally charged in ways outsiders rarely understand.

I think this is one reason therapist leadership can feel so isolating:
many clinicians were trained to navigate relationships, not authority.

I'm curious what others have noticed:

What part of leadership feels emotionally harder than you expected?

05/28/2026

“WAIT WHAT? Isn’t therapy supposed to make me feel BETTER?”
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I imagine this is what you might be thinking right now. And to that I say…in the long term - YES! In the short term…well, it depends.
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Many first time therapy clients come into therapy expecting specific outcomes like being happier, having better relationships, and just generally feeling good in life. Therapists want that too, but we know it’s not that easy.
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The reason people struggle with depression, anxiety, relationships, addictions, etc. is because these issues developed as survival strategies in order to help us survive and stay connected to our family in early life. You might be thinking “how is depression supposed to help me survive?” Well, it’s complicated, but essentially it’s easier for a young child to blame themselves rather than what’s happening (or not happening) around them, typically in their family of origin. So depression – literally depressing what we think/feel/need – becomes an adaptation of sorts trying to keep us connected to our families. Because your little psyche knew that even if you were authentic, you wouldn’t get your needs met anyway.
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If your mental health symptoms developed in early childhood, there’s no way we’re going to unpack and heal those in 6-8 sessions and leave you skipping on your merry way! Therapy is often the only space we have to reckon with the deeper issues that lead to the symptoms like depression and so forth. So if you spend an hour talking about trauma, chances are, you’re not gonna feel so hot directly afterwards. But that doesn’t mean therapy isn’t working!
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True healing takes time. Sometimes decades. Sometimes a lifetime! And in order to challenge the lifetime of survival strategies, your therapist may have to challenge your behavior or the way you’re thinking. Loving confrontation is a very important skill in the psychotherapy toolkit.
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But it isn’t all pain and strife! There are beautiful stops along the way where we can look back in awe at how far you’ve come. (I just had a session like that with my therapist today!) And those days you get to roll around in the joy of doing the deep healing work.
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Therapists: When’s the last time you experienced a client’s disappointment that you weren’t “making” them feel better?
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Clients: How is it to recognize that therapy isn’t about feeling good every session?

You know how I’m always encouraging therapists to sit with the unknown? Well, fair warning: this episode may test your l...
05/27/2026

You know how I’m always encouraging therapists to sit with the unknown? Well, fair warning: this episode may test your limits in the same way that a good fitness coach might test your stamina.
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It’s time for the AI conversation.
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AI researcher and former Google senior software engineer Earl Wagner helps unpack AI therapy bots, emotional attachment to technology, and what makes healing deeply human.

05/27/2026

Despite how it may sound, this episode of Conversations With a Wounded Healer with Frank Gruba-McCallister is full of HOPE and vision for a better society. It's also full of insight for therapists and healers working within the American system. Don't believe us? Get the full episode in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.

You know how we are always talking about dismantling harmful systems on this podcast? Well…what happens when those syste...
05/26/2026

You know how we are always talking about dismantling harmful systems on this podcast? Well…what happens when those systems show up inside group practices?
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This conversation with Andie Baumgartner and Nadia Parfenova from Rowan Tree goes deep into the complicated, emotionally loaded relationship between practice owners and employees. From the fear many clinicians carry into the workplace to the pressure practice owners feel holding entire businesses together, we unpack what’s happening behind the scenes in the therapy industry and what it might actually take to build healthier, more sustainable working relationships.
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Rowan Tree Counseling

Address

1440 W. Taylor Street, Suite 4190
Chicago, IL
60607

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

+17733409577

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