Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in mental wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jenny Helms, Owner of SOMA Therapy, located in Wichita, KS, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Soma Therapy is a full-service psychotherapy center that works with adults, children, couples, and families. Our clinicians and psychiatric medication providers have specialized training in many areas that may be helpful to you. These areas include eating disorders, complex trauma, perinatal and women's issues, veteran issues, men's issues, depression, and anxiety. We seek to fill the need for holistic and evidence-based, bottom-up and top-down psychotherapy and psychiatric services in the greater Wichita area.

Our customers (we call them clients) are those seeking to work on managing problematic symptoms and heal any mental health concerns, including but not limited to: anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, personality disorders, relationship issues, etc.

Tell us about yourself

I originally planned to start SOMA Therapy with two other business owners. Toward the final days of signing our agreements, both parties backed out. I decided to move forward because I truly believed in my mission: "helping Wichita thrive beyond trauma" I know that to make a community great (including its prosperity financially, physically, and economically), it was essential that we start from the bottom-up, healing the wounds that keep people stuck. Healing trauma in our area meant for me that we were ultimately making Wichita a better place. That is what continuously drives me to do what I do each day and continue to grow the practice.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment today has been creating an amazing work culture and building SOMA Therapy into Wichita (and I believe the entire state of Kansas) largest mental health practice.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Firing people sooner than later and finding productive employees who embody our culture are some of the harder things. Fortunately, I feel that our team (and myself) have come a long way in both.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Embrace failure and see it as an opportunity. The better you are at pivoting and not letting the little things get you down or become your identity, the more you'll be able, to be honest about the mistakes and areas that need improvement and start working towards fixing those.
  2. Think long-term. It's easy when we are in places of desperation to think short-term. However, try to do your best to play the long-term game in terms of who you hire, ethics, and processes that will work. (Caveat: every now and then, short-term thinking helps too, but this should be few and far between).
  3. Have a good support system or way of self-reflecting on your leadership or areas you may be overlooking. We all struggle with self-reflection and self-confidence from time to time. It's important to have people who can keep it real about what they see in you that isn't working (and built-in times to self-reflect) and people to support you and help you see beyond the trees on the days you struggle.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Building a business has been one of the scariest, growing, and most rewarding things I've ever done. Whether your business fails or succeeds, I believe it is a worthy endeavor because if you embrace the process, you'll learn a lot about yourself and eventually figure out what works for you.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://somawichita.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somawichita/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somawichita/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/soma-therapy-wichita/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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