209 - Head/Heart Management Team - Practicing Compassionate and Collective Accountability in the Workplace
“It has been reparative for me to be held accountable in the way that we are at Head/Heart because it's done with honesty and directness and trust and compassion and actual support.” - Joanna Taubeneck
Y’all know I’ve relinquished the ownership reigns of Head/Heart Therapy to the brilliant Rayell Grayson LCPC, CADC. If not, I urge you to check out our fantastic conversation. Now, it’s time to welcome the rest of Head/Heart’s leadership team: Anna Goldberger, LCSW, Clinical Manager; Benji Marton, LCSW, Director of Operations; and Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT, Clinical Director. These folks are so special to me. They're part of why I’m confident that Head/Heart will thrive long after I’m gone.
OK, so why should YOU care about a change in management at a small mental health practice on the north side of Chicago? You don’t have to. But eavesdropping on a group chat is an excellent introduction to anti-capitalist, liberation-focused strategies for professional development in any role or industry. We just happen to be a bunch of therapists. The Head/Heart team has been there, done that, and is still committed to doing the work. Active anti-racism? Compassionate accountability? Meaningful self-care? Tick! Tick! Tick!
I’m not gonna lie. These reparative practices require serious introspection! But growth doesn’t happen in comfort, and yet, the societal powers currently in place have conditioned me to believe that conflict is a shameful thing, a sign of disrespect, and ultimately dangerous. For people who aren’t CIS or white like me, the messages surrounding conflict come packaged in more menacing forms. No wonder there’s so much avoidance and dysregulation in the world!
I created Head/Heart as a space where team members could challenge deeply embedded capitalistic perspectives about conflict, self-care, and equity without recrimination. But how did Head/Heart get here, and how does the organization move into its next iteration when each leadership team member comes to this work from a different starting point? Anna, Joanna, and Benji were unanimous in their assessment: vulnerability makes this practice better––and more challenging.
The mandate here has always been to show up, to be your incredible, complex self, and let the collective hold you secure and accountable. Joanna summarizes best what I’ve always envisioned for Head/Heart Therapy. “I have never been in a workplace where I've felt the safety of feeling like I could just be human.”
As legacies go, that’s not a bad one to leave behind.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
CWH182 – Rayell Grayson – Holding Space For Emotional Evolution with Head/Heart Therapy
CWH151 – Shawna Murray-Browne – Anti-oppressive and Liberation-focused
CW019 – Sarah Suzuki – You’re Not a Damaged Product
GUEST CONTACT INFO & BIO
Anna Goldberger, LCSW (she/her), is a licensed clinical social worker and Clinical Manager at Head/Heart Therapy. Before becoming a social worker, she worked as a community organizer. Because of this experience, she recognizes the need for emotional, spiritual, and psychological healing among communities and individuals fighting for justice. She brings this recognition and a joy for holding compassionate healing space for all who need it into her therapeutic relationships.
Benji Marton, LCSW (he/him), is a licensed clinical social worker and Director of Operations at Head/Heart Therapy. Benji believes therapy supports the telling of your story from a non-judgmental and curious lens. You, and only you, are the expert in your story. He sees therapy as a journey in which therapist and client experience together through a non-hierarchical relationship that focuses on empowerment. Benji is the guide, but ultimately, the journey is yours.
Joanna Taubeneck, LCPC, R-DMT, GL-CMA, E-RYT (she/her) is a licensed clinical professional counselor, registered dance/movement therapist, certified movement analyst, and experienced registered yoga teacher. She’s also the Clinical Director at Head/Heart Therapy. As a former dancer, Joanna is passionate about movement and acknowledges that the body holds deep, intuitive wisdom and also the imprints of our many life experiences. The body remembers, on a physiological level—oftentimes much more fully than does the brain—moments of calm and also moments of trauma.
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www.headheartbiztherapy.com/podcast
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