Building a Group Practice Through Grief, Medicaid Cuts, & AI

She picked her college to study with one French horn teacher. Then came nursing, pre-med, two near-misses at medical school, and 10 years in research. Today, Allison Harvey runs a therapy group practice with 11 clinicians and keeps spots open for student therapists.

Allison is the founder and clinical director of Benediction Counseling. She joins Ashley Charbonneau and Morgen Villegas to talk about the winding, very human road to private practice. She opened her practice while five months pregnant. A few weeks after her daughter was born, her mom died. In her words, the practice “was founded with a lot of grief.”

In this episode:

• Growing a group practice naturally instead of chasing numbers
• Why supervising new therapists is her most rewarding work
• Medicaid cuts, insurance pressure and fewer new clients coming in
• Where AI fits (and doesn’t) in an ethical therapy practice
• Making room for clients’ spiritual and religious lives
• Holding on to an abundance mindset when your caseload isn’t full

Guest Bio:

Allison Harvey founded Benediction Counseling in 2014 and serves as its Clinical Director while still seeing clients. She holds a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Northern Colorado and an M.A. in Counseling from Denver Seminary.

Allison is passionate about mentoring and supervising early-career therapists. She believes therapists grow stronger and healthier when they befriend and support each other. She trains therapists to serve clients with knowledge, sensitivity, cultural awareness and strong ethics.

Outside of work, Allison is a wife, an adoptive and biological mom, a daughter, a sister and a friend. She loves long walks, quiet music, good coffee and slowing down with a book of poetry.

Allison’s Website: www.benedictioncounseling.com

Your Hosts:

Ashley Charbonneau, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, evaluator, clinical supervisor, consultant, and educator. She works with people affected by the legal system, with a focus on offender accountability, survivor healing, and restorative justice. She trains professionals across the country on restorative justice, addiction, clinical supervision, sexual offending, therapy boundaries, and mandatory reporting and is the author of The Resilient Therapist (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Supporting Clients of Sexual Trauma (PESI, 2026). Learn more at https://www.ensopllc.com/

Morgen Villegas, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, consultant, EMDRIA Consultant, and author of Shadows to Light. Through her practice, Vida Idílica Therapy & Consulting, she specializes in helping women heal from trauma, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and the lasting effects of overfunctioning and caregiving. Morgen also provides consultation to EMDR therapists seeking greater confidence and nuance in working with complex trauma. You can reach Morgen at https://www.vida-idilica.com