Episode 03 · 38 min · Feb 17, 2026
Getting Fired, Living in the Woods, and Accidentally Finding His Life's Purpose
with Lee Shadeck, LPC
Lee Shadeck built his career the way most clinicians do — methodically, credentially, and according to a plan. He completed his graduate training, earned his licensure as a professional counselor, and landed what appeared from the outside to be a solid position in a well-regarded clinical setting. He was doing the work he had studied for. He had the title, the clients, and the routine. What he did not have, though he couldn't articulate it at the time, was any real sense that any of it was his.
The day he was let go, Lee sat in his car for a long time afterward. He describes it as a particular kind of disorientation — not just the logistical shock of losing income or professional identity, but something deeper: the sudden exposure of how much of his life had been organized around expectations that were never truly his own. Institutions, mentors, the general cultural script about what a successful therapist was supposed to look like — all of it had been quietly running the show. The job loss stripped away the scaffolding, and what remained underneath was mostly empty space.
Rather than moving immediately into job applications and professional damage control, Lee made an unusual choice. He left. Not symbolically — physically. He spent the better part of a year living off the grid, in a small cabin in the woods, with minimal technology, minimal social obligation, and far more time alone than most mental health professionals would consider wise. He is the first to acknowledge the irony: a counselor, trained to help others process isolation and dysregulation, choosing deliberate solitude as his response to crisis.
What the woods gave him was not answers so much as a recalibrated relationship with questions. Without the constant pressure to perform competence or maintain a professional image, Lee found himself confronting what he actually valued — not as a therapist, but as a person. Presence over productivity. Simplicity over status. The experience of sitting with discomfort without rushing to resolve it, which turned out to be directly applicable to the therapeutic work he would eventually return to.
When he came back to the mental health field, the change was not cosmetic. Lee describes treating his own authenticity as a clinical asset rather than a liability. He became more willing to acknowledge uncertainty with clients, more comfortable sitting in the ambiguity that often defines meaningful therapeutic progress, and more skeptical of frameworks that prioritized technical correctness over genuine human contact. His time off the grid had given him direct experience of what he was asking his clients to do all along: to stay with the difficulty, to resist the urge to perform recovery, and to trust that something real was possible on the other side.
For therapists navigating burnout, career misalignment, or the quiet erosion that comes from chronically giving without replenishing, Lee's story offers a less conventional but unusually honest perspective. His core message is not that everyone needs to disappear into the woods — but that the discomfort you are avoiding might be the most important information you have. Losing the job that he thought defined him turned out to be the beginning of finding out who he actually was.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How a sudden job loss can become a catalyst for profound personal growth
- What living off-grid for a year taught one therapist about values and presence
- Why authenticity matters more than credentials when connecting with clients
- How to recognize when your career path is misaligned with your deeper purpose
- Practical ways therapists can protect their own mental health while serving others
Hello and welcome back to therapist voices at ReachLink. Reachlink is a digital mental health counseling platform. You're probably sick of hearing me say that. I will get a new opening. My name is Jessica and I oversee Reach Link's provider network. Today we are joined by Reach Link provider Lee Shadic. He is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Pennsylvania who I have had the most lovely time getting to know over the past year. Um, my time here at Reach Link, you've probably been here honestly longer than I have, but I was so excited when I knew we were doing this podcast. You were the first person I'm telling you that I thought of just because we've had such authentic, genuine conversations. Probably not at all about what we intended to. Of course, we got to business, but I just feel like I've gotten to know you so well and I thought you would be a perfect guest.
So, welcome. I thought maybe I could ask you a little bit about what got you into this field before I get into the really nosy questions. Oh, that I mean to be you said like going in before we went hit record to be like genuine and honest which I always am. I got into the helping professions no joke by getting fired from a gas station. Tell us everything. So I'm increasing my volume for this. Tell us the entire thing. Moved to the state of Oregon. I was 21 years old. I my I got married uh and my wife my wife at the time and I moved to Oregon from Pennsylvania and lived in the woods for a couple months like young hippies would do like for three or four months. We just lived in the woods and hiked around and we spent all our money and got an apartment. Um and then I got a job at a gas station and I got scammed.
I worked for five days open to close all by myself. showed up on like day six and said, "Hey, I'm ready for my like what's my schedule this week and where's my paycheck?" And they said, "We don't know who you are." I said, "What are you talking about? I worked with you last week and then you let me run this whole thing by myself for like 5 days." And he said, "Get out of here. I'm calling the cops." I'm like, "Go ahead, call the cops." He's like, "I bet your hippie self has weed with you, don't you?" I'm like, I'm I'm like, "Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. You're calling the cops?" And I went over tearing crying. I had no money left in the world. I went to my wife at the time who was folding laundry in a in a a motel and I said, "This is what just happened to me. Oh my gosh, this is just" And she took a a newspaper and whapped me with it and said, "Go and get a job."
Like, "Go and get a job." I'm like, "Oh my goodness." But did was it recognized though that you were just wildly gaslit by Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. Oh, for sure. I got totally scammed out of 5 days worth of labor when we had no like literally less than $100 to our name. It was They could have at least told you, "We're going to mess with you. We're not going to pay you. Don't mess with your head." Oh, it was terrible. So, I took the newspaper and looked at the closest job possible and it was a janitor. I'm like, "Okay." I walked up the hill to Southern Oregon Training and Habilitation and applied to be a janitor. And they said, "Well, yeah, you're hired to be a janitor, but would you rather work with people with disabilities?" I was like, "No, I don't think so. No, I don't think I want to do that."
They're like, "Well, it pays a$125 more an hour." I'm like, "Oh, HELL YEAH. THAT'S WHAT I've always wanted to do with my life. I thought yes, that that is exactly what I want to do with my life. How did you know? That's actually what I was hoping you would say actually. And I've been in the helping professions ever since. Like, stop it. I can't believe I don't know this story. That's phenomenal. Did you just make this? That was a long No, that was 33 years ago. Now I'm 52 years old. So 31 year or 30 31 years. Me and math. Yeah. 30 years ago. So, it was a long time ago. And a so much has happened since then, for sure. You know, that was I started working in group homes and and things like that in Oregon. Then, uh we got pregnant and moved back to Pennsylvania and I finished college to go be a teacher.
Like after like a lot of like ups and downs, I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to go be a teacher. That's what I'm going to do with myself." And then I finished school and I'm like went to go student teach. I'm like, "I don't like this. Oh my gosh, I don't like like classroom management. I don't like being the bad cop very much. I, you know, I don't I'm not I'm not and I'm not that good at it. I'm not that good at teaching to a group of kids necessarily. Um, and so but you have such a career in education though, right? I do. Yeah. I'll let you get back to it. Sorry, I just had to make sure I wasn't making that up. No, I do. I do, but that's more in higher education than like um and so I um didn't pursue my job with both my degree and I started becoming a crisis worker and I was a crisis worker for three or four years and I really loved it.
Um I thought I was Batman and I could save everybody and when the phone rang you never knew it was going to be. It was so exciting to me. Uh, but my wife at the time said, "You're not Batman and you can't work like three, you know, swing shift like this. We're a family. You need to like get back to education or some regular normal job." Um, and so then I was a case worker for people with disabilities for a lot of years until I till that kind of was like, ah, I did that for 10 years, loved it. I have a billion stories about working with people with disabilities. I Oh, it's those are still my people for for certain. Uh still my friends, some still some of my good friends are people who are on my case load 15 years ago. Um and it's nice to to bump into them on occasion. But when that kind of was I saw that I couldn't advance anymore, I went and got my degree in um college counseling.
So I went to Edinburghough University for a couple years and got my degree while I was working um in the field of working with people with disabilities still. And then I got into higher education and I worked uh as a counselor in higher education counselor and adjunct professor sometimes um at Mercyhurst University and then Penn State for uh 14 years. And I just quit there a little bit ago to do this full-time because I kind of felt that I had reached my full potential there and was ready for something different. And so now I'm doing online therapy as my full-time gig. And we are, this is about to sound very corny and maybe cliche, but we are so thrilled that that happened for you because I know in our in our talks over the year, you know, we've we've talked a lot about your career, you know, careers and and what got you where and I know that higher education was such a part of your life and I also know you to be a very passionate person.
So, for you to I mean, if I may be so bold, assuming that I know you so well, for you to to make the move that you know what, this is time. I'm going to to leave this in my past and I'm going to I'm going to be doing this video counseling full-time. It was obviously to my pleasure because we get more of you and I know I could send clients to you and I'm just so happy. Um, what was, if I may be so personal, what was that like, you know, I know maybe you wanted to make that move for a while, but was that at the end of the day making that decision, was it really easy or was it Oh, it was very difficult. Like I thought for a long time that you were going to carry me out of Penn State in a box. like I thought that's what I wanted to do with my whole life, you know, and and I really parts of me still do, but like the changing just narrative, the way things are changing, right, in the in the the country and higher education specifically, you know, they're cutting back.
I was safe, but I was personally safe as long as I wanted to be there. But I saw an opportunity where like I could let other people keep their jobs and I could leave and be probably actually happier in the end. And so far I have been. And I know you actually very much mean that because I'm having a dja vu. You said that exactly to me months ago that Yeah. that that is just very selfless and Penn State's gonna leave you. They're cutting 30 people, you know, I'll be number one because I don't really my heart's not in it anymore. Like it's changed. It's different. And let me let me kind of evolve and grow myself. But it's been a little bit of a like a shake, you know, because before you had that regular routine and structure that makes it, you know, what's expected. And now I'm floating a little bit and sometimes you're like, "Ah, like you could see how that makes people uneasy."
Absolutely. Absolutely. I always I I always like new providers with Reach Link. I know you're not a new provider with Reach Link, but when they are new, I always like to make sure that they know that I know, you know, like that I know this is um you know, there's nothing guaranteed. we're going to send you as many clients as as we can, but it's so I I always want people to know that I get you're not in an easy position and you made this decision that that we're so lucky for. So, um you know, of course, I just want to make sure it's it's what what you need, what clients need, and I know that I can send anyone to you, which is amazing. Um, do you do you feel like I know a lot of what's been going on in the world, whatever, current events, everything has had a bit of impact um on your like previous life.
Has that been a relief or andor are you seeing all of this stuff come up in your in your work now if that makes any sense? It's a yeah like the current like happenings are definitely coming up with some people you know some people are so in their own bubble or or insulated or just dealing with like you know Maslo's hierarchy of needs I can't deal with out here because I'm dealing with in here and which is totally fine but a lot of people like current situations and politics and I think danger and insecurity have brought people to me, you know, to to video to to reach link like looking for like some kind of stability like like some kind of like yo, I feel whatever I feel. Am I crazy? You know, good. Yeah. Yeah. Like and a lot of people right now I think are like you know what's real and what's not?
Like that's that's for the first time ever in my, you know, existence. Like people are like, "What's real and what's not?" You know, and sometimes getting to me, they're like, "Okay, you're a real person. You're you're Are you real? Are are you really real? Are you actually?" Because we can't we can't actually shake your hand or hug you. Are you really in there? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. That's a crazy thought. I mean, not a crazy thought. That's a very valid No, it's it happens. Yeah. Yeah. Have your since you've been in direct counseling, so when you were in higher education, has what you have come to now like in video counseling, would you ever have guessed that that this is how your sessions would be that you'd be signing on to this platform, verifying your your code to get in uh five times, testing your internet, making sure your connection's good, making sure the other person can hear you just to greet them and say, "I'm Lee.
I'm going to be helping you." Would you ever have guessed? You know what? I've been doing this. I I was on, you know, Better Help a long time ago, you know, just doing the Better Help like little tiny thing. Then during COVID, you know, it used to be forever ago on that platform, you would get a little like, you know, because you're not taking new clients on Friday, you would get like uh you because you're not taking new clients, you missed one client or two clients. The highest that number ever was before COVID was like four. Like it was never a big number. And then that first Friday of co the number of clients I missed was a thousand. No way. And it was never less than that all COVID long. 1,000. 1,000 because you're not taking new clients. You missed. And the number was a thousand. And it was for most of COVID it was above a thousand.
Sometimes it would dip down to like 400 and something, you know, but like it that's and that's and that's also just in Pennsylvania. That's I don't mean just Well, actually that's what that's when they better help drop you know you know so like you can see people it was nationw actually that was worldwide. Um and a little that was a little Oh yeah it was a little Yeah. Wow. thousand. And so I did kind of project I really did think like this is where we're headed. And it was nice when like you know Penn State at that point in time shut down and I was seeing people you know like this I was like oh this is actually convenient. This is good. This is I see a guy you know Tuesday morning every other Tuesday morning right like I beat his kids as they're getting out of the car. He's dropping them off, you know, and I'm like, "Have a good day, guys."
And then he closes the door and we he turns off his video and I get back to his living room with him and we we kind of we don't get into it for the first seven or eight minutes, but it's like, "Pleasant trees, how have you been? What's your week been like?" Then he gets in his living room and I'm like, "This is the beauty of this guy." Like, this is it's okay. It's totally fine. Like, this is awesome. This is this is awesome. We can make your life better without detracting from it very much at all. You don't have to like we're not breaking your routine at all. Do you think everyone has this this is a very again I'm sounding very familiar but I feel like this is a very Lee outlook which is a hu which is a compliment by the way. Do you think that all most many providers necessarily saw it that way?
Do you think for everyone it was like, "Oh my gosh, all these opportunities. Now I can help more people. Now I can connect more." Do you think and I'm sure you experience challenge also, of course. But do you think that was significant for for many people? I think I think I think everybody's kind of I think everybody is different. But I think if you get in front of me, I can make it positive. You know, we could put the positive spin on that. And like all the time in session, I will say, you know, if we were in the same room, I would feel this. You I feel the energy coming off you anyway. Even though even though we're this far away, I we're still exchanging energy. You know, if we were in the same room, you do say that. Oh, all the time. I love that. Yeah. I love that. Anyone listening right now, take take that.
Name it after Lee if you want, but take that because that would that would seal the deal for me as a brings us together. It brings us together. If we were in the room right now, I would give you a hug. Oh my goodness. I am that that is such big progress from, you know, like Yeah. Yeah. Or if I was in the room right now, I would feel your sadness. I could feel it from here. Like we're 600 miles away and I could feel it. Oh my goodness, that's so heavy. to say that to someone that really is very meaningful because a you know you mean it. If I were the client, I know you mean it because I would probably feel the same exact way and I would feel like, oh my goodness, he, you know, it it almost I would argue could be stronger feel like I can't really say that, but I'm going to say it stronger than sometimes an in-person I can shake your hand or hug you therapeutic relationship.
It's safer if they like we have distance too. So it's, you know, you can you can open up and be safer. It's it's it's really okay. I have you can be safer if you feel more comfortable. And then you can also at the same time acknowledge, oh my god, you felt that through the screen. Did you see like what I just went through? Did you? And you did. Yeah. Oh, you have you have Irving, you have to do the here and now. I mean, that's where that's where I'm Which one? The gift of therapy. He's right here. Yeah. Oh, he's he's next to my bed or all the time. The gift of therapy. Like that is the book to read, you know, for for young therapists for sure. But anything that I I believe, you know, anything that Yolom did is pretty good. I understand that it's not boom boom boom fact, you know. It's it's it's embellished.
Okay. Like guess what? We embellish doing this, you I don't talk like this necessarily like but I do in therapy, you know. So we we we exaggerate a little bit. So I think um everything Yolum does like is something to learn from. Um yeah, I could not agree more. I keep wanting to reach back and grab the book, but just yesterday I made a harsh motion, pulled in my chair a little too fast, and knocked over this entire situation. So, we don't need to do that live. He's He's back here. It's Mama and the meaning of life, the gift of therapy. We've got We've got all the goods. Yep. Staring at the sun, his most recent one. Uh love life and death. something about him and his wife write a book together as as she's passing away and and it's really kind of a shock to his system. The guy who you know really uh you know was didn't have too much faith in things above he kind of shook him quite a bit.
Yeah. I think that's got to be why everyone everyone most people who are originally forced to read his stuff in school and then realize wait a second I want to read this. That really is what resonates with everyone. I I I think it resonates with a lot of people. I I really do. I tell people, you know, like I don't do it all the time, but you know, like, hey, my name is Leouch from Shadic and my spiel. You read about me coming in. You don't need to hear about me now. You'll get to me, get to learn me as we go, but I want to be in the counseling hall of fame. Like, there is no such thing, but I want to be in the counseling hall of fame. And if you know anything about baseball, which if you don't, that's okay. But to get in the baseball hall of fame, you only have to hit 300. That means like three out of every people or three out of every time you're up, you get a hit.
You know, for me to be in the counseling hall of fame, I want to get through to seven out of 10 people. And I want to get the other let the other three people know, yo, just because I'm not your guy, that doesn't mean that somebody else isn't. You know, I'm going to be a good counselor, but I'm not getting through to everybody. And I want to let you know that right from the jump so that if you're like, "Oh, he's a little bit too eccentric, a little bit too weird, a little bit too out there." Go find somebody boring. I like that you're saying all this eclectic stuff about yourself because before we came on here, I was, you know, I I feel like I know a lot about you already, but I wanted to take a look at your biograph with Reach Link because I was just so curious. You know, sometimes people have these bios.
Whatever I write about myself, chances are people who know me really well are like, "What are you talking about? You're not like, you don't do that. What do you mean?" May I may I quote you for sure? Eclectic, person- centered counselor who prides myself on the ability to quickly form a therapeutic alliance and maintain positive relationships with my clients to enact the changes they wish to see, get through rough patches, reach goals, or just be happy. And I love that. Happy. I don't need anyone to tell me to be happy because like that's a lot to tell someone. Happyish. Happyish. That's the goal. Like we're not it's life, man. You're not going to be happy all the time. That's for sure. And if you are, give me some like but like and I don't know if I want to be friends with you if you're that's something's not authentic.
You're probably not grounded in reality then. But like happy, you know, happyish. I was we were I was rolling with my nieces the other day, the little little little girls, and you know, she went from being sad one second to like a couple minutes later being happy. And her little sister's like, "Why did you do that?" I'm like, "That's normal. It's that's okay to be sad." And like, "What am I sad about?" And maybe nothing. Maybe just And then a little bit later, like, "Oh, my dog just made me happy." Like, "Oh, look at that." Like, that is the beauty. Totally. The beauty and confusion of children. Yeah. Wait a second. How are you all these things at once? Oh, maybe maybe I could be all these things at once, too. Yeah. Yeah, that's we we are, you know, we we were we're you know, when you're doing this, I told you after this I'm going to go do some hospice work uh next door with one of my neighbors and you know, talking to him, talking to my dad, talking to older people.
We're the same people we were when we were little kids. We're the same people we were we were little kids. like and I think understanding that like is very important. That's a hard thing to hear and digest and you're completely right. Words of wisdom from Lee. They're coming in strong today. Yeah, that's so that I think my bio I think I I wrote that a long time ago, but I think it's true. I think it's like kind of what I aim for. Um, yeah, that's that's you. That's just what made me smile when I read it. That that painted a picture of you. And I think that, you know, it's it's hard for clients to call this number often. Like with Reach Link, we work with a lot of EAPs, a lot of um insurers. People don't always know where they're calling. Like I know my insurance is this or my EAP is this. your reach link.
Who are you? Why are you asking me anything about about myself? You're supposed to match me with a therapist and you know this amazing care coordination team that we've got, they do I don't know how they do this incredible job matching clients to therapists. And that's something that we've gotten a wild amount of feedback about that I don't know. I'm just not privy to, I guess, how these matches are made so well. But I really think it's it's a lot of clients being really open. You know, they're considering video counseling. It's that's different anyway. Maybe it's not different. Maybe they've never done counseling at all, but they're trusting this this platform they don't necessarily know about to match them with someone named Lee who has a wonderful bio. they've read a couple other bios and they're making this choice to show up on this video session and say like, "Hey, I'm here."
And that is a big really big deal for a lot of people, for most people. And I can imagine that you being the person across the screen is a very warm feeling to that person that may have been considering cancelling all morning or considering just not showing up or considering saying I'm not ready because I've done that a million times. Um, and I think that that being greeted by you across the screen and hearing you speak and hearing you be warm and yourself is probably what gets your clients to come back. I mean, in addition to the work that you then do together. Yeah. And I think this platform honestly is perfect because I can tell people, hey, let me make like my job is to make you comfortable. I do that. I don't tell them that, but like I get them comfortable from the get-go. Yeah. Let me learn about you.
Like I'm so privileged and honored to do that, you know, to to hear people's stories is the biggest privilege that we can have, I think. like and so to honor that whether I say it or just or just emote it, you know, e either way. Uh but make people comfortable and then let them know like like listen, this isn't about like give me money, give me money, give me money. It's about like when do you need me? It's about like let's set this up when it's good for you. It doesn't have to break the bank, you know? And so and some people are every week, but like for Lee, that's not like that's not how therapy probably should be. I'm not Sigman Freud. I don't need all your money. like I need I need a lot of people on my case load and let's piece it together. It it works out really well. And that's though as the platform that's that's what we want to hear and we know that to be true.
You are probably the epitome of authenticity I would say. Um and I can't remember back to our very first conversation but I know that I knew it then too and I knew all right we need to get this guy the referrals. We're we're not losing him. I mean, I want every I want every platform, every client to have access to a great provider, but selfishly, I I want our clients to see you. Good. I And I I want to see clients. It's a It is a lot of fun. It It's a lot of fun. like the challenge to like figure out how to best help people help themselves, you know, make them comfortable and like and just make their existence a little bit better. One thing actually I noticed right when we started this conversation and you mentioned that you were working with people with disabilities and that you know per per that story was very much not what you sought out necessarily.
But one of the first things I noticed in your profile, literally one of the first things is working with people with disabilities. So that has that has remained true. Yeah, it's I I I'm not doing it like so formally anymore. You know, I'm not getting paid for it, but it's it's what I like to do. And you know, I like really like doing counseling with people who have like some limitations, you know, to really help them flourish as much as possible for them, you know, and kind of and we all have to kind of come to grips with that as we age, you know. I I've seeing people who have like acquired disabilities, you know, not from birth, but you know, like from an accident or from cancer and like, whoa, I am, you know, I'm 40 years old, but I'm like physically more like 70, you know, and coming to coming to grips with that is really difficult.
Yeah, that is the heavy stuff. That is I think I think once a certain age hits that is all you're thinking about. Um, and and having someone to process that with that can say like, "Yeah, that's heavy. That's that's a lot. I don't want to be told that it's okay." I mean, I know it's okay, but that you can want you to be there with me. Yeah. I'm limited and my world is getting smaller. It really is getting smaller cuz I have to I'm concentrating on the daytoday things and not falling down, you know, and taking my medicine and getting dressed and and my world is a lot smaller now that you know I have these limitations. Since you've been on another platform or at least maybe a couple with that experience, h is there anything that you would tell therapists that are thinking, "Oh, video counseling might be for me or I want to make video counseling more of of my my practice, my clientele."
What would you tell them to look for in a platform? What are some things that you felt like and I don't mean you know like reach link gives us this and this I mean just in general what are some things that you that have been important for you that you think I mean why I love reach link specifically you know I have done practice on a lot four or five other platforms you know in the last six or seven years but the ease the ease of use is really the the the you know the the technology you know is advanced and seems advanced but also functions as well you know with and and I've been with reach like I don't I'm so bad with time I think it's been close to two years I think maybe even a little bit more I don't know but like you know the technology is being built steadily and like I don't know for depends how long you've been on the platform I guess but it's not super duper fast.
It seems like it's being released when it's supposed to be being released. There's not that many bugs there. You know, there are some bugs on occasion, but like compared to other platforms and other technology, there's a lot less bugs and the ease of use is way better than almost any other platform that I've seen. Like the the scheduling options and um it's just easier to use than other platforms. So, ease of use and scheduling, those are really good. And and you know, and of course the AI notes is like makes you fat and lazy. It makes you fat and lazy. Like I I read them, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, okay, that's accurate, but that's written so much better than I can write the English language that I'm like, okay, that's awesome." When I came here, I was still very on the fence about about AI, especially in mental health, the entire thing.
And then when I was able to use our our AI on like a phone call or conversation, I thought, "Oh man, that that's it. That sounded way better than anything I would have written." But like, wait a second. I did say that stuff not as eloquently as the as this summary says I did, but I did do that. But those are the things I said. Those are the techniques that I used. Like I didn't know I did use like it's almost like that that validation of that whole like imposttor syndrome stuff, you know, like wait a I did I did do that. Yeah, I did. So notes I know that's a big thing on platforms. Ease of use. And I really am bringing this up because I'm really grateful to other platforms because I think that I think there's really room for all of us and I've learned I know we've learned from a lot of research from other platforms and vice versa.
Um so I I just really think there's enough to like for everyone to learn and go enough when it's done well like enough if it's done well. There's some stuff that I mean I've been on other platforms where I'm like, "Yo, this is a little bit dangerous." Like, you get your guys' bases aren't covered. You know, you're there's too many holes. I can tell you're writing code as I talk, you know, like like I'm not even joking. I'm not like it's bad. So, that's something that people can really I think at the beginning some of the smaller pro providers aren't ready to go and but they're trying to go anyway. Um and and so yeah, and some of the bigger providers aren't, you know, they they're pocketing more money for themselves, you know, like so it's finding that which why I like reach like it's a good, you know, a good medium for me.
Like it really is. So ease of use, the technology just I'm thinking about providers that are maybe nervous about and again not necessarily reach link any any platforms thinking oh gosh do I do it you know could I a lot of people saying should I make this my full my full thing it you know should I take that plunge those are really good things I think for people to think of that they don't necessarily think of before until they've gotten onboarded and they're starting to see clients that they might think, "Oh, I should have asked this." And I I I mean, if if you are thinking like if somebody is thinking about it, I would say do your homework. I And I would say like be prepared for it to start slow. It really does start slow. So, you might want I gave myself cushion, you know, I gave couple months notice at at Penn State and really did start slow and kind of stockpiled a little nest egg.
So, and then the trickle starts, you know, so it can be a little bit unnerving. Um, and like you know, you have to be competent. Like there's a lot of us out there. There's a lot of people who need counseling. Yes, there are a lot of people who need counseling, but there's a lot of us out there practicing. So, you have to, you know, practice. You have to get your chops. And you don't do that sitting at your desk, you know. You you get your pops by getting out there and having life experiences like, you know, outside of this electric box, outside of the the room, like going out and doing you whatever that is. What whatever that is, interacting with your neighbors, helping where you Yeah. Yeah. doing hospice work, you know, going for hikes, taking care of your dog, just living your life, whatever that is, go into it well. and then bring that into this room and you'll be successful and we'll all see it on this end, we'll know.
Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, you have to be you have to be genuine and you have to be good at the craft otherwise Yeah. There's nothing else if I could ask for nothing else than a genuine authentic provider. I know you've got the education and training. what you present, what you you present is is exactly what what people want to see when they're connecting you with their clients. Do you think that now looking back after this conversation that I know I've brought all over the place, looking back at that jerk that gas lit you and held money back from you, do you in any way thank him a tiny? I I thank the universe, you know, and I don't thank that jerk who got me over our money. How about the next job? Let's maybe you think maybe I thank him for saying what about people with disabilities. Yeah.
Well, yeah. Those two people who are like, "Hey, like you can be a janitor. You're hired to be a janitor." But you seem to have a little bit you have some education behind you and you seem to have personality. They're like, "No, I I just want to clean toilets. Thank you, but it pays a$125 more an hour." I'm like, "Oh, that's my life calling it for sure." That's what I wanted to do. Yep. And you are though. You are that person. I'm thankful to whoever that person was back then. Wayne and Jackie. Wayne and Jackie were those two people's names who I walked into the interview uh who who like gave me an interview. If they are listening, yeah, we love you. Thank you for giving us Lee. Thank you for not letting him be the janitor and giving him Lee. Thank you so so much. I feel like there's got to be a part two because I have so many other things to ask you. Um, thank you for being here. We will talk soon because I want to send you all the clients. If you are interested in seeing Lee, any of our providers, please, please reach out. Reachlink.com. Lee Shadic, Pennsylvania, amazing therapist. Please reach out to us and follow along. Thank you so much, Lee. Talk to you soon. Thanks, Jess. Awesome.
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