KIM MICHAEL: FROM CORPORATE LEADERSHIP TO PURPOSE-DRIVEN PSYCHOTHERAPY | EP 205
Would you consider running two different careers in parallel in your life and routine? That’s what Kim does!
Over the last three years, she has been working in corporate Monday through Friday and sees clients as a psychotherapist in the evenings and weekends. While it may seem like a lot, Kim explains that these two roles fulfill her equally and provide her with purpose and fuel her passion in tandem.
Join our conversation today and hear more about how Kim pivoted to therapy later in her career and ended up running her private practice alongside her corporate job. She shares her tips, advice, and gives guidance on how to keep moving forward even when you aren’t sure what the next step will be.
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MEET KIM
Kim Michael is a Registered Psychotherapist and Licensed Clinical Hypnotherapist, as well as the founder of Thrive Through Therapy, a virtual psychotherapy practice serving adults and couples across Ontario. With a compassionate, trauma-informed approach, she helps clients navigate relationship challenges, anxiety, trauma, life transitions, and the pressures of demanding personal and professional lives. Kim integrates evidence-based approaches such as CBT, DBT-informed skills, mindfulness, parts work, solution-focused therapy, and Gottman Method principles to help clients create meaningful and lasting change. Alongside building her private practice, Kim brings extensive corporate leadership experience, giving her a unique understanding of workplace stress, burnout, high-performance environments, and the courage required to pursue a more purpose-driven life. Through Thrive Through Therapy, she is committed to creating a warm and inclusive space where clients feel truly seen, strengthen their relationships, and move from simply surviving to genuinely thriving.
Learn more about Kim on her practice website, Psychology Today, and Instagram profiles.
In This Episode
- Why Kim became a therapist
- Balancing corporate work and private practice
- Marketing the practice
- Overcoming struggles in private practice
- Kim’s advice to listeners
Why Kim became a therapist
‘I’m a late bloomer … I’d always been in the corporate world, but I graduated [as a psychotherapist] in 2022!’ – Kim Michael
Kim didn’t plan to be a therapist: her career pivoted from corporate to therapy, although she works in both! As a child, she was always curious about other people’s experiences and emotions. It was naturally interesting for her to connect with people and talk with them about their lives.
Before becoming a therapist, Kim explored therapy, reiki, and even clinical hypnotherapy, but she wanted to go a step further and integrate it all into her approach to life.
‘More comprehensive, more clinically structured: it was a way to bring my interests as well as offer something more reliably to others, more responsibly … So my corporate leadership started to play a role: I was always supporting employees, and when you’re in the corporate and business world being a manager and a leader … Day in and day out, you’re doing some kind of therapy in some sort of way!’ – Kim Michael
Kim has had experience navigating stress, pressure, and conflict with her staff when she was in corporate, and these skills carried over into therapy, especially when she reached a professional crossroads and decided to pivot into becoming a psychotherapist.
‘I began my training, and I never looked back! … I think psychotherapy gave me that foundation where I was able to incorporate all my personal interests and my learning so far, my experiences, and it almost felt like that missing piece which I looked for.’’ – Kim Michael
Balancing corporate work and private practice
In 2023, Kim started as a solo practitioner after graduating from Yorkville University in 2022 – but at the moment, Kim has a foot in both worlds: corporate and private practice.
She works a standard nine-to-five during the week and dedicates portions of her evenings or weekends to seeing clients in her growing Canadian private practice.
‘I’ve been very intentional with my time, although I’m not going to pretend that balance comes easy: I’ve had to be MIA in a lot of situations, family events and all of that … I know that practicing both, making decisions, and holding space for both is going to be a task, but I was ready for it.’ – Kim Michael
Initially, it was more challenging, but Kim has gotten into the habit of working on what is realistic for her and her schedule.
‘It feels good to me, and it doesn’t feel like I have to do a shift for one or the other. Somehow, I think both of these different roles … make me a better person overall, and if I miss one or the other, I think I’m probably not going to be myself!’ – Kim Michael
Kim has given herself the space to understand what she wants to do, and it is working out for her organically. For now, and for the foreseeable future, Kim is happy working as both a therapist and a woman in corporate.
Marketing the practice
At first, Kim started with the basics: launching a private practice website and opening a Psychology Today listing.
However, what she has noticed working better now is word-of-mouth marketing. She’s dialing down on great copy on her website, because she knows that clients want to recognize themselves in your content.
‘For me, it was understanding what really talks to the people and who are my clients … So I do a lot of trauma work and couples relationships, and I had to streamline and say, “I’ve got to tweak my website to talk to this [specific] population versus the entirety of the population,” because I wasn’t doing any service to myself. That was important to me.’ – Kim Michael
Additionally, Kim has stopped comparing herself to the larger, more-established private practices out there. She trains her mindset to be proactive and focus on what she does uniquely, which also supports better word-of-mouth referrals.
Overcoming struggles in private practice
For Kim, the main struggle has been finding a balance between her corporate job and her work as a therapist.
She’s committed to finding a way to do both, because they are both important to her, but it remains something that she has to find a balance between.
‘There are only so many hours in a day, and both roles require me to be present.’ – Kim Michael
Another challenge Kim faces is the fluctuation of busyness throughout the year. Some weeks and months are busy, others are quieter, and it can be a struggle to keep the practice steady amidst the uncertainty.
‘I’m learning to see these struggles as part of the process rather than proof that something is going wrong! … But I think having patience, self-compassion, flexibility, and willingness to embrace what is really coming my way definitely helps me.’ – Kim Michael
Kim’s advice to listeners
You don’t have to feel completely ready, because readiness often comes with experience. Your confidence will grow with time. And don’t compare your practice to anybody else’s! If you are purpose-driven, it will fall into the right place.
Connect With Me
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links:
Maria Tsoukalas: From Forensic Assessments to Nomadic Therapy | EP 204
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Learn more about Kim on her practice website, Psychology Today, and Instagram profiles
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About Jules Smith
Jules Smith, MEd, RCT, CCC is a registered Counselling Therapist who owns a group private practice in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They are also the owner of Fearless Practice Consulting and hosts the Fearless Practice podcast. Through the Fearless Practice podcast, they provide invaluable insights and practical advice on starting and growing a successful Canadian private practice.
Jules also has written articles for the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy association. You can learn more at www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/.
