By Matthew O. Stephens
Reporter 

Airway mental health specialists expand into private practice

 

Last updated 1/27/2022 at 1:39pm



AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Michela Dalsing from Airway Heights never thought her passion for helping people through pro-active mental health practices would ever reach a worldwide audience, but her partner Alyssa Johnson said she “has always been the big dreamer,” and knew it would get there with time.

The two 30-year-old business partners started “Villain Esteem” a couple of years ago, and that is the website they created offering various platforms of mental health resources. Since then, they have developed to the point of offering private practice services.

The two women have lived in the Spokane area for around ten years Johnson said, and in Airway Heights for the last five.

The pair said they will offer both “private counseling sessions as well as the private life coaching sessions.”

Johnson clarified the difference between the two and said “life coaching will specifically help people to move forward in life while the counseling and therapy are in place to help people overcome past issues and trauma.”

Speaking on the importance of making these services available, Johnson said they are “opening our hours and availability to seeing clients privately allows people to get the individual attention everyone deserves. We want to have a wide-spread reach, but trauma work and life goals can only be done in the complete depth it requires in a one-on-one session because everyone’s situation is different. This lends to our “meet them where they’re at” philosophy.”

The two women said they wanted to start the business after they had both built significant experience, and the business has grown to the point Villain Esteem is now offering private practice services. The website is also verified by Psychology Today, and Johnson said that can help immediately build trust with clients because of the reputable licensure.

The entrepreneurs also said they took direct action to help support House Bill 1477 when it was in legislation, and that was the bill that created a mental health crisis line of 988 instead of the former ten-digit number for mental health crisis calls.

The company has also been recognized by the National Suicide Prevention Hotline for efforts in raising mental health awareness.

Dalsing is the Chief Executive Officer of the company, and she has been a nationally certified counselor since 2014, and a licensed mental health counselor since 2016. She said she really got interested in psychology when she was 16 years old and pursued a bachelor’s degree from Wartburg College after graduating high school.

She has also earned her master’s in mental health counseling in 2014, and she said her desire to help people has grown with her achievements. Dalsing said she has worked in various treatment settings, and always looks to understand the person as a whole.

Johnson is the Chief Innovative Officer and the Chief Financial Officer for the mental health company, and she is also a Certified Strategic Life Coach and has been working in the profession for four years with 14 years total experience in the field.

She is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in Organizational Mental Health, and said she wants to earn that so she can help companies better understand the needs for mental health practices in the workplace.

The life coach also has 10 years of experience in organizational management, and 14 years in business development and management.

Johnson also has 12 years of marketing experience, and she put that to use in designing the website and developing Villain Esteem. She said she took an edgy approach to the web development because “we are real, and we want to present ourselves that way” with the site and brand.

They said much of their initial success was based on the people they reached through blog posts and pod casts they share on the site. Dalsing records the podcasts her partner said, and then they can get transcribed into text for the blog, so information is available to both readers and listeners. They also offer free literature downloads from the website for people that may need specific resources.

They business partners said they offer a lot of resources to people who may be on a waitlist for mental healthcare, and these people can access the information as needed because of the virtual platform. Accessibility remains easy even through the pandemic. A pandemic that has fueled a rising concern of mental health around the globe.

Dalsing and Johnson said the messages they put out have been reaching and helping people on a global level. The mental health workers plan to expand services even more, and want to develop information courses in the near future.

Johnson said the have two information courses in development, and the first will be on the topic of insurance billing and reimbursement. She said they will record the courses, and then the information will be translated into e-books that they hope to make available with Amazon. YouTube videos will also be part of the platform for sharing the courses, which will be equivalent to a 12-week course Johnson said.

Both of them said they want to continue to grow and share the messages they create because in the end helping people is the goal.

Matthew can be reached at reporter2@cheneyfreepress.com

 

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