NASE News

Damani Irby is the Practice Owner of Psych Choices of the Delaware Valley in Broomall, Pennsylvania. Psych Choices was originally formed and founded by previous owners in 2001. Damani acquired the business in 2018 after working directly for the previous owners as a contractor for a couple of years. After the acquisition, Damani focused on rebranding and rebuilding the demographic, focusing on holistic care and not medication alone. By trade, he is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 15 years of clinical experience. Happiness by Choice, not by Chance is the slogan where we promote taking ownership of one’s own satisfaction in life. As a self-care driven practice we believe in work-life balance, which motivates our providers to truly focus on patient care instead of simply meeting a numerical quota.

What inspired you to enter the field you are in?

I’m passionate about mental health because it’s literally connected to all our why’s in life. This fact has become even more vital post-pandemic than ever before. Mental health is correlated with relationships with self/others, physical health, perception of happiness etc. Good mental health enhances physical, mental, emotional and social/relational dynamics. Most issues with society from childhood bullying to crime all connect to an individual’s mental health functioning.

When and why did you start your business?

I acquired Psych Choices in 2018, which led to me leaving my full time job and focusing solely on the practice. I decided to take a chance on myself and implement everything in the mental health system I wasn’t seeing while working for other companies in behavioral health. The practice has also provided me with opportunities for a flexible schedule allowing me to do consulting, real estate, and sit as a board member on IBC’s committee. All of which promote enhancement of the community I live in. 

How do you market your business?

Currently, I market my business with a combination of online Search Engine Optimization, social media, personal referral outreach, and community engagement. 

What challenges have you faced in your business? How have you overcome them? 

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in business is the evolution of competition in our local area. During the pandemic several large private equity companies as well as insurance companies acquired several group practices in our area, creating these large capital powerhouses. By doing this it’s created less business diversity in the area, and more difficulty hiring and seeking new patient leads. 

We’ve had to get creative around our marketing and hiring to maintain sustainable margins for our business. What this has meant is increasing our pool of clients we market too as well as increasing our pool of therapists/employees we target. By increasing the pool of options, we’ve improved the likeliness of landing the clientele/personnel that fit our business model.

Do you have any employees? If yes, how many and are they full or part time?

Yes, we have 11 full time employees and 13 part time employees. The plan is to add an additional location and hire more. Currently we’re maxed out at our present location and the numbers are still improving. 

What’s your schedule like, what’s a typical day for you?

Typical day for me includes but isn’t limited to facilitating community referral relationships, social media marketing, allocating funds to cover business expenses, analyzing/projecting business income, monitoring employee productivity, responding to emails, communicating with and supervising my management team, and seeing clients myself as I’m a licensed psychotherapist. 

What’s the best thing about being self-employed?

Primarily, the best thing is the schedule flexibility that allows me to be more present for my wife and children. Secondly, I’m passionate about having a hand in the mental health care provided to the community, which means I’m involved in hiring and training of what I believe the public deserves access to.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received from a client?

The best compliment I received is when I read a message from one my employee therapists, this a direct quote from the message: “I had to let you know that my patient is truly impressed with the ownership and how well run the practice is. She couldn’t stop gushing about the overall treatment she receives from everyone she encounters at Psych Choices. She recognizes that this is due to leadership.”

What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to someone starting their own business? 

Start small, and grow gradually with the market trends. The problem I see with a lot of businesses is they’re grow to slowly or too quickly, both of which are detrimental to business sustainability.

Any other information you would like to share?