If you've ever thought "scaling means selling out" or "growing a team means burning out," Dr. Catherine Hart is about to prove you wrong. She's built a 35-person psychology practice across five sites with a salaried employment model that actually retains clinicians—and she did it by breaking every rule.

In this episode, I'm talking with Dr. Catherine Hart, clinical psychologist, director of Succoris Psychology Group, and 2024 APS Supervisor of the Year. Catherine didn't set out to become an innovator—she started as a psychologist who felt like an outsider, too questioning, too bold. When she experienced how exploitative the contractor model can be, she made a decision: I'm building something different.

You'll hear Catherine's journey from one consulting room in 2019 to building an entire ecosystem—five sites, a training academy, business partnerships, and online courses. We dive into the salaried employment model revolutionizing retention, how to scale without losing your values, building systems that support humans, and what real leadership requires when you stop playing small.

HERE ARE THE KEY INSIGHTS:

1️⃣ The Salaried Model Revolution – Catherine breaks down exactly what her salaried employment model looks like and why it changes everything for clinician wellbeing and retention. You'll hear the real numbers, the pushback she faced, and the ripple effect on practice culture.

2️⃣ Scaling With Integrity – The real story of going from one room to five sites—the failures, pivots, and moments where she almost lost her way. How she uses innovation (AI note-taking, structured systems) to support clinicians, and her philosophy on scaling with purpose versus scaling because you can.

3️⃣ Permission to Want More – Catherine talks about being the kid who always asked "why," feeling like an outsider, and giving herself permission to want more than one-to-one work. She's now building clinical care, training academy, business partnerships, and courses—stepping into leadership and building legacy work.

4️⃣ The Business Education Therapists Never Got – Catherine is transparent about investing in herself, seeking business education (including The Incubator), and surrounding herself with community. Grad school taught clinical skills—not how to build sustainable, ethical businesses.

YOU'LL ALSO HEAR:

• Her catalyst: exploitative contractor models in Australia
• Building team systems: onboarding, supervision, psychological safety
• The Succoris Academy and Clinical Psych Registrar pathway (launching Jan 2026)
• Business partnerships helping therapists build, grow, or exit ethically
• Launching DBT Launchpad and online course creation
• The Dolly Parton philosophy: business as a vessel for social impact
• Honest talk about leadership struggles and advice to her 2019 self

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Catherine Hart:

• Succoris Psychology: https://succoris.com.au/
• Instagram: @succoris_psychology
• DBT Launchpad: https://succoris-psychology-site-ecc8.thinkific.com/courses/DBT-Launchpad

Therapists Rising:

• The Incubator: therapistsrising.com/incubator
• The Collective Waitlist: therapistsrising.com/collective
• Instagram: @dr.hayleykelly

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW:

If this episode showed you what's possible when you give yourself permission to build differently—or inspired you to rethink what scaling could look like in your practice—please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts!