Laura Goldstein and I met during pre-orientation week at Franklin & Marshall College, both of us drawn to community service before we could possibly know what that meant for our careers or futures. We lost touch for over a decade, reconnected through the magic of millennial social media lurking, and have ended up doing meaningful work together. She's attended our public retreats, brought me in to facilitate a day-long retreat with her team, and has become someone whose perspective I trust. Which is why I invited her to join me on ChatGMB!

Laura is a licensed marriage and family therapist, founder of Montgomery County Counseling Center, and creator of TheraCourses. She's been doing this work for 14+ years, and she runs her practice in a refreshing way that is untraditional in the mental health world. This conversation is full of wisdom for any leader who is also a helper, a business owner, or someone trying to figure out how to build a culture that reflects their values and the world they want to live in. In the episode, we explored:

• How Laura went from pre-med to therapist to practice owner, and what she would have told her college self
• Why she chose to grow slowly and intentionally, and what she thinks leaders get wrong when they hit the gas too fast
• What it's actually like to run a mental health practice with a people-over-profit model, including a recent big shift from commission-based pay to salary
• The irony of mental health organizations being some of the most toxic workplaces that exist, and how she's trying to do it differently
• The line between being a therapist and being a boss, and what happens when therapy language shows up in a management conversation
• Why compassion and accountability are not opposites, and how DBT's core dialectic maps directly onto the leadership work I do
• What it means that "you can't read the label from inside the jar," and why even the most skilled helpers need support from the outside
• Laura's number one piece of advice for modern leaders

Connect With & Learn More About Laura

• Montgomery County Counseling Center
• TheraCourses
• LinkedIn

Interested in Going Deeper w/ Reloveution?

• Our Newsletter
• One Day Leadership Intensive: The Feedback Lab
• Workshop Series: Emotional Integrity at Work: Building a Culture of Accountability & Psychological Safety

ChatGMB: Wisdom & Insights for Modern Leaders is produced for leaders, managers, and changemakers seeking insight, tools, perspective, and real talk on topics such as human-centered leadership, team culture, conflict transformation, burnout prevention, and more. There is no fancy editing or over-polished scripting. Tune in to hear me in all my imperfection, talking for as long as it feels "right" on the topics that light me up or set me on fire.

If you like what you hear and want more wisdom and insights for your journey, sign up for our weekly-ish newsletter!!

Have a question you'd like us to answer in a future episode? Submit questions (anonymous welcome) HERE.

ChatGMB is a production of Reloveution, a consulting and professional development services provider that leverages the magic of humanity to strengthen teams, deepen leadership impact, and catalyze professional well-being. From facilitating team retreats to leading leadership development programs to robust advisory services, we help you build the emotional and cultural conditions for human thriving AND exemplary business outcomes. Learn more at www.truereloveution.com

You might also be interested in our focused conflict transformation practice RepairWorks. When tension rises, communication breaks down, or trust is broken, RepairWorks provides mediation, facilitated dialogue, advisory services, and training to help individuals, workplaces, teams, and established communities move through and transform conflict with clarity, accountability, and humanity. Learn more at www.conflictrepairworks.com

About the Show

GMB stands for “the Great Marissa Badgley” — a nickname my husband lovingly uses to remind me that I am great, good, competent, courageous, and enough. The name is also a playful nod to ChatGPT, which so many of us rely on for answers (maybe more than we should). Think of this as the human alternative: honest real talk, wisdom sharing, and actionable strategies on the specific leadership and culture topics that surface again and again in my consulting, coaching, and facilitation work.