Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Palma.
Donna, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I did not set out to build a large business. I began my career in community mental health and public schools while also seeing clients in private practice. Over the past two decades, private practice gradually became the center of my work. I knew I wanted to practice in a way that felt thoughtful, ethical, and sustainable.
Over time, I saw how difficult it could be for people to find high-quality, coordinated mental health care. I also saw how isolating private practice could be for therapists who wanted both professional independence and a sense of community.
Simply Mindful Counseling began as my individual private practice and grew out of a desire to create both: a welcoming place where patients could receive excellent care and a supportive professional community where clinicians could build sustainable careers.
What began as a small practice has grown into a multidisciplinary group practice with a team of more than 70 employees, including over 60 clinicians. We now have locations in Plymouth and Bloomfield Hills and serve patients throughout Michigan through both in-person and virtual care. We provide therapy for children, teens, adults, couples, and families, along with psychological testing and medication management. We also offer affordable childcare during appointments to help reduce one of the barriers that can prevent parents from receiving care.
I never imagined becoming the owner of an organization of this size. I am incredibly proud of what we have built, but I am most proud that we have continued to value relationships, collaboration, and the well-being of both patients and clinicians as we have grown.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Building and leading a growing mental health practice has certainly come with challenges. I was trained as a social worker and therapist, not as a business owner, so I had to learn how to lead an organization while staying grounded in the values that led me to this work in the first place.
As the practice grew, our systems, communication, and leadership also had to grow. Each new stage brought different responsibilities and required us to become more thoughtful and intentional about how we supported our patients, clinicians, and staff.
One of the ongoing challenges in mental health care is creating a model that is both accessible to patients and sustainable for the professionals providing that care. We participate with many insurance plans because we believe therapy should be available to more people, but operating within the broader health care system can be complicated.
Growth has taught me the importance of surrounding myself with talented people, listening carefully, and being willing to adapt. It has also reinforced how important it is to protect the relationships and sense of community that have always been at the heart of Simply Mindful Counseling.
As you know, we’re big fans of Simply Mindful Counseling. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Simply Mindful Counseling is a multidisciplinary outpatient mental health practice. Our clinicians use evidence-based approaches while recognizing that every person brings different strengths, experiences, relationships, and needs into therapy.
Our team works with children, teens, adults, couples, and families. We support people experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, relationship difficulties, parenting challenges, major life transitions, and many other concerns. We also work with neurodivergent children and adults, including people with autism and ADHD.
In addition to psychotherapy, we offer psychological testing and medication management services. Having several types of mental health care available within one practice can make the experience feel more coordinated and manageable for patients and families.
One of our strengths is our ability to support different members of a family while maintaining appropriate ethical and clinical boundaries. A child may have an individual therapist, the parents may work with a couples therapist, and another family member may receive their own support. Because our providers are part of the same organization, care can be coordinated when appropriate without compromising anyone’s privacy.
Our 70-plus-person team includes more than 60 clinicians, along with dedicated billing, credentialing, operations, outreach, and administrative staff. This support helps patients navigate the process of beginning care and allows our clinicians to focus more fully on their clinical work.
I believe excellent patient care and clinician well-being are closely connected. Therapists do their best work when they have support, autonomy, consultation, supervision, and a professional community around them. Creating that kind of environment has always been an important part of our mission.
We are also committed to making mental health care as accessible and transparent as possible. We participate with many major insurance plans, offer sliding-scale options, and provide no-cost or low-cost services through our master’s-level social work interns.
Any big plans?
My focus is on continuing to strengthen what we have built. I want Simply Mindful Counseling to remain a place where patients feel genuinely cared for and where clinicians and staff feel supported, valued, and connected to their work.
We will continue to grow thoughtfully in response to the needs of the communities we serve while protecting the relationships and culture that have always been at the heart of the practice. I am looking forward to continuing that work with the incredible team around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.simplymindfulcounseling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SimplyMindfulCounseling
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplymindfulcounseling/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simply-mindful-counseling
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/simply-mindful-counseling-bloomfield-hills-bloomfield-hills-mi/1762563
