Growing Well: What Business and Mental Health Have Taught Me About the Next Chapter

By Rose Degenhardt, MA, RCT, CCC

Registered Counselling Therapist | Founder & Clinical Director, Venture Counselling & Therapy

Inc.

Posted: September 10, 2026

And Just Like That... We're Settling In

What a few weeks it has been.

Not long ago, I was writing about boxes, transitions, uncertainty, and preparing to leave the first office Venture Counselling & Therapy called home.

Now, I'm sitting in our new space at 30 Damascus Road, and slowly but surely, it is starting to

feel like ours.

The boxes are disappearing.

The offices are coming together.

Our clinicians are settling into their new rooms.

Clients are finding their way through our new doors.

The unfamiliar is becoming familiar.

And after months of planning, preparing, growing, moving, and adjusting, we're beginning to find our new normal.

That feels really good.

But as I have learned throughout my life, in therapy, and especially in entrepreneurship, reaching the next level doesn't mean the work stops.

Often, it means a different kind of work begins.

Growth Isn't Just About Getting Bigger

When we talk about growth, we often measure it by what we can see.

A bigger office.

A larger team.

More clients.

More programs.

More opportunities.

Those things are exciting, and I'm incredibly proud of how Venture has grown.

Our new space represents a significant chapter for us. We moved because we needed room for what Venture was becoming. Our website describes our vision as believing in people's capacity to "heal, grow, and overcome adversity,"

and I realize that philosophy applies to our organization

too. But I've learned something important as a business owner:

Growth isn't simply about becoming bigger. Healthy growth is about becoming stronger.

And becoming stronger requires structure.

What Business Has Taught Me About Boundaries

As a therapist, I've spent years talking with clients about boundaries.

We discuss boundaries in relationships, families, workplaces, friendships, and parenting.

Then I became a business owner and discovered an entirely different application of the same

lesson.

Businesses need boundaries too.

As Venture has grown, I've learned how important clear policies, expectations, procedures, roles, and responsibilities are.

In the early days of a small business, it's easy to handle things as they arise.

Someone has a question? We talk about it.

Something unexpected happens? We figure it out.

A new situation arises? We create a solution.

That flexibility can work when you're small.

But growth changes things.

When more people become part of an organization, clarity becomes increasingly important.

People need to know what is expected of them.

Staff need consistency.

Leadership needs accountability.

Clients need reliable standards of care.

And everyone benefits when decisions aren't being made differently depending on the day or

situation.

I've learned that policies aren't about becoming rigid or corporate.

Good policies create safety.

They establish expectations, protect relationships, support fairness, and allow people to

understand the environment they're working within.

In many ways, that's not very different from mental health.

Healthy boundaries don't push people away.

They help us understand how to stay connected safely.

Someone Special Is Joining the Team

This next chapter also includes someone very special to me.

My youngest son, Joseph, has joined Venture for his work term through his business studies at Dalhousie University.

Joseph is studying Commerce, with a particular interest in human resources and organizational management.

I joke that perhaps growing up with a therapist for a mother had something to do with his interest in HR.

He has certainly heard enough conversations over the years about communication, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, relationships, boundaries, and human behaviour!

But seeing him begin to apply his own education and perspective within Venture is incredibly

special for me as both his mother and a business owner.

His work term will include helping us review and strengthen areas such as human resources

policies, procedures, organizational systems, and manuals as we continue growing.

And his timing couldn't be better.

From Mom and Son Trip to Working Together

Just before returning to this new normal, Joseph and I had an incredible mom-and-son trip to

Toronto to celebrate his 20th birthday.

After the chaos of moving an entire clinic and Joseph finishing his summer studies, having those

few days together was exactly what I needed.

We laughed.

We explored.

We made memories.

And then we came home to something completely different.

Routine.

School.

Work.

A new office.

And now, the experience of working together.

There is something very full-circle about it.

My children have watched Venture grow. More than that, they have participated in that growth.

My family has sacrificed weekends, time, and energy for this business. They showed up during our move and helped us physically carry Venture from one chapter into the next.

Entrepreneurship may begin with one person's idea, but very rarely is success built by one person alone.

Now one of my children gets to bring his own developing professional skills into the company he has watched grow.

As a mother, that's pretty special.

Growth Mindset Isn't Just Positive Thinking

We hear the phrase "growth mindset" often, but it can become oversimplified.

A growth mindset doesn't mean telling yourself everything will work out.

It doesn't mean ignoring mistakes.

And it certainly doesn't mean believing growth should always feel comfortable.

A growth mindset is the willingness to ask:

What can I learn from this?

What needs to change?

Where can I improve?

What worked when we were smaller that may no longer work now?

What systems do we need for where we're going rather than where we've been?

That's where I find myself as a business owner right now.

I don't want Venture simply to grow.

I want us to grow well.

The Same Is True in Mental Health

This applies far beyond business.

Personal growth works the same way.

Sometimes the coping strategies that helped us survive one stage of life aren't the strategies we need in the next.

A behaviour may have protected you once but now interfere with your relationships.

A boundary may need to change.

A belief may need to be challenged.

A routine may need to evolve.

Growth requires us to periodically look at our lives and ask:

Does this still work for the person I'm becoming?

That can be uncomfortable.

We become attached to familiar ways of doing things because familiarity feels safe.

But therapy isn't about staying exactly where we are.

It's about developing enough awareness and safety to consider what could be different.

Strong Systems Support Compassionate Care

One of my biggest priorities as Venture grows is ensuring that growth never comes at the

expense of the quality of care we provide.

Our website describes Venture as trauma-informed and person-centred, providing compassionate care to children, youth, adults, and families. It also identifies courage, compassion, integrity, justice, perseverance, wisdom, and hope among the values guiding our work.

Those values aren't meant to simply sit on a website.

They need to show up in how we operate.

That means supporting our clinicians.

Creating clear expectations.

Providing good supervision.

Building strong administrative systems.

Developing thoughtful policies.

Continuing education and training.

Listening when something isn't working.

And being willing to change.

Because when the people providing care feel supported by a healthy organization, they are better positioned to provide the compassionate, ethical, high-quality care our clients deserve.

Settling Into the New Normal

Right now, we're still settling.

There are probably things we'll move three more times before deciding where they belong.

There will be processes we change.

There will be policies we strengthen.

There will be things we try that don't work exactly as planned.

That's okay.

We're learning our new space just as we're learning what this next version of Venture needs from us.

A few weeks ago, growth looked like moving boxes.

Today, growth looks like building systems.

Tomorrow, it will probably look like something entirely different.

And that's the point.

Final Thoughts

There is something beautiful about reaching a goal and realizing it wasn't actually the finish line.

It was simply the doorway to the next chapter.

Our new office is beginning to feel like home.

My Toronto trip filled my cup.

Joseph is beginning a new professional chapter.

Our team is settling in.

And Venture is continuing to evolve.

I'm learning that leadership isn't about having every answer before the question appears.

It's about remaining curious enough to learn, humble enough to change, and courageous enough to keep moving forward.

In therapy and in business, growth asks the same thing of us:

Don't become so attached to who you were that you stop making room for who you are

becoming.

Sign-Off

With courage to grow, wisdom to learn, compassion for the process, and hope for what we're

building next,

Rose Degenhardt, MA, RCT, CCC

Registered Counselling Therapist

Founder & Clinical Director

Venture Counselling & Therapy Inc.

A Reflection for You

What worked beautifully in an earlier season of your life, but may need to change to

support the person you're becoming now?