CASE STUDY
Chicago Counseling Center
In just one year, Chicago Counseling Center boosted revenue 57%—from $894K in 2024 to a projected $1.4M in 2025, representing a 96% increase over the average revenue from 2021-2024—using the Midsommer Method’s people-first model, all while increasing clinician pay and prioritizing ethical care, without increasing marketing costs or running any advertisements.
Highlights
Chicago Counseling Center’s Turnaround with the Midsommer Method
In 2024, Chicago Counseling Center (CCC) faced declining client sessions and operational inefficiencies. By partnering with Midsommer.org and implementing the Midsommer Method—a people-first framework rooted in organizational psychology—we transformed our practice while upholding ethical, high-integrity policies and unwavering commitment to quality care.
From 2024 to 2025, revenue surged from $893,561 to a projected $1,400,000—a 57% increase, verified by audited financials. This was all done without running any advertising and focusing on organizational processes. Compared to the average revenue of $713,654 from 2021–2024 ($529,913 in 2021, $617,144 in 2022, $813,997 in 2023, $893,561 in 2024), the 2025 projection reflects a 96% growth. This success came at the expense of increasing pay for each clinician by an average of 5% and enhancing total benefits, ensuring our team felt valued and supported without compromising our care-first ethos.
HIGHLIGHTS
Achieved 57% revenue growth from 2024 ($893,561) to 2025 (projected $1,400,000).
Grew revenue by 96% compared to the 2021–2024 average ($713,654).
Raised clinician pay by an average of 5-10% and improved benefits, prioritizing team well-being.
Maintained ethical, high-integrity policies, ensuring quality care remains paramount.
We've increased our cash reserve by 50+%, achieved 50+% run rate profitability, and dramatically boosted revenue and net income—all without unsustainable marketing/ad spend—through internal reinvestment and community-focused operations.
Highlights & Key Metrics
Disclaimer: With Midsommer.org’s support starting September 1, 2024, we approached these challenges from an organizational psychology perspective, implementing a multitude of changes, including eliminating marketing hours to refocus on therapy. Owners Taylor Newendorp and Spencer R. Potesta made significant personal investments, delaying their own pay by several quarters to ensure clinicians were paid first, always, before any owners. This enabled a 5% average pay raise and a bonus structure tied to session goals, maintaining quality care while expanding client access. We are proud to offer industry-leading pay and benefits, reflecting our commitment to our clinicians’ well-being. Our goal is not continuous change but long-term stability, ensuring policies are carefully integrated for sustainability with the utmost care.
Journey & Success
Background & Challenges
In mid-2024, Chicago Counseling Center (CCC) remained dedicated to providing quality care to a niche client community experiencing severe impairment due to the disorders we treat. However, outdated policies created significant roadblocks that hindered our ability to support our exceptional clinicians and uphold our mission-driven ethos. An ineffective policy allowing clinicians to bill marketing hours for every six client sessions reduced appointments by 20% and inflated payroll costs by 15%, despite our 2023 revenue of $813,997. This policy unintentionally incentivized non-clinical tasks over therapy, limiting clinicians’ benefits and capping total compensation, which restricted our capacity to serve clients. These challenges stemmed from misaligned systems, not any fault or nefarious intent from our outstanding staff, who remained committed to compassionate care.
Fewer Client Sessions: The policy diverted clinicians’ time to non-clinical tasks, reducing our community’s access to care.
Higher Costs: Marketing hours stretched resources thin, increasing financial pressure on the practice.
Organizational Misalignment: Misaligned policies caused the business to suffer rather than thrive, impacting what we could pay, benefits, and overall organizational health, leaving us vulnerable to further market downturns.
Insurance and Clinician Payment Challenges: Our commitment to accepting insurance meant clinicians were paid monthly before the practice, as reimbursements often took a month or more (assuming no clawbacks). Even with rejected claims or clawbacks, we prioritized clinician pay, requiring robust financial reserves.
Financial Stewardship Needs: Providing industry-leading benefits and paid time off demanded diligent financial stewardship to ensure smooth operations, clinician support, and client access to care.
Industry Pressures: The growing demand for teletherapy and competition from profit-focused firms, backed by venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE), made it difficult to stand out. These competitors often prioritized profit over depth, delivering shallow client and clinician experiences.
Net Income Growth
Disclaimer: This chart illustrates the short-term impact of our immediate policy changes under the Midsommer Method, where net income dipped by approximately 27% from 2024 to year-to-date as of July 2025. Note that the 0% baseline does not represent $0 in net income; it simply benchmarks the 2024 net income (retained earnings for owners) as the starting point for measuring relative change. As owners, we invested significant time, effort, and personal funds into overhauls like policy resets, raises, bonuses, and operational enhancements—demonstrating our "skin in the game" commitment to prioritizing clinician pay and stability amid insurance volatility. This temporary challenge reflects the upfront costs of realigning the practice for ethical, people-first growth, without relying on external capital or unsustainable spending. However, it's a positive indicator of long-term sustainability: our projected full-year 2025 net income represents a nearly 50% increase from 2024, showcasing accelerating profitability and consistent promise as the changes take hold. The YTD dip highlights the realities of transition and volatility, but our policies show sustainable progress that dramatically surpasses the temporary investments required, now providing a large increase in % of net income going forward. This proves that good policies make for good business, yielding resilient, ongoing growth for better clinician and client care.
The Midsommer Method
Key Takeaways
Chicago Counseling Center’s transformation offers a clear, data-backed model for therapy and wellness practices navigating operational inefficiencies, leadership drift, or stalled growth. By applying the Midsommer Method, we estimate that we’ve increased revenue by 57% in just one year and achieved 96% growth over the previous four-year average— all while raising clinician pay and preserving ethical, client-centered care.
Through strategic leadership alignment, revised incentive structures, and streamlined clinical operations— notably eliminating outdated marketing-hour policies— we rebuilt clinician engagement and financial sustainability. Our success shows that people-first practices can thrive without compromising values, and that sustainable growth is possible for small to large-sized firms when guided by smart, mission-aligned systems.
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Whether you’re a clinician, practice owner, or someone looking to collaborate in the mental health space, we’d love to connect.
At Midsommer, we’re always exploring new ways to support ethical growth, create sustainable partnerships, and expand access to high-quality care.