Brave & Well

Group Practice Coaching for Therapists of Color

Brave & Well is a business coaching company for therapists of color and first-generation practice owners who want to build a profitable group practice. It was founded by Vanessa Flores Newton, LCSW-S, a first-generation Latina who built a $2 million group practice with 17 therapists from scratch, with cash, zero debt, and no roadmap.

"I had no roadmap, no trust fund, just a belief and a vision."

Vanessa is the first in her family to run a business. There was no family money to fall back on and no one at home who had done it before. She built Colors of Austin Counseling anyway. She went from solo to 10 clinicians in 3 years, and today the practice has a clinical team of 17, a leadership team of six, a clinical internship program, and a hybrid clinician model.

She built it on insurance, which is how most communities of color access therapy. About 85% of her practice's revenue comes from insurance, and it still reached seven figures.

Why this matters

Most business coaching for therapists assumes you have savings to burn, family who understands entrepreneurship, and clients who can pay out of pocket. Many therapists of color are building without any of that. They are also often carrying the weight of being "the first" in their families, their programs, or their communities.

Brave & Well coaching is built for that reality:

  • Cash-built growth: how to grow without debt or outside money

  • An insurance-first model: a profitable practice that serves the communities who need you most

  • Money stories: unpacking the scarcity beliefs that come with being a first-generation wealth builder

  • Leadership as a person of color: building a team and culture where clinicians of every identity feel they belong

  • Community over competition: peer spaces with no tolerance for hate, racism, or discrimination

What past clients say

"Starting my group felt very lonely... After a discussion with Vanessa, I gave the group a try and found like-minded people in similar situations who were all willing to lift others as we climbed rather than compete and cut down." — Ashley "Elle" Staats, PhD, LMFT-S, Bellwether Counseling Collective

The Brave Build Method™

Every Brave & Well offer follows The Brave Build Method™, a five-step path covering Foundation, Revenue, Systems, People, and CEO. It's the same path Vanessa used to build her own practice.

Ways to work together

Brave & Well welcomes clinicians of every identity and background who share its values of access and equity.