Meet Kenzie Baques | Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Trauma Therapist, and Private Practice Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kenzie Baques and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kenzie, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
Wholeheartedly, leaning on my support system. This includes my husband, dear friends and family, my own therapist, and trusted professional peers. Without all of them, the decision to start my own practice would have felt far more overwhelming than it inherently was. Doubt and fear can be loud when we are on the verge of a vulnerable decision that involves risk. To navigate this, I found it grounding and necessary to let my support system care for me, offer reassurance and encouragement, and challenge the sometimes natural limited thinking that came up when I was deciding to start my own practice.

There was a lot of space between wanting to open my own practice to actually doing it. Like a lot a lot.. Years. The messy middle was filled with countless phone calls, consultations, therapy appointments, late-night dinners with my husband and many sleepless nights. I truly don’t believe the practice would be where it is today without each meaningful interaction that helped me take the leap, even when I was scared.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Opening my own practice, Embodied Insights Therapy, has been one of my proudest life accomplishments. I offer both in person and telehealth therapy services to clients navigating anxiety, life transitions, and trauma. I feel immense gratitude to say I adore what I do.

The process of getting to this point in my career has been full of depth, pivots, and challenges. My intrigue in human behavior and mental health began with my own lived experiences of witnessing loved ones’ struggles and profound loss growing up. However, I wasn’t quite sure how to channel that into a career path in the beginning. After earning my Bachelor’s in Psychology from Indiana University, I found myself in my first job out of college in tech sales! It was a brief but valuable detour that helped clarify my path and gave me foundational business insight. I went on to pursue a Master’s in Social Work, with a concentration on mental health and addictions. I found myself feeling excited, hopeful, and like I had found a “home” in a career.

After graduating with my masters-in the thick of COVID no less- the earlier jobs I took were intense and like a crash course in clinical care across a large spectrum of populations and presenting issues. Therapists go through a training period, similar to a residency, where they must practice under a licensed supervisor before sitting for the clinical licensure exam and practicing independently. During those 3,360 hours of supervised training in many different forms of community mental health and agency work, the phrase “baptism by fire” was said to me numerous times—and it certainly felt true.

While I was training, I worked across the continuum in levels of care from residential, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient. I had the pleasure of supporting a variety of populations including hospice patients, young adults dealing co-occurring disorders, adolescents with neurodevelopmental struggles, active military duty and first responders, and many survivors of trauma. For a period of time, I was leading intensive outpatient group therapy during the day, and seeing clients from a small practice at night to make ends meet, pay down student loans (still working on those!), and gaining hours for clinical licensure. That season was filled with heaps of documentation, imposter syndrome galore, and beginning my own therapy to mitigate burnout. It was also filled with tremendous self-growth, professionally and personally, and a move across the country from Indiana to Colorado. Passing that clinical licensure exam was the point where I felt my horizons as a therapist expanded immensely.

From there I joined a small local practice and found inspiration in the phenomenal professionals there. It was there I settled into my therapeutic style, voice, and approach. I sharpened skills and gained great experience in fostering long-term therapeutic relationships while I mustered the courage to take the leap into private practice.

Looking back, I am incredibly grateful for all of it. Those years shaped me into the clinician I am today. It was during that time that I became trained in a modality called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy. It is a pillar in my practice and something I use daily with clients to process unresolved trauma- something that exists in so many humans. That time also helped me deconstruct some of the “blank slate” training I internalized in graduate school. I have come to recognize my strengths as a clinician lie far more in my authenticity, atunement, and humanity I bring to the space over any fancy certification or credential.

Now, owning my own practice allows me to support my clients in backing away from quick fixes and simple symptom management. Instead, we focus on disrupting outdated and no-longer-helpful patterns of survival mode, embracing struggle as an inevitable- and normal- part of being human, and repairing relationships with themselves and their histories. I’m proud of the relationships I get to foster with clients and cherish being an anchor they can lean into or away from throughout whatever life brings their way.

Private practice ownership has given me the agency to build a business that reflects my values around a career I truly adore. I am thankful to the younger versions of myself who remained curious, brave, and trusting enough to make my current reality possible. I can’t wait to see where the practice takes me next and hope to keep learning along the way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The decision to move to Colorado in 2020 was an easy one because of all it has to offer! My husband and I love to share it with our loved ones. Visits usually include a gorgeous hike in either Rocky Mountain National Park or Boulder. A favorite for those coming from sea level is Chief’s Mountain. We love going to Wash Park and Cheeseman with our dog, just sitting in the sunshine. Whether it’s for a concert or a hike, Red Rocks is a place that I still can’t believe we live so close to, we love any excuse to take our people there. For restaurants we love Angelo’s Taverna and Sushi Den. We have lived here for about five years now and still feel we haven’t even scratched the surface of this wonderful place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband, Ian. His unwavering encouragement, grounding presence, and steadfast belief in my ability to make this incredibly risky and vulnerable life choice have been paramount throughout the process of starting Embodied Insights. I could not imagine a better life partner to navigate the ups and downs of small business ownership alongside. He always brings me back to myself.

Additionally, I do want to shoutout my clients. It is such a privilege to support and cultivate meaningful relationships with the individuals that trust me to provide their care. I have worked with some clients for years, and for some I was a brief stop on their journey. I do not take lightly how sacred it is to do the work I do. I cherish each and every human that has allowed me into their world as a collaborator, secure attachment figure, listener, and supporter for any amount of time. Therapy is brave work, and I am so grateful to walk with my clients on their paths.

Website: https://www.embodiedinsightstherapy.com/

Other: Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/kenzie-baques-denver-co/1406547

Image Credits
Logo Design: Jessie Holland