Anchoring Hope Counseling of Wise and Abingdon, VA Competes on The Blox Online Series

Aug 23

In February, I (Stephanie) had the opportunity to compete for a week on a show called The Blox. If you want to know how this applies to you as a client, skip to “Counseling For You”. The show is hosted by Wes Bergmann (The Real World, The Challenge, & House of Villains) is for entrepreneurs and basically makes business concepts fun by gamifying and filming the experience as a competition. Let me tell you, it was the most exhausting yet beneficial experience I’ve had in my professional life. Anchoring Hope Counseling and southwest Virginia was represented in Season 13 of the show and, in my humble opinion, did fairly well for a lady from a small town! You ate breakfast at 8am and laid down at 10pm (if you weren’t up til 3am tweaking your website because of the stuff you learned that day). I competed. I made connections and friends, and I left feeling not so alone on the entrepreneurial journey.

The competition setup was extremely fast-paced. You learned as a large group of about 100 people for two hours each morning on that day’s topic. After lunch, we were given a challenge for that day’s topic and typically had about 15 minutes to prepare. We were split into “pods” of about 10 people and each pod had a judge. Much of the time in the afternoon was doing your pitch, listening to others, and speaking with the judges. After dinner, there was… The Blox Off. Each judge scored us on a rubric we could not see and chose their winner for the day. Then, the top 9 or 10 people competed in the Blox Off that night. Points were kept the whole week and the winners were announced the final evening! Let me tell you, there are some awesome people out there. Some I saw on the stage, and others weren’t on the stage at all, but every single person who attending this thins is a winner to me. Just like the bravery it takes to do counseling, there are some brave people to take the leap we did… mainly because it could’ve been a huge human trafficking ring and we literally signed up for it. Okay, for real though- I’m proud of everyone and so thankful I got to meet some amazing people.

Counseling For You

How the experience translates for you… my favorite class at the show was Customer Success. Basically, its about retention (I will never forget that dang word) for most companies, but for Anchoring Hope, our goal isn’t to retain our clients forever. We want you to thrive and move forward on your own after we help you as much as you need and then send you to step into your next chapter with confidence. To increase our client experience, we started developing partnerships with local companies that offer complimentary services that pair nicely with therapy and self-care. Need a massage? Here’s a discount card. Need a gym? We got you covered!

But we ran into another problem. How could we give our clients better access to us without burning ourselves out in the process? The answer: an app. We developed an app with helpful coping skills conveniently located in one place just for you AND all of our clients get access for FREE! We want you to feel supported any day/any time and know that you are not a number. You are a human with amazing capabilities, so we hope to match your energy. If you can take the incredibly brave step to do counseling and take a risk on us as your provider, then we can take steps to ensure your success not just with your individual counselor but with our company as a whole. We want you to have a great relationship with your therapist, but we also want you to know AHC has your back… and your cousin’s back… and your mom’s back… and, well, you get the point.

Next Steps

As a result of the experience, I will be attending their “grad school” program because while you cover 5 classes at The Blox, there are actually 17 classes in total! I’ve already started on the content and am implementing what is covered, and let me tell you, if you completed our online new client form before, I’m so sorry. I really am. The new client form is now SIMPLIFIED and just as powerful as it was before. You can also take our “Do I Need Counseling” quiz to find out about options available even without becoming a client! I will be learning even more on my trip to Kansas City in September, so keep an eye on how we evolve moving forward.

Also, if you want to watch the show, they’ll drop it on “The Blox” app Sept. 1st- look for the astronaut! AND follow us on Facebook and Instagram for behind-the-scenes footage and discussions about the experience! OR join us for our watch party on September 8th at 4pm at AHC in Wise!