Imagine Therapy, a primarily trauma and addiction-based mental health clinic in Goodyear, is bringing something to the West Valley that is needed now more than ever — accessible mental health treatment.
Owner Patricia Plum saw a void in the market and decided to do something about it.
“Our mission is really to create a safe place for people to heal,” Plum said. “We want to give the average person the opportunity to address their mental health. … I just saw a need for people on state insurance, on just basic insurance, to be able to get good care.”
Quality of care is of the utmost importance for Plum. Currently with 18 members on staff, each of Imagine Therapy’s therapists are qualified.
“All of our staff, outside of two, have master’s degrees, and those other two have bachelor’s degrees,” the Buckeye resident said. “And if they’re working with clients in an individual setting, either in therapy and group, as case managers, then they’re all licensed and/or master’s-level clinicians. So, we don’t hire anybody with like a bachelor’s or high school diploma to do our case management or any of that. Just making sure our staff is qualified.”
Imagine Therapy, which opened in 2018, is currently serving about 260 clients between the services of individual therapy, group therapy, case management, parenting, anger management and grief. The clinic recently added a women’s-only intensive outpatient program (IOP).
Plum said her clinic doesn’t limit itself in cases it takes on, however.
“I don’t necessarily have a target for Imagine,” she said. “Imagine sees anyone that has any trauma or addiction. With addiction, we’re looking at a lot more substance abuse, but we’re open to helping people with any, so sex addiction, food addiction, shopping addiction, like seeing it as a whole. But we do a lot of childhood trauma work. So how our childhood kind of impacts the way we interact in the world today as a grown adult.”
A new mission for Plum and Imagine Therapy has been reaching the women inside of the Arizona Department of Corrections Perryville.
“Discharging from incarceration, trying to help previously justice-involved women that have tried to go to other treatment programs and have not been successful,” Plum said. “So, if people have gone into either residential treatment or trying something else, and it just isn’t working, we’d like to see those people come to our program.”
When she was 17 years old, Plum was once incarcerated at Perryville. She has worked hard to get herself to where she is today and wants to help other women achieve the same.
Plum volunteers once a week at the prison to speak with the women to share her story.
“Once you have a felony, you are judged,” she said. “People are going to look at you and be like, ‘No thanks,’ because they don’t know you, so it takes a little bit of extra work on your part. I’m a licensed clinical social worker, I’m licensed with a board in Arizona, and everything I’ve done has been extra.
“I’ve had to do extra hoops and extra things, extra papers to be able to get it done. But you just can’t give up. You just have to keep progressing forward. Because if you give up, then there’s nothing, and just like really encouraging people with that message. Especially in our IOP program, because these women have tried and tried and tried again. And so, I’m just really kind of walking alongside them.”
Imagine Therapy’s growth has come entirely by word of mouth. Oftentimes, clinics get investors to expand, but Plum didn’t want to go that route.
“I don’t want to owe anybody to do anything; I just want to build,” she said. “We’ve never hired anyone to do any marketing for us, and I built our website. We’ve just done everything ourselves in order to save money, because if I’m going to spend money, I would rather pour it back into my clients and into the community. So, it’s definitely been word of mouth, connecting with resources, connecting with other community members, and just building relationships.”
For Plum, her clinic won’t stop with treatment. Imagine Therapy will move forward on pushing awareness for the mental health issues that plague so many.
“We actually want to talk to the Goodyear (City) Council about just bringing in awareness for mental health and trauma addiction,” Plum said. “We’ve talked a little bit with the (Goodyear) Police Department. … We just want to build awareness in the community of resources, connection and mental health.
“If ever there was an opportunity for us to present and share that would be beneficial to an organization on what trauma is, what addiction is, and how it looks and how it’s kind of in the community, we would love to do so.”
Imagine Therapy PLLC
250 N Litchfield Road, Suite 201, Goodyear