Press releases

Chicago Center for Relationship Counseling (CCRC), a Chicago-based counseling practice seeing couples, individuals, and families, is now a worker-owned cooperative.

When the former sole-owner of the practice, Josh Hetherington, was considering selling the business, he decided to prioritize the therapists who worked there. At a time when other therapy practices are selling to private equity firms, often leading to loss of service quality and jobs, Hetherington chose to go another route.

Hetherington sold the practice to the employees, creating a worker-owned model built on equity, collaboration, and trust. Empowering therapists who work for him has always been a central goal; he provides therapists with opportunities to take on additional responsibilities and build skills for professional development.

“I’ve always sought to set up the practice to be therapists-first, believing that by supporting and helping the staff to grow, we can provide better service to our clients,” Hetherington said.
Project Equity consulted with the CCRC from start to finish, starting with a conversation about Josh and CCRC’s goals, moving to an in-depth look at the financial health of the organization, bringing in members of CCRC’s team to broaden the conversation about the future of the practice, and continuing to meet, train, and support the team to ensure the success of their cooperative.

“I love the idea of creating a model that provides therapists with a different option,” said Melissa Larmon, the Director of Operations and Marketing at CCRC, who also works as a therapist, served on the cooperative transition team, and is on the new Board of Directors. “We can continue to share resources and risk, have community, and build a path to practice ownership and profit-sharing. When I think of being a cooperative, what comes to mind is shared ownership,” she continued. “I love feeling that I have a stake in something, have a voice, and can also share the responsibility of owning a business.”

“I’ve been invested in CCRC for essentially my entire career and have always told Josh that if there was room for me to grow in the practice I wouldn’t want to leave, so this felt like a natural next step,” said CCRC Intake Director, Therapist, and Supervisor Christine Webster, who also was on the transition team and is on the Board. “I wanted to have a voice in shaping the coop since I plan to be around for a long time. I also like learning new aspects of both the business and the coop, and I feel the knowledge will only help me in the long run. I really enjoyed the process and how much I learned about the business and its inner workings.”

“It feels like a chance to build something together,” Hetherington added. “I love the sense of shared responsibility and how much collaboration our team has. It’s a relief to share some of the burdens of ownership.”

“As a practice that invests heavily in the career growth, support, and development of its employees, becoming a cooperative is a natural step for CCRC,” said Project Equity Senior Client Services Manager Laura Flores. “It was a pleasure to help steward CCRC through their transition to becoming a coop. In fact, CCRC is modeling the employee ownership model to other therapy practices and helping spread awareness about an alternative to selling to private equity.”

Because of the laws governing who can own and operate a counseling practice in Illinois, CCRC and Project Equity de signed a cooperative model that fits the profession while staying true to cooperative principles. In this version, all employees participate in profit-sharing, while only those with the required licensure can become full cooperative members.

“People often think of coops as something only for grocery stores or farms,” said David Gray, Director of Client Services at Project Equity. “But the truth is, cooperative models can be incredibly innovative. They can be customized to meet legal and professional requirements while still creating shared ownership and a voice for employees.”