Who We Are

And how this whole thing started.

Brittany and Nicole McLaughlin are licensed clinicians, business partners, and, if we're being honest, two professionals who got tired of watching brilliant people stay stuck in jobs that weren't working for them.

We met when we were both ready for something different. Nicole had been quietly helping professionals navigate the leap into independent practice for years, demystifying the process, sharing the roadmap, making the intimidating feel manageable.

Brittany was carrying the same dream a lot of professionals carry: her own practice, her own clients, her own terms. And the same fear most of us carry, what if I can't do this?

Turns out, you can. We both did.

And then we couldn't stop thinking about all the professionals who were still waiting to find that out.

So we started building.

First came the trainings, practical, no-fluff support that meets people where they actually are. The response told us everything we needed to know: professionals are hungry for real guidance, not generic advice.

We kept going.

More trainings. More topics. More conversations with people who were skilled, dedicated, and chronically underserved by the systems they worked in.

And eventually, something bigger came into focus. Professionals didn't just need better information, they needed what independent practice rarely offers: community, resources, and real, tangible benefits.

So we built The Professional Collective.

A place where professionals can access expert training, peer connection, and practice-building resources, along with something almost unheard of for independent practitioners: access to major medical and life insurance, with commercial health insurance on the horizon as our community grows.

Because no one should have to stay stuck somewhere that isn't right for them just to keep their health insurance.

We've been those professionals. We built this for you.

We started where we come from. But the gap we're filling, training, community, and real benefits for independent professionals, is bigger than any one field.

We're just getting started.

— Brittany & Nicole Co-Founders, The Professional Collective