TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls therapist Kathy Couch has been working in mental health for 18 years. Now, she has a business idea with partners from the CSI Marketing Program that is in the running for a $40,000 prize.
- The trio developed Rewired360, which aims to improve access to EMDR certification for clinicians and therapists.
- More clinicians and therapists trained in EMDR would provide a higher level of care.
- Rewired360 is one of dozens of business ideas in the semi-finals of the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge, being held in Boise on April 4th and 5th.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
As a Therapist, Kathy Couch uses EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization Reconditioning to help clients heal trauma, grief, and relational distress.
"For this exercise, I'm going to have you cross your arm so right hand on left shoulder or left hand on right shoulder," Couch told me during a short EMDR demonstration.
I visited Couch at her office to learn more about this therapy, and how it fits into her vision of improving access to care in the Magic Valley.
She asks, "What are you noticing in your body, thought, or emotion channels now?"
EMDR is effective for many kinds of mental health issues, and it works fairly quickly.
"We see activation and desensitization of the distress in a quicker amount of time and so those patients don't have to be on the waitlist taking those spots for continuous therapy for years," Couch said.
Based on her experience running her own practice, Couch has a business idea that would help more people in Southern Idaho.
“They teach us how to be therapists, but they don’t teach us how to run a business,” Couch said.
She wants to share her experience with other clinicians. Through the College of Southern Idaho, she connected with business and marketing students Natalie Klucken and Elle Whitehead, who got on board with the business plan for Rewired 360.
“We have been creating presentations, going through speeches, figuring out all the information we need, what we need to be presenting, and what's going to give us the best results," Klucken said.
The business, Rewired 360, will be one of several dozen businesses at the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge semi-finals in Boise on April 4th and 5th.
“I just want to help people get better,” Couch said. “So they don't have the stress of weekly therapy. You don't have to do it that way."
