Meet Ally Raye | Virtual Assistant for Mental Health Practitioners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ally Raye and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ally, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
After graduating with a degree in psychology, I landed a job as an administrative assistant at a therapy practice. I loved the work – many of the therapists were wonderful, and I loved to help connect people with therapists who could truly support them. But the environment encouraged a pace and work ethic that was ultimately unsustainable and led to burnout. I stepped away for a few years to work at a greenhouse – certainly not a slower pace, but definitely a more healing environment; during that time, I realized I missed the mental health field. When I was ready to return, I knew I wanted to do it differently. I started my own business so I could continue the work I value, while creating a healthier, more balanced way of doing it. I also wanted to create an environment where other individuals (my fellow VAs) could work in a way that felt balanced to their lives.

What should our readers know about your business?
Oh boy, the big questions, huh? What sets VirtualAlly apart is the flexibility we offer – we’re able to scale our services to meet the needs of both solo practitioners and growing group practices. We also offer access to a team of VAs with different areas of expertise: Amy and I specialize in inquiry management and being that warm, responsive voice on the other end of the line; Ashli supports billing and social media; Caitlin focuses on content creation; and Valerie brings her strengths in knowledge management and systems building.

One thing I’m especially proud of is the culture we’ve built around healthy boundaries. When I’m offline, I’m offline – and I encourage the same for everyone I work with, both VAs and clinicians. Many members of our team are parents or caretakers, so respecting time and availability is a core value of the business. This is always in practice of course, no one’s perfect and exceptions and emergencies happen!

Building a business from scratch has definitely not been easy – I’d love to meet anyone who says otherwise! But one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that you have to ask for help. Lean on the people who’ve done it before, get referrals, and surround yourself with a support team you trust and genuinely enjoy working with. That takes time and it takes a few failures, but leaving a not-great fit and finding something better is healthier for all involved, even if it’s hard!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So, I’m virtual (hence the name), and I don’t currently live in SoCal! When I’ve had the lucky experience to go visit a few of my clients, I’ve like Steady State Roasting on State St in Carlsbad!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
100% I wouldn’t be where I am today without the early support I received from a few incredible clinicians who took a chance on me. I started on a freelance site, where I was fortunate to connect with some therapists in Australia as well as Reid Kessler at Coastal Therapy Group. Reid’s trust, collaboration, and belief in my work gave me the foundation to build a business that continues to grow. I’m deeply grateful for that early support. Without CTG, there’s no way my business would be what it is today.

Website: https://www.virtualally.info/

Instagram: @virtualally_

Image Credits
https://www.fossphotography.co/ for all the headshots. The one in the field is when I went to and worked from Ireland so that’s just a photo from me 🙂