Meet Nikki Rubin, Psy.D. of MindScience Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Rubin, Psy.D..

Hi Nikki, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a clinical psychologist, I’ve always been interested in humans, how we work, and how we can best connect with one another. But when I reflect on what I have consistently been drawn to professionally, it has always been teaching. I’ve been passionate about teaching since I worked as a children’s swim instructor starting when I was 18. I loved helping kids learn to grow, change, get stronger, feel confident and connected. This interest in teaching carried into my earliest graduate school days when I expressed a strong desire to learn how to provide supervision, and I began to envision that training would be a major component of my career. And thankfully, it has been. I’ve been fortunate to teach and/or supervise clinical psychology doctoral students at UCLA, Teachers College at Columbia University, and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. I’ve also provided workshops, individual consultation, and live and on-demand continuing education courses for licensed mental health professionals.

What I didn’t envision was that I was going to become equally passionate about entrepreneurship. I never had an interest in business growing up or in early adulthood, and I don’t come from a family that owns or runs businesses (e.g., my dad is an anesthesiologist, my mom is a teacher, one of my grandfathers was a geologist and the other was a dentist). However, when I started my own private practice as many therapists do, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed building and running a business. I became extremely interested in all the creative ways entrepreneurial endeavors could support the provision of effective education and training to mental health therapists at large.

One way I found that I was able to marry these passions together was through providing on-demand continuing education. Therapists of all disciplines are required to complete ongoing continuing education courses to maintain their licenses. As a long time supervisor, I was regularly surprised that many of the common training topics I focused on with individual supervisees weren’t available in these continuing education courses. So in 2019 when SimplePractice Learning was founded (a department of the EHR SimplePractice), I jumped at the opportunity to create courses for them. The experience was wonderful–I was able to scale what I taught in one-on-one supervision by providing the same quality training in a course format that was available to any mental health professional across the country. As a result, I connected with all kinds of therapists nationwide. I was moved that clinicians would reach out to me directly to seek additional training because they were not only excited by what they had learned, but they deeply cared about their patients and wanted to provide the best treatment possible. I was also able to earn passive income doing something that was very meaningful to me. I enjoyed the experience so much that I was able to bring on a number of colleagues to make courses of their own.

Unfortunately, SimplePractice Learning shuttered in September 2024. Along with the same aforementioned colleagues, we realized that the only way to continue this type of work would be to build our own continuing education company. We founded MindScience Collective as a way to carry the torch forward of excellence in continuing education for mental health therapists who are passionate about learning. From a business perspective, it’s been nothing like our own individual private practices–we soon realized that we were building a small tech company! But using our behavioral skills as psychologists, we’ve focused on taking everything one small step at a time and trusting that we have the wisdom to seek guidance, support, and help when needed while figuring things out in real time. So far, this has worked really well. We are beyond excited to continue to provide training and supervision to as large an audience as possible because we know how hungry clinicians out there are to continue evolving because of their genuine care for their patients.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think life is ever a smooth road. A constant theme I share with my patients is that although humans brains expect life to unfold in neat, linear ways, the reality is that life is windy, bumpy, and unexpected. The closure of SimplePractice Learning was certainly a big bump. I really enjoyed spending time creating and presenting courses, and connecting with and training clinicians who I met through this experience. I appreciated the entrepreneurial aspects as well. As sad as I was to see it end, I am very grateful for this unexpected outcome because it created the opportunity for my co-founders and I to create MindScience Collective. The old adage “when a door closes, a window opens” really rings true for me here. And of course, creating MindScience Collective has not been a smooth road either. We knew next to nothing about how to build a business like this and for 18 months we have all had the experience of working two full time jobs–1. our day jobs as psychologists and 2. building MSC. The learning in this process has been extremely rewarding and stimulating, and it’s probably the most exciting thing I’ve done yet in my career.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At MindScience Collective our primary mission is to provide high-quality evidence-based education to mental health clinicians who are passionate about enhancing the effectiveness of their clinical skills and who seek to expand their entrepreneurial endeavors.

We are different because we aim to provide training that is trustworthy, practical, inspiring, and immediately applicable. We want to be the place where clinicians can easily connect to their love of learning and enthusiasm for clinical work.

We are deeply proud of the quality of our brand from end-to-end. Our intention is that MindScience Collective is where clinicians are confident that they will enjoy the entire process of continuing education. From a beautifully designed and user-friendly website and course platform, to expert instructors who are warm, engaging, knowledgable and skilled, MindScience Collective is inspired by our colleagues, trainees, and the mental health therapist community at large who are committed to excellence.

We offer on-demand continuing education courses on topics you won’t find anywhere else (e.g., “Pure” O OCD: Treatment for Symptoms and Subtypes; Essential Relational Microskills for Treating Trauma Survivors), with new courses released regularly. Interested participants can sign up on our website to gain instant access to courses or stay in the loop about future course drops.

Lastly, we greatly value learning ourselves, and are committed to continuing to grow, learn, listen, and strive to be allies to historically marginalized individuals and communities. In an effort to support this mission beyond our immediate reach, 1% of all our profits go directly to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
“The Heart of ACT: Developing a Flexible, Process-Based, and Client-Centered Practice Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy” by Robyn Walser is my favorite psychotherapy book of all time. I re-read it every year with my UCLA supervisee and I find it both professionally and personally inspiring.

“Tao Te Ching” by Laozi. Regardless of which translation I read, I continue to connect to the wisdom in this text in different ways depending on what I am currently experiencing in my own life.

“The Mindfulness App” is my favorite go-to meditation app. I use it myself and I recommend it to patients. In my opinion it does one of the best jobs at providing effective psychoeducation about mindfulness in the guided meditations themselves.

Pricing:

• our courses currently range from $39 (1 CE hour) to $79 (3 CE hours) depending on length of the course

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mindsciencecollective.com
• Instagram: @mindsciencecollective
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Mindscience-Collective/61584762662907/#
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindscience-collective/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mindsciencecollective

Image Credits
Justin Macala for all images except Katie Arfa’s individual headshot and Stephanie Sacks’ individual headshot