Dr. Steven Solomon grew up with the expectation that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer, however somewhere along the way his ambitions were transformed. He decided that he was more interested in helping people create successful relationships.
In 1982, after earning his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology (Los Angeles), he began a private practice, as an individual and couples therapist, in San Diego, California and currently has an office in La Jolla, California.
In addition to his private practice, he formed a partnership with Dr. Lorie Teagno to start The Relationship Institute providing an array of intimacy therapy services to couples and individuals as well as a wide range of training opportunities for therapists. They also co-authored a book titled “Intimacy after Infidelity: How to Rebuild and Affair-Proof Your Marriage”.
Dr. Solomon has worked hard to build his business, overcoming the difficulties in this field, such as its highly competitive nature, the need for extensive and continual training, the fact that most insurance companies are not favorably inclined towards providing high rates of reimbursement for psychotherapy services, and as a result of the recession, it is more common that he has had to lower his fees to accommodate his clients’ thinner pocketbooks. He has a great referral network that he is constantly working to expand, which he considers instrumental in growing a successful service business and he is always searching for ways to improve his business and give more couples the tools to create successful relationships.
In October of 2010, Dr. Solomon was approved for a $100,000.00 SBA 7(a) loan through California Bank & Trust, which he used to assist with the cash flow of his business and to purchase computers and video equipment in order to further improve the couples therapist training aspect of his business.
In an effort to give back to the community Dr. Solomon does pro-bono sessions for deserving clients who cannot afford his services. In addition, he has served as past president of the San Diego Psychological Association, past board president of the Jewish Federation of San Diego, and past board president for Hillel of San Diego.
When asked what goals he has for the future of his business, Dr. Solomon said he would like to write more books, train more therapists in couples therapy and expand his already full caseload to necessitate hiring additional therapists to handle overflow. However, his ultimate goal is to help as many couples as possible learn to love intimately. Dr. Solomon has been happily married for 26 year to his wife Esther and has a wonderful 14 year old son, Lewis.
For more information about SBA loans visit www.sba.gov.