ABOVE: Jill and Michael Boike. The couple, and their business, Therapy Connections, have recently relocated to Fairmont. Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT– In the search for a slower pace and with a desire to help, Jill and Michael Boike have recently relocated to Fairmont, where Jill was born and raised, and they’ve brought their business, Therapy Connections, LLC, with.

Jill and Michael met in Edina and have spent much of their life there, raising three daughters and establishing Therapy Connections, which offers counseling and mental health services. They are partners in the business but have separate practices.

Of the decision to move out of Edina, the Boikes faced something many parents do when their children grow up.

“They moved out and we had a great big house, way too big, so we thought ‘let’s get rid of this thing and find something nice,’ Michael said. “She was looking down here.”

Jill added, “after we sold our family house after the pandemic, we didn’t know what we were going to do and what was going to happen to the business…. We were renting a house in Waconia, a smaller community, and we both really liked it. When we came down here, we were kind of used to that.”

While both of their parents have passed away, Jill said Michael had always liked visiting Fairmont and appreciated the peace and quiet. She still has friends who either live in Fairmont full-time or have a summer home here on the lake.

“A couple of my friends I’ve reconnected with,” she said. “We’re looking forward to getting the grandkids down here.”

They relocated to Fairmont in September but have been working bit by bit on remodeling a house here.

“We’re working really hard to get all those little tasks done so we can enjoy the summer here,” Jill said.

Along with getting settled in their house and the community, the Boikes have continued to maintain their practice and get the word out that they’re available to the Fairmont community.

Going into the mental health field was not something that either of them originally started out in, though Therapy Connections is now 20 years old.

Jill originally obtained a degree in sales and marketing and Michael had received a degree in business and spent many years working in the 3M corporate office in Maplewood.

They both went back to school with Jill getting a master’s degree in 2003 and Michael getting one very soon after.

“We kind of took turns,” he said with a laugh.

Speaking to how they got into the field, Jill said, “being a therapist, I think for a lot of people it is a second career choice. You’ve lived some life and have had some experiences and I think you can really understand people.”

Michael said, “I tend to find with my clients, none of them can remember where they got the marriage manual, which tells them how things are supposed to go in a marriage, or where they got the parenting manual, which tells them how everything goes being a parent. We bring that experience into it, along with all of the training of course.”

Jill specializes in adoption, attachment, life stage transition and grief and loss whereas Michael is trauma trained and works with veterans and other trauma patients. He also specializes in men’s issues and couples.

Throughout their 20 years in the business, they have witnessed many changes, both with their practice itself, the industry and with the issues their clients are facing.

“We had two clinics and we did have employees at one point,” Jill said. “When the pandemic hit, that drastically changed.”

While they were already considering returning to private practice, the pandemic allowed them to get back to it sooner.

“We couldn’t see anyone in an office and we found that our clients, their lives had changed, too. Some were working from home, some were hybrid… a lot of that has stayed the same,” Jill said.

While telehealth appointments existed prior to covid, the Boikes say they believe the pandemic helped expedite it and they said their patients now really prefer the telehealth appointments.

“Some say they find therapy more comfortable in their home, rather than going into an office and sitting and waiting,” Jill explained.

Telehealth appointments can be more practical too as Jill said people don’t need to worry about driving in the snow or altering work or other plans since they can attend the appointments from anywhere.

“Somebody in a small community in Fairmont maybe wouldn’t have access to a therapist in a specialty say in the Twin Cities, but now they can get that,” Jill said.

On the flip side, she said some people in a small town may not want to see a local therapist because they want more privacy so it can work to do telehealth with a provider elsewhere in that instance, too.

While the Boikes strictly do telehealth appointments now, they do work with a network of providers and can provide referrals when needed.

“For some people, being in an office is important. There are definitely people that need to be seen in an office and if we had someone like that that needed it, we would make a referral if they needed that,” Jill said.

As for challenges they’ve seen their patients deal with over the years, Jill said she believes social media is a big one right now.

“It’s had a huge impact. There’s parents trying to set boundaries with their kids and we talk a lot with parents about having family time and dinners together… I think because we have 24 hour news, compared to when I grew up, I think kids are also impacted by all the stimulation,” Jill said.

As for a positive they’ve seen, Michael said he thinks people, men especially, are more open to going to therapy.

“They come in and they want to know that they’re working with someone who knows what they’re doing. They’ve done some research and have a good handle on it,” Michael said.

Jill added that the younger generation has maybe witnessed marital issues between their parents and now want to get ahead and address any issues earlier.

“It’s now looked at as a a sign of being really healthy to take care of if you’e struggling with something before it gets worse, go and talk to someone,” Jill said.

“They’re looking for the tools. They want to work it out with their partner,” Michael said.

While the Boikes and Therapy Connections is now in Fairmont, they’re still maintaining a business office in Edina. However they are incorporating themselves into the community. Their business recently joined the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce and they’re looking to get involved in other ways, too.

“I think we also both were successful in business, but we came to a point, a life stage, where we want to give back. In the environment we’re in now, we have a highly anxious world from many different perspectives and I think it comes back to values. I think the values of Fairmont, being connected in your community, your faith, you usually come back to your values and this was a good fit for us,” Jill said.

More information about the Boikes can be found at therapy-connections.com or by searching them at psychologytoday.com.