In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the percentage of female physicians and women-owned clinics has increased. As of 2019, 41% of clinic owners were female in comparison to the mere 29% in 2007. Experts hypothesize that most U.S. clinics will be women-owned by 2028.

Samsara Healthcare, a women- and veteran-owned mental health clinic in El Paso, Texas, contributes to this rising number of women-owned clinics and practices.

Owned by Dr. Ivonne Espinosa, Samsara has a constant mission to provide the best care and services possible through accessibility, relationship-building and quality practice. The focus is on a range of mental health care from anxiety to PTSD to substance abuse.

“What’s important about Samsara is we want to get to know our patients,” Espinosa said. “We don’t want to do the five minutes of, ‘Hey, how are you? Good? Get out of here,’ type of visit. I want to know how your mom is doing, how your kids are doing in school. All those things impact mental health.”

Espinosa started her journey in healthcare as a nurse in 2005 and homed in on psychiatric care as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in 2013. She then opened Samsara in September 2019. However, she hadn’t always been set on healthcare.

Espinosa was in military intelligence which led her to consider a career in law enforcement. Things changed when she experienced military sexual trauma which led to depression and PTSD.

Espinosa decided to take that experience and use what she had learned to help people. Through that decision, her career in the medical field took off.

“I wanted to help people, especially the women veterans that unfortunately, back in the nineties, it [military sexual abuse] was something that got swept under the rug,” Espinosa said.

With a stigma around mental health being present, Espinosa uses her past to empathize with patients and teach that it’s okay to be open about one’s struggles.

Espinosa has noticed a wall is sometimes put up between patient and provider – a hesitation to be vulnerable even to professionals willing to help.

“I’ve got my own issues. I grew up with an alcoholic father; my brother was a heroin addict,” Espinosa said. “If I talk about it, it helps others talk about their story. I’ll give them a glimpse of my story, and that softens the wall and they feel more comfortable. This stuff happens.” Espinosa’s staff has noticed the difference this approach has made in patients’ lives. Director of Operations Cristina Maeses observes how empathy has gone a long way at the clinic.

“Sometimes women put a different perspective into business, as well as being veteran owned. Dr. Espinosa likes to really devote herself to the community. It’s more about the quality of care than the quantity of care she provides,” Maeses said.

Samsara offers a range of services from medication management to talk therapy to psychotherapy. Dr. Espinosa is also a family nurse practitioner which is also integrated. Finally, it was one of the first clinics in El Paso to offer BrainView.

BrainView is a non-invasive system practitioners use to read patients’ brain waves which allows for the possibility of a more accurate diagnosis. It could even detect dementia up to 10 years ahead of time.

On top of the relationship building and quality, it’s important for Espinosa to be accessible in a community where negative stigma still lingers and quality care may not have been as accessible in the past.

“Again, what is different about us is we focus on community. Our community is mostly people with Medicaid. We want people to have access to these new technologies regardless of status,” Espinosa said.

According to Espinosa and Maeses, one of the hardest parts of recovery and health is admitting one needs help. Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning cycles of life that involve change and transformation.

“Many individuals often feel stuck in these difficult cycles. The name reflects the belief that healing and growth are always possible,” Espinosa said.

Samsara Healthcare is located at 6090 Surety Drive, Suite 400. For more information you can find them here.