Private Practice Blog To Grow, Revamp, or Launch Your Happy Practice
We’ve helped over 100,000 therapists in private practice for free.
We’d love to help you, too! More therapists serving their communities means a better world. We have HUNDREDS of articles with advice, how-tos, trainings, and success stories for every stage of private practice to inform, teach, inspire, and delight you. Scroll down to check out our latest articles, or type what you need into the search box.
Creating a Successful Private Practice in 2017: People NEED You!
Do you believe that your community needs you in private practice? I do. Start to look around as you go about your day and you will see lots of people who could benefit from the work that you do. Or, you could dig into some of the data out in the world! And while non-profits and agencies can meet some of the need, a lot of people would benefit from private practice services.
The Process of Transformation in Your Business
You started your practice from scratch. You feel a passion about the work you do and how you help others. As your practice starts to grow, what worked when you started may not be what is working now. Join in with me as I talk with Howard Spector from SimplePractice as we discuss how to deal with changes in your business even positive changes that can be stressful.
Starting a Counseling Practice - A Beginner's Guide
"Give me anything you can to help me start my private practice."
Every week we receive emails from therapists asking about how to get started in their practices. There is great value in getting information from someone who has been there and done that. Yet, we all have our own unique journey. What works for one person, may not work for another. This is why we created a 10 part series that was featured on Pro Psych Central. It is a great compliment to our free trainings and most articles come with a free download to help you integrate what is taught.
Quiz: Should I Go Paperless? (Updated)
Here is a quiz to find out if going paperless might be the right decision for you: Are you a therapist, counselor, or psychologist trying to wade through all of the options for going paperless? Here is a quiz to find out if going paperless might be the right decision for you:
Passwords for Therapists: Security for You and Your Clients
Today we are going to show you a way to keep your information safe online. It is a simple change you can make today to make the online world safer for your clients. Why? Because the truth is, I can probably get into your metal filing cabinet with a hammer and about 4 minutes. Just because something feels safe, doesn't make it safe
What is a practice management system?
While there are a few people in life inspired to run a business because they love the idea of doing profit and losses, tracking expenses, and doing taxes- unless you are a CPA- that probably isn't why you went in to business.
Most people go into business because they are passionate about meeting a need or helping people in some way (even if it is just selling their product they think is awesome). Or, I should say, we hope that anyone who is reading this blog is actually passionate about they do- if you aren't, we recommend finding what we let you get your passion back or getting a new job!
So, what does all of this have to do with the idea of a practice management system?
Social Media is a Worthless Time Suck
It’s important not to get sucked into social media for the wrong reasons as a private practice owner. Who are you passionate about helping? And no, "anybody who will give me money" isn't a good answer. Or at least, it isn't an answer that is going to make social media worth your investment of time, energy, or money. ONLY use social media if you are truly passionate, have a clear audience, and you are ready to be intentional.
Your Practice Building Tip of the Week!
Have you gone paperless yet? If you haven't you should really consider it! There are many benefits to moving into electronic health records. A few of my favorites? Security, Time Savings, and Money Making. Check out more information on our blog today.
The "M" Word: Talking to Therapists about Money
So this weekend Kelly and I presented at the 2013 Annual California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) conference. We go to present for 1 hour on Top Tips for Going Paperless. And while we did our best to pack as much in as we could in such a small amount of time- it wasn't enough! (We had sent in a 4 or 6 hour proposal for this topic and they gave us a 1-hour slot! (Which we are SO glad we got to talk and meet some awesome therapists!)
So... as we were agonizing about what we include on our slides, I noticed how uncomfortable I was with the idea of putting any words up that related to money or profits. Why? Because I knew that it would set off alarm bells in our audience.
How to Store Sensitive Client Records: Encrypted Computer Syncing
So we are big fans of DropBox which allows you to have a folder that you can share between computers, and even access any of the files via a login on the dropbox website.
We use it ALL the time, but NOT for our private practice or any sensitive data! Why? Because there are some security holes with that awesome free product that make us a bit nervous about trusting medical data (like mental health records) to this cloud storage. However, this new one put some security in place that just might make it viable to have syncing between a work laptop and your home desktop.
Video Tutorial: Websites, Email, and Time-Saving Oh My!
We have been having SO much fun with our free Website 101 E-Course for Therapists, Helpers, and Healers. We have been getting comments and emails flooding in that tell us what we made is actually helping people! In fact, we got feedback that we crystallized weeks of one therapists website research into one 30 minute video! Woohoo!!!!!
We are all about saving time! So today, we are going to help you with an e-mail time-saver!