Private Practice Blog for Therapists
Hundreds of articles on building, growing, and sustaining your private practice — written by therapists, for therapists. Not recycled generic business advice.
Therapists: Be a Visionary
You are a visionary. How do I know? Because you are a therapist. When I told people what I did for a living, I would often get responses like "I could never sit and listen to people's problems all day!" The truth is, we know that good therapy isn't about just listening to people's problems- it is about sitting in truth with another human and holding the vision of what can be.
You have a vision for every client who walks through your door. No- this doesn't mean you are trying to fit your client into your box of how they should be. But, you know what it looks like when someone is unfettered, when they make that shift to owning their life, being intentional, and enjoying it. When you see them shift from being a victim of experiences, circumstances, or limitations to an empowered person who is going to live their life in the best way they know how.
How to Eliminate the Competition in Your Therapy Practice
When any new business opens up shop, they take stock and observe who is around them. By my office we have what is called, Furniture Row. Every single store for several blocks, sells furniture. You see this with car dealerships as well. So how do those businesses survive when they are all in close proximity?
Therapists are no different. There are some areas with buildings that are saturated with therapists. Whenever I hear “there is a lot of competition in my area” I get excited because
Online case consultation in private practice
Therapists of the world you need clinical consultation. You want clinical consultation. You crave clinical consultation. We have this wonderful online community- so how might you use online groups to get case consultation?
Therapists We Are Judged by our Peers
The truth is, we are judged by our peers. If there is ever any question about whether we are providing appropriate services and treatment to our clients, courts of law use other therapists as the litmus test as to whether what we are doing is consistent with the standard of care. This makes asking for, and receiving clinical consultation from other therapists both scary, and necessary.
Musts for a Successful Crowdfunding Project
This is the fourth article in Rob Reinhardt's special traveling blog series on crowdfunding. At the end of this article, you'll find a link to the next article in this series, located on another blog I find valuable for mental health professionals. Continue to follow the links to read all four articles and get introduced to valuable authors and content!
Musts for a Successful Crowdfunding Project
Building a Hypnotherapy Practice: Real life stories with Jennifer
Jennifer is an LCSW and hypnotherapist in New Jersey. She shares her journey to becoming a licensed therapist in private practice in a sit down interview. Find out what inspired her, what she finds is the single most powerful aspect of building a full-time private practice, and how she had paying clients from Day 1 of opening her private practice as a hypnotherapist.
How Therapists are Killing the Field of Psychotherapy
Psychotherapists- you matter. Psychotherapy is powerful. However, if we as a profession don't start making some changes, our profession is going to die off.
A Rant From a Therapist:
(Shared with permission) "I have this friend back home who worked at a medical office that shares a reception area with several therapists in the building. They have repeatedly mentioned that most of the therapists –regularly– run late to their sessions because several of the clients think they are the receptionist for their therapist and often ask, "What's taking so long?," "My appointment was at such and such time," etc. They noted that even when there's gaps in-between clients, the therapist will take off somewhere and show up late for the next appointment despite having a time gap to recuperate the time offset that happens when a session in a series of appointment get messed up from someone being late. They also noted that they have witness these therapists say, "Sorry I'm late. I had an emergency" so frequently over the last year that they are suspicious of the legitimacy of the excuse."
The receptionist was reluctant to ever pursue therapy for himself. Why? Because he had the impression that therapists aren't professional or able to be relied on. Through a series of circumstances he finally reached out, made an appointment with a therapist- not one in the building, and showed up on time. And guess what? The therapist was almost an hour late... and they had an emergency...
Did The Therapist Have an Emergency?
How to open a 2nd location for less than $50...
Have you ever wondered if expanding to a second location would help improve your private practice? Do you have clients who struggle to attend sessions regularly due to weather, work schedules, or babysitting issues?
Creating a second location that your current clients can easily access can be a great way to create amazing customer service, but also to create more continuity in the psychotherapy treatment.
So how can you create a second location for less than $50?
Websites for Therapists: Where to get FREE photos
So... you've got a website... you are starting to think about blogging. And you think- I really need some photographs for my website. Where do you go? Can you find free photographs? Can you just grab them from Google? What about Creative Commons License? I'm going to help today. But first, let me tell you how I paid over $1,000 for ONE picture and how you can avoid my rookie mistake
16 Reasons Therapists are Attending the Most Awesome Conference
Kelly, Joe, and I were all together in Orlando, Fl for the American Counseling Association's Annual Conference. As we were chatting, we thought we'd ask a question to the attendees who've already signed up for the Most Awesome Conference for Therapists. The answers we received gave us chills!
Reason #1: Connecting with Therapists Who Practice Abundance
I signed up for the conference because being around fellow business owners that practice abundance and encouragement fills me up! The greatest benefit so far is expanding and deepening the online relationships I've made. Anna Osborn, LMFT www.annaosbornmft.com
Reason #2: This is a rite of passage
4 Awesome Lessons from the American Counseling Association Conference
#1. Get to know people.
Don't just focus on trading business cards or looking for people that can support you- focus on really getting to know people you are drawn to. Let relationships develop naturally and you might be amazed at some of the opportunities that will develop. Example: I met an amazing presenter and private practice owner from Russia and was able to sit down and interview him about positive psychotherapy and the challenges of developing a private practice in Russia (not much different than the rest of the World!) To do this week: Call 2 people in your area and really attempt to get to know them.
5 Awesome Social Media Resources for Therapists
We had over 300,000 people see our information on Pinterest alone. Can you imagine how that kind of exposure could impact your counseling practice?
The truth is, you aren't advertising your counseling practice, you are just making it easy for people who desperately need you - to find you! Have you ever run into the store for 3 quick items only to get lost in a maze of poorly marked aisles or items tucked away on end caps? It is frustrating to know exactly what you want, and what you need- and not be able to find it!
This week as our Spring 2015 bootcampers are completing their JumpStart program, several of them are already scheduling clients from a few simple exercises on LinkedIn- without paying a dime for ads, or doing anything crazy. Social media is a powerful way that you can make it easy for clients to find you! Here are 5 resources on social media to get your social media plan on track!
How to drop an insurance panel
You have decided to get off insurance panels. The cost of either time, effort or both has outweighed any benefit. So let’s talk about how to drop insurance panels in a way that eases you into a full cash pay practice.
Mindset. We always start here. Write down your “why” of getting of insurance panels.
“BST was the best investment I have made in myself. I went from working 45-50 hours per week to working 25 hrs, doubling my income,” Cyndi
What if this really could change everything?
You don’t have to decide today.
Just get on the interest list and we’ll walk you through what Business School for Therapists is, what it includes, and how it’s helped thousands of therapists get their life (and income) back.