How I Work

Here’s some information on the results therapists  have reported after working with me. You’ll also get a sense of my guiding beliefs, the approach I use, and the unique features I offer in tailoring my services.

Expected results

When we work together you can expect to develop a busy, rewarding practice.  A steady stream of clients means you stop feeling anxious about your work. This sense of assurance may even cause you to present yourself more effectively to clients, and thus they’ll find you increasingly helpful.

You will develop a well-informed practice-building plan based on sound business principles. The information I share is not just marketing and networking knowledge, but a range of financial and planning strategies to help you make thoughtful decisions about your future. At the same time, everything we consider is designed with you in mind, so this is not one-size-fits-all. We figure out strategies that will work for you, and when we hit roadblocks or difficulties, we identify work-arounds.

Expect greater confidence in your future as an independent professional. Rounding out your clinical expertise with the information I can provide may just help you rediscover why you went into the field in the first place! I offer tools to help you define exactly what you find rewarding about your therapeutic skills, and to attract the people you are best suited to help.

 

I provide practical organizational ideas to increase your work satisfaction. Learn new ways to keep your practice running smoothly, with less busywork and more meaningful projects.

You will find that operating in a more profitable way gives you freedom: you’ll have more choice about how to schedule your workday, vary your routine, and pursue creative possibilities in your career.

Important principles that guide us in creating your private practice

Belief in the value of confidential, client-focused services. I’m motivated to equip professionals with business knowledge because this approach offers us a way to maintain control of our practices. Until we can individually and collectively define the value of our work in monetary terms, many gifted clinicians will leave the field, and others will experience burnout and powerlessness. Ultimately, the general public misses out on quality services because they lack information about how our methods could help them with numerous life challenges and health problems.

Confidence in adapting to marketplace changes.  Conditions are undeniably shifting in the health care marketplace. Nevertheless, if you maintain some percentage of self-pay clients while adapting to these changes, your income is more likely to remain stable than therapists with all-insurance businesses. In addition, your  attitude about your practice will stay flexible and you’ll be in charge of your own decisions. Which do you prefer?

A concern that therapists shy away from handling money issues due to unexamined emotional responses.  Despite our extensive training and experience with discussing incredibly intimate subjects, even experienced professionals may struggle with setting fees or enforcing financial agreements. The opportunity to reflect on our reactions can help us define our own boundaries, and if appropriate help clients address their attitudes and beliefs toward money.

Mental health professionals can and should be well-compensated for their work.  Providing effective services carries a level of emotional and intellectual demand and involves intricate, painstaking work. Because talk therapy is an invisible and often ambiguous service, we ourselves may experience confusion about the worth of our skills. Yet when we consider the damage we correct and the problems we prevent, there is no doubt that therapists “supply” a valuable “product”.

My Approach

I am a seasoned clinician with broad experience. I have spent hundreds of hours educating myself about business and actively practicing with the material I have studied.  My goal is to distill the information for you in a way that is both enjoyable and efficient.

I’m excited about business, and about the future of psychotherapy!

I will make it fun and meaningful to consider business matters, and present this material in a way that is consistent with your professional identity. My enthusiasm will carry over into your efforts, giving you energy and a sense of being part of a larger community of kindred spirits, clinicians who are willing to strike out in new directions.

My approach is flexible and tailored to your particular needs.

The Create Your Private Practice programs offer varied levels of involvement, to fit your learning style and budget. This flexibly structured approach is based on your unique practice situation. Whether you are establishing a new office, strengthening an existing practice, or simply looking to refine and improve your knowledge, it is likely I’ll have some information that you will find helpful and profitable.

The information I provide will make a complex process manageable.

I have helped many others with making their practices more efficient and profitable, and these methods work. I break your tasks down into steps so it becomes approachable to master new information and apply it to your practice situation, quickly and effectively.

What makes Create Your Private Practice unique?

My consulting is based in clinical understanding. I will not advise you to use short- cut techniques that are “slick”, or give you the feeling you are pushing your services at people. The primacy of your relationship with your clients is always in everyone’s long-term interest.  I promise to help you create marketing and business methods that feel congruent with who you are, and how you practice.

Rest assured, my methods rely on proven techniques and encourage realistic expectations.

The methods I use are founded in concepts that apply to any kind of business. They have been tested over time and found reliable and worthwhile.

I have coached many, many business owners who are not therapists.( See table below!)

I do not promise that ‘if you build it, they will come”, or “just do what you love”. While visualization and imagery are helpful in feeling our way, we need to get down to the nuts and bolts too.

You can develop a practice you love, and a secure practice is built on positive, reality-based information about market forces and the dynamics of human behavior.

Imagination and an adventurous spirit are wonderful entrepreneurial strengths, and so are your two feet, planted firmly on the ground.

Now that you have an understanding of how I can help you make a good living and create a practice you truly enjoy, click here to read about our services and programs.

(I have helped people with these careers:)