Building a private practice financially is not easy. It is financially wise to have multiple income streams in order to stay afloat and cover overhead costs involved in running your business. Not only is this important in your transitioning to a full time counsellor but this can help balance costs when there are lulls in client appointment bookings. Utilizing these available time slots to generate other means of income may be a smart thing to do not only for cost but as a marketing strategy as well. Personally, I continue to be a registered nurse as well as work for EAP companies.

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

–        Get established with an employee assistance program (EAP) or many. You may be one of their many treatment providers that they refer clients to in the community. Many EAP companies also have consulting positions, for example, workshop presenters, return to work consultants, crisis/debriefing counsellors. Typically, EAP companies on average prefer 5 years of post graduate experience in counselling. A great webinar offered by CCPA from time to time explains the in’s and out’s of EAP companies in more detail.

–        Offer to mentor/consult with other counsellors building their practice or developing their niche. Of course, you will need the professional knowledge and experience to offer this service but this could be a great additional income stream for seasoned counsellors.

–        Find a teaching opportunity through schools if you have a teaching background. You may also offer workshops on your expertise. You may also offer workshops to organizations as well.

–        Look into part time work with a community agency that offers counselling

–        Do you have group counselling experience? Can you offer group sessions to clients in your niche?

–        Assess what you are already doing now that could be turned into a potential income stream.

–        Volunteer for your local counselling association. This may not be an income stream but it may generate more referrals.

–        Publishing can also be another way for generating additional income through writing self-published content through the traditional means of publishing for a journal or paper or modern ways such as e-books, workbooks, creating downloadable resources such as videos, audio resources etc.,

Relying solely on direct client hours may hinder your success in developing your private practice. Client hours factor on referrals, state of the economy, time of the year etc., We counsellors need to think outside of the box in terms of generating more income as we become more established.

I’d love to hear from you about potential ideas for additional income sources. What do you think would work for you or has worked for you?

Andrea Cashman is a private practice counsellor who has founded Holistic Counselling Services for individual clients seeking therapy in Ottawa, ON. She also practices at the Ottawa Hospital as a registered nurse. Feel free to comment below or contact her at [email protected] or visit her website at www.holisticcounsellingservices.ca

We have all experienced supervision in counselling program practicums. It usually involves either one on one supervision or peer supervision with more than one trainee present. Supervision involves reviewing and discussing ongoing counselling cases in order to form case conceptualization. It involves tracking progress of your clinical skills and client progress. It involves discussion around interventions used and formulation of goals. It’s a requirement for counselling programs to determine competency in graduates. It is also a requirement for all counsellors in private practice and in most institutions as we are unregulated as of now. Once we are regulated with the CRPO and pass regulatory and training requirements, will we be able to continue practising without supervision, although, I would strongly advise it for continued education and competency. Counselling in private practice is enmeshed with isolation, so supervision and even peer supervision assists in networking further. Supervision is usually provided by regulated psychologists. Some psychologists may also provide you with third party billing to ensure your clients can access insurance coverage. Unfortunately, for counsellors now, we cannot provide this as we are unregulated.

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Running your own business requires patience and persistence but not only that, it requires you to be great at time management and prioritization. Chances are, if you are beginning your practice you already have other means for income in another job or career. You may also be juggling family and caregiver issues. Learning how to be effective at prioritizing and time management will give you the skills to become a great therapist without you losing your cool or experiencing burnout. It is important to note that you need to establish limits and boundaries for yourself. Failure to acknowledge this can lead to high expectations and perfectionism with resultant burnout. Let’s face it, you cannot be in all places and do everything at any given time. You should give the most time to the most pressing of issues and realize that you are human. For example, I may prioritize attending a workshop over researching for my next website blog post. I have to admit, I wasn’t always the best at time management. You would think as a registered nurse I had mastered time management…but this didn’t translate to counselling in the beginning for me. I sometimes got overwhelmed with the amount of things I needed to do to market myself or expand in my practice and expertise. That’s when I started to turn towards a to-do list. I’m not a to-do list type of person in my personal life but I have used one frequently for my practice. Checking off items on my to-do list gave me a great sense of accomplishment. My to-do list is always full as I am ambitious; however, I have realized the need to put self-care first so I don’t burnout as a counsellor. I don’t berate myself if I don’t meet a deadline I’ve set for myself as tomorrow is another day. You may even use your calendar or agenda to map out some key items you’d like to accomplish that day.  Another great tip is to have an effective work space in order to accomplish more. I personally use my office more as it forces me to work; whereas my home office is subject to distractions. Your ability to block out or limit distractions is essential to getting more work done. You may find it beneficial to turn off your phone and make specific time allotments to work on your career development. Give yourself more time to work on higher priorities. Time management also translates to the counselling sessions themselves. It is important that you have some time between clients, especially if some cases are emotionally draining. Having at least 10 minutes between clients allows you to prepare for the next client.

If you are still struggling with time management, I suggest seeking online resources and/or books to assist you. Remember not to overextend yourself. You need to take care of yourself so that you can effectively counsel your clients.

Andrea Cashman is a private practice counsellor who has founded Holistic Counselling Services for individual clients seeking therapy in Ottawa, ON. She also practices at the Ottawa Hospital as a registered nurse. Feel free to comment below or contact her at [email protected] or visit her website at www.holisticcounsellingservices.ca

In order for you to build and sustain a practice you need to market yourself. There are many types of marketing strategies out there that can suit your niche and personality. Marketing can be scary to a new counsellor in private practice. Where do you start? How much do you invest time wise and financially? What is the best way to market? If you are feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with the process of marketing your business, know that you are not alone and that many other therapists feel the same way. You are  in a profession that puts clients first so I can imagine if you feel that self promotion feels uneasy. I suggest to you that you market in your comfort zone.

Unfortunately, there is no best way. Yes, I tricked you into thinking there was one way. There are many smart ways. However, I think the best marketing tool at your disposal is to have a website as I’ve mentioned in my last post. A website speaks on your behalf to the public. It can easily be added to your business cards, email signatures, advertising etc., Alright, I’ve touched upon the main tool to have. Here are some marketing tips and methods to try (but I advise you to try the ones that speak to you personally and professionally).

–        Consider public speaking and offering workshops to potential clients in your specialty. These can even be free or at a low cost to generate more attendance.

–        You can invest in some online marketing advertisement such as having your name on certain sites such as Theravive, Psychology today etc., or advertising through Google itself. I advise you what ever way you choose, do some research prior to your decision.

–        Connect and network with key stakeholders revolving around your specialty. Your list could include family doctors or specialists and other therapists. Think out of the box in terms of who would benefit from referring you clients. Always, ALWAYS carry business cards on you, even to the grocery store. You just never know who you’ll meet and be able to network with.

–        Create social media sites which link back to your website. These do require time and effort to  draw people’s attentions in.

–        Create a newsletter or blog on your website

–        Write for a newspaper or magazine

–        Interview on a radio show

Can you think of any other marketing methods? Have you tried something and it failed? Has something worked well for you? The goal is to eventually have word of mouth referrals from these networks and from clients themselves but you have to start somewhere. It will definitely feel like more effort in the beginning and you’ll need to put some conscious effort in the long run to sustain clients. So where would you like to begin?
Andrea Cashman is a private practice counsellor who has founded Holistic Counselling Services for individual clients seeking therapy in Ottawa, ON. She also practices at the Ottawa Hospital as a registered nurse. Feel free to comment below or contact her at [email protected] or visit her website at www.holisticcounsellingservices.ca

There are many counsellors that do not have websites. I believe this is a mistake. In a day in age where the majority of the population turns to the internet to do research, having a website is essential to providing potential clients research into your practice and if you are their ideal fit for a counsellor. The main reasons to have a website are as follows:

–        It’s a formal way for you to market yourself with clients and network with other professionals
–        It helps clients FIND you
–        It establishes your credibility and outlines your experience as a counsellor. It’s a great idea to include your expertise and niche in your website.
–        It should help clients figure out if you can help them with their problems.

How to build a website is a daunting task; however, marketing your website if one of the best ways to promote yourself. If you can afford to hire a professional to build your website, do so. Many starting out cannot afford to so make sure you find a good website provider that provides you the look your are looking for. There are both free and paid website hosts. Whichever you choose, your choice should allow you to choose from preexisting templates and make it easy for you to shape your website into your vision. Here are some other tips for you to consider:

–        Make sure your contact information is visible on every page of your website.
–        Make sure your website personally reflects your style.
–        Avoid use of jargon as much as possible. Make sure your website is understandable to everyone
–        Make sure that your website speaks to the benefits of your service.
–        Use a simple, clean format and use consistency where ever possible. Choose no more than 2 fonts and colours.
–        Ask others to review your website for any spelling, grammar mistakes that you may have missed and to provide you valuable feedback on the esthetics and wording of your website.
–        Consider the use of social media to bring in clients to your website. You can choose various other social media as a professional forum, such as Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, to bring in more website traffic. Personally, I have a Facebook page in addition to my website.

Other things for you to research and consider in terms of your website and online presence are: having a blog on your site, including useful links for clients in your area, keeping up on SEO tactics (Search Engine Optimization) that will help increase your rank of your website for internet searches and having a mobile version of your website (I have one with webs.com) for those smart phone internet users. Best of luck in building your website. Take your time to really plot out and research what works best for you and your potential clients.
Andrea Cashman is a private practice counsellor who has founded Holistic Counselling Services for individual clients seeking therapy in Ottawa, ON. She also practices at the Ottawa Hospital as a registered nurse. Feel free to comment below or contact her at [email protected] or visit her website at www.holisticcounsellingservices.ca

Making the decision to open a therapy private practice is a decision that requires a lot of soul searching. Opening a practice requires patience, knowledge, persistence and endurance, not to mention passion. It will take research and planning to make your dream a reality. I encourage people who are seeking this new adventure in their counselling career to take the time to reflect to make sure it is the right decision for you. There are a few things that I recommend you ask yourself before moving forward:

1. Are you emotionally ready? Are you emotionally stable at this point to open your own practice? Keep in mind that you will be an entrepreneur, your own boss and you will be self-employed. I always encourage therapy for therapists to deal with their own issues so that transference issues and burnout are avoided as much as possible. Great self care practices to keep yourself healthy while you treat client issues are essential.
2. Are you physically ready? Starting a private practice will require extensive time commitments not only in the planning stages but even with maintaining your practice. I suggest giving at least three months to develop and implement a business plan prior to opening. There is a lot involved in the process and keeping a checklist of what’s involved is crucial. I also suggest investing in a few books that will help you develop a business plan. Personally, I like the book “The Essential Skills for Setting Up a Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice” by McMahon, Palmer and Wilding.
3. Are you financially ready? Create a financial cost-analysis of what will be financially involved in starting up. This can include (but not limited to) office rent, furniture and supplies as well as liability and general insurance, supervision, CCPA certification and advertising. Make sure you have a back up financial plan via secondary means of income. I recommend going part time in your practice to begin with and work somewhere else to provide consistent financial income.
4. Do you have the credentials and experience? People make the leap into private practice at different stages in their counselling career. It is best to have some counselling experience under your belt. Seeking supervision from a psychologist and continuing to take educational courses, workshops and certifications will assist you in developing a tailored knowledge base that coincides with your niche. Networking with other therapists will not only help with referrals but also with building on your knowledge base.

It may be best to write a pro/con list if you decide to take the private practice route. This may help in your decision process. Don’t forget to reflect, process and research. I wish you all the best in your private practice embarkment. Stay tuned for more blog posts on running your private practice.

Andrea Cashman is a private practice counsellor who has founded Holistic Counselling Services for individual clients seeking therapy in Ottawa, ON. She also practices at the Ottawa Hospital as a registered nurse. Feel free to comment below or contact her at [email protected] or visit her website at www.holisticcounsellingservices.ca