There is no doubt about it: private practice requires some financial investment.  Perhaps you are considering branching out into this exciting field, but are reluctant to, as you do not wish to incur debt.  That is totally understandable!  In my business venture, I have garnered a few tips and tricks to minimizing start-up costs, which I am happy to share.  This post (and Part 2) will be a general overview of doing private practice “thriftly” (which I don’t think is a word, but I am employing a teacher’s advice that if you put a made-up word in quotation marks, it becomes a veritable word).  In the posts to follow, I will specifically address economic ways to work as a child, teen, and family therapist.

Get a Good Accountant!

Yes, this tip will cost you money, but trust me; a good accountant is worth their weight in gold!  Ask other private practitioners (counsellors, massage therapists, physiotherapists, etc.) if they recommend someone.  Don’t feel you need to go with the first accountant you meet—shop around until you have someone who can work with your needs.  And have a good idea of what your needs are.

Budget, Plan, and Save

Before actually embarking on your venture, start saving!  These funds will be there to offset any loans and prevent you from going into debt.  Have a plan in mind: how much can you realistically save/afford?  Use this plan to create and stick with a budget.  A budget does not have to be written in stone, but creating one and trying to stay within it will help stop over spending.

Go in With a Colleague

Look into splitting operational costs with someone else.  If you won’t be using the office space during the evenings, another counsellor could use it then.  Maybe you have a fulltime job and only need the space for a few days/nights a week.  Why let it sit empty?

Be Open to Unconventional Spaces

What space do you envision for an office?  Would something different work, and possibly be cheaper? Maybe you’ll want to work from home (and write off some of your home expenses).  Perhaps, you could use a room in a medical office.  Maybe a massage, physiotherapy, or other health clinic has space you could occupy (although, keep in mind your clientele; personally I need a space where I can engage in fun and sometimes noisy play therapy—so certain venues are out!)

This ends the first post of this two-part series.  I hope you gleaned a tip or two or had an idea sparked!

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. (Amelia Earhart)

I am in the process of building a counselling career after 25 years (more or less) as an engineer in the corporate world, including 10 years as an independent consultant. There are a number of reasons why I pursued a counselling career in mid-life but, at the core of it, what I love most about the business world is the emphasis on team work. This passion became a calling to explore new and deeper forms of human collaboration. I enjoyed my Master of Counselling program at Athabasca University, taught through collaborative online interactions rather than one-way lectures. My practicum at Providence Healthcare, a Toronto-based rehabilitation hospital, provided an inspiring multi-disciplinary collaborative environment, where social workers, physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, dieticians, speech language therapists and one counselling student (me!) worked closely with patients and families.

Upon graduating, a combination of private practice and volunteering seemed the right fit for me. I had the idea of pursuing a professional development model common in the corporate world—an internship/junior position with an experienced supervisor. I would become a better counsellor by watching, doing, and receiving feedback. My supervisor’s practice would be enriched through collaborative work, and would benefit financially through seeing more clients, paid supervision, and cheap help. I am drawn to post-modern therapies and assumed that therapists must regularly collaborate with each other or how would reflecting teams and outsider witness practices be possible!?

I learned quickly that private practice therapists supervise and consult other therapists, but direct collaboration is less common. Potential supervisors offered to review audio/video of my sessions but wouldn’t let me see them work directly with clients.  One person gently told me that internships or junior staff made no sense for private practices, and many people simply didn’t return my calls and emails. I realized I had entered a different cultural landscape. Private practice was starting to seem like a very lonely way of making a living.

I asked Trish McCracken from the CCPA for advice, and she was generous with her ideas and time. She suggested exploring AAMFT supervisors. I followed her advice and found William Cooke (www.williamcooke.ca). William is a Narrative Therapist, and has had two previous successful experiences with collaborative supervision in his practice. Similar to me, William also had challenges gaining support for this approach, including being turned down as a supervisor by a social work program that didn’t support student placements in private practice.

I do know that other private practices are engaging in collaborative work but it seems to me that this way of working is still the exception rather than the rule. As I blog about my private practice adventures, I hope to hear from others about their collaborative experiences, both good and bad.
Rhea Plosker is an Engineer and Counsellor. She is starting her adventures in private practice with www.williamcooke.ca and also works as a project consultant in health care and not-for-profit organizations. Rhea can be reached at [email protected] or at www.inspirationsolutions.com.

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

Time – there’s never enough – especially when it comes to marketing your private practice.  Here are five things you can do to find time for marketing that will help you build a successful private practice.

1. Start with a six-month plan. If you are not doing very much marketing or if you are unhappy with your marketing efforts, a six month marketing plan is a good place to start.  Schedule some time in your agenda to create a marketing plan. Anticipate marketing opportunities related to holidays or special events like mental health week or national depression screening day.

2. Set monthly and weekly marketing goals. Once you’ve developed a six month plan, the next step is to include marketing time in your monthly and weekly agenda. How much time is enough time? If you are seeing less than 10 clients per week a good guideline is to spend at least one day per week on marketing.

3. Create a marketing to-do list. Include a variety of marketing activities like distributing your brochure, presenting a free seminar at your local library, or writing a newsletter.  Create a weekly to-do list and use it!

4. Double-up your marketing efforts. Keep a good supply of brochures and business cards in your car and in your briefcase so that you can take advantage of impromptu marketing opportunities – drop off brochures at a doctor’s office that is next door to a networking event you are attending.

5. Take time to get your office organized. A messy office can and will distract you when you are working on marketing your private practice.

Lucy MacDonald, M.Ed.

Private Practice Advisor

[email protected]

Two things I want to share with you.  One is the “Top 10 Rules for Small Business Success” by Brain Grinonneau from About.com.Marketing, a part of the New York Times Company.

1. Target

You are not all things to all people.  Decide on your niche-narrow your focus and broaden your appeal.

2.  Be Different

If you competitors are doing it, don’t.  Stand out from an overcrowded marketplace whee so much of the advertising and products look the same.

3.  Build a Team

Don’t hire an employee to fill a position.  Employ a person to be part of a team to build your business.

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In the last Blog, I discussed a “Needs Analyses”.  The objective was to point out a comparison between being salaried versus self-employed. For example, it will take 545 clinical hours per year or 10 counselling hours per week, to achieve a similar gross salary that you would receive if employed by an agency. I felt it was important to provide a conceptual framework from which to work and answer the questions: Is starting a private practice in clinical counselling financially doable given your location, financial resources, and your market place?

In order to guide you through this process, I will be disusing a strategic planning, operational planning, budgeting, and forecasting. [i]

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Finding the ideal office space and situation for your private practice is one of the most important decisions in starting a private practice.  As a counsellor starting a new practice it can be anxiety provoking because you may be committing money while being uncertain whether clients will call. Today, we’ll look at the options that counsellors have from the least to most risk.

• Home-based practice. Home-based practice allows the counsellor to work from the comforts of home provided they have ideal space. This would be a great option for someone focusing primarily on providing online counselling. The challenge is that you never leave the office and you never leave home.     

• Rent space by the hour.  Starting out your private practice renting by the hour involves very little risk. This allows the counsellor to maintain current employment while slowly building up a practice in the evenings, weekends, or part-time during the day. The down side of this option, depending on the situation, is the space may not be available when you need it and at a suitable time for your client.

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Greetings, first, let me give you a little background about me.  I have a degree in business, master’s degrees in adult education, and my second master’s degree is in clinical counselling psychology, as well I have a post-graduate diploma in leadership and administration. In addition to counselling at various places, such as: Hospice in Edmonton, a Women’s Crisis Centre, as a High School Counsellor, and with Cowichan Family Life. I also taught part-time in the bachelor of management degree program at Concordia University, Edmonton, and part-time as the co-ordinator and academic counsellor for the bachelor of education, adult education route at the University of Alberta, and as well, I taught many of the programs in the adult education degree program.  In addition, for many years, I was in  partnership with my husband growing our 4 very successful Optometric Eye Clinics.  When he retired, we moved to Campbell River, BC., where I have now started my private practice in clinical counselling.  

The first question you need to ask yourself is: Do you need immediate income????   Before you even consider preparing a business plan, you need to do the math.  How much income do you need to generate in your private practice that would be equal to a full-time salary if you were employed in an agency possibly earning $43,622.00 per annum? 

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 I wanted to start my blog by discussing the question that I and many other counsellors pose to themselves at some point, “Should I start a private practice?” I believe that there are two ways to make any decision, intuition and reasoning.  As a practicing counsellor I realize that I could make my decision by writing out the advantages and disadvantages of starting a private practice or learn to trust my intuition to make my decision based on that feeling.

The decision to enter the private practice counselling is intriguing. There are experienced counsellors that find the thought of entering the world of private practice daunting. At the same time there are novice counsellors that dive head first into private practice. What are factors influence a counsellor’s decision to offer private practice counselling? I can’t speak for everyone, however, maybe by sharing my (a novice counsellor) decision to enter into the world of private practice will allow you to gain some insight into this intriguing question.

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