• Fostering Connection’s step-by-step instructions on how to open a private practice in Washington State

• Heard

• Assess your strengths and areas you thrive/your gifts

• Assess your areas of growth, continued challenges, and weaknesses

• Working on and refining areas of growth, continued challenges, and weaknesses

• Awareness and active exploration and management of scarcity, anxiety, worthiness, shame, guilt, and money mindset issues/core beliefs you hold

• Understands and is comfortable with the reality of opening and building a private practice. Takes anywhere from 10-16 months to have a full caseload (depends on what you consider a full weekly caseload is)

  • Click here to read my post blog titled How Long Does It Take To Get A Full Caseload?

• Is okay making limited income in the beginning stages of business (0-9 months)

• Comfortable with making variable income based on the seasons of the year (e.g. summer is slower so take vacation then, fall is busier so working more) and/or due to client cancelations

• Has a partner/spouse, savings fund, and/or disposable income in the beginning stages or is okay working part-time or per diem to supplement income in the beginning stages when you are building a caseload

• Comfortable with consistent and ongoing networking with other colleagues (talking about themselves and reciprocal building relationships)

• Comfortable with consistent and ongoing professional marketing with whatever method that they prefer and works for them and their ideal client such as : Google ads, Google My Business, SEO, blogging, social media, networking, a good website, writing a book, presenting workshops, going on podcasts, etc.

• The traits and skills needed to be in private practice include, but not are limited to:

  • Identification of values and goals of your business (Why do you want to open a private practice. Who will you serve? What are your business values? What are your personal values?)

  • Go getter, self motivated and proactive

  • Active learner

  • Problem solver

  • Financial literacy

  • Strong clinical skills and judgement

  • Evidence based practice

  • Strong foundation of basic counseling skills

  • Customer service

  • Marketing and advertising

  • Adaptable

  • Okay with taking risks

  • Patience

  • Organized

  • Communication skills

  • Self awareness and insight

  • Okay with taking risks

  • Self confidence

• Assessing your comfort with being a business owner and everything related to owning a business.

  • This can include: marketing, advertising, having your income directly related to bringing in new clients consistently, paying for your own health insurance, paying your own and taking out your own federal taxes.

• Assessing your comfort working with clients long term vs. short-term (e.g. crisis work)

• Finding a good fit supervisor who can help you with both clinical and business related issues and meeting with them weekly

• Continually learning, researching, studying, etc. due to being isolated in a private practice setting vs. working for an agency which has support and training embedded already in it such as grand rounds, case consult, group supervision, etc.

• Referring clients out if supervision, consultation, studying, researching, and ongoing learning is not helping you

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Those Who Tend To Thrive & Be Attracted To Private Practice

• Valuing freedom and autonomy to make their own choices such as setting your fee, scheduling, time off, etc.

• Valuing flexibility of working for yourself such as modifying your schedule, modifying your fee, taking as much time off as you want, working overseas, being 100% telehealth, being 100% in person, hybrid scheduling, etc.

• Wants to work less and see less clients per week

• Wants to make a desired income that is not offered in group practice or agency (e.g. six figures)

• Does not like working for others

• Embraces the challenges of being a small business owner

• Enjoy the nitty gritty parts of business such as taxes, renewing licenses, etc.

• Are confident in who they are

• Are congruent (inside matches the outside)

• Are authentic to who they are

• Practice assertive communication vs. passive, passive aggressive, or aggressive communication

• Have a beginner’s mind vs. believing they know everything and are an expert

• Are comfortable making mistakes

• Are comfortable taking risks

• Can repair and negotiate relationships after disagreements/ruptures/conflicts

• And more

Click here to read my blog post titled Private Practice Is Not For Everyone.

• Click here to a list of private practice resources I’ve compiled.

1. You feel overwhelmed with the amount of information available

2. You don't want to DIY and spend hours of your time researching and teaching yourself

3. You can spend many hours a week devoted to marketing yourself and networking with others

4. You want to pay and invest with a another person's help and guidance

5. You're ready to identify and explore your strengths as well as areas of growth including: scarcity, abundance, growth mindset, fixed mindset, limiting beliefs, and more.

6. You know there are no 100% guarantees or promises with coaching and that it requires a mixture of things including: 1) Your own consistent work and effort, 2) Time and patience to see short-term and long-term results, 3) Honesty and identification of your own strengths, areas of growth, values, and skills, and 4) Risks, creativity, and experimenting, 5) Hiring out or paying someone else to do things for you that you may not want to do or are not good at, and more.

• What if my business fails? What if nobody comes to see me?

• I feel so overwhelmed. I’m not sure where to start. Even researching is overwhelming.

• I never learned any of this in grad school, is it possible to learn business and do therapy?

• Why would someone pay me cash/private pay? Why wouldn’t clients use their insurance?

• What if clients don’t pay me? What if a credit card is declined? What do I do?

• What EHR should I get? Do I need an EHR?

• What’s a business plan? Do I need one?

• How do I do everything? Answer the phone, reply to emails, and also see clients?