How To Start Your Own Therapy Practice – Starting a private practice that offers counseling to clients can be exciting. It gives you the opportunity to help people on your own terms, to research and try new therapeutic techniques, and to build your business in a way that fits your lifestyle. It can also be scary. After all, you may know how to support customers, but you likely have little to no experience running or marketing a business.
If you’ve completed school and are licensed in your state, this checklist can help you open a thriving private practice. If you’re new to the world of therapy and looking for help becoming a therapist, check out this guide.
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How To Start Your Own Therapy Practice
Working for yourself can feel like a dream come true, especially if you enjoy being a therapist. But private practice requires a good deal of business acumen and adds a myriad of new responsibilities to your daily life. So talk to other therapists in private practice to better understand what they like and don’t like. Some important considerations include:
Quick Start For Online Therapy
Each state and municipality has its own regulations governing business. Plan to consult a business attorney so you can follow the laws in your area. Some important considerations include:
If you are looking for a loan to start your business, you will likely need to provide a detailed business plan. Even if you’re financing everything out of pocket, a business plan can help you succeed as quickly as possible. This should be an evolving document that changes as you learn and do more.
To run a successful business, you need to have a safe and inviting space for customers to see. This doesn’t mean you need to invest in a fancy office. Some therapists isolate a room in their home to use as a home office. Others share office space with other therapists. No matter what you choose, you need to make sure you have budgeted for all of the following:
An office administrator can save time and possibly money by answering phones, managing paperwork, tracking payments, and performing other important tasks. If you’re paid half of what you earn per hour, for example, that frees up administrative time so you can spend money on paying clients instead of dealing with administrative issues.
The Group Practice Outfitter
Of course, hiring help also comes with some additional costs: salary, benefits, payroll taxes, and more. Spend some time evaluating the costs and benefits of an employee such as a receptionist, office manager, or even a second therapist.
Joining an insurance company panel can help you find more customers as you will be listed as part of a network of insurance companies. Joining the provider panel allows you to receive payments directly from insurers. This makes therapy more accessible and can expand the network of clients you can offer therapy to. Start by signing up with the biggest providers in your area. You can usually find applications and information about joining the provider’s panel on the insurer’s website.
Networking is free marketing. Other therapists can offer tips on running a business, refer clients to you, and be a sounding board when you need advice. But networking is more than just letting others know you’ve opened an office. Networking should be based on mutual trust and not on name-dropping. Then meet another therapist. Invest in your work and efforts. Find ways to partner on projects. Earning the respect of your colleagues takes time, but it’s worth the effort.
There are dozens of ways to promote your business and not all of them require a significant financial investment. You need a quality website because many clients find therapy by searching online. Others look for a specific problem or question and choose their therapist when they find a therapist who offers compassionate answers. Therefore, a website full of useful information and inviting language is a powerful marketing tool.
Calling All Therapists Starting Out In Private Practice
Providing quality customer service remains the most important thing you can do to promote yourself, so don’t waste too much time focusing on marketing gimmicks. Establishing a niche can help you do your best work, as clients who know you have expertise in treating specific problems can recommend you to friends and family.
Clear policies help you better manage your practice by ensuring clients know what to expect. Some considerations include:
It is important to define this policy clearly. But don’t assume the customer will read this form. In your first session, discuss your policy with the client. This promotes a feeling of mutual trust and ensures that the client understands what they can and cannot expect when choosing you as their therapist.
Building forms may seem like a pain, but over time, they can speed up the process of building your practice. Some forms to consider include:
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Ultimately, the most important marketing strategy is to do a good job for the customers you are qualified to treat. When you make a significant difference in someone’s life, they are more likely to recommend you to a friend. Supporting someone as they change their life for the better can be very rewarding, making it easier to juggle the many roles you need to fill in private practice.
Offers many resources, including a directory to help you market your business, continuing education seminars to help you improve your skills and become a better manager, and a variety of articles on best practices in the field of mental health. Become a member now to start growing your business.
Use cookies to adjust content and advertising settings to provide a better service to our users and analyze our traffic. By continuing to use this site you agree to our cookies. If you move your practice from a different state, there is an eighth step you must follow: Learn how to pay taxes in multiple states.
This article covers the basics needed to get your therapeutic exercise up and running in the Golden State.
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For more information about budgeting, marketing your practice, and billing your clients, check out our general guide, How to Start a Therapy Practice.
California has 58 counties and 482 municipalities. Before choosing a location for your therapeutic practice — even if the location is your own home — you need to be sure that local zoning allows you to operate there.
In cases where you are not normally permitted to operate a business in a certain area – for example, a home business in a residential area – you can request a zoning variance. A variant is more or less an exception to the zoning law.
For information about whether you need to request a variance, what type of city or town zoning you recognize, and what business you can do there, contact your local municipality.
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If your therapy practice is individually owned and you want to operate under your own name (e.g., “Jane Smith”), you can do so without registering a business name.
If you want a name other than your own (e.g. “Jane Smith Konseling”) or move to a different business structure (professional firm), you must register the business as a name (DBA), also called a fictitious business name (FBN). .
Don’t let the “fiction” fool you. Once registered, your DBA/FBN is your legal business name to operate under.
As an optional step before registration, if your business is professional, you can also register a business name reservation at the state level. Your company name will be protected for up to 60 days.
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Each country recognizes – and registers – different business structures (also known as “entity types”). The business structure of your practice affects how your income is taxed and who can own shares in the practice.
The state of California imposes limits on the licensed business structure that mental health professionals can choose for their private practice. You have two options to choose from:
Please note that you cannot operate as an LLC or PLLC as a therapist in California. This list is just an introduction. Before deciding on a business structure, talk to your accountant – and, if necessary, a lawyer – to help you choose the right structure.
When you are in business for yourself, you are considered the sole owner by default. As a sole proprietorship, your business is identical to your people: all income is your income, all losses are your losses.
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A sole proprietorship is the simplest form of business structure, but it offers nothing in terms of legal or financial protection.
Like regular businesses, professional businesses exist separately from their owners, who own shares in them. There are two types: C corporations and S corporations. C corporations can elect S corporation status by filing IRS Form 2553.
C corporations have their income separate from shareholder income. S corporations pass tax liability to each shareholder. For a variety of reasons, Heard advises her clients to form an S corporation at the federal level.
The business structure of a professional corporation makes each shareholder of the corporation personally responsible for any medical malpractice lawsuit brought against them, while also protecting the corporation as a whole from any liability.
Llc And Pllc Registration Checklist For Therapists
Other than registering a DBA/FBN, there are no additional steps you need to take to form a sole proprietorship in California.
To operate in California, your therapy practice may need a license or permit. This is care
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