Dream clients, dream income, dream lifestyle flexibility. Private practice seems to check a lot of boxes for many clinicians who want to make a pivot away from community mental health, group practices or other clinical settings. Creating a private practice is an exciting venture with so many possibilities. In my own practice building I’ve filled pages and pages of notebooks sketching out the design of my practice, what my goals are and potential outlets I’d like to explore. Since the excitement is high and the ideas are flowing, the prospect of launching a private practice made me feel on top of the world.
But with the flip of a journal page, I encountered an experience that many therapists face as they prepare to make a leap into creating their practice–the overwhelm of it all. The business side of a therapy practice is often daunting for therapists, myself included. Typically graduate programs do not prepare clinicians for the business fundamentals that are required to own and operate a business. So, while eager to develop the freedom and flexibility that a private practice offers, navigating the complexities of building a thriving practice that generates the income reflective of the clinician’s worth and expertise can be just plain tough, to put it mildly.
So what makes it exciting AND daunting when a therapist is launching their practice? I break it down into a two main buckets:
These two buckets, Clients to Serve and Setting up for Sustainability, have some important overlap. Let’s look more at the cross-section of the just-right client and the financial considerations that a private practice owner will need to be setting up a sustainable practice. It’s not a surprise that this comes down to fees, living wages and the tricky considerations therapists need to make regarding insurance paneling. Given the drawbacks and challenges of having an insurance-based practice, many clinicians are opting to be out of network with insurance panels. This can bring up inner tension for therapists about practice accessibility for the clients they most sincerely wish to serve.
In my own practice I have walked this line of tension and it’s certainly encouraged a lot of introspection for me. I’ve considered my commitment to mental health and belief that accessibility of services is fundamental to all. I also recognize my need for an income that allows me the financial means to care for my family well, invest in building up my business and pursue personal goals. As I’ve considered the varying perspectives around accessibility, it’s been important to me that I engage in open discussion with other providers who are also navigating these decisions. One important truth I’ve come to during this process is that as private practice owners we do not have to have everything figured out, but that building our sustainable private practices occurs with intention over time.
During a discussion with a colleague, as I continued to slowly set up sustainable practice structures, I was intrigued to learn about the potential opportunity to meet both my Clients to Serve AND my Setting Up For Sustainability goals by utilizing Mentaya’s platform. Mentaya offers clinicians an avenue for supporting their right-fit clients with access to a simpler out-of-network reimbursement process through their insurance panel while allowing the therapist to set and charge the fee they need to stay within their sustainable practice goals. For my own practice, this feels like the potential to merge my values around accessibility and need for sustainability within my practice.
Sustainable practices are built through introspection, exploration and strategy (and a bit of risk, let’s be honest). As I continue to explore and strategize, while maintaining my commitment to serving my just-right clients, I have begun to layer in conversations about how clients can leverage their out-of-network benefits, with the option of utilizing Mentaya’s platform for ease of reimbursement. As a clinician I appreciate being able to offer a tool to my clients and support their agency in utilizing what works for them while also being rooted in what works for me and my practice.
Here’s to the journey of finding the balance points for Clients to Serve and Setting Up for Sustainability. Let’s keep exploring.
Jen Reisinger is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Perinatal Mental Health Specialist who has been working with clients since 2010 in the State of Washington in private practice as well as various other settings. Jen has specialized training and expertise in bereavement, postpartum mental health, as well as working with youth and parents. Learn more about Jen’s therapy practice at www.reisingercounseling.com.
