Thinking about starting a private practice can feel scary, exciting, impossible, and overwhelming.
I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what the experience is like before starting a private practice.
Of course everyone has their own unique experience. But, there are certain phases that a lot of therapists seem to go through. I’m using my own creative interpretation to average some of these experiences together and describe them for you.
Then those of you who are starting to think about starting a private practice, or who are still in the midst of the process can know what to anticipate and feel validated as you experience some of these things.
Of course, my disclaimer is that this is just my own interpretation of the experiences I hear other therapists share about. You may go through none of these phases. Or, completely not relate at all. In which case, no worries!
Prefer to watch the video? You can watch the episode here:
9 phases in getting a start in private practice
Phase #1: career path change
It seems like for a lot of us therapists it’s not necessarily our first career choice to go into private practice. Most of us don’t go into grad school thinking that is going to be where we end up.
For many, the journey into private practice starts when we’re in a place where we’re not thinking about private practice as a career at all. Instead, whatever career path we’re on doesn’t seem to be working quite like how we thought it would.
Maybe we’re tired or under paid. Maybe we’re feeling jaded with the mental health care system or burnt out. Then, we start to question if the career path we’re on is the one we want to stay on.
I notice for a lot of folks in this phase that most don’t take an easy pivot out of something that’s not working. Rather, we tend to spend a bit of time trying to convince ourselves that wherever we’re at right now is not as bad as we seem to think.
However long folks end up spending in this phase, there tends to be a point where folks decide that they really do need to make a change. They decide that private practice may be a better fit.
The follow-up thoughts tend to be: “Am I actually allowed to do this?! Am I qualified enough? Do I have enough certifications? Am I old enough/too old to be in private practice?”
Of course I’m an advocate for making sure you’re qualified for whatever you’re hoping to do in your career. However, so many times I hear folks say this when they are fully qualified to start a private practice. But, it’s just the little scaries starting to creep up on you.
Phase #2: too many steps
After this, you may spend some time doing some research, getting reassurance from people in the field and come to the conclusion that you’re ready and qualified to go into private practice.
Next, you look into what it entails to go into private practice. As you get into it you enter the next phase of thinking: “I’m not able to do this. There are too many steps involved! I don’t know how to start a business or market my practice. HIPPA compliance? What system do I use to document everything? Maybe it’s just too much work…”
Of course, there are always ways to get support to make sure you are capable and equipped to do every single step to get started in private practice. But, feeling overwhelmed by all the to-dos can be a barrier for folks.
Phase #3: starting a private practice fears
Then, you finally cross that threshold where it’s really not working in your current career path and you are so sure that you are all in on the pivot to private practice. Here you go!
Something often happens in this moment where you’re completely resolved to actually do it. The real scaries set in. Not the logistical scaries, but the mental scaries.
You may be thinking: “What if I fail?! Or I don’t get any clients? What if I don’t make any money? Or what if I don’t actually like it? Maybe I’ll miss my old job?”
Emotional scaries start to set in once you decide that you’re doing this private practice thing.
Phase #4: mounting fears
For a lot of folks, these fears can keep escalating. For example, you may think: “What if I become so isolated that I’m completely alone? At least at my current job I have lots of colleagues that I am surrounded by.”
Or: “What if I get sued? What if something criminal or terrible happens with one of my clients and I get in trouble for it?”
Our minds have a way of filling in the blank of worst case scenarios to try to stop us from doing something.
Phase #5: getting started checklist
Then, someway, somehow you move through all those fears and you dive into the how-to of starting a practice. Like the actual, practical steps you need to run through to get a private practice up and running.
You might download a checklist like mine which lists everything you need to do. And as you go through it you start to realize that there is so much to do!
You may feel unsure if you’re even going to get through the massive list of to-dos. But, nonetheless you push through and muster the courage to get through the list.
As you work through the list you realize you need to find a way to get clients in our practice. People have to find you as their therapist.
Phase #6: developing a marketing strategy
At this moment, a lot of folks go one of two directions. Both of which are maybe not the best direction.
For marketing, some folks take the “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach. This is when you try every single marketing strategy you can think of and hope something works.
Others take the approach of trying to determine the one single marketing strategy that works best and then replicating it. Regardless if that is what they want to do or if it’s a good fit for their practice or clients.
For many these methods don’t work very well.
At some point after having your practice open for a few weeks or months you may be discouraged by how many open slots there are in your schedule. You may start to question everything.
Your mind is thinking: “What have I done? My marketing strategy is not filling my practice. I’m not making enough money.”
You may even start to wonder if you should go back to your previous job/career trajectory?
Phase #7: hanging on
Despite all of this, many continue to hang on. Pretty quickly, you start to realize that even though you still have a lot of open spots on your calendar that you’re starting to approach the same income you were making when you were working for someone else.
And you realize that you can make it work on your current income for a season of time while you keep building your caseload.
You also start to understand that you enjoy the work that you’re doing so much more! You appreciate the freedom to choose who you get to work with along with being adequately compensated for the work that you do.
Phase #8: fine-tuning marketing strategies
Instead of feeling discouraged by the open time in your schedule, you come to see that you can use that time to fine-tune your marketing approach.
You learn to put your marketing energies towards strategies that are most effective in finding your ideal clients. This is the time when you find a marketing approach that aligns best with your skill sets, and things that bring you joy.
You might even be able to find a way to market your practice in a way that feels meaningful to you. For example, offering a workshop, or writing blog posts.
Phase #9: the exhale
Once you start to fill your practice enough to feel like it is sustaining itself, you can exhale.
You may not feel totally out of the woods yet. But, I’ve heard many therapists who have made it to this phase say things like: “I should have started my private practice a long time ago. I shouldn’t have waited so long to start.”
Even when folks don’t have a fully thriving business they tend to feel a lot better by this stage of the process. This tends to happen much earlier in the process than you might realize.
You aren’t alone!
I’d like to reiterate that this is just a reflection of a lot of different stories that I hear over and over again from people starting a private practice. But, not everyone goes through any or all of these phases. You might have your own very unique journey.
I wanted to name some of these experiences that I hear other private practice owners share repeatedly because I wanted to normalize these experiences. It is my hope that when you come up to something that feels like a roadblock you don’t feel alone in that experience.
That way you can see the roadblock as a common challenge that’s part of the journey instead of a sign that you aren’t cut out for private practice. It’s nice to know that other people have hit this challenge before and moved through it. You can too!!
Extra tools
If you are in need of some tools for how to navigate some of the roadblocks to starting a private practice, I have several videos, e-courses and articles that may provide some help.
If you are right at the beginning stages of planning to start a private practice, I have an article that outlines how to plan for launching your therapy practice.
Need help getting your private practice off the ground? Check out my video on starting from scratch.
Are you looking for help in creating a sustainable way to attract clients to your private practice? Check out my course called the Client Attraction System.
I have an article for you if you’re worried that you won’t make enough money in private practice.
Or maybe you’re concerned about being isolated in private practice? Watch my video about how to avoid isolation in your therapy practice.
And until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well!
-Marie
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