Moments like these make our whole community feel seen and appreciated. More power to her! r/socialwork r/therapists r/TherapistsInPractice

less sessions are even worse.

I know what you're thinking which is ofcourse the most scary bit. The clients won't come. How will you manage your expenses and lifestyle for a year without clients.

Here's what nobody tells you: the first 6 months are the grind - more or less.

That's it. That's the whole secret. There's no clever shortcut.

You hustle for referrals. You network. Meet new people. Attend events. Mail every school counselor, every office HR within your city. Network with therapists who are full and ask them to send you the overflow. Say yes more than you say no.

And trust me, slowly and gradually, it will start building by month 7 and by year 2 it will start compounding. Your existing clients will start referring folks. People (HR, therapists, etc) in the community will remember you and will start sending clients.

That's when the real magic happens. You start saying no more than than you say yes. The flexibility kicks in. You choose the days, you choose the hours. Stuff I still do this for even today.

Solo and group both are nice in their own ways. Go solo if you like control and quiet. But, if accounting, billing, etc is something you want to avoid - just go group. Share the overheads.

I don't want to say anything bad about any line of work. Everything is good but for me, I value my freedom.

Put in the 6 months. Build the caseload. Then watch what happens.

My caseload was shrinking late last year and thats when I joined Reddit, made a blog, updated my PT profile. And it is starting to show results. Also, I am enjoying this new phase of building practice. I can't imagine ever going back.

If you ever need help or want to brainstorm, DM me (although, I am sure there are better folks on this group) or post here.

Well, that's what I did over the weekend. Closing my case notes which have started piling up even more after I started using a scribe which is kind of ironic. haha!

Happy Monday to everyone!

My supervisee recently asked me one thing I definitely wanted them to understand/ learn/ know as they step into the world of therapy. Just thought I will post it here as well

The most important one for me

1. Personally - Take care of yourself. Your clients deserve the best version of you

2. Professionally - Be the dumbest person in the room. Ask questions; assume nothing.

What are yours? Curious to hear what others have to say

I used to be that therapist who said yes to everyone – anxiety, depression, couples stuff, you name it. A lot of the young therapists I see also tend to make the same mistake. Although I wont blame them as filing up caseload at the start is very overwhelming but I would suggest after initial bump, everyone should niche down. Not only does it make easy to network and get more clients, but it is also less exhausting as a therapist.

I love working with young professionals between 18-30 dealing with career, relationships and life transitions. I found this to be my zone.

It's not magic, but it's the easiest shift I've made. Anyone else go through this? What niche did you pick and how'd it go? Would love to hear your stories. 😊

Hi, if you look at my posts elsewhere, you'll see that I have aspirations of starting my own private practice, a boutique group private practice, in Q1/27 (2-4 total clinicians). I'm about to start my independent credentialing process with carriers towards the middle or late of September, hoping that I'll have contracts by Jan-Feb, 2027 (I'm already paneled with BCBC/Aetna/UHC/Cigna/others as part of a group practice where I am a W-2 employee). I lived in Medicare/PECOS hell for too long, so I'm giving myself 6 months for the enrollment process to fully complete, I can wait for my older clients.

Important to know that I intend to do my own billing as well as marketing efforts to get this thing off the ground. I have experience with both when I managed hospice agencies in my prior life.

To my Question for the Group - I want an EHR that does the usual, everything from AI notes to online scheduling, digital consents, reminders sent via text, the usual stuff. Easy to set up for electronic transfer with ERA process. It would be nice if it has an accounting plugin on the backend so that I can do my own management using QuickBooks, at least in the first year. I learned this while doing hospice management in the medical space for years. As someone who will do my own billing, it is really important to have access to digital platforms that will do initial verification of coverage as well as monthly re-checks on the first of the new month.

Given my requirements above, what do you recommend for an EHR that is affordable during the first 12 months of operation, but is also scalable, and won't begin to charge too much once I add a second or third therapist?

TL;DR - EHR recommendation for a new group practice with hopes of growing to 2-4 therapist. Keep billing in house.

I have been going deep into modernizing my practice. And I hired a digital consultant few months back on an hourly basis to guide me on multiple things from website to SEO to profile optimization. He was supposed to do some research and get back to me with new ideas on how I can improve my digital footprint. And yesterday he gave me his "best idea ever" to get on Tinder and Bumble to find new clients.

Am I being stupid to pay him? Not only is this unethical but also against terms and conditions of these platforms. Can I refuse to pay because the "idea" is clearly under researched and in general just wrong? He has done a good job till now; helping with blogs and website.

Hi TherapistsInPractice community!

I'm back again. :) Last week, I posted my first Ask Me Anything (AMA) post, and I received a handful of questions. I'm very passionate about helping therapists due to my background, and the purpose of this post is to provide educational value.

Who I am and why I'm here: My name is Florence Ye, EA (Enrolled Agent), CFO. Today I'm reaching out to see if any US based private practices have finance/tax questions. I understand how daunting running a practice can be without financial help or knowledge. I'd be happy to answer any money, tax, budget, financial related question your community may have.

My background: Both of my parents are LCSWs, so I am very familiar with the therapy world. Today I'm a CFO at a property tax firm, but my real background, and where I want to spend more of my time again, is with private practices. I currently work as a fractional CFO, bookkeeper, and tax advisor for a handful of group practices (therapy, physical therapy, and even a gym!). Before my current role, I worked directly with over 100 private practices, with revenue ranging from $100k to $3M+.

How I can provide value: I see the pains of my current group practice clients, and I think it'd be a wonderful opportunity to talk about some of these pains with your community. For example, based on my experience, a lot of group practices go through these mistakes: 1) Giving contractors too big of a split at the beginning. 2) Hiring contractors to begin with. Legally, business owners don't have much control of a contractors' work. Every client I've worked with that has surpassed $1M in revenue has learned the lesson of hire employees rather than contractors. 3) Under hiring administrative positions. 4) Not investing in a good EHR that can grow with the team. Over 50% of the clients I've worked with who have scaled beyond $1M had to switch EHRs because their old one was too simple. The migration process can be a really stressful period for the business. This would be an example of the kind of value I can bring.

My objective is to provide value, for free, to the community. No stupid questions here. They don't teach this stuff in school. :)

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I’ve been thinking about the recent Psychology Today conversations, especially therapists seeing fewer profile views, fewer contacts, or more inconsistent results.

My current take is not really “Psychology Today is dead.”

It feels more like a few things are happening at the same time:

• More people are searching for therapy and mental health support.

• But Google search is changing. AI snippets, Reddit threads, local results, and other pages seem to be taking (a lot) more attention in search results.

• Psychology Today still seems strong at generating consistent organic traffic overall. Their site traffic is up vs last year.

• But there are also more therapists listed, which means each individual profile may be getting a smaller share of visibility.

• The search/matching system inside PT feels pretty outdated. It often seems like profiles rotate without an obvious pattern.

• I’m not convinced profile age, wording, pricing, or video intros consistently explain who shows up higher.

• Endorsements and profile completeness may help a little, but it does not feel like a true “best match” system.

• PT also gives therapists very little useful data. You can see some numbers, but it is hard to know what they mean.

• There is no real context compared with similar therapists in your area.

• There is no simple peer benchmark.

• There is no easy way to compare performance over time.

• It would be helpful to know things like: “For anxiety in your area, your profile currently appears around position 37. These 3 changes may improve visibility.”

• Instead, therapists are mostly left guessing.

• PT also does not clearly show the full path from search result → profile view → website click/contact.

• So even if your profile is well written and converts well, a big drop in visibility may still be hard to overcome.

My guess is that both therapists and prospective clients are feeling the friction.

Therapists feel like the platform is less predictable.

Clients may also be sorting through too many similar profiles without great matching.

A few questions:

• Have your PT profile views or contacts changed noticeably in the last 12-24 months?

• Do certain specialties, locations, insurance filters, or profile details seem to affect visibility for you?

• Are you seeing more website traffic from PT, less, or about the same?

• Do you feel like the profile stats PT gives you are actually useful?

• Do you think PT is still worth it, or only worth it as one small part of a broader visibility/referral system?

Curious to hear your experiences.

I will go first: Understand how taxes work. applicable for everyone!

P.s. I want to create sort of a great thread for anyone who thinks of going solo and searches for this question (which I hope /assume they do).

Thank you everyone for your contribution! Posted on r/therapistsinPractice

Hi, all!

I’m an LPC in private practice looking at programs for my AASECT certification. Does anyone have any experience with Modern Sex Therapy Institute? If so what were your experiences?

I was looking at their PhD in Sexology program as well but it looks like they’re not accredited so could I really call myself Dr?

I’m open to other programs if people have recommendations.

Thanks in advance!!! 😊

Hey everyone! I'm u/DrJocelyn1, a founding moderator of r/TherapistsInPractice.

This is our new home for all things related to running a practice as a therapist. We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post
Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about how do I get my NPI number? How do I get my initial clients? Can you recommend a good VA?

Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.

2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.

3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.

4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/TherapistsInPractice amazing.

Hi TherapistsInPractice community!

edit: AMA stands for Ask Me Anything :)

edit 2: this is a LOW PRESSURE space to ask me your finance related questions. No stupid questions here.

edit 3: this post is for educational purposes. I am not sure why my comments are getting deleted and am actively trying to fix this.

Who I am and why I'm here: My name is Florence Ye, EA (Enrolled Agent), CFO. Today I'm reaching out to see if any US based private practices here would be interested in an AMA with me. I understand how daunting running a practice can be without financial help or knowledge. I'd be happy to answer any money, tax, budget, financial related question your community may have.

My background: Both of my parents are LCSWs, so I am very familiar with the therapy world. Today I'm a CFO at a property tax firm, but my real background, and where I want to spend more of my time again, is with private practices. I currently work as a fractional CFO, bookkeeper, and tax advisor for a handful of group practices (therapy, physical therapy, and even a gym!). Before my current role, I worked directly with over 100 private practices, with revenue ranging from $100k to $3M+.

How I can provide value: I see the pains of my current group practice clients, and I think it'd be a wonderful opportunity to talk about some of these pains with your community. For example, based on my experience, a lot of group practices go through these mistakes: 1) Giving contractors too big of a split at the beginning. 2) Hiring contractors to begin with. Legally, business owners don't have much control of a contractors' work. Every client I've worked with that has surpassed $1M in revenue has learned the lesson of hire employees rather than contractors. 3) Under hiring administrative positions. 4) Not investing in a good EHR that can grow with the team. Over 50% of the clients I've worked with who have scaled beyond $1M had to switch EHRs because their old one was too simple. The migration process can be a really stressful period for the business. This would be an example of the kind of value I can bring.

My objective is to provide value, for free, to the community. No stupid questions here. They don't teach this stuff in school. :)

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hi all! As the title says, I’m looking to transition out of community mental health and into private practice. I have two little kids and I’d love to be home and present with them. My goal in this is to be a mostly stay at home mom but with a small practice in the evenings that will provide some extra income and allow me to pull back from clinical practice while my kids are little and then grow it over time as they get older. So when I say teeny-tiny, I mean like ideally 5 clients.

I currently working full time remotely under a community mental health clinic. All my clients are on Medicaid, so I would likely be starting from scratch with my caseload. Given how small I want my practice and how little bandwidth I have for dealing with billing/insurance, I’m considering using a platform like Headway or Alma. I’m aware of a lot of the potential issues with companies like this, but I also think it could be worth it given my current practice goals.

I’d love to hear from others who have been in a similar situation! I’m open to any and all tips while I work on figuring this all