Therapist Blog Challenge #20: Athletes and Mental Health

Therapist Blog Challenge #20 deals with the sometimes misunderstood topic of the mental challenges that athletes may experience.

[Headline] Come up with a headline to give your readers an idea of what is to come. Here are a few examples:

Athletes' Unique Struggles With Mental Illness

Why Athletes Are Not Immune to Mental Health Challenges

Depression and Anxiety in Athletic Competitors

[Strong Intro] Write an introductory paragraph to explain more the topic and lay the scene for your main points. You may write your own or use the following:

Athletes are the envy of many in our society. Whether they're professionals, college players, or even high schoolers who excel in sports, it's not uncommon to desire their physical strength, attractive appearance, and mental grit. But what some may not understand is that athletes are just as vulnerable to mental health problems as the rest of the population. In fact, they often face unique struggles concerning their psychological well-being. According to some estimates, as many as 1 in 5 athletes experiences some form of a mood disorder. Here are 4 common reasons why athletes may struggle with mental illness:

[Scanable Content] Break up your content to make it more digestible and easy to read. Under each point, flesh out your idea by elaborating on your thoughts.

Athletes Often Tie Their Self-Worth To Their Performance

Athletes may experience feelings of worthlessness or extreme disappointment if they lose a game or match or otherwise do not perform at the level they desire. As losing (and even failing) is an inherent part of sports, this can occur quite frequently and therefore take an emotional toll that may leave these individuals prone to situational depression.

Frequent Injuries

Depending on the specific sport of event, some athletes may get hurt quite regularly. Head injuries (particularly concussions) sometimes seen with football players can lead to depression. Also, injuries that sideline athletes can cause them to feel incomplete or incompetent, which may further trouble them emotionally; if sports is what an individual excels at, he/she may feel like there is nothing else without them.

Associate Mental Illness With Weakness

As athletics emphasizes strength, having an "off-day" or being otherwise psychologically low may come off as weakness. Coaches and players may exacerbate this idea, and athletes can feel even worse about themselves if they are experiencing extreme sadness, anxiety, or other uncomfortable emotions resulting from a mental illness. There is already enough societal stigma concerning this topic, and this may even be more so in the world of athletics.

High Stress and Pressure

Everyone experiences the stress of everyday life, but that felt during an athletic event is even more intense. As an athlete's paycheck (and pride) depends on their performance, the stress and anxiety can sometimes prove too much and create a heavy psychological burden.

[Strong ending paragraph] 

Wrap up your post by summarizing your main points to conclude and then possibly offering a further idea or two for readers to investigate on their own. Here's an example:

The nature of sports and competitiveness presents unique challenges for athletes. Thankfully, we can raise awareness of this issue in the hopes or reaching more individuals who may need professional help. Visit the International Society for Sports Psychiatry (ISSP) for more information.

Additional reminders about the 2015 blog challenge

• Write and post your blog article in the next 2 weeks. If you miss the deadline or you read this article months later, that’s OK too. Post a link for this blog challenge in the comment section of this blog post.
• Read, comment, and share other therapist’s articles.
• Tweet your post using hashtag #therapistblog and tag @julie_hanks so I can retweet it.
• Pin it on the challenge Pinterest Board. I’ve invited everyone who posted a comment on the initial blog challenge post as collaborators so you can pin onto the group board.
• Spread the word and invite mental health colleagues to join the challenge. Articles can be added anytime throughout the year.
• Write no more than 600 words, make it easy to read, use a conversational tone, and gear your articles toward your ideal client (not other professionals).
• The goal of a professional blog is to provide value to your website visitors, help them get to know your professional perspective, increase traffic to your private practice website, and build your practice.

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5 Steps To Resigning From Insurance Panels

One of the most common questions that private practice therapists ask me is "How do I get off of insurance panels?" This question just came up today in my Private Practice Toolbox Facebook Group so I thought it would be a great topic for a blog post. In previous posts I've written about why I broke up with managed care (part 1) & (part 2), but this post will focus on how to do it.

The thought of letting go of the comfort of being on insurance panels can create a lot of anxiety for private practice therapists. After all, if we don't have clients, we don't get paid. Find comfort in knowing this equation. You only need about half the number of clients in a self-pay practice to make the same income (or more) than you made in an insurance based practice. Once I realized this fact, I felt a lot more comfortable resigning from insurance panels. Let's do the math...

Insurance:

Say you are seeing 20 managed care clients per week and you are reimbursed an average of $70 per client.

20 clients x $70 session = $1,400

20 clients x $70 session x 4 weeks = $5,600 per month

(then subtract your time or money spent in billing and paperwork)

Fee-for-service:

2o clients x $125 = $2500/wk

20 clients x $125 session x 4 weeks = $10,000 per month

10 clients x $125 session x 4 weeks = $5,000 per month

(with NO extra paperwork, NO delay in payment, NO denied claims, NO required diagnosis...)

So often we focus on number of clients instead of the quality of clients and the amount collected per client.

5 Steps To Resigning From Health Insurance Panels

1) Rank the insurance companies

Make a list of insurance panels and rank them from your most favorite to least favorite based on:

• reimbursement rates
• paper work requirements
• how quickly you're paid
• number of clients you see from each panel
• the type of clients generally referred
• your general feeling working with each panel

2) Resign in waves starting with your least favorite

Generally, I recommend to my consulting clients to resign in waves over the course of a year. Resign first from the panels with the lowest ranking - the ones that pay the least and are the most difficult to work with.

3) Check your contract for resignation requirements

Review your contract to check on the resignation process that you agreed to. Look at the time frame required. Do you need to give them 30, 60, or 90 days notice? Do you need to send in a written letter?

4) Beef up your web presence

As part of your plan to resign from insurance panels, it critical to invest in creating other referral sources. The most important being your web presence. Google is my #1 referral source. The majority of our clients who come to my clinic Wasatch Family Therapy find us online. The benefit of clients finding you online is that they've already read about you, your services, and your philosophy on your website and have chosen to contact you. This increases the likelihood that they will be willing to pay your full fee.

• Website - If you don't have a website, make that a top priority. If you have a website, make sure it's effective. Here are some common website mistakes and how to fix them.
• Blog - If you don't have a blog on your site, add one and start blogging weekly.
• Therapist finder sites - join PsychologyToday.com, GoodTherapy.org, and your professional organization's "find a therapist" site to help potential clients find you.

5) Know the benefits of self-pay and be prepared to educate clients

There are benefits to the client for paying out of pocket, instead of going through their insurance company, that they may not be aware of. As you make the transition away from managed care to a fee-for-service practice it's important to familiarize yourself with these benefits so you can educate your clients. A few of those benefits are: control over which provider you choose to work with, the course of treatment decided on by client and therapist instead of insurance company, and no diagnosis requirement.

Here's an example of how a provider educates her patients on the benefits of self-pay. Utah Psychiatrist Kelli Hyland, MD my colleague and consultation client, shares her philosophy in this blog post "Why Self-pay?"

(c) Can Stock Photo

5 Signs It's Time To Raise Your Fees

It's common for therapists in private practice to have anxiety around money issues like how much to charge per session, how to ask clients for payment, and when to raise your fees. Getting comfortable talking about fees with clients is crucial to private practice success. After all, you own a business. In general, I think therapists charge too little for their services.

Several years ago, I resigned from managed care and I raised my psychotherapy fees at the same time. Fortunately, my practice didn't suffer financially from those decisions. What surprised me most about raising my per session fee was that the perceived value of my services went up. "You don't take insurance and charge a lot? You must be really good," was a sentiment that I heard frequently from potential clients.

Interestingly, I've found that clients tend to invest more in the therapy process because they are investing more money out of their own pocket for treatment.

If you're considering raising your fees, consider these 5 signs that the time has come to raise your fees.

1) You haven't raised your psychotherapy rate in over 5 years

If it's been over five years since you've raised your therapy fees, it's time to revisit the issue. Your cost of living goes up approximately 2% every year due to inflation. If you haven't raised your fees you are likely making less than you made five years ago.

2) Your full fee is equal to insurance reimbursement

If you set your fees based on what insurance companies are willing to reimburse, then your fees are too low. Historically, insurance companies reimburse at a much lower rate than the providers full fee.

3) You aren't making enough money to pay your bills

Your private practice needs to serve your clients and provide a sufficient income for you. If you are not making ends meet in your practice or your personal life you may need to reduces expenses and increase your rates.

4) You have a waiting list

A waiting list is a sign that your services are in demand and that clients will pay more for your services.

5) You've completed specialized training or certification

Your added expertise deserves additional compensation. If you have recently completed advanced training, like certification in DBT or Emotionally Focused Couples therapy, for example, you may want to charge more.

When is the last time you raised your rates? How do you decide when to increase your fees?

photo credit: Corey Holms

Private Practice Marketing Made Easy

Last week I spoke to group of local therapists on "Marketing Your Private Practice" and a record number of people attended the presentation. Why? Because therapists in private practice feel ill-equipped and uncomfortable with the business aspects of private practice. It's rare that a marketing course is included in a mental health graduate school curriculum, and few internships and practicums offer marketing mentorship. In my graduate program in social work, just the words "private practice" were treated as "bad words," as if making money while helping people was somehow morally wrong.

For some therapists  the word marketing brings up feelings of anxiety, even dread. "I am not comfortable with self-promoting," I've heard many therapists say.  "I'm not in this for the money so I hate to think that I have to market my services."

Over nearly 10 years in private practice I've learned that marketing isn't as difficult or scary as it sounds. Most therapists already have the relationship skills that make marketing effective. You're already good at building relationships and communicating. You just need to apply your skills differently.

 Build relationships of trust

You already know how to market, because marketing is simply building relationships of trust in a different way. Marketing requires reaching outside of your therapy office, and often beyond your comfort zone. Whatever strategy you use: talking to strangers, talking to friends and colleagues, meeting with physicians or schools, or finally getting a website, it's all about building relationships of trust.

Let 2 simple questions guide all of your marketing

• Who is your ideal client? Identifying your ideal client is  not just getting clear on the demographic and diagnoses that you like to work with, but also the characteristics, values, and traits that you look for in a client.
• What is your basic practice message? This is a simple message that focuses on one aspect of your work and emphasizes the benefits of your services in layman's terms.

Talk to everyone and anyone about what you do

In graduate school you learned how to communicate, build rapport, and put people at ease. Building relationships of trust isn't just limited to talking with your clients. Effective marketing is simply applying all of the skills you know to a broader group of people. Talk about who you want to work with what you do with strangers in the grocery store, neighbors, extended family members, or online communities, media contacts, or other professionals.

Remember you're promoting your passions, not yourself

Effective marketing isn't about pushing yourself on others, but about letting the things that you're passionate about shine through in every conversation, every blog post, every interview, an every page of your website.

It only takes three

According to private practice guru Lynn Grodski, it only takes a few "practice angels" to have a full practice-three people who will consistently refer your ideal clients to you. You probably already have three referral sources ready to refer to you. All you need to do is warm the connections you already have.

How do you feel about marketing your practice? What works and what doesn't? Share your comments below

photo credit: Hen3k Hen3k

Naming Your Practice Is Like Naming A Child

I have four children. Luckily, I still like the names my husband and I gave them. Their names fit them. Their names aren't too common or too weird. Like naming a child, choosing a practice name that fits can be a difficult process that brings up anxiety for therapists. You want your practice name to be an accurate reflection of you, as a therapist, and also appeal to your ideal clients.  You don't want to regret your decision down the road, right?

Ten years ago I wrestled with the question of what to name my practice. Funny enough, it was just one month after my 3rd child was born and we  didn't name him for a couple of days because my husband and I couldn't agree on his name. The name he'd picked for our son, Joshua, was a fine name but it just wasn't him. He was Owen, not Joshua. I don't regret taking a couple of days and "going to bat" for the name that fit my son.

I don't regret the name I picked for my private practice either. I wrestled with a few different practice options and settled on Wasatch Family Therapy. Here are some common questions about naming your practice and some insight into how I made my decision.

Should I use my name or come up with a separate practice name?

• I wanted the name to sound bigger than a solo practice because that was my long-term vision for my practice: to grow it to a clinic with several therapists, so I chose a name that sounded established and respectable.
• I was advised by my attorney not to use my name as my practice in case I was involved in a lawsuit. He said that my practice name would be out in the media and would provide an added layer of protection of my personal name.

Should my practice name be tied to my specific geographical location?

• I decided to tie my practice name loosely to my location. The Wasatch Front and the Wasatch Mountains refer to a regional area, not a specific city or town. Because my vision was to grow the practice and possibly have multiple office locations, I didn't want it to be limited to a narrow location. Last October, we opened up a second location in Provo, UT, which is still considered the Wasatch Front.

Should I try to be clever or straightforward in naming my practice?

• Don't worry about being clever or deep with your practice name. Since most people are finding their mental health information and providers online, consider including searchable terms in your practice name.  I included "Family Therapy" in my practice name because it's something that my ideal clients would type in a search. Ask yourself, "What will my ideal clients type in Google if they're seeking my services?" If you're a child therapist you might want to use the term "child counselor" or "child therapy" in your name. If you work with couples you may want to use "couples counseling" or "marriage therapy" in your name.

I'd love to hear your process of naming your practice?

Do you have moments of regret about your practice name or are you happy with it?

Share your thoughts in the comment box below!