Therapist Roll Call: Can We Peek Inside Your Office, Please?

The physical "space" you work  in says a lot about you. Does your office space appeal to your ideal client? Does it speak about your tastes and preferences? Would you be willing to give other shrinks a tour of your office? Why or why not? Every time a new client comes into my office they comment on my denim couch. It feels cozy and casual, which is how I want my clients to feel when they're in my office. The color scheme of the office decor coincides with our logo and website colors...and that's no accident.

I thought it would be fun to peek into the offices of private practitioners to share ideas and get inspiration. So, if you're willing to let the world (or the readers of this blog) see YOUR office space follow these simple step.

1. Take a brief video tour of your waiting area and office (2 minutes or less). You can do this with your iPhone or camera phone.
2. In the video please introduce yourself and tell us what you love about your office space.
3. Upload your video to your Youtube channel and set it as "unlisted." If you don't have a Youtube channel, it's time you set one up.
4. Title your video "Office Tour: [your practice name]"
5. Email me the video link here. Include in the email your name, location, practice name, website link.

I'll feature different office videos in upcoming blog posts with your practice name and website link (this is a free PR opp for your practice & a good excuse to set up a Youtube channel). You'll also be able to embed this video on your own website so potential clients can see inside your office before they meet with you.

Ready, set, go...

Here's a peek into my therapy office Wasatch Family Therapy. I hired a professional to shoot and edit this. Don't worry - your video doesn't have to have music and slick editing :)

photo credit: The Suss-Man (Mike)

6 Ways To Give Yourself A Raise

You're in the mental health field because you want to make a difference AND an income. Too many therapists are making a big difference but only making a small income. Here are 6 ways you can make your private practice more profitable within the next month. 1) Cut expenses

Look more closely at your recurring monthly expenses. Can you find a way to reduce any of them? You might want to sub-lease your office on the days you're not there so you're paying less rent. Do you pay monthly for a therapist referral listing that rarely sends referrals your way that you could cancel? How about buying bulk printer paper of files online? We recently cut expenses by replacing water bottles that we offered to for all clients with a water cooler in the waiting area. This save $100 a month. The little things add up.

2) Raise your fees

When is the last time you raised your fees? Do some research on therapist's fees in your area with similar level of experience are charging and see where you fall in comparison. Ask yourself what is keeping you from raising your fees?

3) Hire an office manager

Most therapists who don't hire a billing person or office manager because of the added expense. I want you to count up the minutes and hours you spend doing clerical work each week. Let's say it's 10 hours per week. If you saw additional 10 clients at $100 per session that's $1000 of additional income per week, or $4000 more every month. With that additional income you can hire an office assistant for $13 per hour for 10 hours per week. You'd be paying out only $130 a week or $520 per month for the additional support. After paying your assistant you'd be bringing in $3480 every month just by replacing your time spent doing clerical hours with clinical hours.

4) Charge more if sessions go over

Do you allow clients to go over the scheduled session time without paying for it? Consider this...If you're seeing 6 clients in a day and 5 of them go over 10 minutes, you're giving away the equivalent of one session that day. If you charge $100 for a 45-50 minute session that means that you're losing $100 a day of income if you don't charge additional fee for additional time. If you charge for additional time you'll make $100 (or your session fee) each day you work. You will have given yourself a raise of several dollars in a month.

5) Charge full fee for no-shows or late cancellations

What's your no show or late cancellation policy? Do you stick to it? I don't like being at work and not getting paid, do you? For years I've charged full fee for no shows and late cancellations, even for first sessions. And a few years ago, I started requiring a credit card in order to schedule an appointment with me or one of my therapists. New clients were notified that if they failed to cancel with more than 24 hours notice they will be billed for the entire session. Guess what? We rarely have no shows and if we do, clients pay the full fee for the therapist's time. I've found that when I require the client to invest something from the get-go they invest more in the therapy process.

6) Tighten up your collection policies

If you're in solo practice, I know how easy it is to let client accounts get out of control. You didn't get into ther therapy business to do accounting. Try scheduling some time to review your client accounts, send out bills and follow up with clients who owe you money. In my clinic, our policy is if I client is more than one session behind in payments their therapy is "on hold" until their account is current.

More on therapist and money in upcoming posts, but until then, I challenge you to try one of these suggestions this month and give yourself a raise.

photo credit: ZeRo`SKiLL