When I officially opened the doors to my private practice on August 1, 2016 I didn’t have one paying client.
Yes, you read that right. Not. One. Paying. Client.
You might be reading this and saying “Is she out of her naive mind, she opened a practice without one client on board?” Believe me, I agree with you! But here is what I did have: a shared office space in a central location (so I was only responsible for 1/2 the rent), a website and presence on four social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn), a marketing plan, great experience and a whole lot of hope, fear and determination. My eyes were completely focused on the prize, and for me, that prize was having a successful practice. I was going to make it happen.
I set a goal right away to have at least one meeting a week (it was usually more) with people in my industry because, as a former marketing executive, I know the power of network marketing. And let’s face it, I obviously had way more time on my hands than I did clients!
So began my meetings. I met with fellow students from grad school at their private practices. I toured substance use and abuse facilities and hospital behavioral health departments. I attended local (free) CEUs at agency venues and handed out my cards. I called former colleagues that I worked with at various agencies to meet up for coffee, and invited them to see my office space. I joined a network marketing group of local business women. I met with doctors, physical therapists and other health-care providers. I partnered up with other people and developed some education and training courses. I volunteered to run groups at a treatment facility. I cold-called and emailed other counselors that I knew in the area, and met with them over pizza, salads and sandwiches to pick their brains about their private or group practices, and to let them know I was ready for referrals.
My very first client came from one of those meetings. And then my next. And then my next. And while I do rely on paid advertising to market my business, some of my best and long-term clients have come, and continue to come, from these word-of-mouth referrals.
I have also received other gigs from these meetings to diversify my practice, including writing and training opportunities, contracting positions (I currently have three outside contracts) and have been offered a position to sit on the board of a large local agency.
As my client base and practice grows, I still make time for at least one meeting a week. Again, it’s usually more, but as my clinic hours fill (and that’s how I pay myself), I stick to my rule of at least one. These weekly meetings have benefitted me in many ways, and not only business-wise. It gets me out in the community and keeps me on top of new resources for my clients, as well as gets me in touch with other people in the business – something that is crucial for this sole practitioner. In fact, I’m writing this after reaching out and meeting a counselor for coffee that I sat next to at a networking event this past summer. Next week I’m touring a substance-use treatment center in the Texas Hill Country and being hosted as a guest for a paid CEU course. The week after that I’m speaking at a middle school on the South Side of San Antonio for their Career Day. My meetings will continue into 2018 and beyond.
When and where is your next meeting?
I met Sarah McClelland when we were graduate students in San Antonio. She was personable, funny, and gosh, was she always in amazing physical shape!!! After grad school, she moved to Chicago, has been working as a clinician at a group practice. We’ve kept in touch through the years, and I was super-excited to see that she took the plunge and opened up her own shop in May.
Her innovative practice, Chicago Mind & Body, is a psychotherapy practice providing clinical counseling services with an integrated focus on exercise and nutrition habits to promote overall balance.
I recently interviewed Sarah to hear more about her new practice, which is located in the West Loop in Chicago.
Q: Congrats on your new practice! It’s truly integrative behavioral health, which we need more of in our country. What was your inspiration for Chicago Mind & Body?
A: I’ve always noticed in my personal life the benefits of eating well and working out. I love the feeling when I work out – I love when I do it, and I love how I feel after. And of course, I believe in the value of clinical and mental health counseling. Good nutrition and exercise, along with therapy, is also proven to help fight depression and anxiety, so it made sense to me to use this approach.
Q: Tell me about your own fitness routine.
A: Ever since I was a little girl, I was obsessed with riding horses. I started when I was 8 years old, and I still ride whenever I get the chance. In college, I always ran or hit the gym. Now I lift weights several days a week – working out is my “coffee” for the day!! But I’d say I work out typically, 5-6 days a week.
Q: How do you integrate exercise with your clients’ treatment plans? How do you deal with those that are resistant?
A: I base everything on my clinical modality, which is a lot of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness work, and I am very client-centered. Of course, no two clients are alike so I customize everything. I always go into a session assuming my clients are their own experts.
If a person says to me, “I don’t exercise, I don’t have time” then I go right to self-care and how important it is to our whole state of being. I am never going to force someone to do something they don’t want to do. But I explore it. I will talk to them about things they might want to try, or things they used to do. But the bottom line is that I’m not going to tell someone to run if they hate running.
Q: Sleeping and eating patterns are always important areas to address with clients.
A: Yes, I see a lot of clients with many different concerns about their eating. Maybe they are a binge-eater or maybe their relationship with food is bad – like, they will restrict themselves for a week after they indulged at a party. I try to shift the focus with my clients to look at food at nourishment for their bodies – not “good” or “bad” and for them to not use food as punishment.
Q: Do you find that people want to see changes right away?
A: A lot of our clients want the quick fix and as we all know, there is none. But people can change and shift their thinking over time. There are so many fads right now. I use my sessions for educations purposes with regards to their own eating patterns and help guide them on a different path.
Q: What has been your proudest moment as a therapist?
A: Seeing people get better! I love seeing when they have improved and we terminate services because they don’t need me anymore. It makes me really happy seeing people do well. It’s such a privilege for people to share their lives and stories with me and to trust me to be a part of that.
Q: What is your vision for the future of Chicago Mind & Body, say, five years down the road?
A: I envision one day having my practice be a place where people can come for not only mental health counseling, but also having a workout room with weights and cardio, and rooms where myself and other clinicians can run groups. I’m also interested in starting some therapeutic walking groups around the city.
Q: I have no doubt you’ll make that happen!!
A: That’s the goal.
Q: I’m definately coming to see your place next time I’m in town.
A: I’m holding you to that!
Chicago Mind & Body is located at 25 E. Washington Street in the loop. They serve adults and couples 18 years and upup. Visit their website at www.chicagomindandbody.com for more information. Contact Sarah via email at sfarris@chicagomindandbody.com.
It’s a question I’m asked often. How, praytell, did a 40-something former marketing and journalism gal become a therapist?
It was a gradual move. In my previous career, I was in marketing and content writing. When my kids were small and I was moving around the country as a military spouse, I shifted to freelance writing. I wrote mostly for military publications and websites and it was great having the flexibility and ability to work from home (wherever home happened to be at the time) and around my kid’s schedules.
Then a funny thing happened. My kids started getting older and the pull to go back to work became stronger. In my writing world, though, I realized something: I was writing features and interviewing tons of people around the country on different topics. And they’d all tell me lots of stuff. Private stuff. The article topic wasn’t even discussed and people I’d talk to, mostly strangers, and usually on the phone, are telling me about their affairs, abortions, family problems. I remember distinctly one phone conversation where an enlisted soldier in Virginia, who had gone well over our 30-minute allotted phone interview time, said to me, ‘Gosh, you are just so easy to talk to. You really listened to me.”
Something clicked for me. I knew that I was easy to talk to – I’d been told that all my life. Moving around the country as a military spouse kinda forces you to talk with different people from many walks of life – in my case, Upstate New York, the Pacific Northwest and finally the Texas Hill Country.
But obviously there’s more to it than that.
I knew a fellow military spouse, an RN who also was pursuing her LPC that was in my book club at Ft. Hood. I spoke with her and asked her a ton of questions. How is the program? What do you have to do? She was completely encouraging and I’ll never forget her telling me this: “Girl, you have to do it. You’ll be great.”
So one year later, I find myself at 6:00 p.m. a Monday night in a classroom in downtown San Antonio, sitting in my first (of many) 3 hour graduate night-school classes for my Master’s in Counseling at UTSA. I had applied for and received a $4,000 grant from the Army (thanks, Uncle Sugah) towards my studies. For the next two and a-half years, I spent a minimum of two nights a week and two summers in class, pulled many late-nights writing papers, completed 400 closely-supervised clinical counseling hours, took two big national certification exams and graduated.
And I loved it. I counseled groups of teens at a Juvenille Justice Academy in downtown San Antonio. I did in-home case-management with at-risk youth and their families on the west and east sides. I worked at a crisis center, detox, and IOP. I visited clients in jail and detention centers. And now, 7 years after starting this journey, I have my own private practice.
I’m finally able to say, at age 46, that I love what I do – and that journalism degree? Well, I get to use my marketing and writing skills on a daily basis, just in a different way – to promote myself and market my own business, and of course, write this blog.
At the end of the day….even the most challenging of days (and believe me, there are many) here is what I know, and the answer(s) to why I became a therapist:
I became a therapist to help others.
I became a therapist to listen to others.
I became a therapist to learn from others.
I became a therapist because I know, from personal experience, that therapy works.
I became a therapist because I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Every time someone walks through my door and sits down in my office, I know what a privilege it is that they’ve chosen me to help them. That is never lost on me. My job, while demanding at times, is fulfilling in a way that no other job has been for me.
There is no better feeling than when a person tells me that I’ve changed their life, or helped them stop using, or made their relationship with their spouse/parent/child better.
So that’s why this former marketing girl is now a therapist. I plan to continue working in this field until I retire. And as long as people want to tell me their stories, I’ll continue to listen.
It’s been exactly one year – today – since my first paying client walked through my private practice office door and sat on the couch. It’s been a great year, and I’ve been doing a ton of reflecting on the past 12 months. There are things I’ve done right, many I’ve done wrong and just about everything in between.
I’ve loved writing about my experience in my “Private Practice Chronicles” series, and due to the positive feedback I’ve received, I plan to continue to write about the things I learn in the upcoming year.
For this anniversary post, I’m sharing a few thoughts on my past year, and the most important things I’ve learned:
You Can’t Network Too Much – My daughter is a competitive baton twirler, and when she complains about practice time, I always remind her that no one has ever gone to a competition and said, “I practiced too much.” But the opposite is certainly true. The same goes for business networking – you can’t do “too much” of it! My networking has been an important and crucial part of growing my practice. The coffees, lunches, tours, emails, cold calls and meetings have been invaluable for making new contacts in my industry – as well as referrals.
Trust the Process – When I graduated from my Master’s, one of my favorite professors gave me a bookmark and wrote this phrase on the back. I didn’t quite understand what she meant at the time, but now I do. Therapy is a process. Owning a business is a process. There are ups and downs, and quite honestly, some days are better than others. Mistakes are made, but you learn from them and move on. But you must trust the process, and each and every lesson it teaches.
Diversify – Besides my private practice, I also write this blog, contract with a local opioid clinic and write and handle social media for other therapists. I am also working on a few other collaborative therapy-related business ventures. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself into only seeing clients in your clinic in case there is a slow month (and there will be slow months!) Have other options – and other revenue sources.
Enjoy Yourself – opening up your own business is scary, and there are lots of unknowns. There’s no steady paycheck, paid vacation time, insurance benefits or matching 401(k). There were times in the past year when my phone was silent and my clinic was empty, and other weeks where I couldn’t keep up with the demand. Through it all, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and am excited and energized to see where my business goes -and grows – in the upcoming years. I love what I do, and the best feeling in the world is when a client tells me how much I’ve helped them or changed their life.
I can’t imagine going back to work for someone else again after taking the plunge and venturing out on my own. It was a long and thought-out decision, and one I’m happy I made. I find it an honor and a privilege to work with my clients. I love meeting and connecting with new people in my industry. Every day I walk into my cozy office and I can’t believe I get to do what I do for a living. I’ve never been more energized or excited about my work.
Happy Anniversary to me, and hopefully, many, many more!
I have two little secrets to share with all you other therapists out there, especially those thinking of starting a private practice. I hate just giving these secrets away, but I’m going to, because they are pretty valuable, and both are something I wish someone would have shared with me before I started out.
Ready for it? Alright, then sit down. And get your egos in check, people. ‘Cause these are some tough truths I’m telling you, but you need to know them and it’s better to figure this out sooner rather than later.
Secret Number One: Not everyone is going to like you.
I’m serious. Not everyone is going to like you.
And that’s ok.
Because here’s the deal – the real deal, the one that no one told you in your expensive graduate school classes, the one that no fancy PhD research study has revealed, the one you are simply gonna have to face: You are not the right fit for everyone that walks through your door.
And that’s ok.
The entire process of therapy revolves around the therapist-client relationship. It has to feel good for both parties involved for it to work. Haven’t you ever had a client that just adored you, but you’d cringe when you’d see them on your schedule? Of course you have!
And that’s ok.
I tell everyone in their intake – especially my teens and tweens – that therapy is a two-way street. The client must feel comfortable with me, and be able to be real with me….otherwise, the whole thing just won’t work. So unless they feel that way, I don’t want to waste their time and money.
But it’s hard. It’s not easy to have someone come in for an appointment, and never call and schedule another one. At first, it hurt my feelers. And made me doubt it I was an effective therapist….and if my practice would make it.
Which leads me to Secret Number Two: It’s not about you.
If they don’t like you, than the therapy process most likely won’t work. And that’s not about you. That’s about the client, and what they need. Maybe the therapy process scared them. Maybe there simply wasn’t the comfort level on their end. Or, maybe it was a good-old fashioned case of Secret Number One.
And that’s ok.
Early in my practice, I saw a client for one session, and never heard from her again. In my opinion, it was a good session (I can usually tell if the session is not working, or the client and I simply aren’t gelling). I was somewhat perplexed that she never called back. My SOP is to give a client after the intake one shout-out (via text or email), then leave them alone if they don’t respond. She never responded, so I thought, well, ok, it most likely wasn’t about me, I just wasn’t a good fit.
Don’t get me wrong. Even if I know I’m not the right fit or someone never comes back after the initial intake, I wonder if they went elsewhere, or I ruminate over the session, wondering if I said something that offended the client or if didn’t ask the right questions. But then, I focus on my clinic full of clients that I do serve, that have seen me for multiple appointments, and are happy enough to refer me to others. At the end of the day, I only want what’s best for my clients. And if that’s not me, then I truly hope they find the right fit for themselves, and get the help they need.
That client I thought clicked? She eventually called me back….for a couple’s session! Seems that was more of what she wanted and needed.
And that’s ok.
I hope these secrets are helpful. If you have any little secrets that you’d like to share about your private practice, I’d love to hear them!
I’m near the one year mark – one year! – of owning my private practice. It was a dream and ultimate career goal from the time I decided to go back to grad school in 2010. Seven years later, an opportunity arose, in the form of a sudden and unexpected (boy, I didn’t see that one coming) job layoff, some office space that became available, a person willing to share the rent and just like that, a dream became reality.
Shy of one year in my practice, I just re-signed a lease (solo, yikes!) and couldn’t be happier. I’ve had some big successes co-mingled with a lot of hard lessons. Here are five rookie mistakes for you to avoid if/when you are thinking of opening your own private practice.
1) Find a Niche – I was all over the map when I started. Honestly. As a therapist, you can’t be everything to everyone. So don’t make the mistake of taking all business just for the sake of taking business. Figure out your strengths (and weaknesses), find your niche, and work on perfecting it. Refer cases beyond your expertise to others in your community. In time, they’ll refer back to you.
2) Stay Organized – Owning a business means you are all departments – IT, accounting, scheduling, marketing and everything in between. This is a constant challenge for me. When I’m not seeing clients, I schedule time in my day for meetings, marketing, social media management, paperwork or general planning, depending on what needs to be done. Set up systems that work for you so that your practice can run efficiently.
3) Safety First – I’ve taken new clients at 8:00 p.m. and weekend slots where my usually-bustling office building was desolate and I was isolated and alone. Looking back, considering the line of work I’m in, some of those clients would have been better for me to see during normal business hours until I got to know them better. Looking forward, I only schedule my known and established clients during my irregular times.
4) Have a Business Plan – I’m going to make all you MBA-types (and my accountant) cringe right here: I didn’t write one. Well, not an official one. Oh, I had a list of things to do (website, PLLC, business accounts, etc) and lots of ideas swimming in my head. But get your business plan down on paper, including all start-up costs, projected expenses, and number of clients you need weekly to break-even, turn a profit, and cover expenses. Refer to your business plan monthly, and make revisions as needed.
5) Don’t Panic – Owning a business has its ups and downs. Some months are better than others. Case in point: my most profitable month was one where I was off for a week on vacation. The next month was slow (and I mean, slooooooooow). During this slow month, someone approached me coming to work for them – notice I said “for” not “with.” I considered this offer for a few days (what if I don’t make it? what if business continues this slow? What if what if what if?) but decided to continue working to build my practice. Sure enough, not two weeks after turning down the offer, some well-paying, substance-use contract-work came my way. If I had panicked and thrown in the towel, I would have been giving up not only my dream, but this other, better-suited opportunity.
I’m still making mistakes, and learning from each and every one. Mistakes are simply par for the course of owning your own business. Don’t dwell on them. They happen to everyone – just don’t repeat them, and learn from them. Best of luck with your own practice, and I hope reading about my rookie mistakes help you avoid making your own.
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