How to calculate a psychotherapist’s private practice pay
Calculating psychotherapist pay means considering many factors. Unfortunately, the complexity leaves lots of room for some wild estimates regarding how much a therapist makes in private practice. But here I […]
From nothing to something: The beginning of my practice
The following summarizes the beginning of my practice. My goal is to use my early experiences as a case example. I reflect on some lessons that may be of more […]
From nothing to something: Beginning of an organization
The beginning of an organization is a story worth considering. Each has its own history. No two are alike. This is the story of the early history of Centennial Counseling […]
Why don’t my clients change the way they’re “supposed to”?
Early in my career, I had lots of questions about how clients change. Why didn’t my clients change as rapidly or as profoundly as my grad school texts seemed to […]
The invisible library behind me
When doing therapy I sometimes imagine this massive invisible library behind my chair. It is full of theories, models, and ideas about helping my clients. And the bookshelves are stuffed […]
Authenticity: The real me vs the office me
Authenticity requires that I bring my real self to the therapy office. And yet, we can be tempted by those clients who think you are just the most wonderful person […]
Mistaken ideas that I needed to overcome
Our attitudes about what we are doing in therapy can set us up. Mistaken ideas can lead to self-criticism and doubt, or they can guide our thinking toward more achievable […]
Finding the first job
Those first job openings are usually in one of four main settings: agencies, hospitals, government entities, and other settings like churches; occasionally in private practices. Agencies, hospitals, and government entities […]
Running out of tricks: Middle therapy
One of the frequent conversations that comes up in supervision is on middle therapy. Usually middle therapy is defined as the period after 20 sessions when things seem to find […]
Client Retention Part I: Is it good for clients to stay longer in therapy?
Several good things come from the ability of clinicians to retain existing clients, i.e. the art of client retention. From a business standpoint, clients staying in a clinician’s schedule helps […]
Client retention Part II: Beyond the therapist’s control
There are many factors that contribute to client retention. Many of the most powerful are not related to anything the therapist can do or not do. I am referring to […]
Client retention Part III: How to retain clients
In 2011 Centennial, the organization I managed, began tracking client retention numbers for our therapists. We then compared them to the practice as a whole. As we shared those numbers, […]
Why would anyone want to be a therapist?
Taking in the whole of what mental health practice is today can easily leave one despairing. Newcomers looking at the situation are right to ask, “Is it worth it?” I […]
It’s a marathon and not a sprint: Burnout prevention
I am a burnout survivor. After 4 years of emotionally depleting myself as a youth pastor I was certain I could never work with people again. I crawled off to […]