Blogs

The Gifts of COVID

By Luree Benjamin posted 03-09-2021
“There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.”-Rainer Maria Rilke For me, like many, the pandemic has been a time of deep reflection, acceptance, and personal growth. It has been a time for slowing down, welcoming change, and a season of respite, endurance, self-reflection, and self-acceptance. Thoreau reminds me, “there is no companion so companionable as solitude.” I can say that I know that each day will offer its gifts, and, as George Herbert suggests, I can “take the gentle path,” as I embark deeper into this inner excursion. As a member of the 2020-2021 Certificate of Leadership cohort and with the DiSC assessment tool’s ...

Reducing Anxiety Symptoms: Self-Help Solutions

By Anthony Centore posted 11-30-2020
Reducing Anxiety Symptoms: Self-Help Solutions Visiting a counselor for anxiety therapy isn’t always convenient for many people. Sometimes it’s not even convenient to receive help over the phone or computer. That’s why it’s crucial we learn some self-help techniques to reduce anxiety symptoms whenever the need arises. These techniques can sometimes significantly reduce or even eliminate many common symptoms associated with anxiety. What Is Anxiety? What Are Anxiety Symptoms? Dr. Crystal Witmer, PsyD, a counselor at Thriveworks Counseling , specializes in the treatment of anxiety and says anxiety is a normal response to life’s stressors and is ...

5 of the Biggest Marketing Mistakes You Can Make in Private Practice

By Anthony Centore posted 09-18-2020
Everybody makes mistakes. This is a well-known cliché. Now, when it comes to marketing and advertising, if you make mistakes it will cost you. Let’s take a look at some of the most common marketing and advertising mistakes in the counseling business: 1. Spending money on ineffective advertising Advertising can work wonders for your business—if you do it right. But when you do it wrong, you strike out big time. For example: A counselor takes a $5000-dollar gamble on event sponsorship, or radio ad, and receives a near-zero return. After betting heavy and losing, the counselor no longer has the courage (or financial means) to try again, anywhere. Therefore, ...

Here are the only two tips you need to keep your business on the right track

By Anthony Centore posted 08-26-2020
Recently, a friend who owns a private practice called me. He dove right into his reason for calling, starting the conversation with: “AJ, some of my very best counseling left my practice. I have issues with notes not being completed. Our culture and team morale are down. We have a lot of new clients come in, but many never come back. And now I’m losing money.” To this, I ask about the size of his practice. He explains that it’s a “big practice” with three offices, 18 therapy rooms, and 20 counselors. I tell him, “Dan, the number of employees and offices you have are only vanity metrics. How many clients are you helping a week? In other words, how many sessions ...

Tips for Creating a Positive Office Culture in Your Group Counseling Practice

By Anthony Centore posted 07-17-2020
In his book, “Delivering Happiness,” Tony Hsieh—the CEO of Zappos—writes that Zappos only hires people they want to hang out with. And it works. The company culture at Zappos is legendary. Are you looking to create a legendary office culture, too? Okay, maybe you’re just looking to create a positive office culture. Either way, we have some tips for you Show your team that you care. Here at Thriveworks Counseling , we truly care about our team. If someone has a problem at work or elsewhere, we do everything we can to help. We respect our employees and we value their contributions. We are honest, we strive to be generous, and we even remember birthdays ...

50 tips for succeeding in private practice

By Anthony Centore posted 01-16-2020
Over the past few years, I’ve learned and written about what it takes to succeed in private practice from office culture to marketing, technology, and more. And it has been my honor and joy to share all of my knowledge (and humble opinions) with you all. For many years, the idea of making money in counseling was taboo, but the tides are turning and people are asking, “Healthcare professionals of many flavors are running successful (thriving) practices, why not us?” While it isn’t always fun to be the face of money in counseling, I recognize that it’s part of the role. And it’s more than worth it when I meet counselors who have been able to make a living ...

Is private practice profitable? Here’s how much money you can make as a counselor in private practice

By Anthony Centore posted 11-14-2019
According to Salary.com: A licensed clinical social worker (or “mental health clinician”) makes an average salary of $70,423. A family counselor working in Cambridge, MA makes an average salary of $44,880. A substance abuse counselor working in Cambridge, MA makes an average salary of $60,295. For many, working as a fulltime therapist is financially untenable. Consider this: the average cost of a 1500 square foot home in Cambridge exceeds a million dollars. And while Cambridge can be considered an expensive city, the math isn’t too dissimilar in other cities across the country. For example: A 1500 square foot home in Bethesda, MD will run $685,500. ...

Increase the value of your counseling practice now: Here are 5 crucial tips

By Anthony Centore posted 10-10-2019
Selling your practice might be the single largest financial transaction of your life. Depending on the choices you make, your practice could fund your retirement… or it might be worth close to nothing. While it’s a much larger topic than this article can do justice, I’ll provide a few tips to help you increase the value of your counseling practice: 1. Build a stable, dedicated team. Click “Meet the Team” on the website of any practice and you’ll probably see a webpage that can’t keep up with all the staff changes. Bios and pictures rarely reflect who’s actually on board (team photos are the worst, they’re never accurate). In many practices, ...

Should I get on insurance panels? 7 rumors about accepting health insurance at your counseling practice

By Anthony Centore posted 08-22-2019
Today, it seems that many in private practice are asking the same question, “Should I start accepting health insurance?” On the surface, it seems to be a simple question, but there’s much to consider. For any counselor, the decision of whether or not to accept third party payments will have broad sweeping implications for their counseling practice, with both pros and cons. For example: A pro is that insurance companies can provide a steady stream of clients to your practice. A con, though, is that determining reimbursement rates can require some administrative work, and they can hold providers accountable with periodic audits. So, it’s a complicated decision, ...

You can create policies and procedures at your counseling practice without “going corporate”

By Anthony Centore posted 08-15-2019
Ten years ago, if a counselor wanted to talk with me, he or she could holler my name from their office, and I’d pop my head in. Today, they’d need to send me an email or schedule a call (and I might then refer them to their direct supervisor). These changes are pretty much inevitable as your counseling practice grows: New policies and procedures are often needed to ensure clients continue to receive quality care. Here are some examples of what changes might occur: You switch from paper notes to electronic health records. You develop a policy around dress code or team member conduct on social. You realize you need to update the way you respond ...

Challenges and solutions for online reviews, a common challenge for counseling practices

By Anthony Centore posted 07-26-2019
Yelp, Facebook, and Google are just a few places where customers and clients speak their minds; leaving reviews, positive and negative, that can raise or crush the reputation of a business. For some, this is a great opportunity. Counseling practices with little money for advertising but great reviews, might find that potential clients are calling, referred by another client’s 5-star experience posted online. In fact, Yelp recently revealed that 92% of consumers frequently (or at least sometimes) make a purchase after visiting Yelp. Additionally: 37% purchase within a week, and 25% purchase within just a few hours. In your case, your product is your counseling ...

Is starting a private practice right for you? If you check these 10 boxes, it might not be a good fit

By Anthony Centore posted 07-18-2019
Recently, my friend was having trouble with his boss and, as a result, considered quitting his job to start his own company. After a long day of discussing the possibility, we came to a firm decision: starting a business wasn’t the right move for him. Not because he couldn’t do it, but because he would hate it . When we parted, he was thrilled to know that he didn’t have to start his own business. And he was enthusiastic to look for a new job with a better company. I often write about the benefits of starting a counseling private practice . However, owning your own business isn’t for everyone, and being employed as a clinician is not a lesser option. ...

Here are 10 foolproof tips for renting the right counseling office space

By Anthony Centore posted 06-13-2019
Finding and renting an office space can be overwhelming. For a single practice , it might be your largest expense—for a group practice, your largest fixed cost. Despite this, finding and renting the right office space is important to your business and so you should tackle this job with some inside knowledge. Here are 10 tips assembled from my extensive experience in renting counseling office suites: 1. Don’t rush into it. Don’t move forward with renting an office space until you’re comfortable. It doesn’t matter if someone tells you that it’s a great deal. It doesn’t matter if “space is scarce” or that you need to “act fast.” Just say, to others (and ...

"Therapy of the absurd" - Re-partnering Play and Family Therapy

By Michael Whitehead posted 05-27-2019
Join Michael Whitehead, PhD, LMFT, RPT-S, for a webinar introducing play therapy theories and principles to family therapists on June 14, from 3:00-4:40pm EST. Carl Whitaker was known to call his flavor of family therapy, “therapy of the absurd”. As I have contemplated this phrase and the work I do in play therapy, I can definitely resonate with that feeling. At times, when I’m rolling on the ground getting attacked by aliens or tiptoeing in my office to avoid detection from military personnel, I often wonder if parents, families, and fellow therapists look at me as an absurdity! In fact, on more than one occasion I have had colleagues tell me, “I just don’t ...

Protect creativity for the good of your business—don’t let busyness, stress, or fear get in your way

By Anthony Centore posted 05-13-2019
Some associate business with spreadsheets, but I think business more closely resembles an art project. One needs lots of creativity to build a remarkable company—to solve problems for customers and do it in a way that’s financially sustainable. The challenge is that creativity is commonly stunted by three elements: busyness, stress, and fear. 1. Busyness Most business owners’ days are loaded with operational tasks: doing the day-to-day stuff that nobody else is hired to do, or managing the people that you hired to do the day-to-day stuff (or managing the people that you hired to manage the people who were hired to do the day-to-day stuff!). If you ...

10 Leadership Books to Read This Year

By Leadership Network posted 03-09-2017
(Lillian Cunningham, Washington Post) The Washington Post has compiled a list of leadership books to read this year, ranging from business to political to inspirational. Check out the list here and find a book that applies to your leadership goals. Start a discussion thread of leadership books that have influenced you and find recommendations from other MFT leaders.