This Business of Therapy

Tag: profitable practice

  • Knowing Your Practice: Who Am I In My Work?

    Identity is an issue that is often present in therapy work. The quest to “know our true selves,” or to “be myself,” is a common theme in the therapy room. As therapists, we model being ourselves through our authenticity or congruence, and in this way allow clients the freedom to do likewise. Identity is equally…

  • What Sort of Practice Do You Want To Create?

    What Is Your Intention For Your Practice? I wrote recently about taking ourselves seriously as business owners when we have a self-employed therapy practice. In that article, I wrote about investing our time, money and energy in our practice, if we are taking ourselves seriously. The question then arises, “Well, how much time, money and…

  • Taking Ourselves Seriously

    If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll have heard me referring to the Six Pillars of a Successful Therapy Practice.[1] The first pillar of a successful therapy practice, “Owning Our Practice”, is all about seeing ourselves as a business owner as well as someone who helps other people. It means embracing…

  • Plan For A Better Year

    When we first set out to establish our practices, there are so many things we have to think about and so many decisions we have to make. It can be a bit overwhelming. However, time invested in really thinking through some of the issues involved provides great holding and support for us in the early…

  • Earning a Living From Therapy Practice

    A recent article in the Irish Times said that an average family spent between €45, 000 and €50, 000 between running their home and car, food, property and water tax, education and childcare. This figure does not include income tax, PRSI or USC, nor does it include provision for retirement. If we estimate that those…

  • What If The Boss Won’t Pay?

    At a recent workshop at the IAHIP offices, a group of newly and nearly qualified therapists brainstormed their associations with the word “Business.” After the course, I was reflecting further on our discussion and, in particular, on the question of cancellation fees (always a good topic for an animated discussion among therapists). I was thinking…

  • Earning More Money

    Most therapists charge their clients on an hourly or sessional basis. They sit with their clients for an hour or 50 minutes, and the client pays a fee based on the time. This is a fairly typical arrangement in professions generally, although it is slowly changing. One of the drawbacks of this approach from a…

  • Dirty Nappies and Sticky Toffees

    When I was growing up, a cousin, about four or five years younger than me, asked his mother (in the hearing of several of us older kids) to chew his toffee for him because it was too hard. He never lived it down. At the time, I dismissed him as immature and childish. In recent…

  • Dilemmas, Obstacles and Opportunities

    Business Dilemmas Peculiar to Therapists Being a therapist is different from having other jobs. Issues arise in therapy work that would be ignored in other occupations. There can be a belief in therapy circles that these dilemmas can restrict us in seeing a therapy practice as a business. Earning a living is often seen as…

  • Clients Come Through People

    Where does the income in your practice come from? Well, obviously from the fees you receive from clients or organisations who pay on the clients’ behalf. But that’s only part of the story. We none of us exist in isolation. There is a constant process from birth to death of interacting with our environment. Basic…