This is an evolving, growing “book” about how to be a therapist. It’s intended not just to be a “how-to” guide, but rather, a “how-to-do-it-well-and-thoughtfully-and-successfully” guide, a guide not just for every wannabe therapist, but a guide for therapists who are thoughtful about the kind of therapist they want to be, and about the interactions between their clinical decisions and their business decisions.
How to be a therapist: table of contents
Personal inventory
- Your own treatment
- What kind of therapy or analysis do you want to be in?
- Finding a therapist
- Supervision
- Individual
- Group
- Peer
- Your interests and history and colleagues and friends
- What’s your professional like going to look like, other than seeing patients?
- Your relationship to money
- What are your goals?
- What are the obstacles you face? (internal? external?)
Transference and your practice
Your “brand”
Your name/practice name
- Your web site/business cards/other promotional materials
- The space in which you practice
- Social media
Getting referrals
- Making referrals
- Networking
- Marketing/advertising
- Handling referrals when they come
Establishing policies
- Scheduling
- Cancellation
- Payment/delinquency/non-payment
- Meeting in-person vs. meeting virtually
Communication with patients (e-mails, texts, phone calls, etc.)
Having first sessions
Establishing ongoing treatments
Setting fees
Billing/collections management
Collaborating with other mental health practitioners
HIPAA/other legal issues
Dealing with insurance companies
Bookkeeping/accounting/taxes
- Corporate form
- Banking
- Record-keeping
- Financial management
- Taxes