Is Private Practice Right for Me?



Y’all know I’m a private practice proselytizer. I believe private practice is an excellent fit for the vast majority of the people it appeals to, but you can get stuck in a huge loop of private practice-free resource overload and not realize private practice may not be a good fit for you. 

Let’s talk about what would make private practice a bad fit for someone.  

If you have no job or a job you have to get out of ASAP and no savings, and no way to pay your bills, now may not be the best time. St…

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Navigating Seeing Your Clients in the Dating App World

I get a lot of Ask Allison questions about how to navigate seeing your client in public, but I also see a high volume of questions about what to do if you happen to bump into a client online, especially dating apps - the internet’s both a big and small place at the same time so it can happen. If and when it does, how do you handle a client seeing you on a dating app? 

First of all, dating apps are how people meet these days. They’re a pretty common part of the dating and social scene these days…

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Private Practice Naysayers

Starting your own business brings Devil's Advocates out in force - but creating a private practice can also really amp up the self-doubt and negative self-talk. How do you keep from letting naysayers get stuck in your gears?

As you gain momentum and as you keep building take time to check in with yourself. Are you getting what you want? Does what you're building fit? Are you making choices instead of sacrifices?

What do you want in your practice? Like truly profoundly want. Not what you think y…

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Taking Clients With You When You Open Your Own Practice

When we start our private practices, it can feel like a huge relief to take some clients with you from your old agency or group. Knowing you’re not starting at zero can be a huge boost for some therapists, but knowing the ethics behind it is also a majorly crucial first step. 

So can you take clients with you when you leave an agency or group practice? It depends on a few things; you may have had to sign a non-compete clause that says you wouldn’t solicit clients of the practice. Those don’t typ…

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What a No-Cancellation Policy Can Mean for Your Practice

Having a structured schedule in your practice and life can make running your practice and business easier. Putting policies in place and enforcing them (kindly) can help you keep that structure in place. That includes a no-cancellation policy. A no-cancellation policy can help you keep your schedule on track, so you’re not frantically trying to move childcare or a dentist appointment to reschedule a client. 

For anyone who is like, “what’s a no-cancellation policy” it’s basically an agreement i…

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Doing It Right Right At The Start

Even when we’re entry-level, fresh out of grad school, we usually want to ensure we’re doing everything in our power to give our clients the best resources. How can we know if we’re giving our clients the best care if we maybe don’t have the best resources and guidance as clinicians?

The first supervisor I had in an agency took me to the outlet mall to pick something up that she needed for her son's birthday during our supervision: we chatted in the car. She showed movies during group therapy f…

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Finding Out Your Ideal Client is...You!

When we go through school, our internships, and agency work, we start to get an idea of who we do great work with and what clients bring out the best of our clinical skills and flourish because of it. A great fit for you is also a great fit for your client, and great fits lead to healing which, come on, is awesome.

I would say that out of the hundreds or thousand people I’ve talked to about niche, 85% of the time our ideal client is a version of ourselves. My ideal client for therapy resembles t…

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How to Show Up As Yourself In Videos

It took me some time and some work to get comfortable on video - my Vimeo account is just a wasteland of starts and stops, flubbing what I'm saying, or just feeling like it wasn't quite there yet. I have a lot to say on this subject so buckle up.

In the Abundant Practice Builder's Facebook Group I posted one of the first videos I tried to film. My scripts were written, my content was something I was proud of. I was launching a program and I know it was super-helpful too. I borrowed fancy photog…

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Guest Post: From Agency to Private Practice – How Private Practice Saved My Career

Recently, as I left the office of my newly opened private practice, I was struck with a realization: despite having worked a thirteen hour day, I was feeling energized. In fact, I realized I had been feeling this way for a few weeks now. It didn’t make sense. I had worked shorter days at my agency and yet felt infinitely more miserable and exhausted. That’s when my internal therapist piped up, reminding me that this was probably something to pay attention to. I want to share my reflections on th…

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Pathological Continuing Ed and Other Roadblocks

“Pathological” may sound strong. Learning is vital to what we do, after all. Occasionally I work with someone who is using learning to feel good enough. To try to beat back the imposter syndrome. It may start as a desire to feel more competent in order to better serve clients but for some it evolves into a worthiness chasm that they can’t fill. Four degrees and six certifications later, they’re still looking for the next thing to learn in order to be enough.

I see it in practice building, too. I’…

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