Start a Private Practice: Guide to Getting Your First 30 Clients
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Starting a mental health private practice can feel daunting. Often, clinicians at the beginning of their private practice journey spend a significant amount of time contemplating and worrying about how to get therapy clients and build their caseloads.
Thankfully, there are several attainable steps on how to get clients in private practice to help you build your caseload. Here are seven tips on how to get therapy clients.
Make the most of therapy directories
There are several reputable therapy directories online that clients frequently use to find possible therapists.
A few of these directories include: Monarch, Psychology Today, and TherapyDen.
While the price points for these directories vary, they can often generate referrals for your practice—making the investment well worth it.
To stand out among the crowd of clinicians listed on a directory, follow these profile tips:
- First, include a headshot photo—ideally one that conveys warmth and professionalism. Here’s how to take a professional headshot picture.
- If the directory has the ability to upload a video, share one to help you show more of your personality and therapy style.
- Make sure your information is up-to-date, including availability and if you are in-network with any insurance providers. This will help you get leads that are more likely to become clients.
Write a great professional bio
It’s important to write a professional bio that showcases your strengths—for both therapy directories and your website.
Bios are an effective way to convey your expertise, as well as provide an avenue for you to start building rapport with clients. This is a great place to detail your education, advanced training, and any additional credentials you have.
You can also emphasize your therapy style and how you work together with clients to help them meet their goals. Using empathetic language can help you build a connection with potential clients as well.
Build a referral network to build your caseload
You do not need a plethora of referral sources to get started. Having two or three main connections can result in a steady stream of referrals.
Think about local organizations who can be referral sources for you. Ask yourself: Who are other stakeholders in my community that would be helpful in connecting clients to my services?
They can be other healthcare professionals like pediatricians, family medicine doctors, speech-language pathologists, or even other counseling practitioners.
Connecting with public institutions, such as schools, libraries, non-profits, or colleges in your area can help you get the word out about your services.
Joining professional organizations can also help you learn about networking opportunities and grow your referral network.
How to get therapy clients through intuitive website design
Clients can become overwhelmed or frustrated with the process of searching for a therapist. Making it as easy as possible for the right clients to find you online is important. In the digital age, one of the best ways to get therapy seekers’ attention is through your professional therapist website.
When thinking about how to get therapy clients through your website, you’ll first want to make sure you create a website that is easy to navigate.
Think about the main areas a client may visit on your website and make navigating to those areas easy and straightforward.
The instructions for requesting an appointment should be visible on every page so that once potential clients have read through the content of your website, they can easily request an appointment with you.
There are several different approaches to take when it comes to the intake form on your website. While having a shorter intake questionnaire may lead to more potential clients who make a submission, appointment, or inquiry, it will also require more follow-up to ensure the client is a fit.
This approach might be more helpful if you have time to spend on following up and are interested in capturing the most leads. This is a common approach when first setting up a private practice.
As your number of intake requests grows, you may want to consider adding more questions to filter potential clients on the initial intake request. This may decrease the number of requests you receive, but increase the percentage of clients that are a good fit for your practice.
How to get clients in private practice during the intake process
Client care begins with a smooth intake process. Responding to intake requests in a timely manner can build rapport with potential clients right from the start and serve as a critical step in how to get clients in private practice.
Try to aim to respond within 48 hours or two business days. The sooner you respond to their requests, the more likely it will be that they land at your practice.
Having your intake request connected to your electronic health record (EHR) can be helpful, so that all of the information you need for your client is stored in one place. For example, the SimplePractice Client Portal allows for secure messaging and paperless intake forms and other documentation—which can be automatically shared upon requesting an appointment.
This also saves clients the step of needing to fill out duplicate information. The more duplicate information they need to fill out, the less likely that they make it through these multiple loopholes to an actual appointment.
Have a good electronic health record (EHR) in place
Technology can be an effective tool to help you figure out how to get your first clients—and keep them.
Many of the systems that help guide therapy seekers to your practice and convert them into clients are already built into some electronic health systems on the market.
Here are a few things to look for when selecting an EHR to help you build your caseload:
- Does the practice management system have the capability to schedule both new and returning clients directly from your website? Keeping this process all within one system can streamline your workflow for accepting new clients—making it easier to track potential clients and ensure you follow up with everyone.
- Look for an EHR that has a client portal, or a means to send intake paperwork to your clients prior to their first appointment. Having them fill out the paperwork ahead of time can not only save you time, but it can also build the investment from the potential client—making it more likely they will become a returning client.
- It’s an added bonus if your EHR can manage a client waitlist. This functionality ensures no therapy request is overlooked, so you can track, organize, and ultimately follow-up with anyone who reaches out in a timely manner.
As an added bonus, some EHRs provide a robust content library, including helpful videos and articles.
Learn how to get therapy clients from others
When pondering how to get therapy clients, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are many professionals who have experience building and growing caseloads.
Reach out to your colleagues and spend some time learning from other practitioners.
Many clinicians in the industry are more than happy to share their insights and learnings in this process—and it’s an added bonus if they end up being a referral source for you.
There are also business consultants and coaches for therapists that you can utilize to grow your practice and your caseload.
Learning how to start a private practice can feel like jumping into the deep end. Figuring out how to get clients in private practice requires you to take simultaneous steps towards building your network and your internal systems, in order to land your ideal client mix and caseload size.
By optimizing your online presence through directories and your website, you can clearly advertise your services and approach—alleviating potential clients from the agonizing search process. Your concise professional bio and accessible inquiry form can also act as a time-saving vetting or self-selection mechanism.
Creating a network of local referral sources can help spread the word about your practice, and implementing streamlined systems that ensure quick and consistent follow up will help you attract and keep potential clients.
How SimplePractice streamlines running your practice
SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.
If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to streamline appointment bookings, reminders, and rescheduling and simplify the billing and coding process—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.
Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.