Adventures in Private Practice: Psychotherapist Diane Spear, LCSW

Get to know New York City licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist Diane Spear, LCSW-R.

Tell us a little about your practice…

Iâ€™m a licensed clinical social worker in private practice over sixteen years. I treat people from older adolescents to senior citizens, in individual and couples sessions.Â My practice approach can be described as psychodynamic, interactive, and reality-based, so Iâ€™m dealing with how a patientâ€™s formative years affect his/her current conscious and unconscious attitudes about love, work, and play, so that they can build on what works and rethink what doesnâ€™t in order to have a more satisfying life going forward.

Why did you decide to open a private practice?

I decided to open a private practice because I like the flexibility and autonomy of working when I want, setting my own fees, working with a theoretical orientation I find helpful, and choosing a supervisor whose way of working is compatible with mine.

When I launched this blog in July I had no idea that one of the perks would be connecting with so many amazing therapists who’ve created successful practices. I’ve been inspired by shrinks around the globe who demonstrate the varied ways to make a living, and make a difference with their clients and I thought you’d be too.

I’m thrilled to interview Karen R. Koenig, LCSW for the first in an ongoing series “Adventures In Private Practice” so you can learn from her experiences to improve your practice. I first learned of Karen’s work when I bought herÂ “Food and Feelings” workbook that I used with several of my eating disordered clients.

I’ve been impressed by Karen’s passion for helping clients struggling with food issues, while writing to raise public awareness of how to relate with food in a healthy way, and maintaining excellent self-care.

A Day In The Life Of A Private Practice Therapist

After reading my recent posts on multiple income streams for therapists, Psych Central Associate Editor and blogger, Margarita Tartakovsky asked me how I, and other therapists, juggle so many different aspects of private practice. I’ve been thinking about her question and thought it might be fun to start a series that peeks into “a day in the life” of therapists in private practice. I thought I’d start with me, and start with–today.

Just to give you a little background…I’m a wife and a mother of 4 children ages 5 to 21. I’ve been in clinical practice for 16 years and I serve as director ofÂ Wasatch Family Therapy, a private outpatient clinic that I founded in 2002. Recently, because my clinic has grown significantly, I’ve stopped taking new clients in order to spend more time leading, training, and pursuing other passions, like writing, media contributing, etc.

You’ll notice that my “day in the life” doesn’t include seeing any clients. I am currently on a month-long sabbatical from clinical work, and from as much administrative work as possible, during the month of November to dedicate time and energy to finishing up my first book. After being approached by a publisher a few months ago I decided that it was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up, but it would require cutting back on a lot of other responsibilities in order to make the deadline. I will resume seeing clients, running staff meetings, and training therapists the first week in December.

Developing multiple income streams is crucial to maintaining income stability in private practice. “Having different income sources allows me to be a bit less stressed when my main funding source, private practice, takes a dip,” shares Jill Kristal, President of Transitional Learning Curves.

Reducing financial anxiety is not the only benefit of developing additional income avenues. Multiple income streams allow therapists to fully express their many talents, gifts, and passions.

Writing and speaking provides former actor Frank J. Sileo, PhD with creative fulfillment as well. “I used to be an actor in a past life so getting up in front of others has helped get that need met, ” Sileo adds. Additionally, multiple income streams allow therapists to make a difference on a larger scale, reaching far beyond the therapy office. “I had a desire to have more impact on troubled eaters than one-to-one sessions or even workshops and talks could provide,” shares therapist and healthy eating expert Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed.

If you missed “Multiple Income Streams (part 1)” click here

Relying solely on direct clinical hours may leave private practitioners financially vulnerable to income instability. Since client hours in private practice can vary greatly depending on the time of year, state of the economy, number of new referrals, and several other factors, developing multiple income streams can help you to create a more stable income. “By having the other income streams in place, I have been able to be less susceptible to the ebbs and flows that occur in private practice during difficult economic times,” says The Rev. Christopher L. Smith, LCAC, LMHC, LMFT. In addition to providing income stability, diversifying your professional activities with multiple income streams allows therapists to explore a variety of interests, to express creativity, and to get paid for their passions.

In addition to clinical hours, I own and serve as clinical director of a private therapy clinic where I oversee and supervise 10 therapists, write for PsychCentral and other publications, work as a relationship and emotional health media contributor, do public speaking, provide consultation to therapists building a private practice, and I’m currently writing my first book.Â Curious about what other private practitioners are doing to add to income stability I reached out to several successful colleagues to see what additional income streams they’ve developed. Here’s a sampling of what other therapists are doing to diversify their professional life and achieve greater income stability.

Therapist Media Cheat Sheet: Get More Clients By Maximizing TV Interviews

While TV interviews and appearances rarely lead to an immediate increase in new clients, they do raise awareness of your private practice and your specialty areas, expose thousands of people to your practice, and set you up as a credible expert in your field. Marketing experts say that it generally takes 7 exposures to your business brand before a client will actually try your products or services.

In recent posts I share how to get TV interviews and how to present your best self during interviews. Here are some tips for getting the most mileage out of interviews to build your credibility and increase referrals to your practice.

1) Be explicit about how you’d like to be introduced

Reporters aren’t worried about your branding, they’re concerned about their story. It is your responsibility to protect your practice name and brand by being explicit about how the interviewer should refer to you on camera. After having a few interviews where they say my practice name incorrectly, or didn’t mention it at all, I’ve learned to clearly spell out how I want to be introduced. In email correspondence with media contact I request something like this: Read more

Therapist Roll Call: Join The Private Practice Facebook List

Thanks for your fantastic response to my roll call for private practice therapist using Twitter! Therapists from all around the globe have joined the list. I’ll will continue to add therapists to the list so feel free to join anytime by commenting on that post.

I wanted to do the same thing for Facebook Business pages to help you connect to other like-mined therapists to share resources, ideas, practice building tools, and referrals. Only licensed mental health therapists will be listed.

Here’s what you need to do to join the Facebook List…

Therapist Media Cheat Sheet: Look Good And Sound Smart On TV

TV interviews are a great way to educate about relationship and mental health topics and to raise visibility for your private practice. Over the past few years, I’ve actively sought out interview opportunities and have found that over time, they have bolstered my credibility, fostered trust in my knowledge and clinical skills, and raised visibility of my private practice.

Thanks to social media, TV interviews can reach beyond the viewership of the live broadcast to a larger audience. One example is this short, live interview for a local Utah TV lifestyle program.Â “How To Handle A Narcissistic Mother” has had over 9000 views on YouTube (and yes, I’m still working on not saying ,”um”). Read more

8 Real World Marketing Strategies From Successful Therapists

Learning about marketing your private practice and actually doing it are very different things. I recently interviewed several successful private practice therapists about marketing strategies that have worked for them in the “real world”.

My goal is to inspire you to effectively market your practice. You don’t have to do all of these to build a successful practice. Just start with one that speaks to you and build from there.

1) Public Speaking

Public speaking not only educates your community, but also raises visibility and attracts clients to your private practice.Â ”I did a lot of public speaking in neighborhood institutions – schools, churches, synagogues, hospitals to get my name recognized,” says Dr. Roberta Temes of New York City. Parenting After Loss founder Amy Luster, M.A., LMFT also offers community presentations on on her specialty areas: infertility, high-risk pregnancy, and miscarriage patients as well as to the health-care providers that treat them as part of her marketing strategy.Â Presentations on hypnotherapy have proven tan effective marketing tool forÂ Dr. Mary Sidhwani. “The community learns more about the effectiveness of hypnotherapy and also creates exposure for my practice and services,” Sidhwani says.

Ask me about my private practice and I light up. I love it. I just spent the last day and a half furnishing and decorating an additional office location in a neighboring city. I’m excited to be able to expand the reach of my practice and help clients in other geographic locations. There is such a satisfaction in feeling fully self-expressed professionally and to make a difference in the lives of my clients and my colleagues. My passion for building a private practice is why I asked Dr. John Grohol, CEO of PsychCentral.com if I could start this blog. I can’t imagine being happier with a work situation and I want to help you develop the tools to feel the same way about your practice.

I asked several successful private practice therapists the question, “What do you love about being in private practice?” I wanted to share their answers with you to inspire those of you who are considering going into private practice to do it! If you’re unhappy with your practice, I hope you’ll draw from these successful private practice experiences to create a practice that you love. Read more

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A Day In The Life Of A Private Practice Therapist

Multiple Income Streams Soothe Therapist’s Financial Anxiety (part 2)

If you missed “Multiple Income Streams (part 1)” click here

1) Be explicit about how you’d like to be introduced

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1) Public Speaking