Online Therapy…Naked? Heading To 2012 SXSW Fully Clothed

South By Southwest Festival is legendary in the music, film, and technology worlds. I’ve always wanted to go, but this year I’m actually going to make the trek to Austin, TX to present on an interactive health panel! PsychCentral’s CEO and founder Dr. John Grohol, a pioneer in online counseling, invited me to participate on a panel called “Online Therapy…Naked?”

Yes, you read that right…n a k e d. An unlicensed NY woman (with a BS in Psychology) and founder of “Naked Therapy” who claims to be providing “therapy” online to “patients” while getting naked (and aroused) will be on the panel. Also, weighing in on the discussion will be LICENSED professional counselor Audrey Jung, LPC who provides legitimate online counseling services.

The physical “space” you workÂ in says a lot about you. Does your office space appeal to your ideal client? Does it speak about your tastes and preferences? Would you be willing to give other shrinks a tour of your office? Why or why not?

Every time a new client comes into my office they comment on my denim couch. It feels cozy and casual, which is how I want my clients to feel when they’re in my office. The color scheme of the office decor coincides with our logo and website colors…and that’s no accident.

I thought it would be fun to peek into the offices of private practitioners to share ideas and get inspiration. So, if you’re willing to let the world (or the readers of this blog) see YOUR office space follow these simple steps by Feb. 29th, 2012.

Mobile App For Your Private Practice? It’s Easier Than You Think

By now you know that love technology, especially when it comes to practice building. I recently blogged about how shrinks can prepare for the mobile marketing revolution. Well, here’s another cool way to make sure that your private practice website is “mobile friendly.” You can now build your own private practice app! Seriously.

Last weekend I stumbled on this blog http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57336404-94/how-to-build-your-own-app-for-free/ and thought I’d give it a try.

My clinic website, Wasatch Family Therapy, has an active blog, newsletter, YouTube account, Twitter, and Facebook page and we pride ourselves in being fairly tech-savvy, so an app is the next step, right? In addition to providing clinical services, we highly value outreach and community education and technology and the Internet allow us to reach far beyond our own community in Utah.

In less than an hour, through the tools available on conduit.com I created a custom mobile “Wasatch Family Therapy” app, complete with it’s own QR code (the code you can scan with a bar code scanner on your mobile phone). I was also able to set up a notification to my website visitors using a mobile device to select the app or open the full-version. Cool huh?

Do you know who’s talking about you and your practice on the web? If not, you should. My favorite way to to track who’s talking is through Google alerts. Google alerts sends me an email whenever they come across “Julie Hanks” or “Wasatch Family Therapy” on the web. It’s a quick and easy to see what information your name is being associated with, where you’re being mentioned, who’s quoting you, and more.

If nothing pops up about you and your practice on the web via Google Alerts over several months, that’s helpful information too. If Google can’t find you, then it’s likely that you’re potential clients can’t find you either. To learn more about Google searches read my article Does Google Love Your Therapy Practice?.

Mobile App For Your Private Practice? It’s Easier Than You Think

By now you know that I love technology, especially when it comes to practice building. I recently blogged about how shrinks can prepare for the mobile marketing revolution. Well, here’s another cool way to make sure that your private practice website is “mobile friendly.” You can now build your own private practice app! Seriously.

Last weekend I stumbled on this blog http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57336404-94/how-to-build-your-own-app-for-free/ and thought I’d give it a try.

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.

Lights. Camera. Therapy! National TV Debut Tonight

I let a camera crew film two therapy sessions for the TV series “Secretly Pregnant” airing tonightÂ at 10:00 PM ET/8:00 PM MT on Discovery Fit & Health. While I have a lot of TV experience I’ve never been this nervous about it. I think it’s because I have NO idea how the therapy sessions will be edited and I don’t know how much of the sessions will actually be included in the episode. Oh, and this is national TV, not local TV.

How did I get on national TV?

One word: Google. Several months ago I got a call from a NY based casting company who had found my practice information online, saw that I had TV experience, and that I specialized in working with women’s emotional health and relationships. They asked if Iâ€™d be willing to do some pro bono therapy on camera with a Salt Lake City woman for a womenâ€™s health documentary show about women who are hiding their pregnancies. I agreed and the next day a producer, crew, and new client â€œJenâ€ came to Wasatch Family Therapy to film the first of 2 sessions for the show.

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

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How did I get on national TV?

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

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