Best Online Resources for Therapists in Private Practice: 2026 Guide
- Avivit Fisher
- Aug 14
- 13 min read
There's never been more business information available to therapists in private practice.
You can listen to podcasts about growing a practice, subscribe to newsletters about marketing, watch videos about starting a practice, read about finances and SEO, take courses, follow industry experts on LinkedIn, and now ask AI practically any business question that comes to mind.
So the problem is no longer simply finding information. It's deciding which information deserves your attention.
I originally created this guide in 2024 as a collection of online resources for therapists that I thought were genuinely worth knowing about. Since then, both private practice and the information environment around it have changed considerably. So I am updating and expanding the guide for 2026.
It's not intended to be a directory of every podcast, newsletter, website, or business resource available to therapists. There are plenty of those lists already.
Instead, these are resources that can help you better understand different parts of running a private practice, along with some context about when I think they're most useful. Because a good resource isn't necessarily the right resource for you.
If you're trying to understand your practice finances, another Instagram account about marketing probably isn't where your attention belongs. If prospective clients can't find you, a podcast about productivity is unlikely to solve that problem.
And if you've downloaded 14 guides about starting a private practice but haven't acted on any of them, you probably don't need guide number 15. The resource should follow the question. Not the other way around.
Best Podcasts for Therapists in Private Practice
Podcasts are still one of my favorite categories for this list because they allow you to hear how other practice owners and industry professionals think through business decisions, rather than simply telling you what to do.
Best for: Understanding the financial side of practice ownership.
Therapy for Your Money with Julie Herres covers money and finances specifically through the lens of private practice. Topics include profitability, compensation, taxes, budgeting, retirement planning, and the financial decisions that come with owning a therapy practice. This is especially useful once "Am I making money?" is no longer a sufficient financial question.
As a practice grows, you need to understand what the numbers are actually telling you. Revenue, owner compensation, clinician compensation, expenses, taxes, and profit are related, but they aren't interchangeable.
Best for: Developing a broad understanding of private-practice ownership.
The Practice of Therapy with Gordon Brewer helps therapists, counselors, and other mental health clinicians understand the business side of starting, building, and growing a private practice.
I included this in the original guide because of its broad private-practice focus, and that's still what makes it useful. If you're relatively new to practice ownership, you may not yet know which business topics you need to understand. A broad resource like this can help you develop that bigger picture.
Best for: Therapists interested in building income, reach, or impact beyond a traditional therapy caseload.
Selling the Couch with Melvin Varghese has been around for years, which itself makes it notable in an industry where resources frequently appear and disappear. The podcast explores private practice and entrepreneurship, with a particular emphasis on opportunities beyond traditional clinical work.
I would particularly look at this resource if you're interested in building income, reach, or impact beyond a traditional therapy caseload through offerings such as consultation, education, courses, podcasting, or other online business models.
Best for: Hearing how other therapists think about the business behind their practices.
Heard Business School is an interview-based podcast about the business of therapy, featuring practice owners and industry professionals.
What I like about this format is that you get to hear how different therapists approach private practice. There isn't one universal model for building a successful practice, and listening to those differences can be more instructive than being handed another formula.
Best for: Understanding both the practical and emotional sides of money in private practice.
Money Skills for Therapists with Linzy Bonham approaches private-practice finances from another useful angle.
Money is often discussed as though therapists simply need better spreadsheets. But the way practice owners make financial decisions is also influenced by their comfort with numbers, pricing, earning, spending, planning, and uncertainty. That makes this a useful complement to more accounting-focused financial resources.
Best Newsletters for Therapists
I like newsletters because they can keep you connected to changes in private practice without requiring you to actively search for information every week. But I recommend keeping it simple. Your inbox does not become more educational simply because you subscribe to more things.
Choose newsletters based on what you actually want to understand.
Best for: Quick, accessible marketing education for therapists.
Therapy Marketer is a newsletter created by Michael Fulwiler, a longtime mental-health marketing professional.
I've recommended Therapy Marketer for years because the content tends to be concise and accessible. It's a good resource for therapists who want to become more literate about marketing without making marketing their full-time hobby.
Best for: Understanding changes affecting private-pay practice.
Therapy Business Brief is the newsletter I write for therapy practice owners.
It covers the business environment around private-pay practice, including marketing decisions, industry changes, AI, positioning, and the economics of maintaining a sustainable private-pay model.
My goal with the Brief isn't simply to give you another tactic to try. It's to help you interpret what's changing around your practice and decide what, if anything, deserves a response.
That distinction has become increasingly important.
Best for: Understanding the larger behavioral-health business environment.
Behavioral Health Business is different from most resources on this page because it covers the broader behavioral-health industry rather than teaching therapists how to run private practices. That's exactly why I think it can be valuable.
Independent therapists sometimes consume information almost entirely from within the private-practice ecosystem. But your practice doesn't operate separately from the larger behavioral-health market.
Following broader industry reporting can help you understand changes in technology, investment, treatment models, payer behavior, and other trends that may eventually affect smaller practices too.
Marketing and Visibility Resources for Therapists
Marketing is one of the areas where therapists encounter an enormous amount of advice online. The problem is that marketing advice is usually presented through the lens of the person giving it.
SEO experts naturally talk about SEO. Social media experts talk about social media. Advertising companies talk about advertising. Those resources can all be useful.
But the channel should follow the business problem rather than the other way around.
Here are a few resources I think do a particularly good job of helping therapists understand different aspects of marketing and visibility.
Best for: Learning therapist-specific SEO before deciding whether to do it yourself or hire help.
Simplified SEO Consulting's blog has long been one of the resources I recommend for therapists who want to better understand search engine optimization.
Jessica Tappana founded the company as a therapist, and the blog covers subjects including keyword research, blogging, local SEO, websites, content, and the changing relationship between traditional search and AI.
This is a useful place to learn how search works before deciding whether SEO is something you want to handle yourself or outsource. If you want to understand how search fits into private-pay growth in 2026, I've also written a guide to SEO for therapists.
Best for: Growing solo and group practices that need a more organized system for managing inquiries, referrals, follow-up, and conversion.
Therapy Flow CRM is a HIPAA-compliant marketing and front-office system built specifically for therapy practices. It brings inquiry tracking, referral pipelines, phone, text, email, automated follow-up, forms, calendars, and marketing tools into one system.
I would look at Therapy Flow CRM if your practice has reached the point where inquiries are coming from multiple sources and keeping track of follow-up is becoming difficult. A CRM will not solve a visibility problem, but it can help prevent the opportunities you're already generating from getting lost between the initial inquiry and intake.
Its value is less about “doing more marketing” and more about making sure the marketing and referrals you already have actually turn into scheduled clients.
The REdD Strategy blog is where I write about marketing and growth specifically through the lens of private-pay practice.
You'll find articles about attracting private-pay clients, positioning, referrals, SEO, content, AI visibility, reputation, and the business decisions behind practice growth.
My goal with these resources is not to convince you that you need to do more marketing.
It's to help you understand what your marketing is actually supposed to accomplish.
If you're looking for the broader picture, start with my current guide to marketing for therapists.
Useful YouTube and Social Media Resources for Therapists
Social media deserves a slightly different treatment in the 2026 version of this guide.
I don't think therapists need a huge collection of accounts to follow. Following more people can easily create the impression that everyone else is doing more marketing, building faster, or has figured out something you haven't.
Instead, use social platforms selectively. Follow people whose expertise corresponds to something you're actually trying to understand.
Best for: Therapists learning the fundamentals of starting a private practice.
Private Practice Skills, created by Dr. Marie Fang, remains a particularly useful starting point for therapists who are building their first practice.
Her videos make private-practice subjects accessible and cover many of the practical realities of getting a practice up and running. If you're early in the process and don't yet know what you don't know, a broad educational resource like this can help you develop a basic map of practice ownership.
LinkedIn Accounts Worth Following
I still think there is value in following individual people rather than only companies and publications, especially when someone has a clear area of expertise.
Andrea Rotondo is the owner of Liquid Cents Bookkeeping. I included Andrea in the original version of this guide because she makes financial systems for therapy practices easier to understand. Her content is particularly useful if bookkeeping and the financial operations of your practice feel unnecessarily complicated.
Emily McNamara works specifically with therapy practices on bookkeeping and CFO advisory. Her content is particularly relevant for group practice owners who want to better understand their numbers, think more clearly about compensation, and make financial decisions as the practice grows.
I like including financial voices in this list because practice owners don't necessarily need to become financial experts, but they do need to understand their numbers well enough to make informed business decisions. Emily's perspective is especially useful once the financial questions become more complex than simply tracking income and expenses.
And yes, you can also follow me on LinkedIn. I write about private-pay practice growth, positioning, visibility, AI, marketing, and changes I'm observing in the therapy market.
You don't need hundreds of industry voices in your feed.
A few people who consistently help you understand something better are enough.
Financial and Business Resources for Therapists
Financial literacy is one of the areas I think deserves a place in any serious collection of private practice resources for therapists. Therapists receive extensive clinical training. Practice ownership introduces an entirely different vocabulary: cash flow, payroll, taxes, margins, compensation, expenses, capacity, and profitability.
You don't need to become an accountant. You do need enough business literacy to understand what questions to ask. That's one reason several financial resources appear on this list. Therapy for Your Money, Money Skills for Therapists, and Heard Business School approach the financial side of practice ownership from somewhat different perspectives.
If you're looking for a broader collection of courses and educational options, I've also put together The Ultimate Guide to Business Training for Therapists.
The important distinction here is between education and professional advice.
A podcast, newsletter, or article can help you understand a financial concept. It cannot determine which tax election, business structure, compensation arrangement, or financial decision is appropriate for your specific circumstances.
Knowing when you've moved from needing more information to needing a qualified professional is part of good business decision-making too.
Continuing Education and Practice Management Resources
Clinical continuing education obviously belongs in the larger universe of online resources for therapists, but I'm not going to give you an enormous list of CE companies. Your license, profession, jurisdiction, clinical interests, and licensing board should determine what kind of continuing education you need.
For that reason, I recommend starting with your professional association or licensing board when you need to verify requirements or approved providers. This is especially important before purchasing a course based solely on a recommendation you encountered online.
Practice-management resources require similar judgment.
Lisa Mustard, LMFT offers continuing education courses specifically for mental health professionals, covering clinical topics as well as professional development. I've included Lisa's resources in this guide for several years because her education is designed specifically with therapists in mind rather than treating mental health professionals as one audience among many.
Best for: Therapists looking for accessible continuing education created specifically for mental health professionals.
Platforms such as SimplePractice and TherapyNotes are well known within mental health, but choosing an EHR or practice-management system shouldn't be a popularity contest.
A solo therapist and a growing group practice may have very different requirements.
Start with the workflow. What administrative tasks are consuming time? What does intake need to look like? Do you need integrated billing or telehealth? What does your team need access to? Then evaluate the technology against those requirements.
Blogs and Educational Libraries Worth Bookmarking
One advantage of blogs and educational libraries is that you can return to them when you actually have a question rather than continuously consuming whatever happens to appear in your feed.
In addition to REdD Strategy, Simplified SEO Consulting, and Simple Practice, one resource from my original guide remains worth mentioning here.
Best for: Improving the operational side of a growing practice.
Productive Therapist, created by Uriah Guilford, focuses on the operational side of running a practice, particularly intake, administration, productivity, and systems.
This becomes increasingly relevant as a practice grows.
At that stage, the challenge may no longer be simply getting clients. It may be making sure the business can respond to inquiries, schedule people, follow up, and operate without every administrative task flowing through the owner.
What About AI as an Online Resource for Therapists?
We can't really publish a 2026 guide to online resources without addressing AI.
AI can be useful for organizing information, exploring ideas, summarizing material, understanding unfamiliar business terminology, and helping you formulate better questions.
But it has also made one skill considerably more important: Source judgment.
An answer that sounds confident is not necessarily an authoritative answer.
That's especially important when the subject involves ethics, licensing, clinical care, legal requirements, taxes, privacy, or compliance.
I would think of AI as another layer in your information system, not a replacement for the underlying source. AI may help you formulate questions about a licensing issue. Your licensing board remains the place to verify the answer.
It may help you understand what a financial term means. Your accountant should tell you how that concept applies to your business. It may help you brainstorm marketing ideas. That doesn't mean every idea makes strategic sense for your practice.
The abundance of AI-generated information is actually one reason I think curated resources matter more now, not less.
How to Choose Which Therapist Resources Are Worth Your Time
Now let's be realistic: you probably don't need all of these. A resource guide can accidentally create another to-do list, and that's not my intention. Instead, start with the question you're currently trying to answer.
If you're starting a practice, broad private-practice education may be useful because you're building foundational business knowledge. If you're established but struggling to understand profitability, spend more time with financial resources.
If inquiries have slowed, marketing and visibility resources may deserve your attention.
If your practice is growing but everything still depends on you, operational and practice-management resources may be more useful.
And if you're still working toward independent licensure, my guide to attracting clients as a pre-licensed therapist addresses some of the specific business and marketing considerations that come with that stage.
The best online resources for therapists aren't necessarily the ones everyone else recommends. They're the ones that help you understand the problem in front of you well enough to make a better decision.
A Final Thought About Online Resources for Therapists
When I first wrote this article in 2024, the challenge was helping therapists find useful business information. In 2026, I think that challenge has shifted.
There are more podcasts, newsletters, courses, consultants, communities, software companies, social accounts, AI tools, and educational libraries than any one practice owner could reasonably consume. Access to information isn't the scarce resource anymore.
Attention is.
So bookmark the resources that help you think more clearly. Subscribe to the newsletters you actually read. Listen to people who understand the particular problem you're trying to solve. Unsubscribe when something stops being useful.
Most importantly, don't confuse learning more about private practice with making progress in your private practice. Sometimes another resource is exactly what you need. Sometimes you already have enough information to make the decision.
Where Does Your Practice Need Attention?
If you've reached the point where you have plenty of information but still aren't sure what your practice actually needs, that's what a Strategic Direction Call is designed to help you figure out.
We'll look at where your practice is now, where you want it to go, and determine what deserves your attention next.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Resources for Therapists
What are the best online resources for therapists in private practice?
The best resources depend on what you're trying to learn. Podcasts, newsletters, financial education, marketing resources, continuing education, professional organizations, and practice-management resources can all be useful. Start with the question you need to answer rather than trying to consume every available resource.
What resources are useful when starting a therapy private practice?
If you're starting a practice, broad resources such as Private Practice Skills and The Practice of Therapy can help you understand the fundamentals of practice ownership. You'll also need authoritative resources for licensing, ethics, finances, and business requirements specific to your profession and location.
If you're beginning before full licensure, you may also want to read my guide to attracting clients as a pre-licensed therapist.
Where can therapists learn about the business side of private practice?
Therapy for Your Money, Money Skills for Therapists, Heard Business School, Therapy Business Brief, and other therapist-specific business resources can help practice owners develop stronger financial and business literacy.
For additional courses and training resources, see The Ultimate Guide to Business Training for Therapists.
Where can therapists learn about marketing and SEO?
Simplified SEO Consulting, CounselingWise, Therapy Marketer, and REdD Strategy all publish marketing information specifically for therapists and private practices.
For a broader starting point, read my Marketing for Therapists Guide. If your question is specifically about appearing in location-based search results, see Local SEO for Therapists.
Can therapists use AI as a business resource?
Yes. AI can be useful for research, organization, brainstorming, and understanding unfamiliar concepts. Important clinical, ethical, legal, licensing, financial, privacy, and compliance information should still be verified with appropriate authoritative sources or qualified professionals.
How do I avoid information overload when running a private practice?
Choose resources based on the question or problem you're currently trying to solve. A small collection of credible resources that you actually use is more valuable than an inbox, podcast queue, and browser full of information that never affects your decisions.
Where Does Your Practice Need Attention?
If you've reached the point where you have plenty of information but still aren't sure what your practice actually needs, that's what a Strategic Direction Call is designed to help you figure out.
