The Ultimate Guide to Business Training for Therapists

Therapists who venture into private practice, often don't get the business and marketing training they need to run a business.

Mental Health higher education doesn't include any courses that would help therapists to start a practice of their own. That's too bad because roughly 50% of mental health providers go into private practice.

Fortunately, there're many resources outside of academia that provide this much-needed training. In this guide, I've put together a list of courses and training for therapists who want to build, grow and scale their private practice.

The Importance of Business Training for Therapists

Owning a business is a risky and nerve-wracking endeavor. Making a decision to venture out on your own can lead to stress about money and feelings of inadequacy.

Understanding your business goals and the resources you have at your disposal can significantly reduce the potential stress and help you sleep better at night. But most therapists are left to figure it all out on their own, following their intuition.

If you have a strong business sense, this path could work out very well for you. But for many, it leads to an unnecessary waste of time, energy, and finances.

But don't worry, this list of training programs will help you get organized and set your practice up for success.

starting a private practice

Money Skills for Therapists. This course was created by Linzy Bonham, the owner of "Money Nuts and Bolts" and a therapist in private practice. Noticing that therapists have a lot of anxiety around the topic of money, she came up with this training. Money Skills for Therapists is a course for therapists, health practitioners, coaches, and other service providers who are running (or about to start) their private practice, and who want to feel calm and clear about their money.

Google Workspace as practice management. This course was created by Gordon Brewer, the host of the Practice of Therapy podcast and the owner of a counseling practice in Tennessee. Gordon teaches how Google Workspace can be easily adapted to do both the business and clinical processes needed in private practice.

Marketing Fundamentals. This is an online workshop created for therapists who're new to marketing. This is the Marketing 101 course you should've had in grad school. It was created by Avivit Fisher, the owner of REdD Strategy, a marketing consultancy for therapists. In just 1 hour you'll get an overview of marketing principles, basic marketing strategy, and essential tools to start promoting your private practice.

growing a private practice

Lisa Mustard's CE courses. If you want to get continuing education training, you may want to look into Lisa Mustard's CE courses. Lisa is a therapist and a host of The Therapy Show podcast. Her library of courses is rich with a variety of topics, ranging from adoption to eating disorders, to bookkeeping for therapists.

Blogging to Improve Your SEO. This course was created by Jessica Tappana, the owner of Simplified SEO Consulting and of a therapy practice in Missouri. Blogging is a powerful way to improve your SEO. This course will help you start, improve and boost your blog to dominate search engine results.

Billing Assistant Pro from Productive Therapist. Uriah Guilford is a productive therapist. He's a licensed therapist and a successful group practice owner. His website The Productive Therapist offers various courses to help you grow. This course has everything you need to train your in-house or virtual billing staff to handle your insurance billing.

Scaling a private practice.

Start a Group Practice. This course was created by the Practice of the Practice instructor, Allison Pidgeon. It has everything you need to know about starting a group practice.

The Healthcasters. Melvin Varghese is the host of the very popular Selling the Couch podcast. His podcast has been listened to in 125 countries and has had more than 1.5MM downloads, that's why he created a course that teaches therapists how to start a podcast. He Created the Healthcasters because he knows how exciting and scary putting yourself out there can be.

Onboarding checklist for hiring new therapists. Created by Everything but the Therapy owner, Laura Brassie, this checklist will help you hire new therapists as you're scaling your practice. It includes tasks and forms for the new staff member and practice owner, additional steps if the practice owner is providing clinical supervision, and suggested onboarding training.

The Therapy Flow flagship program for scaling your practice. This is a Done-With-You program for growth-minded mental health professionals. With a brilliant team by your side, you'll get access to resources, roadmaps, and knowledge you need to accelerate the growth of your practice.

Conclusion

Wherever you are in your private practice journey, I hope that you find the training that fills your immediate need and helps you get to the next level. If you have any other suggestions for business training for therapists, please comment or email me. I'd love to hear from you!