Starting a Private Practice in Counseling Checklist: Essential Tools for New Therapist

If you’re considering starting a private practice in the mental health field, you may have many questions. You must take many steps to open your practice, market to your niche clients, and figure out strategies for maintaining and keeping track of everything. Knowing where to start can feel overwhelming.

You have to choose what structure works best for your business and come up with a name, and depending on where you live, you may have to pay fees to operate a business. Additionally, you may need some other tools like HIPAA-compliant email and phone services or an electronic health records system.

It’s essential to know how you will market your business, how you will write your notes, and where you will store your notes. Considering all the building blocks, you may quickly feel stuck. You might ask yourself what’s necessary to get my practice off the ground?

Luckily, we’ve compiled a checklist of tools to make starting a counseling practice easier. Having the tools you need to get started and some tips on how to use the tools can help you feel more confident in starting your therapy practice.

Choosing a business structure and getting started

When you start a private practice, there are some things to consider. First, you must make a business plan and consider which business structure is best for you. Some people will choose to be a limited liability corporation, and for others being a sole proprietor or another type of business structure will work best for them.

It’s best to consult a tax professional or an experienced lawyer about small businesses to determine the best business structure. In addition, consulting a professional can benefit you come tax time.

You need to check with your city, state, and county to see if you need a business license to operate where you are. Knowing the local laws and ordinances surrounding running a business in your jurisdiction helps ensure you’re operating legally.

Choosing an Electronic Health Records System (EHR)

Whether you have an online or virtual practice, you will most likely want an electronic health records system (EHR) to document and store your client’s records. EHRs can help serve as a practice management system so you can organize your practice efficiently. An EHR allows you to fill out client forms, store contact information, document psychotherapy sessions, and sometimes provide billing and telehealth services.

Some popular electronic health records systems include EHRs like Theranest, Simple Practice, and TherapyNotes. There are less popular options out there as well.

Consider what you need from a practice management system for choosing an EHR. For example, you may want to ensure that your business platform offers telehealth, so therefore you would need to consider only EHRs that offer a telehealth option.

If you require credit card processing and don’t want to use a third-party system, you will want to ensure that your EHR offers this feature. Some EHRs offer credit card processing, but most charge an additional fee, so it may be best if you price compare the processing fees.

In addition, to complete practice management systems, some tools can help you achieve your documentation quickly and efficiently so you don’t have to spend unnecessary time on documentation.

One such service is Mentalyc which can write your psychotherapy notes for you. With Mentalyc, you can spend less time on mental health documentation and more time on other aspects of patient care. If you join Mentalyc, you upload recordings of your psychotherapy sessions to the HIPAA-compliant platform. Then, in less than 2 minutes, Mentalyc analyzes and writes a psychotherapy note for you based on the recording.

If you want to join Mentalyc and save time on writing notes, you can do that here. You can also check out other note-writing services.

Documents and Practice Forms

One important part of opening a private counseling practice is developing client forms. You can create your own documents to open your practice or pay for a package of forms you can personalize.

Some common forms you will use in practice include:

• An informed consent
• Telehealth consent
• Good Faith Estimate
• Release of Information Form
• Payment Policies form
• Intake Form
• Treatment Plan Form

While there are other forms you may need in practice, the list above reflects some of the most popular forms that you will use. If you want to purchase other forms and personalize them for your practice, you can search private practice forms for purchase online.

Choosing HIPAA-compliant communication methods

When starting a private counseling practice, choose a virtual therapy platform or an EHR with video capabilities.

You may consider telehealth platforms such as:

• Zoom
• Doxy.me
• Psychology Today sessions

As stated, specific platforms like TherapyNotes and Simple Practice often have a telehealth platform built in. If you’re conducting virtual therapy sessions, a HIPAA-compliant video conferencing system will be essential for your practice.

Ensure you request a Business Associate Agreement to maintain HIPAA compliance with any service.

Additionally, you will want to figure out phone, internet, and fax service if necessary.

You may consider programs like:

• Google Workspace
• Google Voice
• Spruce
• iPlum

Many of these services offer HIPAA-compliant messaging, phone, e-mail, or fax services. However, to be HIPAA compliant, you should consider signing a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before using these services with your ideal clients. You will also want to ensure that these services offer end-to-end encryption to maintain HIPAA compliance.

If you own a virtual practice, you may want to consider using a virtual mail address, where you have a virtual address for registering your business, and you don’t have to put your home address out in the world.

You can obtain a virtual business address through these companies:

• Incfile
• iPostal1
• Anytime Mailbox
• PostScanMail
• Planet Express

Virtual addresses protect you from having to use your home address, which can cause a safety concern.

Tools for Managing Your Physical Office

The tools you need to manage your practice may differ depending on whether your counseling practice is online or virtual. For example, if you offer psychotherapy sessions in person, you may want organizational tools to help you stay organized with people in and out of your office space all day.

You may want ways to organize paper files in your office or toys for play therapy. Consider buying file cabinets for physical paperwork. You may buy plastic bins or items to store play therapy tools and toys in. Having a comfortable couch and office chair are necessities. Choosing what decorations to buy for your physical space may be a fun part of opening a new practice.

As you develop your practice, you’ll determine what is necessary for you and what isn’t. Then, you choose your style and level of comfort.

Marketing Plan and Tools

How you market your business is an essential part of gaining new clients. So you may ask yourself how you’re getting the word out about your practice? What tools do you have so clients can find you and know what you’re about?

Having physical business cards is essential to give to other clinicians. Networking events are ideal times to pass out business cards. Many clients will find you through online directories. They’re beneficial for clients looking for clinicians specializing in a specific area. Online directories allow clients to read about your specialties and reach out if they feel you could be a good match.

Finding referrals is also important to promote your practice. The first step is to build trustworthy relationships with other professionals in your field. This can include sharing information and insights with colleagues, attending industry events, and becoming involved in online communities. Once others in your field know and respect you, they will be more likely to refer clients to your practice.

You can also create a website to attract potential clients online. You can pay someone to make this for you or use websites like Wix or Squarespace to create your own.

Some online directories you may consider joining to promote your practice:

• Psychology Today
• Therapy Den
• Good Therapy
• Inclusive Therapists
• Open Path Collective (If you’re willing to offer a sliding scale)

If you have very specialized training, you may also join directories that align with your area of expertise.

Bookkeeping tools

If you’re starting a counseling practice, you don’t want to be lost regarding tax time. Managing your finances and the money coming in and out of your practice is essential. Knowing this helps you figure out how much you will owe in taxes at the end of the year, but many business expenses you can write off if you keep track of them properly.

You may keep an Excel file of purchases or follow a template to keep track of business expenses. You can also use systems such as QuickBooks as a tool to help you stay on track. In addition, there are many accounting and bookkeeping services; you can try out a few and figure out how they work for you.

Whether you use a free service, a paid one, or choose someone else to keep track of your books, you want to ensure you’re using a system that keeps everything organized so you aren’t lost or overwhelmed come tax time.

Opening a Counseling Private Practice Review

Starting your private practice can be an exciting but overwhelming journey. There’s a lot to consider regarding what marketing tools or directories to use. Researching applicable licenses and fees where you reside and developing your business structure is an excellent place to start.

After that, consider communication, marketing, bookkeeping, practice management, and organizational tools for your physical space. You can use specialized tools to help you work smarter and not harder.

If you need help, find a mental health clinician consultation group near you, or join a local group tailored to mental health clinicians. In addition, you can often find support groups for counseling practices on social media and learn a lot about opening a practice.

Opening a counseling practice can be exciting but also scary for counselor. However, opening your practice will be a breeze once you have the right tools.

References

Grossman P. (2022). 5 Virtual Address Services for your Small Business. https://www.incfile.com/blog/virtual-address-service-providers-for-your-small-business

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About the author

Marissa Moore

Marissa Moore is a mental health professional who owns Mending Hearts Counseling in Southwest Missouri. She specializes in providing affirming counseling services to the LGBTQIA+ community. Marissa has 11 years of experience working in the mental health field, and her work experience includes substance use treatment centers, group homes, an emergency room, and now private practice work.

Learn More About Marissa