Navigating All The Hats: Private Practice as a Therapist

Starting or expanding a private practice is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming. As therapists, our primary passion lies in helping others, but the reality of running a business introduces a host of additional responsibilities. As a consultant to fellow therapists and someone who is always learning with my own practice on the daily, I’ve seen firsthand how the weight of managing these tasks can detract from our primary goals and chip away at our well being. Today, I’d like to share my journey and some practical advice on how to delegate roles effectively to ensure your practice not only survives but thrives.

The Challenge of Wearing Many Hats

When I first opened my private practice, I was eager to handle everything myself. From accounting to marketing to social media, I believed that maintaining control over all aspects would ensure success. However, I soon realized that juggling these roles left me feeling burnt out and less effective in my primary role as a therapist. It became clear that to grow my practice sustainably, I needed to delegate. There’s a delicate balance of saving as much financially as possible and deciding when to call it quits and ask for help for certain tasks because it’s taking away time from your clients or your self-care needs.

Accounting: Trusting the Numbers to the Experts

Delegating: Managing finances can be particularly daunting. Initially, I tried to keep track of expenses, manage payroll, and handle taxes on my own. This quickly became a source of significant stress. Hiring a professional accountant was a game-changer. Not only did it free up my time, but it also provided peace of mind knowing that my finances were in expert hands.

Budget Friendly: Find a system such as Quick Books (which usually has a free trial or referral from someone else who uses QBS) where you can create rules to label all your expenses for taxes. This can serve you well and may sustain you without an accountant if you can get it working smoothly and stay on top of it. I found that my ability to keep up dwindled when I moved into group practice work and all the moving parts of income were too much for me.

Marketing: Crafting Your Message Without Losing Your Mind

Delegating: Marketing can be really helpful for attracting new clients, but it can be incredibly time-consuming. I struggled to find the balance between maintaining a strong online presence and seeing my clients. Delegating some of the marketing tasks to a professional allowed me to maintain a consistent and effective marketing strategy without the constant stress. Knowing I was still able to do some of the work still helped scratch that creative itch, feel excited and proud about my online presence but still be more efficient and more consistent with getting content out. Info dumping ideas to my social media professional still allows me to have control over content and share my ideas with my audience while not having to do every little step or remember to post the content. A social media assistant is not something I did the first six months of expanding my group practice but I slowly built up the courage and connections to find an amazing marketing specialist who was affordable and let me enjoy the process more.

Budget Friendly: Canva design is your friend! There are tons of preloaded designs in Canva to design social media images, flyers, business cards, newsletters, whatever you can think of. There are free Canva groups on FB that give you ideas as well as Tik Tok accounts that show you how to create posts. Start simple and create a design introducing yourself and your practice. Figure out what colors you want to use and stick to them for branding. You can always rebrand or get more fancy later.

Administrative Tasks: The Unsung Heroes of Efficiency

Delegating: Administrative tasks, such as scheduling, client communications, and paperwork, can quickly become overwhelming. There are several types of roles that you can consider hiring at some point, including a Virtual Assistant, Practice Manager and Medical Biller. For administrative tasks, a VA or PM will be useful in helping streamline all the tasks mentioned above and triage potential clients. If you don’t take insurance, you can save yourself the hassle of a medical biller.

Budget Friendly: Although a Virtual Assistant or Practice Manager are good long term goals to centralize everything, there are plenty of decent programs that have automated processes such as Spruce and Simple Practice EHR. I use these programs myself to create self-scheduling for my group practice so that I’m not juggling every clinician’s email or phone call requests and so that my own clients can have autonomy to hop on the calendar. For example, Simple Practice has a Client Portal link that you can embed into your website so that new and current clients can schedule. Control freak? You can limit it to new clients only or current clients only - all customizable depending on your goals. Programs like this help with boundaries and taking things off your plate. The Spruce app is a HIPAA compliant phone system that lets you do automated replies at designated times, schedule out typed out text messages when you want them to be sent and offers a Phone Tree for your group practice that routes them to every clinician under one number.

Asking Other Owners

Maybe you can’t afford anything outside of your current business expenses (which add up quickly!) and need to network with others in your field who you can take to lunch and pick their brain. There is nothing wrong with waiting to pay for consultation and advice and many people are able to launch and grow their practices without hiring help through their own therapist community. Consulting can be a great additional support especially if you are trying to get a lot of information quickly or want someone who’s business practices and success align with your goals.

Embracing Delegation: A Path to Growth and Balance

Delegation isn’t about relinquishing control; it’s about recognizing where your time and energy are best spent. By entrusting certain tasks to skilled professionals, you can focus on what you do best—providing exceptional care to your clients. Remember, building a supportive team around you is a strength, not a weakness.

As therapists, we understand the importance of seeking support when needed. The same principle applies to running a private practice. By delegating roles such as accounting, marketing, social media, administrative tasks, and IT support, you can alleviate stress and create a more balanced, efficient practice. Your time and energy are valuable—invest them wisely. Your clients and your business will thank you.

In the end, delegation has allowed me to grow my practice and provide better care for my clients. I hope my journey and insights inspire you to take the steps needed to build a thriving, sustainable practice. If you have any questions or need guidance, feel free to reach out. We’re all in this together, and with the right support, we can all succeed.