Therapist Spotlight: Managing the Business Risk of Private Practice with Sherry Katz

This Therapist Spotlight is a part of our interview series with experienced Mental Health Practitioners, where therapists share their experiences in Private Practice Therapy.
What was one of the biggest problems you struggled with and ultimately solved in the beginning of your private practice? What solution did you find to your (perhaps persisting) problem?

One of my biggest problems when I started my practice and which to some degree continues to exist, is accepting the uneven work flow of patient hours. After completing what I thought were the basic necessities of contracting with a few insurance corporations, having a few reliable referral sources in my community, I was quite anxious some days, knowing I had done all I could, and that I had hours of unscheduled patient time in my day.

I taught myself to evaluate my use of time much differently than working as a clinician in an agency, in which my role was to offer therapy to clients. In my own business, I understood that many necessary actions to sustain my business, did not bring immediate financial gain. Financial record keeping, writing progress notes, maintaining inventory of office supplies, were a cost of doing business. I learned that the higher patient fee collected in my own practice, was not the financial perk I anticipated it would be. Instead, it became what allowed me address all the business functions of a private practice and to have freedom to practice therapy in the way I was taught and was happy doing.

The uneven flow of patients is a fact of at least my private practice. I’ve recognized the freedom and sense of accomplishment of having my own practice and accept this now as one of the trade offs.

What advice would you give to a budding mental health practitioner just getting licensed?

The advice I’d give to someone who will soon be licensed, is to identify a few areas in which you’d like to specialize your services, then in these sectors, build networks of professionals from whom you’d like receiving referrals.

In-person meetings are still the strongest way of giving a full impression of yourself, as well as assessing the interest level in you, of the person w whom you’re meeting.

What advice would you have given yourself early in your career?

Be aware of how vulnerable a solo practitioner is to business risk. I started my practice with the social work mindset of “helping”everyone. I’d accept very complex cases which would require social service management, and Family Court involvement, in addition to therapy for high conflict. I was not aware of the professional risk of offering therapy services to such cases. I learned the hard way that patients who have needs of professional therapy time on a regular basis, more than a session each week, may act out against you, the therapist, if they do not feel taken care of by you.

Do you see any persisting or upcoming problems in the private practice industry. If so, how do you handle them?
The private practice therapy sector seems saturated with practitioners. I wonder if there are more practitioners than the public has need. Relatively new licensing categories exist which usually have shorter education programs than those which have been around for more time. In addition, the business of life coaching absorbs some of who would typically be a therapy patient. Related, is the Collaborative Divorce business, which to some degree may be viewed as divorce counseling.I’d like to see the dividing line among mental health practitioners change to the categories of “insurance corporation practitioner” “private pay practitioner”. This becomes the most important divide bc the first category must practice according to guidelines of the insurance corporation, such as diagnosing someone w a pathological condition, utilizing corporate protocol time categories, number of sessions, whether to take pills. The second category, private pay practitioners, have the freedom to practice according to the clinical principles they were taught.
Please let us know about you: where are you located, any specialties, credentials, and educational background. How should someone get in touch with you?
My solo practice is located at 4 Wilsey Square, Suite 2, Ridgewood, NJ 07450. Phone 201.445.4770. My specialty is Couples, at any stage of their development, from courtship to marital separation. My post-graduate training was in Systems Relational therapy.This means interaction problems result from blockages and misunderstanding between people. This is quite different than working from the theory that something is wrong with a person and the therapist will fix this. In Systems work, which is the basis of my Couples Work, the problem results from how the partners get along, what may be outside their awareness and yet greatly influences how the person is a partner. My website is newviewsfamilytherapy.com.
What makes you and your practice, your approach, unique? How are you different?
The main way my practice differs from most is that I am flexible w the amount of time allowed for each session. I schedule for sixty minutes and if we are in the midst of a valuable discussion, we continue for another ten to fifteen minutes in order to complete the topic. My fee remains the same $150 for the session. People likes this because it adds esteem to the work.Also, the session interval time is unique to each case, and agreed upon by the couple and myself. There is no requirement of having sessions each week. Usually people need time to do the work we’ve discussed in session. There is no point coming back for a new session if the partners haven’t had time enough to try working in their lives, what we have talked about.

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