Private Practice Made Simple , livre ebook

New Harbinger Publications - J. Paterson Randy

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156 pages

English

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Sujets

Sociologie, société et politique

Psychology

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Publié par	New Harbinger Publications
Date de parution	01 janvier 0001
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781608824069
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1798€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2011 by Randy J. Paterson New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Amy Shoup
Acquired by Melissa Kirk
Edited by Nelda Street
All Rights Reserved
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print and PDF editions as:
Paterson, Randy J.
Private practice made simple : everything you need to know to set up and manage a successful mental health practice / Randy J. Paterson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60882-023-8 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-024-5 (pdf ebook)
1. Mental health counseling--Practice. 2. Psychotherapy--Practice. I. Title.
RC466.P38 2011
616.89’14--dc22
For Geoff
Acknowledgments
No one learns entirely by trial and error. While setting up my clinic and, much later, writing this book, I consulted more people than I can name. I am particularly grateful to the following friends and clinicians for their invaluable input: Dan Bilsker, Martha Capreol, Anne Howson, William Koch, Susan Mackey-Jamieson, Lisa Shatford, and Adrienne Wang. I am indirectly indebted to Richard Wright for the sailing metaphors and for making a bet that he would finish his book before I finished this one. He won.
Many thanks go to Barbara Fredrickson, who took time from her schedule to provide useful input that found its way into chapter 8. Paul Belserene broke me of the habit of writing rapid replies to e-mail, and he provided feedback on the original title of the book. Alain de Botton inspired me through his writing, and he pointed the way toward a useful quote. David Burns provided comments on passages involving clients’ commitment to therapy. Marilyn Ransby offered useful clarification on some of the vagaries of U.S. taxes and health insurance. My early mentors Bill Newby, Jack Sweetland, and Jim Neufeld provided many ideas that have survived the years and have found their way into this book.
I would also like to thank participants in the British Columbia Psychological Association Internet forum, who weighed in on issues including the attractions and anxieties of private practice, the dress of psychologists, and personal strategies for avoiding burnout. Those who provided suggestions include Galia Artzy, Robinder Bedi, Catherine Bond, Dianne Chappell, Elsie de Vita, Anne Dietrich, Cam Ellison, Jane Flint, Lynda Grant, Tracy Halpen, Amy Janeck, Peter Johnson, Gary Lea, Jeanne LeBlanc, Joanne MacKinnon, Rachel Mallory, Catherine McLaughlin, Alison Miller, Lynda Murdoch, Rami Nader, Theresa Nicassio, Serena Patterson, Don Ramer, Lara Robinson, Joti Samra, Susanne Schibler, Eroca Shaler, Raymond Shred, Charlotte Sutker, Maria Undurraga, John Wagner, Judy Weiser, and Alina Wydra.
I have offered workshops on practice management for several years and have shamelessly mined attendees’ comments and observations for material for this book. To all such workshop participants, I give my thanks.
As always, the staff at New Harbinger Publications has been extremely encouraging and helpful. Matthew McKay is surely one of the most accessible and enthusiastic publishers in the business. Melissa Kirk guided the book from a flurry of acceptance e-mails to publication. Nelda Street provided detailed copyediting that markedly improved the tone and flow of the book. Regrettably, I can blame none of them for any failings, inaccuracies, or deficiencies, which are entirely my own contribution.
Geoff Bannoff provided useful input on financial concerns, website design, and computer security, based on his experience managing a much larger organization than most psychologists will ever have to face. His patience and endless support are most appreciated.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Why/Why Not: The Decision to Open a Practice
2. Who/Where: Names and Location
3. Setting the Scene: The Office as Stage
4. Getting Referrals
5. Creating a Website
6. Managing Client Information
7. Managing Finances
8. The Clinic Assistant
9. Managing Clinical Services
10. The Ritual Clinic: Keeping Your Work Sustainable
11. The Long View: Burnout and Beyond
Postscript
References
Introduction
Here’s the big secret: No one really teaches you how to manage a mental health or counseling practice. As clinicians we stumble through our careers, gradually picking up shortcuts and strategies that make our lives (or those of our clients) a lot easier. Many of these useful ideas aren’t rocket science and could have been taught to us in an afternoon if anyone had thought about it. That’s what this book is for: it’s nothing more than a collection of useful basic tips.
I attended a graduate program in clinical psychology that was aggressively research oriented. The course work emphasized research strategies. When treatment came up, it was in the form of outcome trials. We would learn all the details of the study design, the treatments applied (or not) to various groups of subjects, and the results obtained. We spent hours analyzing the type 1 error rate (per contrast, per time, per study?). Only two things were missed: How to conduct treatment How to practice in the field we were there to learn
Trivial, really.
I once walked unnoticed behind two faculty members who were discussing one of the perennial complaints of students: that our clinical psychology program wasn’t training us to be clinical psychologists. “It’s ridiculous,” said one. “They can learn that in their spare time.” The other nodded vigorously in agreement. The faint clattering sounds behind them were the scales falling from my eyes.
Our program did have one nod to clinical practice. It was called the “Proseminar in Clinical Psychology,” and it was obvious that no one knew what it should be about. Bewildered adjunct faculty members were hauled in to brief the students on the world beyond the university gates. They talked about the client populations they saw, the tests they used, and the structure of their facilities’ psychology departments—and then glanced nervously over at the instructor, who would shrug and smile.
We loved that class. It always ended early and, given that it was scheduled for midafternoon, allowed the clinical students to flee the building for the graduate student pub and get to know one another. Several marriages and quite a number of more temporary arrangements were attributable to those late afternoons at The Grad. But I don’t think we learned much about running a practice.
When, after many years in hospital settings, I cut the apron strings and set out on my own, I quickly discovered the gaps in my training. I made mistake after mistake and began collecting advice from others. Even when I worked in institutional settings, my practice had always included teaching, and I eventually began offering professional workshops on private-practice management. I collected more ideas from my attendees. This book is the result.
The emphasis of the book is on quick and easy strategies that can save a lot of headaches. To supplement the contents, a set of additional downloadable forms and sample sheets is available at no charge online at my clinic’s website, www.changeways.com, and at www.20238.nhpubs.com. I suggest that you take a minute to visit either site now and bookmark it or write down the URL and keep it handy for future reference.
A note on style: When training or supervising practitioners, I have often said that it is possible to treat a problem seriously without coming across like a funeral director. Indeed, some of the best interventions—even with clients suffering from depression, bereavement, or life-threatening illness—are those conducted with humor and a light touch. The same can be said for writings on the potentially arid topic of practice management. Although we might be tempted to take our work very seriously, within these pages let’s try to relax, sit back, unclench, and remove the gowns of formality to which too many of us have become accustomed.
Chapter 1
Why/Why Not: The Decision to Open a Practice
I usually start my private practice workshops with a brief brainstorming session in which participants identify considerations that attract them to private practice and ones that make them want to run the other way. If they have already opened a practice despite their misgivings, I ask whether their hopes panned out and their fears proved justified. Here are the resulting top-ten lists: the factors attracting people to private work and those that repel them from it.
Fantasies: Ten Arguments in Favor of Private Practice
What is it that makes people opt for the private sector when there are perfectly good jobs out there within large organizations? When someone else is prepared to take all the risk and pay a reliable salary, why on earth would people look elsewhere?
No Big-Organization Hassles
If I obeyed every organizational rule, attended every committee meeting, and went through “proper channels” for everything, I would never see a client again! It’s driving me crazy, and I just want out, into the clear, blue sky of private work, where no one tells you what to do.
You might think money would be the number-one reason why people want to open their own businesses. It isn’t. Frustrations with administrative inertia and incompetence are the most commonly cited motives. The issues include: Endless organizational meetings that decide nothing and seem to serve no useful purpose, but which one is not permitted to ignore Union rules that make staffing and job stability a matter of seniority rather than competence Zer