The AAMFT Blog

3 Ways to Market Your Private Practice for $0

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the view of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy. 

No private practice has an unlimited budget, no matter if you’ve been open for six months or six years. Marketing your practice website is one area where the costs can really pile up if you’re not careful.

For example, you can spend as much money as you want on Google Ads but there’s no guarantee that you’ll see a return if you don’t consider your strategy carefully. (And even then, there’s no guarantee!)

That means it’s important to make the most of your money wherever possible until you get a better feeling for what works for you and your unique practice. Here are our quick suggestions on zero-dollar ways to market your private practice website. 

Free Ways to Market Your Private Practice

Social Media Marketing

One of the best things about social media marketing is that it’s totally free to get started. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter don’t charge you any more than an individual person to open an account for your private practice and start making public posts.

Not only that, but a regular and thoughtful social media marketing strategy can build awareness for your brand and even improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), making you more visible to Google search engine users.

Click here for more great Social Media Marketing strategies!

The Ultimate SEO Checklist for Therapists

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the view of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy. 

When you’re taking the steps to grow your practice with online marketing, one term you will inevitably come across is 'Search Engine Optimization' or SEO. 

The term ‘Search Engine Optimization’ can be in and of itself overwhelming, let alone learning the specifics of how to understand it.

In this post we’re going to break down the details of what it means to have a website that is optimized for search engines, leaving out the typical ‘tech jargon’ that tends to do nothing but complicate things. 

What the Heck Is SEO, Anyway?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is essentially the practice of following a series of steps so that Google will show your site in its search results.

You want your website to show up on the first page of Google when a user types in a query that applies to your private practice, right? Of course you do! You work hard at what you do and your practice deserves to be found.

At the end of this post you will find a bonus SEO Checklist that you can print off to help you improve your own web pages one step at a time.

Do I Need HIPAA Compliant Email & Contact Forms?

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the view of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy. 

If you work in the field of mental health, chances are you should be using HIPAA compliant email to communicate with your clients. This is especially true if you send and receive protected health information (PHI).

And if you’re using contact forms to collect information from your clients on your private practice website, they should be HIPAA compliant as well.

But how do you know for sure if you need HIPAA compliant email or contact forms? And what exactly is considered HIPAA compliant?

In this post, we will help shed some light on the ins and outs of HIPAA compliance so that hopefully, by the time you’ve made it to the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of whether you should use regular or HIPAA compliant email and contact forms for your private practice website.

 What Is Encryption?

We’ve all seen how excited little Ralphie was to finally receive his Orphan Annie Secret Society secret decoder ring in A Christmas Story. We all laughed at his unmistakable look of pure disappointment when, after spending a few torturous minutes decoding his first secret message, he finds out it’s only a crummy commercial telling him to “Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine.”

Well, today’s encryption services that are used to keep our online information private is actually very similar to encoded messages such as Ralphie’s. When you send an encrypted email, you’re essentially jumbling up all of the message’s content and assigning it a random assortment of letters, numbers, and symbols. To anyone without the “key” – the digital world’s version of Ralphie’s decoder ring – the message is indecipherable which means the information in its contents remains private.

With Hushmail’s email service, sending an encrypted message is as simple as checking this one box:

For a more detailed explanation, take a look at this article: What is encryption, and how do I know if I need encrypted email?

Who Needs HIPAA Compliant Email and Website Contact Forms?

Any HIPAA covered entity (as defined in the chart below) and/or any healthcare practitioner who wants to protect their clients’ or patients’ privacy should be using HIPAA compliant email and website contact forms.

Any HIPAA covered entity (as defined in the chart below) and/or any healthcare practitioner who wants to protect their clients’ or patients’ privacy should be using HIPAA compliant email and website contact forms.

A Health Care Provider	A Health Plan	A Health Care Clearinghouse
This includes: Doctors Clinics Psychologists Dentists Chiropractors Nursing Homes Pharmacies …but only if they transmit any information in an electronic form in connection with a transaction for which Health and Human Services (HHS) has adopted a standard.	This includes: Health insurance companies Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) Company Health Plans Government programs that pay for health care, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the military and veterans health care programs	This includes entities that process nonstandard health information they receive from another entity into a standard (i.e., standard electronic format or data content), or vice versa.

Source: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html

What Kind of Information Should Be Encrypted?

The short answer is – any information that could be considered protected health information (PHI).

HIPAA guidelines define Protected Health Information as “anything – vague or specific – that could reveal the identity of a patient.” So, a newsletter you send out to participants of your ADHD Support Group would be considered PHI just as much as the results of a Depression Screening Test you send to a single client would be. If a client’s identity is connected with the information within that message in any way, you should definitely be sending it through an encrypted email service like Hushmail.

To learn more about all the different types of PHI, check out this post: HIPAA Compliance on Social Media: A Guide for Private Practices

How Is HIPAA-Compliant Email Different from Regular Email?

First and foremost, it is important to remember that maintaining HIPAA compliance online – whether it be a website contact forms or email – is dependent on good user habits, such as verifying email addresses and not including sensitive information in the subject lines of your outgoing emails.

HIPAA compliant email gives you the ability to send emails that have been encrypted with OpenPGP encryption to protect its contents during transit – similar to the way how your bank secures exchanges on their website – plus continued protection upon opening, and in storage. This provides an extra layer of security on top of the TLS encryption that most other standard email servers support.

A HIPAA compliant email service will provide you with a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) that places the responsibility for securing the PHI you send with the email provider. HIPAA audits are scary, and violations can be potentially devastating to a private practice. But, by choosing a company that provides you with a BAA, you can legally ensure your business is protected.

Finally, a HIPAA compliant email service should also provide email archiving that serves as added backup in case of an audit or a question. All of our HIPAA compliant email accounts automatically include a separate archiving email address for as long as you’re a customer. This will ensure you always have a full record of all communications – both sent and received – for any email address on your domain, should you ever need it in the future.

Need help marketing to your Ideal Client?

Take our Ideal Client Quiz now to receive your custom marketing tips!

Why Can’t a HIPAA Compliant Email Be Sent Using Google or Yahoo?

It’s about how comfortable you are with the level of security. HIPAA stipulates that covered entities are required to implement technical safeguards of the “electronic protected health information” of their clients and patients, but it doesn’t specify the use of X or Y type of encryption, and there is no list of what technical safeguards you should use.

Should a breach happen, you need to convince HIPAA officials, and maybe even a judge, that you did everything you could to safeguard the information. However, keep in mind that TLS only secures your email if it’s supported by the recipient’s email servers as well. Although most servers do support TLS, this isn’t guaranteed. If you are comfortable saying that you sent the information protected in transit only, reliant upon the recipient supporting encryption, then TLS may be all you need, and Google or Yahoo might be fine.

The extra layer of security with OpenPGP encryption provides evidence of due diligence in case of an audit or a breach.

Can My HIPAA Compliant Email Work with Outlook or Mac Mail?

The short answer is yes, most encrypted email services can be set up to work with a third-party email app. However, using the encrypted service’s webmail or smartphone app is usually a good idea for ease-of-use and security reasons.

With a standard webmail platform as well as a dedicated mobile app, Hushmail makes it extremely easy to maintain HIPAA-compliance while emailing your clients from any of your devices.

Click here to schedule a call today.

 

Wait! You Don’t Have A Private Practice Website Yet?

 

Brighter Vision is the ultimate marketing package for therapists, centered around the best therapist website you’ve ever had. Contact us today to get started.

Using Video in Your Content Marketing Strategy

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the view of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy. 

While the concept of using videos in your marketing strategy is nothing new, what has changed over the last couple of years is the prevalence of video content on nearly every platform – especially when it comes to social media!

When done correctly, video content marketing can be one of the most influential and cost-effective ways to promote your products and services. 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 92% of marketers believe that online video is an integral part of their marketing strategy.

Video content comes in many forms and can be anything from an explainer video to a brand video. Even event and webinar videos can be used in content marketing.

Video marketing has a unique ability to immediately capture the attention of your viewers, further engage with them, and bring broader concepts to life, making for a more effective marketing strategy.

In this blog, we will walk you through our top video marketing tips and provide information about how to implement video into your current marketing strategy to to expand your audience, build your brand, and grow your practice.

Looking for more super-charged marketing tips?

Sign up for this free e-course: 8 Unconventional Ways
to Market Your Private Practice

Video Marketing Tips

It’s not too hard to see why video is so popular these days — for one thing, it’s an easy way to give your viewers important information while also giving them rest from having to read any long-winded text. Video is fun, but it’s also really one of the best ways to get up close to your audience and give them a more in-depth look into you and your practice, and not to mention it’s easy to share across multiple platforms.

By adding a video to your website, you can boost your SEO and increase the chance of a front page of Google by 53 times. You can also attract more viewers and increase engagement. Audiences are about ten times more likely to engage, embed, share, and comment on video content than blogs or related social posts. If you are still not entirely convinced that video marketing is right for your practice, recent research shows that 71% of marketers say video conversion rates outperform any other marketing content.

Now that we all know video is the future of marketing, let’s talk about how you can start to incorporate it into your content marketing plan. Here we’ll outline some best practices for you to start creating and sharing videos that are likely to capture your audience’s attention.

Why Your Therapy Website Needs a Tagline, Slogan, and Mission Statement

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the views of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.

Therapy comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, massage therapy… the list goes on and on.

But no matter which type of therapy you provide, the reason is always the same – to help people heal.

 Does your private practice website depict this right off the bat?

There are, of course, many different ways to ensure it does. Among the most obvious are your business name and website URL.

But then there are all of the smaller pieces of your brand that truly attract your ideal client to your website and ultimately, your business. These include the visual aspects of your site such as its color scheme, fonts, and imagery, as well as the branding aspects of your practice such as your brand’s tagline, slogan, and mission statement.

In today’s post, we’re going to cover these important branding aspects – mission statements, slogans, and taglines.

Because these terms are often used interchangeably (or combined in an effort to save a little time), let’s take things from the beginning and start out by making sure we understand the difference between these three types of branding texts.

Mission statements are more descriptive and commonly consist of a few sentences making one short paragraph that explains the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of your business as a whole.

Slogans are shortened versions of your mission statement that say in about 12 words or less what you do, who you do it for, and/or why you do it.

And finally, taglines are written representations of your brand that summarize your practice in only a few words.

Now let’s dive in a little deeper and talk more about what each of these are and what makes them effective so that you can build a truly successful private practice.

5 Ways to Attract New Telehealth Clients

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the views of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.

When the effects of COVID-19 began to reverberate through the country at the beginning of this year, private practices everywhere had to quickly pivot away from in-office appointments to utilizing Telehealth as their primary method of seeing clients. For some clinicians, this change’s swift and dramatic nature may have led it to feel temporary, but it’s clear now that Telehealth is here to stay. While this new way of running your practice may seem overwhelming at times, there are a number of surprising benefits you may not have considered.

Struggling to move your therapy practice online?

If you’re finding it difficult to move your practice entirely online, or just not sure where to start, sign up for this free email course to learn the 5 most important steps you should take when transitioning to Telehealth:

Sign Up Here 

One of the most significant advantages this new digital environment offers is even more ways to connect with potential clients online. With people spending more time online reading, doing research, and looking for mental health resources, there are several easy things you can do right now to stand out from the crowd and connect with your ideal client.

In today’s blog post, we’ll cover the top 5 things you can do right now to attract new Telehealth clients.

1. Determine who your ideal client is, and target your messaging to them

Before jumping into the advice offered later in this blog, it’s important to consider who your ideal client is.

Why, you may ask?

By first determining who your ideal client is and what issues they are facing, you’ll be much more successful in creating marketing initiatives that allow you to connect with them. When looking for a therapist online, people often ask questions such as “how can I overcome this?” or “who can help me deal with this?”. If you or your practice can be the one to provide answers to these questions upfront, it immediately builds trust and encourages someone looking for therapy to set up an initial consultation.

Time Management Tips for Therapists - Make More by Doing Less

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the views of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.

Time Is Money. You have probably heard this phrase before, but these words become exceptionally relatable when it comes to opening and growing your private practice. 

A day in the life of operating a private practice consists of a wide variety of jobs. As a private practice owner, you wear many different hats, from seeing patients to handling billing and marketing your business, it can quickly get very hectic and overwhelming. With so much to be done and only so much time to do it, your time really is money! 

In this blog post, we're going to walk you through our top time management tips so that you can spend your time focusing on what's most important - making a more significant impact in your community and growing your practice. 

 

Don’t Take on Too Much

There is always so much to do. And as a driven clinician, you may be tempted to take it all on yourself. But, to maintain a balanced life and avoid burnout, you mustn't be taking on too much. The added stress of doing this will only overwhelm you. 

Not taking on too many things at once allows you to direct your focus on the more important tasks and help you be more productive overall. 

Before starting a new task, you should always begin by considering the final result. Have a clear target to hit, outline the appropriate steps you need to take to complete the task, and focus on doing the most important things first.

Once you have determined which responsibilities are most important, you can dedicate particular times to handle each item on your to-do list (e.g., when to answer emails, make phone calls, fill out reports, etc.). Blocking out time in your day to focus on specific tasks can help you be much more productive overall. 

When it is time to dive into a scheduled task, cut out any unnecessary distractions. Try to minimize potential disturbances ahead of time, especially when it comes to something else you'd rather be doing, but that isn't going to help you complete the task at hand. For example:

• Close all tabs on your computer except the ones you'll need for the task at hand. 
• Shut your office door.
• Set your phone to do-not-disturb.

You likely already do all of these things when you are in session with a client. Carry those in session practices over to everything else on your schedule as well.

Delegate Tasks Out

With so much that goes into keeping a therapy practice up and running, it's also important to remember to ask for help. There are tons of resources available to help you achieve success in your business. Delegating tasks out to employees, technology, or even family members can save tons of time.

When you delegate specific tasks to others, you become free to focus on higher-value activities and use your time more productively. We understand that it can be nerve-racking trusting others with important tasks, but when you delegate appropriate tasks, you can trust that others might have more time to dedicate to that task, helping you in the long run. 

Here are some of our top suggestions on how you can delegate everyday tasks:

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Hiring a virtual assistant for your private practice is one of the quickest ways to reclaim time in your schedule.

Virtual assistants (or VAs) are completely remote administrative assistants, many of whom even specialize in helping mental health clinicians. While hiring any employee is an investment, you would be amazed at how a VA can help complete all of the crucial tasks in your day – from calling back no-show clients to logging your session notes and even assisting with billing.

If you don't have the resources to hire a full-time Virtual Assistant, there are now companies that offer similar services as a subscription. Therapist Admin is one solution that provides administrative assistance for a reasonable monthly rate.

Get a Bookkeeper

We all know handling your practice's financial side can get confusing and frustrating and take up a lot of your time. Luckily, tons of tools can help take the stress and time out of your practice's financial planning. One of our favorite tools for online bookkeeping and tax help is Wellness Fi.

Wellness Fi can help you keep track of your finances, help with your taxes, and give you suggestions to help save your practice more money. Hiring a bookkeeping service ultimately saves you TONS of time and money in the long run. 

Outsource Your Insurance Billing

Something we often hear from our clients is how confusing insurance and insurance billing is. Trying to figure out the ins and outs of how medical billing works can take tons of time and is not an easy task. That is why we suggest outsourcing your medical billing. One company we like to use is Greenpoint Med. 

Greenpoint Med focuses on billing for behavioral health services and is experts in billing for mental health, reimbursement, and overall compliance. Their billing services were designed to ensure you collect maximum value from your insurance claims, while also saving you hours from dealing with the insurance madness.

Hire Someone to Build & Maintain Your Website

These days, having a website is essential to the success of your practice. It’s how your clients will find you, where they’ll learn more about how you can help them, and ideally, where they will go to schedule a session with you.

For those in the mental health field, a website can often appear more of a burden than a fundamental marketing tool. Having a website can seem overwhelming, and creating one on your own can be extremely challenging, not to mention the ongoing up-keep a good website needs to stay relevant. Add in concerns such as potentially exposing private information, advertising sensitive issues, and knowing what it takes to ensure you comply with all HIPAA rules and regulations, and suddenly having a website feels like way too big of a headache.

While these concerns are legitimate, they are nothing an experienced web developer who is intimately familiar with the mental health industry can't handle. Hiring someone to develop and maintain your website can help push your online business in the right direction and save you a lot of time in the long run.

Find Ways to Automate Processes

Technology, while sometimes is a massive pain in the butt, can also be a saving grace. There are hundreds of different platforms that you can use to automate various everyday tasks. That way, you can focus your time dealing with more important things. 

One thing you should be utilizing is a scheduling automation tool. Online scheduling on your website can help take out the tedious and frustrating phone tag you often get caught playing with clients. Avoid the ongoing back and forth, and let your clients book whenever they want to, even at 2 AM. 

Some of our favorite online scheduling tools are:  

• Therapy Partner
• SimplePractice 
• ScheduleOnce

If you are interested in taking a deeper dive into these practice management solutions, check out our past blog post: Top 5 Practice Management Solutions for Therapists in 2020.

Another task you can easily automate is to set up email templates for emails you send out frequently. Whether that is new client emails, confirmation emails, reminder emails, or anything else, you can set up a template. That way, you never have to waste time re-writing the same information repeatedly. 

Automate your social media and blog. Marketing is essential to attracting new clients and growing your practice, but often when things get busy, marketing is put on the backburner. Understandably, marketing can feel overwhelming. A lot goes into keeping up with your marketing efforts, especially when it comes to your social media pages and blog. 

That is why Social Genie can be a big help. With Social Genie, you can set aside time once a week or even a month and schedule out all of your social media posts and blog posts for that month or week in just minutes. Once scheduled, they will post on their own, and you can focus on more important things. 

Ready to see how Social Genie can help you automate your content marketing?

Get started with a 2-week free trial of Social Genie,
the best social media automation software for therapists!

Sign Up Here 

Honestly, tons of other automation features can help you complete everyday tasks. Too many to even list. I highly suggest looking into any automation features your EHR might have that you might not be aware of yet. Most EHR tools come with a wide variety of different features that can help you save time every single day.

If you are currently utilizing an EHR tool, here are some of our favorites to look into:

• Therapy Partner
• TherapyNotes 
• TheraNest 
• Doxy.me 

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, the biggest takeaway here is to make sure you take the time to take care of yourself. Burnout and stress are far too common for clinicians. It doesn't matter if everything else is in place. If you are not taking care of yourself, you won't make it.

Be realistic with your time. Too often, we see clinicians underestimating how much downtime they need. Make sure you know how many clients you can see back-to-back. Make sure you are setting aside a proper amount of time to focus on yourself. The best helpers can adequately help themselves, and with these tools, we hope you can save time, stress, and energy and ultimately help you become the clinician you can be.

Brighter Vision is a preferred vendor of AAMFT, specializing in making marketing simple for private practices. Their all-inclusive website design service helps therapists grow their practices with a variety of marketing tools and resources. All members receive their entire first year of a new website with Brighter Vision for only $49/month plus no setup fees; that’s a savings of $220. To take advantage of this offer, please click here.

Automating Your Private Practice

As therapists, most of you want a full client list. You want to be able to see as many clients as possible during regular business hours. But somewhere in the process of growing your private practice, something happens - you get busy. Not only does your caseload increase over time, so does the number of phone calls, emails, paperwork, and other administrative tasks to fulfill. All of a sudden, there just simply aren't enough hours in the day anymore.

During this 60-minute webinar, Perry Rosenbloom, President of Brighter Vision, will be discussing how to regain some of your time by outsourcing certain tasks for your practice and where to begin.

Topics he will be covering include:

• What virtual assistants and online business managers do and what you can expect from outsourcing each of these services.
• How to determine when it's time to begin and which tasks to outsource for your private practice.
• How to compare your options and find the right professional to hire.
• The importance of hiring someone with experience in the mental health industry.

Click Here to Register 

If you can't attend the event in real-time, don't worry. Everyone who is registered will receive a recording.

Brighter Vision is a preferred vendor of AAMFT, specializing in making marketing simple for private practices. Their all-inclusive website design service helps therapists grow their practices with a variety of marketing tools and resources. All members receive their entire first year of a new website with Brighter Vision for only $49/month plus no setup fees; that’s a savings of $220. To take advantage of this offer, please click here.

The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Groups for Therapists

Have you been looking for new ways to promote your services, expand your client list, and grow your referrals? With more than 1.4 billion monthly users across tens of millions of active groups, Facebook Groups has quickly become one of the most popular ways to connect with people of similar interests and might be the answer you have been searching for.

Joining existing Facebook Groups (or starting your own) can help you extend your reach to find new clients, establish yourself as an expert, network with other therapists, and provide helpful resources and answers to various mental health questions.

Chances are you are already using Facebook regularly, either professionally or personally, so you may already be familiar with Groups and the many benefits they can provide.

In this blog, we will cover how to use Facebook Groups to market your private practice and grow your client list.

How to Use Facebook Groups to Grow Your Practice

Facebook Groups bring together individuals from all over the world who share common interests. Joining a new Group filled with your ideal clients provides you with another opportunity to engage with their members and further promote your practice online.

Inside most Facebook Groups, people are asking a lot of questions - questions that you may very well be able to answer. This is an excellent chance for you to showcase your knowledge or specialized skill and demonstrate your expertise to potential new clients.

You can answer their questions outright or share helpful resources such as blog posts (others or your own) to back up your answers. The key to establishing a good reputation in the Groups is not to focus on promoting yourself but rather on using it as a platform to establish yourself as an expert in your field so that people learn to come to you for help.

You can also recycle the questions and comments you see within your Facebook Groups as inspiration to create new relevant content for future social media or blog posts. Providing fresh content directly related to what your ideal client is looking for online can help expand your following, direct new potential clients to your website, and entice them to contact you for an appointment.

Facebook Groups can be used to connect and network with other local therapists who share your area of expertise or with whom you can create a mutually beneficial relationship. Share ideas, ask questions, provide answers, empathize with one another about common struggles, and use it to build your local referral network.

 >> Ready to really ramp up your social media marketing? <<

Get started with a 2-week free trial of Social Genie,
the best social media automation software for therapists!

Sign Up Here

How to Find & Join a Facebook Group

Luckily joining most Facebook Groups is easy and usually pretty quick!

To join an existing Facebook Group:

1. From your News Feed, click 'Groups' in the menu running along the left-hand side of your screen:

2. Perform a search in the upper left corner using a Group’s name or specific keywords such as "Denver Addiction Professionals”:

3. Select the Facebook Group you’d like to join from the options shown on the right:

Note: Some Facebook Groups are Hidden Groups, which means they will not appear in your available search results. The only way to join one of these Groups is by having a current member invite you.

4. On the Group’s page, click the “Join Group” button shown below the main cover photo:

5. Select whether you'd like to join the Group as yourself (your personal profile) or as your Business Page and click “Join Group"

Note: If you choose to join a Group as a Page rather than a person, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Group admins hold the right to decide not to allow Pages to join their Groups
• Pages can only request to join Groups and can't be invited to join Groups
• If you’ve already joined a Group as a profile and want to join the Group as Page, you can change who you’re interacting as
• Only Page admins can request to join a Group

Some Groups may also require you to answer a few screening questions prior to approving your request to join:

How to Create Your Own Facebook Group

If you are struggling to find the perfect Facebook Group for you, why not create your own?

To create a new Facebook Group:

1. Click on the plus icon in the upper right menu of your Facebook News Feed and select ‘+ Create New Group’ from the list of options that appears:

2. Enter your Group’s name, choose a privacy option, invite people to join, then click the ‘Create’ button:

Once you’ve created your Group, you can personalize it by adding a description and uploading a cover photo. The recommended size for Facebook Group cover photos is 1640 pixels wide by 859 pixels tall (a 1.91:1 ratio).

Tip: You don't need to be a graphic design expert to create an amazing cover photo for your Facebook Group! Just use one of these free templates from Canva: https://www.canva.com/templates/search/facebook-covers/

Our Favorite Facebook Groups for Therapists

1. Become a More Effective Therapist

A community dedicated to bettering therapists through open discussions focused on learning short-term techniques to deliver quicker and better results.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Effectivetherapy

2. Private Practice Startup

This group is dedicated to inspiring you from startup to mastery! A Group committed to helping all therapists develop personally and professionally, to best serve their community. They focus on encouraging you to do your own self-growth and development work to address any biases you may have surrounding antiracism, gender, sexuality, and equality, etc.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theprivatepracticestartup/

3. Clinicians of Color

A Group designed to be a community for mental health professionals who are passionate about their work and ready to turn that passion into profit via Private Practice.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1265154753536986

4. My Private Practice Collective

This Group is for therapists interested in starting a private practice, getting their practice off the ground, or accelerating their progress.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/myprivatepracticetribe

5. Selling the Couch

A community of heart-centered, mission-driven aspiring and current mental health private practitioners who think differently about private practice, all working to create a business that fits our life while sharing our message and generating income in/beyond the therapy room.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1529269850672775/

6. Therapist Toolbox – Resources & Support for Therapists

A Group where you can get support from other therapists, learn about therapy techniques, and what situations to apply them in, troubleshoot unique challenges you're facing with patients and get ideas for overcoming treatment resistance. Discussions also include tips on how to increase your self-care and how to overcome burnout, tools to help you reduce time spent on admin work (documentation, billing/insurance, notes), and guidance on how to ethically promote yourself and reach new patients with marketing and media relations.

Join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mftoolbox

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, your goal is to build a trustworthy reputation for yourself and your practice, and Facebook Groups are a great (and free!) tool to help you do just that.

Likely, your current and prospective clients are already searching the Internet to answer their questions. A survey by National Research Corp. found that 40% of people asked said they rely on social networking for health information, and nearly all of them (94%) turned specifically to Facebook.

So, why not reach them at the source? Facebook is the ultimate platform to gain more exposure and connect with new clients every day. Start leveraging Facebook Groups today to generate more leads for your practice.

At Brighter Vision, our team of professional developers knows exactly what it takes to create a professional website and successful online presence for your private practice.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you grow your practice like never before.

 

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the views of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.

Brighter Vision is a preferred vendor of AAMFT, specializing in making marketing simple for private practices. Their all-inclusive website design service helps therapists grow their practices with a variety of marketing tools and resources. All members receive their entire first year of a new website with Brighter Vision for only $49/month plus no setup fees; that’s a savings of $220. To take advantage of this offer, please click here.

How to Open A New Private Practice for Less Than $1000

This content is provided by Brighter Vision, an affinity partner of AAMFT. This information is not necessarily the views of AAMFT and should not be interpreted as official policy.

You have done most of the hard work already. You’ve endured years of schooling, earned your master’s degree, and completed hours-upon-hours of supervision and training. Now here you are – ready to start your very own private practice!

It’s finally time for you to turn your passion for helping people into a sustainable business, and now is the best time to do it. At the moment, many therapists recognize the need to grow a successful private practice. Yet, many aren’t able to grasp the full scope of opportunity in doing this during a global pandemic.

People need mental health care now more than ever before, making the demand for therapists far greater than the current supply. Many therapists are timid to open a new practice during COVID-19 but, if done correctly, doing so now can actually help make the entire process easier and cheaper than if you were to wait for this to pass.

So, what do you really need to create a successful psychotherapy private practice during COVID-19, and what are the costs for each of those items? This article will cover how to open your own therapy practice right now for less than $1,000.

 

Step 1 - Register Your Practice and Launch Online

After defining your ideal client and considering what type of practice you’re going to be building, your next step will be registering your business. This step can be a bit tricky, as you might need to speak with an account or attorney to determine the specific guidelines in your state. However, you may also be able to get free or low-cost guidance for this by checking in with your state board, local colleagues, or any other associations you may be a part of. You can register a business for free, but going with an online company like legal zoom or rocket lawyer typically costs less than $100 and can save you quite a bit of time.

Once your business is registered, the traditional next step is finding an office space. Between choosing a location, getting a lease, and furnishing your office space, the costs for this were once a time-consuming and expensive undertaking.

However, the past year has presented many therapists with a unique opportunity not to worry about opening up a physical location to practice. With Telehealth at its peak of popularity, you can now feasibly conduct sessions from wherever you would like instead of performing traditional in-office sessions. This is a fantastic chance to save money from the start and open your new practice for a fraction of the cost, potentially saving you hundreds every month! 

Teletherapy also provides you with more flexible hours, the ability to work from home (or anywhere you want), and the ability to expand your practice and reach clients that live outside your city – helping generate even more revenue! 

Very few professions have the chance to start and run their business without having to worry about paying to rent or lease office space. Teletherapy gives you freedom, rather than being tethered to one location. You can save SERIOUS money by starting your practice at home and using a Telehealth platform to connect with your ideal clients.

Once you have established your client base and can spare the extra cash, then you can decide if you want to move your business to an office or continue with just Teletherapy. Taking this route lowers your starting costs dramatically and can help make your business more profitable faster than ever before.  

However, even therapists that are only providing Telehealth services should consider renting a private office space. Many clinicians have recently discovered the benefits of seeing clients virtually in a location that looks professional and is free of distractions. There are many affordable options available right now if you are interested in securing a physical place for your practice. 

One of our favorites is Humanly, a company that provides flexible office space for mental health and wellness professionals. They offer month-to-month or longer-term options within a beautifully designed location. You can pay by the hour (single or recurring reservations), by the day, or have your very own private space.

 

Step 2 – Pick Your Teletherapy Software

As mentioned before, Teletherapy has changed the game for therapists everywhere, giving you the chance to open and run a successful practice while also allowing your clients to stay in the safety of their own homes and save you money at the same time. 

Starting a practice now allows you the opportunity to position yourself strategically in Teletherapy. Making online therapy your primary service, you’re able to see clients who no longer feel safe leaving the house. Plus, since location is no longer a roadblock, you’re also opening yourself up to a wide range of even more potential new clients. There’s even evidence showing fewer no-shows and cancellations online therapy sessions than traditional in-office therapy.

As the demand for online therapy grows, so does the number of options available for therapists to choose from. But, above all else, you must choose an online therapy platform that is HIPAA-compliant so that your client’s privacy is protected.

 

 >> Looking for more help moving your therapy practice online? <<

Brighter Vision’s free email course will walk you through the 5 steps you should take when making the transition to Telehealth.

Learn More & Register Here

 

Step 3 – Get a Professional Website

Your website is the foundation of your practice. You wouldn’t build a house without a foundation to build on, so why would you even consider starting your practice without a professional website? A beautiful website and a substantial online presence are excellent ways to help you get found by more clients.

Your homepage is the first impression your future clients will have of you. Whether clients are learning about your services or scheduling sessions with you, they are most likely doing so through your homepage, which makes your website without a doubt one of the most important parts of starting a successful private practice.

In today’s COVID world, building a website is more important than finding a physical office location for your private practice, which means you should dedicate the proper amount of time and money to invest in a well-designed website for your practice. A well-designed website is a powerful way to introduce yourself to prospects and build trust with new clients.

Many of our clients are new practitioners who are just getting started building their first website or just branching out to start their own private practice. Our websites help give them a professional appearance that helps them build trust with potential clients.

When it comes to building a new website, you will also want to make sure you have a solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy in place. After all, you want your new private practice website to show up on the first page of Google, Bing, Yahoo, or wherever the user is searching.

 

Step 4 – Market, Market, and Market Some More!

Join an Online Therapist Directory

Online therapist directories are a fantastic way to get new referrals quickly. The return on investment is also awe-inspiring. In addition to its high ROI, Google loves directory sites. Joining an online directory and optimizing your Telehealth profile can drastically increase your brand recognition and online visibility for this particular service. More often than not, online searchers are going to find themselves scrolling through an online therapist directory before visiting any of the private practice websites listed below these directories in their search results.  

Never Stop Networking

Even though in-person meetings might be out of the question right now, calling other local therapists and establishing new relationships is another fantastic and free way that you can use to help boost your referrals drastically. If someone doesn’t necessarily fit into another practitioner’s practice, whether it be because they are full or not the right match, they can refer them to you. 

Keep Posting New Content

Finally, creating content to publish to your website and social media can help boost your SEO, increase your visibility, and help identify you as an expert in your field, and best you can do this for free. Social media can be the key to establishing yourself as a trusted expert and thought leader. All you have to do is focus on creating and posting the content your ideal client and followers are looking for online.

 

 >> Ready to ramp up your social media marketing? <<

Schedule a free demo of Social Genie to learn how you can schedule up to a year’s worth of posts in as little as 15 minutes.

Schedule A Demo

Final Thoughts

This blog’s primary purpose is not to walk you through creating a detailed business plan or marketing plan for your practice. Rather, we wanted to show therapists what a great opportunity you have in front of you right now and spotlight how start-up costs are relatively low for launching a successful private practice right here and now! We hope you can use these tips to get a jump start and open your own private practice for under $1,000.

Now that you have a pretty good idea about what you need to do to open your new practice, let's put that knowledge to work! Brighter Vision is the ultimate marketing package for therapists, centered around the best therapist website you’ve ever had.

Brighter Vision is a preferred vendor of AAMFT, specializing in making marketing simple for private practices. Their all-inclusive website design service helps therapists grow their practices with a variety of marketing tools and resources. All members receive their entire first year of a new website with Brighter Vision for only $49/month plus no setup fees; that’s a savings of $220. To take advantage of this offer, please click here.