Counselor Weekly- 11/28/2024

Start, Grow, and Market Your Mental Health Practice

November 28, 2024

In partnership with

Try The Stress-Relieving Desk Toy Everyone is Raving About

Feeling stressed lately? Doom-scrolling? Try these must-have desk toys to stay calm & focused anytime, anywhere. The wildly satisfying smooshes, squishes, and ASMR-friendly clicking sounds of magnetic toys make them fun to play with and an irresistible addition to your home or office. These fidget toys are mess-free, tactile, and help with brainstorming. Let Speks help spark your creativity! Plus, they make the perfect gift. Use the promo code FIDGET for 25% off your order of $40+

I just created a new weekly newsletter that may interest you? It’s called:

The world is changing, and AI is impacting all areas of life, including mental health. Rather than avoid this reality, I’ve chosen to learn as much as possible to better education myself (and my clients). Each week, I’ll send you an email with the latest info on AI and Mental Health. To join, it’s super simple! Just click this link (or the image above), submit your email, and you’re all set!

In this week’s newsletter, I cover hpy (an AI Mental Health app) and much more!

Hello, and welcome to Counselor Weekly! Thanks again for being part of the community!

Here's the short and skinny of today's newsletter:

  • Meme of the Week

  • Weekly Practice Tip

  • Interesting Articles

Want to be a really cool person? If you enjoy my weekly newsletter, please share it with your colleagues!

Meme of the Week

This Week’s Practice Management Tip

Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re reading this from your office, then you REALLY NEED TO READ THIS!

When working in mental health, there are a ton of reasons (i.e. excuses) for why therapists choose not to take vacation. Here are some of the common reasons and how to overcome them:

  • Money: if you’re in private practice, you don’t get paid if you’re not working. Taking two weeks off can be a major blow to your income, and even more so when you’re trying to go on vacation which COSTS a lot of money. It’s a double-whammy financially!

    • How to overcome: budget for vacation (and life). You budget for all kinds of stuff… make vacation another one of those things. This starts with creating an annual income estimate based on 47 weeks of work (5 weeks of vacation throughout the year). View your financial goals based on how many clients you average per week, your average session rate, and multiply that number by 47. Here’s an example:

      • 27 clients X $100 per session (avg) = $2700 per week

      • $2700 X 47 weeks = $126,900 gross annual income

      • This averages out to $10,575 per month. After subtracting all your monthly bills, you now have a general idea of discretionary income and can budget vacation accordingly. Remember, this is a budget with 5 WEEKS of no work, so you’ve already accounted for the decrease in income.

    • Also, focus on saving money and adding a few more clients leading up to vacation. For example, if you see an extra 4 people each week for a month, that’s an extra 16 sessions (or $1600 if you avg $100 per session). Do this for a month or two and you’ve saved up enough 💵 for a nice vacation.

  • Client care: one of the biggest challenges is feeling that you can’t take a week or more off from work because your clients need you.

    • If this bothers you, create a plan to arrange coverage with trusted colleagues, give clients hotline phone numbers in case of emergency, and provide clients with advance notice of you being unavailable so they don’t feel you’ve surprised them with a change in schedule.

    • Side note: if this is an issue for you, it’s probably time for you to revisit your boundaries with clients. Everyone deserves time off, even therapists!

  • Pressure from your employer: some therapists report working in an environment that actively discourages taking time off.

    • First, make sure it’s not your own personal guilt or fear of client abandonment causing this issue.

    • Second, if it’s not a personal issue, look for another job immediately.

    • If it’s truly a workplace issue, try establishing better boundaries through advocating your need for vacation, providing advanced notice so the agency has time to prepare for your absence, and don’t take no for an answer. If you have paid time off, take it! There’s no award for the person who uses the least amount of their time off!!

    • If that doesn’t work, I' refer you back to the above-mentioned option: look for another job.

Considering the main topic of today, here’s an article about learning to say no and create better boundaries.

Nothing too Earth-shattering here, but a good reminder of taking a healthy mindset to marketing your practice.

Are you an LPC Supervisor in Texas? Need your 6 Supervisor Refresher CEs?

You’re in luck! I offer multiple 6 hour courses specifically designed to meet the 6 hour Supervisor CE requirement for Texas LPC Supervisors. In fact, most of my courses also cover topics such as Ethics and Cultural Diversity, so you can get that CE requirement covered at the same time!