This user-friendly, practical guide summarizes everything therapists need to know about setting up, growing, and protecting their independent therapy practice.

In this book, a team of experienced psychologists with diverse experiences and perspectives guides readers through the common and not-so-common challenges inherent in managing an independent practice. Given that the COVID pandemic has changed therapy from a service typically delivered in person to one often conducted via teleconference, therapists need to ensure that their practice meets the changing needs of their clients as well as themselves. The chapters flow from initial preparation for successful independent practice and creating a business plan, to closing or selling a practice, and everything in between, including:

Helping clients find you Preparing for emergencies Self and community care Legal, insurance, and financial issues

The authors also provide key resources including professional guidelines relevant to therapists, recommendations for responding to subpoenas and submitting records testimony, providing information to professional will executors, and semi-structured interviews and assessments with different types of clients.

This user-friendly, practical guide summarizes everything therapists need to know about setting up, growing, and protecting their independent therapy practice.

Preface
Our Personal Journeys
Acknowledgments
Part I. INITIAL PREPARATION
1. Creating a Practice That Matches You, Your Values, and Your Vision
2. Creating a Realistic Business Plan
3. Finding the Right Attorney
4. Finding the Right Professional Liability Insurance
5. Finding the Right Office
6. Finding the Right Accountant
7. Finding the Right Software and System for Scheduling, Billing, Forms, Client Communication, and Documentation
Part II. FINDING CLIENTS AND HELPING CLIENTS FIND YOU
8. Creating a Website, Business Cards, and Stationery
9. Advertising Ethically, Efficiently, Effectively, and Economically
10. Getting Onto Insurance Panels—But Do You Want to Do That?
11. Building and Maintaining a Presence on Social Media
Part III. RECORDS
12. Creating a Thoughtful and Useful Client Record
13. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Privilege
14. Responding to a Subpoena and Dealing With Law Enforcement
Part IV. PREPARING FOR URGENT AND EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
15. Office Safety Measures and Precautions
16. Suicide Risk
17. Clients Who Pose a Risk of Danger to a Third Party
18. Assessing and Responding to Interpersonal Violence
19. Reporting Child Abuse and Reasonable Suspicions of Child Abuse
20. Assessing and Responding to Possible Abuse of Older, Vulnerable, and Dependent Adults and Adults With Disabilities
21. When the Therapist Is Stalked, Targeted, or Threatened by a Client or Someone in the Client’s Life
Part V. TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AND YOUR PRACTICE
22. Keys to Thinking Clearly and Making Good Decisions About Your Practice
23. Eight Common Missteps That Can Lead to Disaster
24. Navigating Boundaries
25. Addressing the Hazards of Loneliness
26. Addressing the Hazards of Vicarious Trauma
27. Navigating and Nourishing Personal Relationships
28. Asking for Help When We Need It
29. Creating a Practice Grounded in Human Rights
30. Creating, Embracing, and Serving Communities
31. Applying for American Board of Professional Psychology Certification
Part VI. MANAGING THE (SOMETIMES) UNEXPECTED
32. When the Therapist Becomes Pregnant
33. When the Therapist Becomes Ill
34. What to Do When You’ve Made an Error
35. What to Do (and Not Do) When Facing an Ethics, Licensing, or Malpractice Complaint
Part VII. ENDINGS—PLANNED AND UNPLANNED
36. Successful, Unsuccessful, and Incomplete Terminations
37. Closing or Selling a Practice
38. Creating a Useful Professional Will
Afterword: Creating Our Dream Practice in a Changing World
Resource A: Professional Guidelines Relevant to Practitioners
Resource B: The Clinical Interview With Immigrants
Resource C: Strategies for Private Practitioners Coping With Subpoenas or Compelled Testimony for Client/Patient Records or Test Data or Test Materials
Resource D: Sample Professional Will Published by the American Psychological Association
Resource E: Information for Professional Executors: Files, Passwords, and Contacts List
Resource F: The No Surprises Act: Frequently Asked Questions and Responses
References
Index
About the Authors