Main description:

This user-friendly, practical guide summarizes everything therapists need to know about setting up, growing, and protecting their independent therapy practice. The chapters flow from creating a business plan and start-up to closing or selling a practice, and cover everything in between, like helping clients find you, preparing for emergencies, self and community care, and legal, insurance, and financial issues. Also included are key professional and legal guidelines.

Contents:

Dedications
The Authors
Preface
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 Stationary
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 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 Elderly, Vulnerable, Disabled, or Dependent Adults
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 & Your Practice 22. Nine 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 (ABPP) 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 a Mistake
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 Part VIII: Resources A. Professional Guidelines Relevant to Practitioners
B. The Clinical Interview with Immigrants (CIWI)
C. Coping with Subpoenas or Compelled Testimony for Records, Test Data, or Test Materials
D. Sample Professional Will
E. Sample Form of Information for Professional Executor References
About the Authors
Author Index
Subject Index