Starting a Counseling Practice Success Stories

Starting a Private Practice is the podcast where we talk with therapists about the real, unglamorous decisions behind building a practice that works: who you say yes to, who you refer out, what you charge, and what you do when the thing you built stops feeling good.This episode is about a measure of success that almost never makes the list. Not caseload, not income, not a new program; whether the clients in front of you right now are actually getting better. Diana came into private practice from county mental health, where you take the next person on the list, and she kept doing exactly that. Clients ghosted, canceled, dropped out without closure, and she concluded she was a bad therapist. What changed was not a marketing overhaul. It was screening in her consult calls, asking clients every couple of months whether therapy was working, and getting honest about the two things she does best. Kelly Higdon hosts.What You'll Hear00:00 Introduction and topic overview 02:38 Finding the Right Client Fit 07:17 Consultations and Outcomes Check-Ins 09:03 Learning from Client Feedback 15:09 Defining Clinical Success 15:44 Working Through Imposter Syndrome 18:48 Finding Your Niche and CommunityAbout DianaDiana is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Menifee, California, working with anxiety disorders and complex trauma. She is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist and trained in Internal Family Systems, and she sees clients in the Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Riverside, and Temecula areas as well as across California by telehealth. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton and her master's in counseling with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University. Before private practice she worked in a private hospital and then for the county, where she built the clinical range (and the billing and documentation habits) she still runs on. She offers a free fifteen-minute phone consultation.Website: https://www.dianakoenenlmfttherapistmenifee.com/ Book a consult: https://www.dianakoenenlmfttherapistmenifee.com/contact LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-koenen-80642836/ EMDRIA listing: https://www.emdria.org/directory/people/diana-koenen/Resources MentionedEMDR International Association (EMDRIA): https://www.emdria.org/ IFS Institute, Internal Family Systems trainings: https://ifs-institute.com/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EREvVypKgxo Read the blog post: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/taking-every-client-private-practice zynnyme free trainings, books, and Business School for Therapists: https://www.zynnyme.com/Want the Kind of Support Kelly and Diana Talk About?Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: zynnyme.comListen, Subscribe, and Leave a Review Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3Stay Connected Website: zynnyme.com Blog: zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: facebook.com/kellyandmiranda

Afraid your private practice will not survive AI, insurance platforms, or another slow month? You are not the only therapist carrying that, and pretending it away is not working.We asked our community what they are afraid to say out loud. The answers were honest, sometimes heartbreaking, and they pointed at something bigger than any one caseload: fear does not go away because your schedule fills. In this conversation, Kelly Higdon and Miranda Palmer talk about what to actually do with fear as a practice owner; how to tell inherited fear from the real thing, why somatic work resolves what pros-and-cons lists cannot, and how fear-based advice spreads at therapist networking tables. There is also a guided reflection near the end, so find a spot where you can be still if you can.Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the conversation on fear and systemic challenges 04:00 Somatic approaches to working with fear 14:04 Separating inherited fear from present reality 18:50 Community and connection as support 22:26 Boundaries around fear-based career advice 28:40 Guided reflection: noticing and welcoming fear 34:41 Closing: moving forward with peace amid fearResources Mentioned The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker: https://giftoffear.com/bookRead the Full Blog Post https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/episode-378-what-therapists-are-afraid-to-say-out-loudListen to the Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3Want the Kind of Support Kelly and Miranda Talk About? Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: https://www.zynnyme.comStay Connected Website: https://www.zynnyme.com Blog: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kellyandmiranda#therapistsofinstagram #privatepracticetherapist #therapistburnout #privatepracticebuilding #therapistlife #mentalhealthprivatepractice #somaticexperiencing #therapistsupport #privatepaypractice #counselingpractice #therapistbusiness #nervoussystemregulation

Starting a Private Practice is where we talk with therapists and psychologists who built practices on their own terms, and get honest about the parts nobody trained us for. This one is for anyone who has done everything they could think of to grow, watched it not work, and quietly wondered whether the problem is them. Kristin left academic medicine, built a virtual group practice for kids and teens, and figured out that the skill she needed to sharpen was not a clinical one.What You'll Hear 00:00 Introduction to Kristin and her practice 01:35 Building a virtual, accessible practice 03:12 Evidence-based care and outcome tracking 06:59 Leading a collaborative group practice 09:59 Marketing, social media, and SEO 16:12 Growing the practice through business skills 19:36 Staying grounded through growth 22:29 Advice for building a pediatric practice 25:18 Final advice for practice ownersAbout Kristin Kristin is a licensed psychologist and the founder of Little Dove Psychology, a virtual practice based in Austin serving children, adolescents, college students, and families across Texas and additional PSYPACT states. Before private practice, she worked in academic medicine at Children's Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin, including work as the attending psychologist for a cystic fibrosis clinic and research on telehealth group therapy that predates the pandemic. Her practice focuses on anxiety, depression, family conflict, emotion regulation, and ADHD testing and treatment, with evening and weekend availability so kids are not pulled out of school and parents are not missing work. She also runs Little Dove Consulting, which partners with health systems on behavioral health program design. You can reach her through littledovepsychology.com or on LinkedIn.Resources Mentioned Little Dove Psychology: https://littledovepsychology.com/ ADHD testing in Austin: https://littledovepsychology.com/adhd-testing-austin Psychological testing and evaluation: https://littledovepsychology.com/psychological-testing-evaluation Anxiety therapy for kids and teens: https://littledovepsychology.com/anxiety-therapist-austin Online therapy in Austin: https://littledovepsychology.com/austin-therapy Meet the Little Dove team: https://littledovepsychology.com/about About Kristin: https://littledovepsychology.com/dr-kristin-kroll Little Dove Consulting: https://littledoveconsulting.com/ Kristin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-hunter-kroll-phd-b94a1330/ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KbHnfIZeJS4 Read the blog post: [BLOG URL]Want the Kind of Support Miranda and Kristin Talk About?Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: zynnyme.comListen, Subscribe, and Leave a Review Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3Stay Connected Website: zynnyme.com Blog: zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: facebook.com/kellyandmiranda

Starting a Private Practice is where we talk with therapists who built businesses that hold up in real life, not just on a spreadsheet. No hustle scripts, no pretending the field is easy right now.This one is a three-year check-in. Whitney was last on the show at the beginning of 2023. Since then she bought two commercial buildings, opened a second location, built a leadership team, and watched roughly fourteen clinicians walk out the door in about eighteen months. She is a private pay group practice owner in Savannah and a consultant, so she is living the turnover problem and coaching other owners through it at the same time. Kelly asks her the uncomfortable version of every question: what is actually working, what did you get wrong, and what are you telling people who are scared enough to get on insurance panels they do not want.If you have been quietly wondering whether it is you or whether it is the market, this is the episode.What You'll Hear00:00 Introduction and Practice Evolution 02:57 Challenges in Private Practice 06:01 Managing Staff Turnover and Retention 08:59 Building a Leadership Team 11:59 Creating a Culture of Growth 14:58 Adapting to Cultural Shifts in Therapy 18:09 The Future of Therapy Practices 19:09 Identifying Money Leaks in Therapy Practices 21:57 The Importance of Tracking Marketing Efforts 24:20 Optimizing the Intake Process for Success 26:04 Navigating Cash Pay Practices 28:01 Reflections on Insurance Panels 30:05 Excitement for Growth and New Developments 32:13 The Shift Towards Sustainable Business PracticesAbout WhitneyWhitney is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia and the founder of Water's Edge Counseling, a private pay group practice in Savannah that she started in 2014 and has since grown across two locations. She earned her master's in professional counseling from Richmont Graduate University and has been seeing clients since 2009, in residential, inpatient, and group settings before going out on her own.She also runs Wise Practice Consulting, where she works with faith-based practice owners at every stage, from launching a solo practice to scaling a group. Her definition of faith-based is wide: it does not require you to be overtly faith-based, only that faith is part of your life somewhere. She hosts the Wise Practice Podcast and runs a community and mastermind groups for practice owners.Find her at watersedgecounseling.com and wisepracticeconsulting.com, or reach her at [email protected] MentionedWater's Edge Counseling: https://watersedgecounseling.com/Wise Practice Consulting: https://www.wisepracticeconsulting.com/Whitney on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wise_practice_consulting/Whitney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-owens-85376a27/EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System: https://www.eosworldwide.com/what-is-eosKen Clark, referenced on the trend of therapists returning to group practice: https://www.semiprivatepractice.com/about-ken-clark-and-sppWhitney's first episode with us, from January 2023: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/navigating-the-challenges-of-running-a-faith-based-practice-with-whitneyWant the Kind of Support Kelly and Whitney Talk About?Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: zynnyme.comListen, Subscribe, and Leave a ReviewApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3Stay ConnectedWebsite: zynnyme.com Blog: zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: facebook.com/kellyandmiranda

Starting a Private Practice is the show for therapists who want a practice that holds up: good clinical work, real fees, and a business that does not quietly run on your unpaid hours. This one is not a success story interview. It is Kelly and Miranda talking through what they are watching in the profession right now, starting with health insurance.The reason to hear it: a lot of clinicians took insurance specifically to be accessible. That logic breaks when the people you wanted to reach no longer have coverage. Kelly and Miranda walk through what actually changed, why therapists have been quietly bending their billing to make the math work, and what it looks like to build access on something sturdier than your own subsidy.What You'll Hear 00:00 What we are watching in July of 2026 05:20 What actually happened with the subsidies, and who let it happen 07:06 2.6 million people, two very different explanations 09:48 Doctors building around the system: cash pricing, membership models, in-house labs 11:06 The quiet math problem: when therapists bend billing to make care work 12:08 Letting the deductible write the treatment plan 16:54 A better care model, not a cheaper version of a broken one 17:30 Counting who has their hands in the pie 19:17 What happens when you hand your practice to people who do not do the work 22:37 Intensives, extended sessions, and tracking your own outcomes 25:11 Why therapists are already built for a cash-pay world 29:30 More people are looking for us, not fewer 32:44 Drain versus groundswell, and how to tell which one you are in 35:09 Stockholders, platforms, and deciding where you give your laborAbout Kelly and MirandaKelly Higdon, LMFT and Miranda Palmer, LMFT are the co-founders of zynnyme and the co-hosts of this show. They have been business partners since 2010 and have reached 100,000+ clinicians with trainings, coaching, and a lot of unglamorous spreadsheet work. Kelly brings the operational side; Miranda brings the tech and marketing side. Both of them still think like clinicians first, which is why the business advice here never asks you to trade clinical integrity for revenue. Kelly uses they/them pronouns.Reach them at zynnyme.com, or start with the free training library at zynnyme.com/free.Resources Mentioned Free training library: https://www.zynnyme.com/free Platform Contracts Exposed: https://www.zynnyme.com/free/platforms Ditching Insurance and Platforms: https://www.zynnyme.com/free/ditching-insurance Private Practice Under Pressure: Ethics, AI, and the Fight to Keep Therapy Human: https://www.zynnyme.com/free/private-practice-under-pressure-ethics-ai-and-the-fight-to-keep-therapy-human The AI Policy Every Therapist Needs, with Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey: https://www.zynnyme.com/free/the-ai-policy-every-therapist-needs RedBud Surgery Center, Austin, Texas: https://redbudsurgerycenter.com/ Dr. Elisabeth Potter, MD: https://www.drpotter.com/ Are Third-Party Credentialing Platforms a Lifeline or a Trap? https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/are-third-party-credentialing-platforms-a-lifeline-or-a-trap-a-deeper-look-at-the-ethics-and-sustainability-of-alma-headway-and-grow-therapy Alma, Headway, and the Big Question: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/alma-headway-and-the-big-question What to Ask a Recruiter Before Signing a Therapy Platform Contract: https://www.zynnyme.com/blog/what-to-ask-a-recruiter-before-signing-a-therapy-platform-contract All episodes: https://www.zynnyme.com/podcast Business School for Therapists: https://news.zynnyme.com/business-school/Want the Kind of Support Kelly and Miranda Talk About?Business School for Therapists is our flagship program for therapists ready to build a practice that supports the life they actually want. It is a blend of live coaching and self-paced curriculum, plus a community of clinicians who normalize niching, real fees, and clinical depth. Twenty years in, it is the work we wish someone had handed us when we were spending our own weekends figuring this out. Learn more: zynnyme.comListen, Subscribe, and Leave a Review Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-a-counseling-practice-with-kelly/id1398391639 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7K8TQ13vJL4L3IvtWLLXV3Stay Connected Website: zynnyme.com Blog: zynnyme.com/blog Instagram: instagram.com/zynnyme LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/2456942 Pinterest: pinterest.com/zynnyme Facebook: facebook.com/kellyandmiranda