You did not set your rate to hurt anyone. So why does it feel like you need to apologize for it? In this one I am getting into where that apology comes from, what it is costing you, and what changes when you stop leading with sorry.

Maybe it's time to explore in a 1:1!

Book today at privatepaypractitioners.com

I sat down with Melissa Guttman, a licensed creative arts therapist, music therapist, and founder of IFS Witch in New York. Melissa specializes in trauma therapy for highly sensitive women in midlife recovering from narcissistic abuse. She uses IFS, Brainspotting, music therapy, and spiritual modalities including astrology and intuitive development.

But what made this conversation so rich is what Melissa has built beyond her clinical practice. She runs multiple consultation and support groups for therapists, teaches a training called Designing Your Unique Group Offering, and has built an entire coaching and consultation wing of her business by simply listening to what people kept asking her for.

We talked about how she filled her first groups using local listservs that most therapists overlook, why you do not need three certifications to start adding value, what it looks like to leave insurance panels when you have no safety net, the difference between coaching and therapy containers and why it matters, and why your genius is already inside you waiting to be unlocked.

She also said something that stopped me. Leaving the insurance panels felt like leaving an abusive relationship. Every panel she drops, her self-respect goes up.

If this episode got you thinking about what you are sitting on and where to start, let's talk. Book a 90-minute strategy session at privatepaypractitioners.com.

Melissa Guttman: ifswitch.com
Email: [email protected]
Podcast: No Bad Charts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube
Instagram and TikTok: @fallengoldenchild

Natalie is back. And this one went somewhere I did not expect.

Natalie Milom is a licensed clinical social worker, EMDRIA certified EMDR trainer, ICEEFT certified EFT therapist, the first Black EFT supervisor in Georgia, and the CEO of Potential Realized. She also just got approved to offer her own EMDR basic training, EMDR for the Culture, which centers anti-Black racism and what it actually looks like to do EMDR with Black clients safely.

We talked about all of that. And then we talked about a whole lot more.

We got into the ancestral trauma that lives in our bodies, allostatic load and why Black people are carrying chronic illness that the medical system keeps dismissing, the superhumanization bias and how it shows up in clinical settings, what it means to code switch even within the Black community, and why doing the most is not a personality trait. It is a survival response.

I also shared some things I have not said on this show before. About the office I lost. About the loans I took out to pay my staff while I went without. About the divorce. About growing up in the projects queer and light skinned and being told I talked too white. About the fibromyalgia diagnosis that took decades to get.

This episode is personal. It is clinical. And it is necessary.

If you want to get trained in EMDR and do it in a way that actually works for Black clients, Natalie's basic training runs July 29 through August 2nd, virtual and in person in Atlanta.

Register here: https://www.nataliemilom.com/emdr-basic-training

Refresher course available on demand at dopetraumatherapist.com for $197.

EFT Supervision: dopetraumatherapist.com/eft-supervision
EMDR Consultation: dopetraumatherapist.com/emdr-consultations

Your headshot is doing something on your website and your directories right now. The question is whether it is doing something good. In this one I am getting into why your photo is part of your marketing, what it communicates before anyone reads a single word, and what to do if it is not working for you.

SMILE

Most therapists freeze when a client pushes back on the rate. In this one I am getting into why that moment does not have to derail you, what is actually happening when a client says they cannot afford it, and what to say that is honest, boundaried, and does not send you into a spiral.

Enjoy!

This week I had two guests at the table and we went deep on the one topic most therapists avoid until it becomes a crisis.

Money.

Amber Dugger is the founder of Profit for Keeps, a system that combines personal finance and business cash flow strategies using Profit First and YNAB to help entrepreneurs become permanently profitable. Maren Londahl-Smidt is a licensed clinical social worker, Profit for Keeps certified coach, and private pay therapist who built her practice around her ADHD instead of fighting it.

We talked about money trauma and why most of us are carrying someone else's money story, what Profit for Keeps actually looks like day to day and why it takes less than ten minutes, how to reverse engineer your revenue goal so you finally have a number that means something, why the personal side of money is the foundation for everything else, what YNAB and Profit First do differently and why combining them fills the gap neither one solves alone, and what it means to build a practice around your capacity instead of around what everyone else is doing.

Amber also shared a story about a psychologist in New York who had 33 clients a week, $80,000 in debt, and a dream of a house in Santa Fe. She now lives in Santa Fe with six clients a week. That is what this system made possible.

And yes, they are doing something new together. More details coming very soon.

If this episode got you thinking about your own numbers and what your practice actually needs to sustain you, let's talk. Book a 90-minute strategy session at privatepaypractitioners.com.

Amber Dugger: amberdugger.com Free calculator: amberdugger.com/calculator Instagram: @profit.with.amber YouTube: Amber Dugger

Maren Londahl-Smidt: balanceandbeyondcoaching.com Facebook group: Profit for Keeps for Therapists Instagram: @moneycoachMaren

I sat down with Shajuan Alexander, a licensed clinical social worker and supervisor based in Houston, Texas, and the founder of The Culture of Health. Shajuan specializes in therapy for Women of Color in healthcare, runs three clinical supervision groups with 16 supervisees, teaches immigration evaluation training through her program IEGA, and coaches clinicians on building income beyond the therapy room. She does all of this solo, with two kids at home, and she does not work more than four hours a day.

We got into all of it. How she built her niche from her own burnout in medical social work, why she gives each social media platform a specific purpose instead of posting the same thing everywhere, how she created the Income Expansion Blueprint from a single TikTok comment section, why she stopped doing free coffee chats, and what she means when she says you are sitting on skills you are not using.

She also dropped something I keep thinking about. Let something go to make room for something else. That is the whole framework.

If this episode got you thinking about what you are sitting on and where to start, let's talk. Book a 90-minute strategy session at privatepaypractitioners.com.

Shajuan Alexander: https://stan.store/SAlexander

Income Expansion Blueprint: https://stan.store/SAlexander/p/the-income-expansion-blueprint-

IEGA Cohort IV: https://stan.store/SAlexander/p/the-immigration-evaluation-group-accelerator-iv

Instagram: @thecultureofhealthpllc

TikTok: @thecultureofhealthpllc

This week I sat down with Danielle Sampson, a licensed clinical social worker, perinatal mental health certified therapist, group practice owner, and the creator of Small Town SEO and the Private Practice Visibility System.

Danielle is based in Buffalo, New York. You know, the place where everyone said you could never charge premium rates. She charges $250 an hour and she is full. She did it by fixing her website and learning SEO.

We talked about what SEO actually is and why it works differently than every other marketing strategy, how to do keyword research based on what people are actually Googling in your specific location, why AI generated website content is now being flagged by Google and what to do about it, how to make SEO work when you are fully virtual and licensed in multiple states, what to ask before you hire anyone to do your SEO, and why your website can keep working for you long after you stop touching it.

This one is practical from start to finish.

If this episode got you thinking about your own visibility and where clients are actually finding you, let's talk. Book a 90-minute strategy session at privatepaypractitioners.com.

Danielle Sampson: daniellesampsoncoaching.com

Free SEO webinar: daniellesampsoncoaching.com

Therapy website: traumatherapybuffalo.com

Instagram/Threads/Facebook: @smalltownseo

Most Psychology Today profiles say the right things in all the wrong ways. Warm. Empathetic. Collaborative. Safe space. And somehow, none of it tells anyone whether they're in the right place.

In this minisode, I break down exactly what PT prompts therapists to write, why following those prompts makes you sound like everyone else, and the three-part structure that actually converts profile visitors into clients.

Your profile has one job. Go find out if it's doing it.

This week I sat down with Katie McKenna, a licensed psychotherapist and master's level nutritionist with over 22 years of experience based in Seattle. Katie specializes in eating disorders, chronic illness, anxiety, and trauma. She also integrates nutrition, the nervous system, and the body-mind connection into her clinical work because she believes talk therapy alone is not enough.

Katie has been private pay since 2016 and got there the right way. Slowly, strategically, and without blowing up her caseload in the process. We talked about what finally pushed her off the panels, how she stayed full through the transition, where her referrals have actually come from over the years, and what it looks like to run a growing practice while also wearing every hat in the building.

She also told me something that I think every therapist needs to hear.

Take care of who is in front of you. The referrals follow.

We also got into her newest project, The Menopause Talks, a two hour workshop on the neuroendocrine changes of perimenopause and the psychology of midlife. It is worth sticking around for that part of the conversation.

If this episode got you thinking about your own referral strategy or how to build a practice that actually sustains you, let's talk. Book a 90-minute strategy session at privatepaypractitioners.com.

Katie McKenna: mckennacounseling.com

Instagram: @katie.mc.kenna

TikTok: @katiemckennacounseling