Private Practice Skills

I invited you all to share your advice to your younger self as a therapist trainee on Instagram and compiled your responses in today's episode. Tune in if you need a little encouragement as a trainee, or just a little pick-me-up regardless of where you're at in your career as a therapist.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their responses!

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Today I wanted to *genuinely* & curiously tackle the question: is it helpful to diagnose our clients?

Of course, the answer to this question isn't black-and-white. So in today's episode, I take a look at comments from the r/therapists subreddit exploring this question and offer some of my own thoughts.

What do you think? Do you diagnose after your first session with every client? Have you ever "tweaked" a client's diagnosis with the intent of ultimately supporting them?

I don't claim to have the answers, and certainly no direct clinical advice to offer, but I think this is an important conversation to have. And certainly, I think it's great for each of us to reflect on how we approach diagnosing and why we approach it that way.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

Thanks to the original poster and to everyone who responded. You can see the reddit thread I referenced here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1i7i9ui/im_starting_to_disagree_with_this_entire_field/

If you're not into my longer rambly episode, you might prefer the shorter version of this episode on YouTube. You can find the shorter version here:

https://youtu.be/AA_CUwY2Pwg

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Let's dive into treatment planning, shall we? ;)

Somehow I haven't made an episode about treatment planning in the 6+ years of making private practice content. It's time!

In this episode, I share some more nuanced thoughts beyond the typical assessment tools and SMART goals that we usually learn about when talking about treatment planning.

I hope some of you find this useful. Keep in mind that I'm just sharing how I approach treatment planning. There are many valid approaches out there, this is just how I do it :)

Links Mentioned:

Video: "Preparing for Your First Intake Session in Private Practice"

https://youtu.be/pzBMWQH-8wQ

Video: "How to Make Your Initial Therapy Assessment More Conversational"

https://youtu.be/NXzMvxhvnAk

Maelisa McCaffrey's YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@MaelisaMcCaffrey

Maelisa's "Treatment Planning" Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCy5QoU3dsbF80ZJahkz5piQ8mhKhOyOk&feature=shared

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

I got the itch to tackle “academese” today and advocate for more plain speak in our professional interactions. I share reasons why I’m advocating moving away from overly academic language in this episode and also offer some tools to help you shift your language to be more accessible to folks.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

Links mentioned:

Definition of Plain Speak:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/plain-speaking

Video by the Francophile Reader: "On Academese (Rant)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2XSzXVYxLM

SEO for Therapists Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi4iw1FZZYrAv84q347_diL19QpIIEDYB

CoGrader (AI Reading Level Conversion Tool):

https://cograder.com/reading-level-conversion

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Hi Friends! Normally I put a bit more time into filling in the description box, but as of the time of this upload, there is a fire about a mile away from my house. Currently the winds are blowing the other way, but I'm wrapping up just in case.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Obviously therapists are allowed to have problems. But, is it okay to have…any problem? Are there specific problems that we’re not supposed to have as therapists?

In this episode we tackle this question. I compiled your responses to the question: "What problems/struggles are therapists not ‘supposed' to have?”

We also take a look at relevant available evidence to answer whether therapists have problems or not

(Spoiler: therapists look a lot like most people when it comes to the kinds of problems we experience. Fancy that)

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

Why yes, I DID crochet my sweater thanksforasking 😅. Here’s the pattern for curious minds:

https://www.eandpcrochet.com/the-echoes-cardigan-crochet-pattern/

Links Mentioned:

r/therapists post: "Therapist with mental health struggles. Need advice”

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/u4pd0r/therapist_with_mental_health_struggles_need_advice/

r/therapists: "Can a therapist struggle with their mental health too?”

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1dtqj36/can_a_therapist_struggle_with_their_mental_health/

Flowing Data Article: "Divorce and Occupation”

https://flowingdata.com/2017/07/25/divorce-and-occupation/

Association for Psychological Science Article: "A Paradox in the Field: Mental-Health Disorders Among Psychologists"

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/mental-health-disorders-among-psychologists.html

Link to anonymous replies to my Instagram poll:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D_ir_Hy0gK6Gyj69vf12BDFthC7DBgaqonc8R4ReHsM/edit?usp=sharing

(Includes weighty replies not discussed in the episode)

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Since it’s common for therapists to feel unhappy or burdened by various aspects of our work and our jobs, I thought it would be helpful to make a little triage checklist of sorts help correct course.

Please note that this episode does not constitute clinical or professional advice. I’m just sharing the steps I would run through if I were feeling unhappy as a therapist.

Thank you to Paubox for sponsoring this episode. Paubox makes HIPAA-secure email easy and streamlined. Check them out here:

https://bit.ly/pps_paubox_spotify

*Get $250 off your first year with Paubox with coupon code "SKILLS"

*Bonus Deal:* If you add the Paubox badge to your website you get an extra $100 off your first year - that means you can get your whole first year free if you apply both deals!

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

Past Videos about Therapist Satisfaction:

Video: "Would Therapists Still Choose This Career if They Could Start Over?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_F0W9zvAwM

Video: "Sneaky Signs of an Unhealthy Work Environment”

https://youtu.be/llaLJZej-Sk

Past Videos on Therapist Burnout:

Video: "Let’s talk about Therapist Burnout”

https://youtu.be/-oUOQa_jnPc

Video: "Early Signs of Therapist Burnout and how to Cope”

https://youtu.be/ZFeZJ2hC-Rg

ProQOL (Professional Quality of Life Measure) Self-test:

https://proqol.org/proqol-measure

ACT Bulls Eye worksheet via Zencare:

https://blog.zencare.co/values-bullseye-exercise/

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field. Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Howdy and happy 2025! I thought it would be fun to kick off the new year by reacting to the top posts of 2024 in the r/therapists subreddit. It’s a roller coaster ride of funny memes, critiques of health insurance carriers, story times of mental health stigma and more. 

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

General link for r/therapists:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/

Top r/therapists posts of the last year:
https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/top/?t=year

*I opted not to include the posters’ reddit usernames in the video screen grabs. Even though the r/therapists subreddit is publicly visible, the folks who posted may not have anticipated having their post blasted on YouTube. However, I’ll link to each of the individual posts here since the link above won’t stay static. Here are the posts:

Fortune Cookie:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1hn3kg6/found_this_in_my_fortune_cookie_from_chinese/

Kaiser Strike:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1gckent/kaiser_therapist_strike_riverside_ca/

I did it I graduated:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1hind7p/i_did_it_i_graduated_im_legit_crying/

Confidentiality Policies:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1hhmc8u/when_a_client_starts_the_session_by_asking_you_to/

Start a sentence and don’t know where it’s going:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1gm8rpq/anyone_else/

Therapist Parkour Shoutout:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1gns6qz/shout_out/

AuDHD:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1fstzp0/therapist_who_do_not_have_a_lot_of_experience/

Cancellation Anticipation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1ha61t6/cancellation_anticipation/

Blue Collar Men:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1b9z6cv/blue_collar_men_in_therapy_bless_their_hearts/

United Healthcare Execs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1h6nysd/the_top_5_executives_at_unitedhealthcare_were/

I love being a therapist:

https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/1fdu7zs/i_love_being_a_therapist/

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.

Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

As I look at how things have gone for my business in 2024 it really stands out just how much things have slowed down for Private Practice Skills. I’ve been pretty intentional about this change, and in today’s episode I share the reasons why I opted to pump the breaks on my business a little bit this year.

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

Video: "How I Make Six Figures as a Part-Time Therapist”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF3n7vRnAUY

Video: "Why I'm a Solopreneur”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEh6XsxhOE

Article: "Child Care in San Diego More Expensive As Going to College”

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/child-care-as-expensive-as-going-to-college-in-san-diego/2861992/

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.

Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

I've always wondered what therapists are up to when they have their doors closed between sessions. It's so elusive. I mean, I often do the same thing. But are other therapists really just plunking away at their notes and having a great zen moment? Or is there more going on between sessions?

Today, I took to Instagram to find out, and y'all didn't disappoint. I compiled your 53 responses and share the results here. What do you think most therapists do between sessions?

FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

LINKS

*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!

👉 FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling: https://tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8

👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: https://privatepracticeskills.teachable.com/

👉 All my filming gear: https://kit.co/privatepracticeskills/all-my-gear

This podcast is geared toward therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.

Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

Website: www.privatepracticeskills.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/privatepracticeskills

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privatepracticeskills/

This podcast is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.