Featured Articles

Thursday, December 1

Private Practice: Becoming the Best - A Change in Mindset

For as long as I can remember, one of my major goals has been to work in private practice. Once I obtained my MSW, I truly thought that I knew what I needed to know to make this happen. What I discovered is that there is only so much that any graduate program can teach a person. The rest has made me both grateful and eager to learn from other successful health care professionals who have willingly shared with me what they have learned.  

I continue to consider myself beyond fortunate to have been surrounded by positive, encouraging, and uplifting professionals in my career. Early on in my social work career, one of my mentors would frequently instruct me that until I recognized myself as an expert, others would have no choice but to doubt my credibility as well. At that time, I was a single, twenty-six-year-old woman with no children who was working in an addiction treatment center’s women and children’s program. A big part of my professional duties at that time included a combination of teaching parenting skills to people who had an addiction issue as well as testifying in court. Both of these duties required me to develop the mindset of being the best at what I did. This is an essential skill in building a private practice in that the majority of people who begin seeking a therapist are looking for the expert in what they are struggling with. The truth of the matter is that most of us want the expert in whatever area we are looking to assistance for, whether it’s plumbing repairs, mechanic issues, child care providers, or medical professionals.

The next step to being a successful private practitioner is understanding compensation. If you are providing a service, you need to be able to claim that service with attitude, conviction, pride, and in payment. Early on, I easily allowed myself to be manipulated by people not wanting to pay the full cost of my services. The reality was that I not only short-changed their self-esteem (If you are offered a discounted rate on something that is in many respects saving your life, how would that impact your view of yourself?), but I also diminished my ability to know, believe, and proclaim that I was the best at what I do. In other arenas, the best of the best do not generally offer random people discounted services. Social workers need to adapt that mindset.

At some point in my professional career I subconsciously developed the mindset that as a social worker, I needed to help the most impoverished people. While I will always hold a special place in my heart for those people, creating my own private practice has taught me that not only do people who can afford services deserve help, but they need it just as pervasively as people who are struggling financially. This was not only a paradigm shift for me, but it also forced me to adjust my business practices. In the beginning of my private practice whenever someone would call and inquire about the cost of my services, I would sheepishly tell them that. The obvious next step was for them to try and convince me to reduce the charge, and in the beginning I did this. My mindset at that time was that a few clients paying a reduced rate were better than no clients being charged the full price. What I was unaware of during that time was that when I offered discounted services to people, it not only diminished my professionalism but it short-changed their self-esteem. The people I work with today know and believe that they are worth paying full price for my services. Changing my rates sends them the message that they are not worth paying full price or that their issues are not sacred enough. My company motto is “You are worth the effort,” and as such, I need to remain cognizant of the factors involved in this. Currently, I do not offer a sliding fee scale in my private practice. This is primarily done to strengthen the gap between my full-time position in a nonprofit agency and the clients I serve in my own practice. As my referral base, client load, and demand continue to grow, it may be something I look into. However, at this time I must recognize that the best electrician, physician, and mechanic do not offer discounts simply because they hold some convoluted belief that they are not entitled or deserving of making a profit.

In my reading I ran across a statement, “Social workers, by their nature, do not believe that they deserve to make good money.” If you had the option between two physicians, one who did not offer discounted services and believed he/she was the best at what he/she did, or the other who offered the discounted service but also believed he/she was good at what he/she did, which one would you put your faith and trust in? The answer seems pretty simplistic, yet it can be a huge paradigm shift for most professional social workers.

Jenn Bovee, MSW, LCSW, CRADC, graduated from St. Ambrose University (Davenport, IA) with her MSW. Originally from Iowa, Jenn moved to central Illinois in 2008. Jenn has always been very active social worker striving to help as many people as possible. Most recently Jenn has been employed full-time in a residential treatment center and a group private practice. Earlier this year she opened her own practice—Finding Your Path to Freedom in Bloomington, Illinois. Jenn uses her rich professional experience, her education, as well as her intuition to specialize in mental health, addiction, and trauma.