Last week I had lunch with one of my 
favorite counselors-in-training, Jean Becker-Sullivan. Jean has been honing her entrepreneurial skills for decades so I shouldn’t have been caught off guard when she told me about the market research she has be doing in Summit County, Colorado in preparation for her soon-to-open private practice there.
Her initiative and our conversation reminded me that I’ve not really mentioned to you that you, too, need to know what your colleagues in your community are up to. Jean took some really simple steps to begin her market research. Here’s how she did it . . . .
Step 1
Identify the mental health practitioners in your immediate area. Jean did this by culling a couple of online directories. You can do the same, too, by choosing directories and searching for those psychotherapists in your own zip code.
Step 2
Note the town or part of the city in which they practice.
Step 3
Record their credentials.
Step 4
List their average hourly fee.
Step 5
Note if they offer a sliding scale or make other accommodations for clients’ financial needs.
Step 6
Indicate whether or not they accept credit cards.
Step 7
Record whether or not they will file on clients’ insurance.
Step 8
Note their theoretical orientation.
Step 9
Include any modalities / techniques that might set them apart i.e. EMDR, Trauma-Focused CBT, Play Therapy, etc.
Jean told me that she found all of this information from the online directories that she accessed and created a spreadsheet to collect the information on.
If you have not yet begun to research the market where you plan to set up your private practice, take this as a nudge to do so. It will allow you to see at a glimpse who your colleagues are in your area, what they are offering, and how much they charge.
And, if you’re already in private practice, I hope you’ll drop in here to let us know what information you gathered and how you conducted your own market research.
I did market research twice, when I started my practice in Wichita, KS, and then again when I moved to Kansas City. Both times, I started by getting a list of board-certified music therapists from our credentialing organization. In Wichita, it was just me, but there were many more in Kansas City. In KC, I also contacted music therapists through our local music therapy organization to find out where people were working on a contract basis and who was seeing clients privately. I also asked around to get a general idea of what local MTs were charging.
Hey, Rachelle! Thanks for dropping in here to chat tonight and share your experiences. So how did you contact your colleagues – by snail mail? phone? email? And, did you find that they were receptive to providing info about their work settings and fees?
I feel fortunate that this market research has already been done for me by my local Santa Cruz chapter of the California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (SC-CAMFT). It is all compiled in an every-two-years published “Directory & Resource Guide.” It is incredibly helpful when referring out, and includes a section for who the local CAMFT members are, theoretical orientations areas of emphasis, office locations, insurance providers, treatment modalities, client population served, languages, sliding scale, therapy and support groups, and community resources. I strongly encourage other local chapters to do the same so that individual members don’t have to create time-intensive spread sheets!
Patricia! Welcome to Private Practice from the Inside Out! And, thank you so much for sharing such a great perk from being a member of your local professional association! It’s just one more reason that all mental health professionals should belong to their local “tribe!” If I’m understanding you correctly, this is one (free) benefit of being a member of SC-CAMFT? That’s a huge time saver for sure! And, the fact that it is actually the organization that is collecting the data increases the likelihood that the info is accurate. And, I love that they update the directory every two years! Sweet!
Anyone else out there know of a professional association that is gathering and publishing such information? If so, please share!
Tamara-
Thanks for the post. I’m going to be moving to a relatively rural area, with a number of communities within commuting distance, so I need to choose which community I’d like to plant my private practice in. Doing this market research will be an important step. In addition, do you know anything about market demand based on the population of a town? How small of a town is is too small? Curious on your thoughts as to where I could learn more about this.
Thanks!
Hi, Nate! I’m glad you are finding this info useful! I was fairly clueless when I went into private practice the first time. Wish I had been business savvy enough to know that I needed to do some research.
What state are you in and what do you do?
The size of the town is not so much of an issue as is the availability (or lack of availability) of mental health professionals. Since you are moving to a relatively rural area in which individuals frequently commute from one town to the next, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. In fact, since those communities are small, you might even fare well (best?) by tucking your office into a secluded hillside out of view from the street. This would allow your clients from all those communities a greater sense of privacy.
I wrote a post a while back about what to consider when providing counseling within your own religious community. In some ways, your concerns will be very much the same . . . . Your community will be so small that you will likely trip over your clients at the grocery store, at ballgames, church events, in the schools, etc. Just take care that you start off your work with new clients by asking them how they would like to handle those situations should meeting you be unavoidable. How will they want to introduce you? And, give some thought to how you will respond when you are with your family / friends and run into clients, too.
Nate, I hope you’ll drop back in often to chat and keep us apprised of your transition so that we can support you and learn from you, too!