Before You Package Your Work
This is the second of the 3-part series, The Ultimate Guide to Bundling & Packaging Your Therapeutic Services.
In the first part, I discussed 12 Benefits of Packaging Your Clinical Work and already therapists are recognizing that there’s more to bundling and packaging clinical services that requires your consideration.
In this post, I will share 8 questions that you should be prepared to answer before you begin creating packages of your clinical services.
However you choose to present your professional services – whether by the hour or by bundling your services – I consider it all to be packaging.
It’s all you choosing how you want to present your body of work in service to your clients in individual or in bundled units that reflect you, your values, your beliefs, and your professional story.
8 Questions You Must Ask
- What are the legal and ethical parameters within which you work?
Mental health professionals are held to a different (and many would say higher standard) of practice than professionals in other fields.Coaches, educators, massage therapists, etc. are not bound by the same level of responsibilities and professional concerns that licensed psychotherapists are bound to; nor are they prepared to address these same concerns.
It’s important to recognize and consider not only the laws in your geographic area but also the many professional codes of ethics and standards of practice that may inform your work as they relate to the marketing and selling of your therapeutic services.
- What is the impact/ potential impact on your clinical work?
It is also critical that you consider the impact that your packaging can have on your current, former, and future clients.
As an ethical clinician, you are expected to avoid doing harm to your clients and to avoid benefitting (financially or otherwise) at your client’s expense.
Does a client pre-paying for services result in her feeling obligated to continue with your services?
Are feelings of obligation a problem?
Does she have another option?
Does prepaying for services help a client who struggles with accountability?
If a client purchases a package of services and then later decides she no longer wants to use all of those purchased services, do you refund money?
What if your client becomes seriously ill or dies before using all of your services?
Do you refuse to refund money?
Do you do something different?
- What is the impact on your professional image and that of your profession’s image?
With your business hat on, you need to also assess the potential impact a particular package of services might have on your professional image or that of your profession’s image.
That’s because the way you present and implement your work does have the potential to cause harm to your profession and to your own professional image.
And, in case you’ve forgotten, you do have an ethical responsibility to not do damage to your profession!
- Am I a good fit for this client and is this package a good fit for this client?
Goodness of fit applies to the therapist and client; but it also applies to the packages of services you might offer to your client.
Working with a dissatisfied client hardly serves you or your client well.For whatever reason that you and your client discover that you are not a good fit, a referral needs to be made.
What if after purchasing a package of services either you or your client determines that there is not a goodness of fit?
How does packaging of your services effect you in making referrals to different professional?
Or, how do you address circumstances under which a client or potential client asks to purchase a package of services/ products that you believe to be contraindicated for this particular client?
- How do you currently deliver your clinical services?There are lots of ways to deliver your clinical services.
You are likely offering counseling and psychotherapy in one or more of the following ways – either one-on-one, by working with couples / families, or by offering group therapy.
At first glance, that may look like we’re all doing the same things but we’re really not . . . .
- What is the unit of time that you use to deliver your professional work?
The actual time that we spend with our clients varies . . . a lot!
While we often refer to our work as “the clinical hour,” the truth is that some of us spend as little as 15 minutes per session, others 30 minutes, and still others 45, 50 or 60 minutes and still others spend 90, 120 or even much more with our clients at any given appointment.
Make note of the way(s) that you have most often offered your services . . . days of the week, periods of time, etc.
Also note exceptions you might choose to make under special circumstances when offering your services.
- What is the frequency that you prefer to see and work with your clients?
You may be under the mistaken belief that you should see clients on a weekly basis.
However, there is little in the research literature to support this frequency of work as being better than a lesser or more frequent schedule of therapy.
In fact, it’s likely that you can find therapists who swear that more often than weekly is better . . . and other therapists who insist that less often is better.
Think about this . . . .
Some therapists choose to see their clients once and only once; others, see their clients on an ongoing basis and over and extended period of time and at very different frequencies – some for multiple days in a week, others only on an “as-needed basis; other therapists work with clients in a pre-determined and time-limited fashion; and still others work with them in bootcamps, wilderness camps, day camps, intensives and/or retreats.
My point is that there are lots of right ways for you to work with your clients and it’s up to you and your clients to decide how that is to be done.
- Do you work in real or asynchronous time?
You also get to decide whether you will work in real or asynchronous time with your clients.
And, if in real time, will that be face-to-face or via video-conferencing or by live chat?
Will you provide your services online, in your office, in your client’s home or workspace, outdoors or elsewhere?
Or, will you work with your clients in an asynchronous manner via email or chat?
All of these are options that can be part of your offerings and, again, come with their own strengths and limitations.
Your job is to consider what is going to work best for your client and you and what the standards (both legal and ethical) dictate concerning the parameters of your practice given the tools and structure that you use.
No Fortune Telling Required
While you are not expected to be a fortune teller, you are ethically bound to consider each of these questions above and make appropriate decisions that are most likely to not harm your former, current, or future clients . . . or you or the image of your particular discipline in the public’s eye.
Once you are clear about the parameters that you will work within, you’re ready to begin packaging your clinical services and products.
In my next post, I’ll be sharing a little inspiration with you in the form of 30 services and products that you can package up for your mental health practice!
Until then, if I’ve left out some key questions that you think other therapists should ask themselves before packaging their therapeutic services, please do leave them below!
And, if you are finding this series helpful, then please share it with your colleagues and your professors, too!
This is certainly thought-provoking. I currently work in a community mental-health agency and a group private practice. This article reminds me of the sort of “group think” effect that we can get at some staff meetings where everyone contributes different ideas to the same concept. This is a great reminder to recognize that we all do things differently and as far as the variables here, there is not really a right or wrong for the most part.
Oh, Lauren! Thank you for saying this!
I hadn’t thought about resistance to the concept of packaging in quite these terms i.e. “group think” but I believe you may be right.
We learn what we are taught as the “right” way(s) and it’s easy to get stuck thinking our way is the right way . . . the best way . . . the only way.
I’ve done it.
You’ve probably done it.”
It’s likely we’ve all done it.
I think about our clinical work and how easy it is as a new clinician who learns a particular technique or even body of work – ACT, EMDR, Multi-Modal Therapy or whatever – to believe that it’s the one and only path to true healing.
I think it indicates a certain stage of professional development – to believe that your way is the best way for all or even most clients – because, of course, there are many ways and an individual client has many needs on their journey to healing / growth.
The same is true as we learn to grow our practices, to effectively talk about the work that we each do, and the ways in which we offer our services.
Group think can and does affect how we think about, speak about, and practice our clinical work; and, it also affects how we think about, speak about, and practice the business of private practice.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject of packaging our services; you’ve expanded my thinking on it.
Just now reading your very well written,supportive and informative Blog/posts. I have offered packages throughout my practice-allowing for $15 discount per session on 4 sessions to be completed within 4 weeks or less ( unless there is an emergency or pre -agreement). Overall this works out well. The biggest problem is when a client takes it personally when I hold them to this agreement!
Grateful for the considerations you bring up, as I have not thought of some.