A Therapist Reacts to Questions from Fellow Therapists

How can I manage a private practice part time while still working my full time job?

And the first thing I'd like to share with people is build slow. I like to describe it as just dipping your toes into the pool. We don't need to do a cannonball into the deep end unless you really want to.

And so maybe you just start with one or two clients per week and you try that out and you see how it feels. You go through the process of onboarding a client, seeing a client, and you do that in addition to your full time job.

And each step of the way, you want to assess what you're able to handle. So maybe you get to two and you feel like, Hey, this is not really a big deal. I think I can manage this. And you bump up to three and then you bump up to four and maybe you say, Hey, whoa, five. That's feeling like a bit much. And we stick right there.

Eventually, though, you'll realize that there's a turning point where you can either stay at your full time job while keeping a small caseload, or you can start transitioning more into full time private practice. But again, take it slow, dip your toes in, see how it feels, assess each step of the way and go from there.

What advice do you think is most relevant for clinicians that are starting their private practice for the first time?

And let me just first normalize this. Starting a private practice is an emotional rollercoaster, although it's really exciting and it's really rewarding and really fun, there's ups and there's downs. I feel like that's not normalized enough. And one of the first things to think through is that people often wait until they feel “ready” to start a private practice, but don't bank on feeling ready.