Course Introduction

Video Transcription

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hi. And welcome to starting and building a private practice. I'm Dr. Rob Eubanks.

The purpose of this course is to give you an introduction into the world of private practice. This course will help you determine if you want to be in private practice.

So here's what we'll cover in this lesson.

First, course objectives.

Next, course topics.

Third, I'm going to give you an instructor introduction. That is, an introduction to myself and why I'm so passionate about this course.

Is private practice right for you? Let's see if we can answer that question.

The first of the objectives is learning the basic knowledge of startup.

Next, is going to be gaining awareness of the ethical and legal considerations, as well as state, federal, and local regulations important in starting a private practice.

Next, is going to be learning the pros and cons of a private practice. Now, some of the pros include scheduling, income, and autonomy. Some of the cons, isolation, potential long hours, managing the business, and even taking out the trash.

There's seven criteria for consideration, and these topics will all be covered in this course.

The first of which is how you want to practice. That is, the amount of time worked, work style, including alone or with others.

The next is where you want to practice. This includes such options as buying a building, renting an office, or renting a room, or even sharing an office space, like I do.

Third, is how you want to fiscally set up a practice, meaning, tax status, sole proprietor, LLC, corporation.

Fourth, is how to manage a practice. This includes tasks such as scheduling, billing, case notes, case management, emergency care.

Number five, how to get paid in private practice, including self-pay, managed care, EAP, cash, or credit cards.

Six, is how to get clients in private practice. This covers advertising, networking, and developing expertise on specific topics.

And, number seven, how to grow a practice. This includes expanding services, and hiring people.

So a little bit of an instructor introduction, that is, an introduction to me, Dr. Rob Eubanks.

So I've been in the mental health counseling field for over 17 years. And during this time, I've worked in various capacities, including school counseling, various community mental health counseling agencies, private practice, and teaching.

Currently, my private practice is about eight years old, and I see about six to eight people a week. My primary focus is couples counseling, with the rest being adult individual counseling. So seeing six to eight people a week for about 10 months out of the year, I earn between $20,000 and $25,000 a year.

So you can see that the earning potential is really good, depending on how you choose to set up your private practice, and how many people that you choose to see.

So why a private practice for me? So a private practice, it's something that I'm very passionate about, and passion is very vital when you're in this field, because it's what drives you and keeps you energized to grow yourself, as well as to grow in your work with your clients, and to be able to guide and help them to better places in their own lives.

So just as I'm excited about private practice, I'm excited about this course for you. I'm excited because this is an amazing opportunity to get in early on the knowledge and insider insight into what private practice is all about, and if it's even right for you.

Also, how to get a practice up and running and be successful long-term. This is all stuff that typically counseling programs don't offer. I certainly didn't get any exposure to any of this as I was going through both a master's and a PhD program.

So I'm excited about this course because we've designed it to answer that big question, is private practice right for you? But, also, we've designed it to help you navigate the ins and outs of how you want to set up a private practice that's going to be a best fit for you.

So here's what we covered in this lesson.

First, course objectives.

Next, course topics.

Last, an instructor introduction.

[MUSIC PLAYING]