Why We Do This
Landscape
Impact of Behavioral Health Disorders On Cancer Surgery Outcomes - The ASCO Post
Psychosis Symptoms in Borderline Personality - Psychology Today
Psychedelic Therapy Emerges as Bipartisan Issue in California - Times of San Diego
Lesson
Embarking on the Transition to Self-Pay
Based on a number of conversations I’ve had in the last few weeks, I wanted to provide some thoughts around providers transitioning from insurance contracts and institutional payers to self pay clients. Many therapists may start in the insurance world, but eventually will want to branch out and experience the benefit of offering services for self-pay. As outlined below, this will require a number of marketing and administrative initiatives, as well as continued evaluation and adjustments to your offerings.
Evaluate Financial Viability:
Assess your current caseload, expenses, and financial goals. Ensure that the transition is financially viable and aligns with your practice's sustainability.
Communicate Transparently:
Openly discuss the transition with existing clients, explaining the reasons behind the change. Offer a reasonable timeline and answer any questions they may have. Transparency fosters trust.
Establish Clear Policies:
Develop clear and concise payment policies, detailing rates, accepted payment methods, and cancellation fees. Provide this information to clients in advance to set expectations.
Diversify Services:
Introduce new services or packages that add value for clients, justifying the shift to self-pay. Consider offering workshops, webinars, or resource materials as part of your service offerings.
Naturally, self-pay services are those not typically found or covered with insurance plans. Do some research on what offerings your skillset can cover.
Market Your Unique Value:
Identify and promote the unique aspects of your therapeutic approach, specialization, or expertise. Emphasize the personalized care and attention that self-pay clients can expect.
Build an Online Presence:
Enhance your online presence through a professional website, social media, and online directories. Highlight client testimonials, success stories, and relevant qualifications to instill confidence in potential self-pay clients.
Offer Flexible Payment Options:
Consider flexible payment options, such as sliding scales or payment plans, to accommodate clients with varying financial capacities. This can make your services more accessible to a broader audience.
Think about offerings that provide ongoing, recurring value to your clients
Professional Development:
Invest in ongoing professional development to stay at the forefront of therapeutic techniques and approaches. Demonstrating continuous growth enhances your perceived value among self-pay clients.
Network with Referral Sources:
Strengthen relationships with referral sources, such as physicians, schools, or community organizations. Share updates about your practice's transition and the benefits it brings to clients.
Monitor and Adjust:
Regularly evaluate the success of your transition. Solicit feedback from clients and make adjustments as needed to ensure a positive experience for both you and your clients.
By carefully navigating this transition, therapists can position themselves for a more sustainable and fulfilling practice with self-pay clients.
Life
It is such a unique fear
When you are sitting up on a branch
Of a tree
Hiding from a Komodo dragon
When you realize
It is futile
Because Komodo dragons can definitely climb trees.
—
This was a dream I had. I was running from a Komodo dragon and had climbed a tree to escape. Terror washed over me when I figured out I wasn’t truly safe up there.
Jon Stewart was also there, and apparently he was my only hope. I was relying on him to take care of the Komodo Dragon and - um - save me.
—
I write my dreams down every night. This is a practice I learned from my dad. Memories as a child stumbling across his large dream notebook, pages and pages of his chicken scratch handwriting, years and years of entries. I couldn’t understand of it. Neither from a legibility nor conceptual standpoint.
My dad is turning 80 next month. He is 50 years my senior. We talk in code in our text messages - words, letters, allegories - in a dialect no one else would understand. Exchanging themes from our dreams and our reality, the two often blending into each other. There have never been wrong answers with my dad. He has always kept an open mind. In some cases, that’s uncomfortable. I’ve seen that for myself, with others. To be so open to possibility. So willing to reason, empathize, consider, justify.
We couldn’t hate me if he tried. He couldn’t hold a grudge within his fingers. If he ever yelled or showed negative emotion, you could tell he was hurt.
My dad. My conscious and subconscious role model. This force for kindness, good, playfulness. This beacon of thoughtfulness, consideration, inner connectivity, self expansion.
He is why I do this. He is why I am the way I am.
Love you Dad.