The business of psychotherapy (or how to start your private practice) (3 hours)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS COURSE IS NOT ACCREDITED BY THE OPQ. THE TIME DEDICATED TO THIS COURSE CAN HOWEVER COUNT TOWARD THE HOURS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORIZED BY THE OPQ.

Welcome!

This course is all about the basics of starting a private psychotherapy practice. It includes written material, documents to download and PowerPoint presentations. This 3-hour (approximately) course was designed for soon-to-be or recent graduates of clinical programs and for young professionals. While practitioners from any Canadian province may find the course useful, it clearly focuses on the Quebec context...

Over the years, former students of mine at McGill University have often come to me asking for advice on how to start their private practice. I have been through that process myself, and more than once. In fact, I started two practices in the West Island (Montreal), then later started another, larger practice with a friend and colleague, Dr. Fitzpatrick: Medipsy Psychological Services.

The first of these practices was what we could call a solo practice: me in an office. Alone. The second was a group practice; I was working in a medical clinic, but I was still self-employed (i.e., I wasn't an employee). With Medipsy, we went another route: incorporation. We will cover what this all means for you later in the course. The only point I want to make here is that I've tried different models and  I have made many mistakes along the way. My hope is that you will learn from these mistakes and not repeat them.

Each time I started a new practice, I looked for information—tips mostly—on building a private practice. Some of the information I found was helpful; most was not. Folks often stated the obvious (e.g., "you need to SELL yourself"... Wow, that's a shocker!). Or the info was too basic (e.g., "you will need a website"... Really? I thought I could just stand on street corners with a big sign...). Or it was unethical (e.g., "post your satisfied clients' and patients' comments on your website"... Actually, you can't do that). Or it simply didn't get into enough details (e.g., "you might find a scheduling software helpful"... Sure, but what ARE my options?).

What I've done for this course is draw on my own personal experience, but I also took some time to revisit some of the resources (and find new resources) that offered good tips. I've tried to put it all together into one, coherent course, with a focus on some of the specific questions that we all have when we start a private practice. So, some of the topics we will cover in the course include:

• what opening a practice means and entails
• things to consider before you start
• common mistakes
• becoming an entrepreneur
• finding a space
• third party payers
• different types of businesses
• finding a name for your clinic or practice
• taxes
• insurances
• useful software
• useful resources and services
• selling yourself

Then at the very end, there is a Q & A section where I answer questions that I often get (by the way, if you have other questions, email me at drapeau@medipsy.ca).

One last point before we start: if you have completed the course titled "The legal and organizational aspects of psychotherapy: Part 2" with Medipsy, you should not take this course on the business of psychotherapy. Most of the content covered in this course on starting your private practice was already presented in that course on the legal and organisational aspects of psychotherapy.

Medipsy is recognized by Revenu Quebec as an educational institution making our courses tax-deductible. Our accreditation number is 16-07-3871

The registration fee includes all applicable taxes.
Our GST number is 82873 880 RT0001
Our PST number is 1218616310

So there you have it. Now let's get started!