Talking To Clients About Raising Your Fee

Last week I blogged about 5 signs that it's time to raise your fees. Once you've decided to raise your fees, the next steps are notifying your clients about this change, explaining your rationale and preparing to manage your client's varied responses. During my 10 years in private practice I've raised my fees three times. I've also consulted and coached many therapists on how to handle fee raises. Here are a few tips to help you feel more confident talking to clients about increasing your psychotherapy rates.

1) Raise your fees at milestones

I've found that it's easier to tell clients about a fee increase around natural milestones such as the beginning of a new year, the beginning of summer, or the beginning of a new school year. Professional milestones such as a new degree or certification are a also a great time to raise fees.

2) Give clients plenty of notice

I always give clients at least 30 days notice of fee increases to allow them to process their emotions and to plan for the additional expense. I suggest bringing the subject up in a therapy session first and follow up with a written letter. Therapist and private practice consultant Tamara G. Suttle M.Ed., LPC suggests following up your verbal notification with a formal letter indicating the amount and the date the increase will become effective.

3) Raise your fees in waves

I have found it helpful to raise my fees for new clients initially, while keeping current clients at the same rate for an additional 6 months. Existing clients have expressed appreciation for allowing them to remain at the lower rate for an extended period of time and they often find new motivation to work harder and wrap up their therapy before the fee increase goes into effect.

4) Be prepared for a variety of responses

Money is a loaded issue. Be prepared for a variety of emotional responses in your clients and in yourself. Clients may respond angrily, passive aggressively, or they may seem unaffected. It's not uncommon for clients to have a delayed response to your fee change. Notification of fee raises brings up a lot of good clinical "grist for the mill" to process in upcoming sessions.

Do you have any suggestions for handling this delicate topic with clients?

(c) Can Stock Photo

5 Self-Care Tips For Therapists

You take good care of you clients but are you taking good care of you? Being a therapist in private practice is incredibly fulfilling and very emotionally draining. While it's an honor to be trusted with client's deepest fears, pain, and vulnerabilities, it can take an emotional toll. Therapists seem to be particularly vulnerable to putting our own needs on the back burner to attend to others. It's why we're good at what we do. It's also why prioritizing self-care is crucial to professional and personal success, and to avoiding burnout.

At work and at home (I'm a wife and mother of 4 children) I emotionally and physically nurture others, so I've had to work hard to figure out what I need and how to prioritize self-care. Here are some ways that I've learned to take good care of myself as a private practitioner.

1) Start and end sessions on time

Build in 10-15 minutes in between clients to take a bathroom break, do some deep breathing, have a snack, clear your head, or consult with another therapist. Don't give away your time to clients at your own expense or you'll end up resenting them because your needs aren't being met.

2) Remember to eat and drink

This sounds so basic, but I've had times when hours would go by before I realized that I was parched and famished! I used to book  8-10 clients a day without scheduling a break assuming that someone would cancel or no-show. On the days where no one did I'd work straight through. Exhausted and starving I usually grabbed junk food and a sip of water. I've learned to build in time to eat and drink so I can maintain my energy level.

3) Schedule transition time after work

Take a few minutes to clear your head so you don't bring the emotions of work into your personal time. If you have a commute you may want to listen to relaxing music on your drive home. There was a period of time where I'd work out at the end of my work day to help release the stress of the work day before heading home and that worked well. Take a few minutes to "shift gears" after work.

4) Get consultation and supervision

It's crucial to build in support for your emotional and professional needs in order to prevent burnout. Meet with colleagues to process countertransference and consult on difficult cases so you don't internalize your client's issues. This is particularly important for solo private practitioners to prevent isolation.

5) Solve recurring complaints quickly

If you have chronic complaints about your practice, act quickly to resolve them.  If you hate your office space, start looking for a new one. If you are overwhelmed by paperwork, reports, and managed care authorizations, consider hiring office help. Take action when something is bothering you so it doesn't drain your emotional energy.

One of the benefits of being in private practice is that you are in charge of your own schedule. Be sure to build your self-care into your schedule. We are modeling self-care for our clients so let's make sure we're practicing what we preach.

What do you do to "fill your own bucket" during your work day so you can continue to feel energized, to be effective with clients, to manage your practice, and maintain a personal life? I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Feel free to comment below.

photo credit: rofanator