Hi, this is Dave Kats with Therapist Consultants and I have a tip for you. You know what? You have to really think outside the box for this one. This one isn't for everybody. It's for 1 in 50 of you, but it's fun, so let's talk about it.

I saw an article the other day-- actually, it was a couple of years ago, about a therapist who lives in a area that has good weather most of the time, and she does a unique thing. Instead of sitting on the couch or sitting in the easy chair and doing her therapy, she often goes on walks with her clients to do their therapy. She finds that they open up more when they're outside, that they're more relaxed, that if it isn't an enclosed atmosphere and people aren't around listening, they'll share a lot more, and I think that's a great idea.

You don't have to do it all the time, but I would tell people in the beginning, if there's good weather and things like that, we'll walk outside and we'll talk a little bit, and I think you would have a lot more fun...

Hi, this is David Kats for Therapist Consultants. I have a tip for you. More and more I see something happening with therapists, and that is they pick up a segment of their life or a segment of their practice that they dedicate to life coaching. Instead of doing therapy work, they do life coaching work. There's a lot of advantages to life coaching.

Number one, you don't have any insurance that you have to file. Number two, you really don't have any HIPAA responsibility, if you're a life coach. Number three, you can consult along across state lines. Number four, it just adds another revenue center to your practice.

You have to be careful that you don't intermingle the two, that people know exactly what they're getting, that they don't think they're getting therapy when they're getting life coaching. Then ask you to file their returns or something like that. I'm telling you that the people are moving to life coaching in large numbers, not away from therapy necessarily, but in addition...

Hi, this is David Kats for Therapist Consultants and I have a tip for you. More and more, I see something happening with therapists, and that is, they pick up a segment of their life or a segment of their practice that they dedicate to life coaching. Instead of doing therapy work, they do life coaching work. Now, there's a lot of advantages to life coaching.

Number one, you don't have any insurance that you have to file. Number two, you really don't have any HIPAA responsibility if you're a life coach. Number three, you can consult across state lines. Number four, it just adds another revenue center to your practice.

Now, you have to be careful that you don't intermingle the two, that people know exactly what they're getting, that they don't think they're getting therapy when they're getting life coaching, and then ask you to file their insurance or something like that. I'm telling you that people are moving to life coaching in large numbers, not away from therapy necessarily, but...

Hi, this is Dave Kats with Therapist Consultants. I have a tip for you. Did you know that most therapists go through a financial cycle when they first open their business, are not on any insurance panels, so they charge a cash basis. They charge on a cash basis. They usually charge a little bit less and then they do their cash. Well, eventually after about six months, they say, "Hey, I'm missing a lot of new patients because I don't accept insurance."

They get on these insurance panels and then they have an insurance practice. Well, after a year, or two, or three or four or five, they say, "Well, I'm not making nearly as much in insurance as I would if I was a cash practice." They revert back to a cash practice but then at a higher level. The ultimate goal is to have an all cash and all self-pay practice with no discounts at your regular rate. That's the goal that you want to get you. You can get fixated on either of those goals.

Some people say cash or low level. Some people stay...

Hi, this is Dave Kats for Therapist Consultants, and I have a tip for you. Have you ever thought about taking the next step in therapy? One of the next steps is becoming a supervisor to other people that are just getting into therapy. It works so well for so many people. You can use some of those people in your office to help you. They get their training, they get their supervision, and you can charge for the supervision.

Think about this. If the average person sees you once a week for two years for supervision and you charge them $150, that's 100 visits. If you see your average patient about 20 times, that's like getting five new patients immediately, and so I would really think about, you should really think about becoming a supervisor to your profession.

Let me take it one step further. Some of you already are supervisors to your profession. Here's what you should think about, becoming a trainer to train supervisors like you are now. Very lucrative field, and very easy to...

Hi, I'm Dave Kats for Therapist Consultants, and I have a tip for you. One of the things that we can do that's pure profit is increasing your prices. Now, if it's been some time since you increased your price, sometimes we're a little hesitant to increase our prices. I'm telling you, it makes a world of difference in your income and you have to do it to keep up with inflation and the rest of the movement of the world.

Here's how you increase your prices. Start about a month ahead of time and whenever patients check in, put just a little 3x5 card. This is effective and one month from now, the price for therapy will be, and then you give the price. If they have a discount or something like that, you can always explain it to them, but leave that up for about a month. That way everybody that comes in has a chance to see it and become accustomed to it before you actually do it.

When you raise your prices, we suggest that you raise them less frequently but more substantially when you do....

This is Dave Katz with Therapist Consultants and I have a tip for you. Have you ever considered hiring someone? I find that most therapists don't have much for staff, but I think that it would increase their business, help the patients, and increase the profitability if you did have staff. Here's some things to think about. Sometimes we're a little hesitant to hire staff because it's such a big commitment, but think about these things.

Number one, you could start by hiring a virtual assistant. Somebody that would help you off-site, that could do anything from doing your booking to doing your billing. The second thing you could do is you could find somebody that will help you just for a period of time, like for the next three months. You tell them, "Through this summer, I'd like to hire you," or "until the end of the year, I'd like to hire you." That way if it doesn't work the way you thought it did you have a natural ending place.

The third thing you might want to do is think about...

Hi, I'm Dave Kats with Therapist Consultants and I have a tip for you. As I look at therapists and their billing, I notice that for some therapists, all they do is the counseling. Their every bill is counseling, counseling, counseling, counseling, counseling. Have you ever thought about having different revenue centers other than just counseling? I would suggest some revenue centers for you. First of all, I think everybody should start doing assessments. If you're not, you can go to Pearson Clinical Assessments, find the assessments that you like, and then start giving them to your patients. It's a great way to help them get better faster and to increase your revenue.

Another revenue center that you can have is sell any product that you think is worthy of them buying and help them do a better job. That's another revenue center. Then there's other revenue centers. I think of like doing supervising, becoming a supervisor. There are lots of different revenue centers. This year, I think...

Hi, I'm Dave Kats with Therapist Consultants, and I have a tip for you. I've talked about this before, but it is hitting the scenes so hot right now that we got to do it again, and that is doing dual sessions with your patients. It used to be, 10 years ago, that everybody did a 50-minute session, and then they had a 10-minute break, and then they did another 50-minute session with another client and did a 10-minute break, and everybody got 50-minute sessions.

Today, there is a big move toward giving the patient the option of whether they want to do dual sessions. They can do two 50-minute sessions back to back. You may give them a slight discount. If you charge $150, you might only charge $250 instead of $300 if they do a dual session. Dual sessions are becoming very, very, very common. Now, you might say, "I don't know if my patients will want that." Well, you won't know unless you ask. It's not a sales job. Don't worry about them thinking that you're selling them some bill of...

This is Dave Kats with Therapists Consultants, and I have a tip for you. One of the things I've noticed about mental health, and that is once you've developed a problem, the tendency of that problem to return again is much, much greater. Then I did some interpolation and realized that's true with all health. One time you've had a panic attack, the chance of you getting a second panic attack is a lot higher. One time you've had depression, the chance of getting depression is a lot higher. Once you've had a marriage problem, the chance of having a second marriage problem or a continued marriage problem is much higher.

Here's the situation. If you've treated them for anything and they've gotten good results, you can end their program of care right then, stop their active care but don't turn them into the outer darkness. Schedule them for maintenance care every so often. I don't care if you schedule a married couple for a maintenance visit every three months or every six months. Just...