Tiana Leeds, LMFT, is a Santa Barbara-based therapist for individuals and groups. She sees clients across California online and by phone. While she focuses primarily on working with women in their 20s and 30s and highly sensitive people, she welcomes clients of all ages, genders, and backgrounds.
Congrats, you're one step closer to a more abundant private practice! Get started right away with the guide below. Want access to the downloadable PDF? It’s already on its way to your inbox .
Let’s begin by taking an honest look at how content you are with the current state of your private practice. As therapists, we know that the best way to begin is to assess!
On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is over the moon and 1 is complete dissatisfaction, rate how happy you are in your private practice with:
Your caseload
The income your private practice generates
Your hourly rate
If any of these numbers are lower than a 7, there may be one or more money blocks tripping you up in your consultations and your private practice.
Below are 5 common money blocks that frequently crop up for therapists - note which of these are true or sometimes true for you:
Block #1: A scarcity mindset prevents you from closing on your full fee
Your money mindset impacts everything you do in your private practice. One of the places it shows up most prominently and has the biggest impact is in consultation calls. With a scarcity mindset, you will often walk away from the call either with no client, a client who is not suitable for you, or with a client who may be a fine fit clinically but not financially. However, if you can begin the conversation firmly rooted in a sense of abundance and confidence, you are far more likely to state your full fee with conviction and build a caseload full of ideal clients who are willing to invest money for the value they’re receiving.
Block #2: Clients sense your neediness and are turned off
Desperation is never sexy. Clients don’t want you to need them; they want to feel confident you can help them. It’s easy to accidentally slip into presenting yourself on a consultation call in a way that doesn’t feel authentic or worse, maybe even making a hard sell. Rather, you want to feel clear that you will take this client if it’s a great fit both clinically and financially, but equally committed to referring out if that’s not the case. This leads to communicating with confidence rather than neediness and requires staying grounded in the abundance mindset that your business will thrive with or without this specific prospective client.
Block #3: Booking clients where you and/or the client don’t feel a “hell yes!” to working together
When your practice isn’t full, it can be tempting to say yes to just about everybody. This may lead you to wind up with a caseload that isn’t appropriate or energizing for you. It’s so important to vet your clients from the beginning to make sure they’re within your scope of competence, that the click is there for both of you, and that they want to work on issues that are aligned with your clinical interests, strengths, and passions. Referring a client once you’ve already begun treatment is possible, but it’s much more difficult and delicate, especially once they’ve built attachment to you. If you can discern fit right from the consultation call, you will save both yourself and your clients a lot of heartache!
Block #4: You get overly attached to prospective clients which makes it impossible to refer even when it’s not a good fit
Imagine getting on a consultation call with a potential client with the unshakable belief that you can easily have a full caseload of ideal clients all at your ideal fee. With the grounded knowing that the next ideal client is already on their way to you, it likely wouldn’t feel very disappointing to find out this client is going to need to be referred out. Your abundance mindset allows you to shift into a state of non-attachment to the outcome of the call. You know that you can and will have what you want, so it doesn’t ride on any particular consultation call. Your abundance mindset frees you up to say no to what doesn’t align and yes to what does.
Block #5: You have trouble saying no to clients who “can’t afford” you
This is one of the hardest consultation conundrums. As therapists, we are hardwired to want to be of service, and when we click with a client and believe we can help, it’s tempting to reduce our fees if the alternative is to refer. It’s possible to do this in a way that doesn’t compromise your abundance mindset or your bottom line, but only if you have a clear fee structure already in place. If you’ve taken a hard look at your business and life, determined your financial needs and dreams, and put a plan in place to reach them, you may find there is room for a limited reduced-fee or pro-bono structure. However, if you have not done this type of deep-dive financial legwork, the risk for resentment is high if you ad-hoc decide to take a low-fee client. It may not happen right away, but over time resentment is almost certain to creep in, at which time, you and the client will be faced with a difficult crossroads.
Now, tally up how many money blocks are currently standing in your way.
The more blocks that resonated the more difficult it will be for you to have easy, effective consultation calls, and in turn, a caseload, income, and hourly rate that you’re wildly excited about. Even just one money block can get in the way of your ability to have the practice you deserve.
Shifting your money blocks leads to an increased capacity to hold the financial container for your clients and model financial self-care. It also leads to building a practice that you love!
The good news is that like all limiting beliefs, money blocks can be changed. Financial inner work is often overlooked since the money side of our profession often gets so de-emphasized starting with grad school and the licensure process and that typically carries forward even once we don hats as business owners in private practice. Money, both in our profession and our culture, can feel taboo to talk about, let alone intentionally explore on a psychological level. However, digging in and doing the work of shifting your money blocks into money strengths will ultimately serve not only you and your practice, but also your clients. We are constantly modeling self-care to our clients and that ideally includes financial self-care. We also model boundaries to them but how often do we think about the importance of our financial boundaries? Working through money blocks catalyzes the shift from scarcity to abundance, the ability to hold the financial container for our clients, and gives us permission to build practices filled with the clients that light us up most.
