Going into private practice is one of the most stressful (and exciting) decisions you can make as a therapist.

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As a business owner, opening your own practice means additional, non-clinical responsibilities. This is why many mental health professionals take a long time to deliberate whether they want to go into private practice at all, and if so, whether they want to launch their own solo practice or join an already established group practice.

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Both solo and group practices offer advantages and disadvantages, and as all clinicians know, no route lacks its challenges. Depending on your unique and personal situation as a therapist, you can research the benefits and challenges of group and solo practice in order to pick the right kind of practice that is in alignment with your personal preferences and business objectives.

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Benefits and challenges of solo practice 

Running a solo private practice involves one therapist (you!) providing professional mental health services to patients looking for treatment.

Benefits

• ‍You have autonomy. In a solo practice, licensed therapists who establish and run solo practices are granted complete autonomy to make all the decisions and determine all the aspects of the business. This ranges from how many therapy sessions they want to conduct per day to the allocation of all costs and expenses.‍‍
• ‍You have access to better pay opportunities. When you are the owner, as well as the only shareholder, of the practice, 100% of the remaining profit after the deduction of all the expenses is then distributed to you. You are also able to set your own rates to see clients. As a result, this can lead to significantly more income than those belonging to a group practice. ‍
• ‍‍There's minimal conflict. Many mental health professionals prefer this way of practicing their mental health care services because they perform the most efficiently in an independent environment and avoid the potential conflicts that could arise in a shared group practice with other co-workers. 
  

Challenges

• You have full responsibility. When running and managing your own private practice, you also become responsible for every task on the business side of things. In addition to your traditional caseload, you then have more responsibility, such as management, staffing, bookkeeping and accounting work, and managing your expenses.‍‍
• There is a financial need. Being the business owner of your own practice requires you to have sufficient funding to keep your business running and growing. If the business is financially struggling for whatever reason, you are greatly impacted. This is especially true if your business is registered and operated as a sole proprietorship.‍‍
• ‍There is increased risk of burnout. With no colleagues to share your workload with, some clinicians find this model to be overwhelming. It is necessary to become good at juggling your clinical work with your business matters when running your own private practice.
  

Benefits and challenges of group practice 

A group practice consists of multiple therapists and counselors who provide mental health care to patients looking for treatment within the same facility. 

Benefits

• ‍There's no need to be business savvy. When joining an established group practice, you are not the sole person responsible for managing and running the business all on your own. Most times, everything is already in place, and your focus is now really to utilize your expertise and clinical experience to provide care for the patients.
• ‍You have colleague support. If you join a new group practice and take on any additional responsibilities, you have a group of clinicians to work alongside you with the potential to share that workload. There are plenty of opportunities to learn from your colleagues and room to share tips or advice on how to provide better care, improving the competency level among clinicians and quality of services for the patients.‍‍
• There are no overhead costs. Since there are no nuisances on the business side if you join this business model, there will be no worries regarding all the overhead expenses needed to run the business. 
  

Challenges

• You'll likely earn less. When in a group practice, you are employed by the group practice owner, meaning that they will likely deduct some portion of your salary to pay fees associated with marketing you or getting referrals of clients for you on your behalf. In addition, you often will need to contribute your share to the group practice to keep it running via the overhead expenses. ‍‍
• There is less autonomy. Compared to a solo private practice, you do not have as much autonomy to make all of the decisions within the practice. Someone else will typically be in charge of setting up your schedule and managing how many sessions you're allowed each day.‍‍
• ‍You may run into workplace conflict. Working in an environment where you interact and socialize with your colleagues on a daily basis offers more opportunity for conflict or butting heads with others in how the business should be run. Depending on how prominent some of these aspects are to you, this can potentially lead to underlying conflicts and disagreements. 
  

Which practice is right for you?

Finding which of the two is the right fit for you requires a lot of thought on what is important to you as a therapist. There are several factors that clinicians can consider, such as what kind of personality you have, what your financial situation looks like, where you want to live, what your practice style is, and many more.

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Answering these questions will be a great starting point in determining whether you now have the ability and all the resources available to start your own practice, or if you want to take your time and join a group practice to gain more experience before opening one of your own. You may decide not to open your own practice at all.

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No matter which direction you head, taking steps to improve your business and your finances is an exciting foray into a new direction, and it will push you to grow in a variety of ways. Now it’s your time to explore and make the best decision for yourself!

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This post is to be used for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, business, or tax advice. Each person should consult their own attorney, business advisor, or tax advisor with respect to matters referenced in this post.

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