Business Planning

Ocean Views

and

Golden Retrievers

aka Insurance Claims and Using Mailchimp

I recently found an old grad-school assignment in which I was asked to describe my dream job. I breezed through the 2 page description of a whole center for Expressive Arts Therapy, complete with floor to ceiling window views of the ocean and at least two golden retrievers to welcome everyone who walked through the doors.

Yes! What a dream!

…so young, so naive…

okay, so in all honestly the dream of working NEAR the ocean and having a mini golden doodle therapy dog is strong, and I believe that someday some version of this will come true! what struck me the most though is What my vision doesn’t include: the business aspect of the work - the marketing, networking, resource building, insurance credentialing Parts. because of course not, who dreams of these things??? But they are a big part of being a therapist! who knew???

anyways, a few weeks ago I took a webinar on “reimagining my 2020”. I was grateful to find that, even with the shift that Coronavirus has caused, most of my goals for 2020 haven’t changed. What it comes down to is that I want to do more. Always do! i know…that’s not always a good thing. But I believe that within the realm of my practice, the scope of what I want to do is rational because, as the webinar helped remind me, I don’t have to do it all at once and It doesn’t have to be 100% perfect for it to be effective. Funny, I tell my clients this ALL THE TIME! go figure.

What I want to work on: the quality of support I provide, the type of services I can offer, building a team of providers i can refer to, building an active mailing list, production of videos that highlight specific coping skills, build and utilize accountability tools with clients, encourage the use of rituals in and out of session, etc, etc.

easy, right? totally realistic. i’ll be done by june!

What I’ll actually be working on (within the next 90 days as the webinar encourages): being Consistent with the support i provide, identifying and introducing a short ritual to use in session, researching how to offer resources such as videos, and identifying what type of Providers i want to partner with.

never in grad school did they talk about arguing with insurance companies over denied claims, spending countless hours trying to figure out “embedding” things into (onto??) my website, and asking “google my business” FOR THE THIRD TIME to send a postcard to verify my address.

You may be wondering if all this stuff is worth it? honestly, yes! i will happily continue to submit claims, embed things (??), write emails, and verify my business if it means i get to work with you! YOU are why i do all of it.

so stay tuned! things are happening on the other side of this blog post, one google search/saved draft/networking email at a time.