How To Set Private Practice Fees As A Therapist
If you’re transitioning to an all-private pay practice as a therapist or counselor (or if you’re just starting out), you likely have questions about how to set - and eventually raise - your rates. Here’s how we approach this for therapists inside our Therapist Private Pay Accelerator program!
How To Set Private Practice Fees: Research & Planning
Local Market Research
For example, fees in New York and California tend to be higher than in midwestern states like Kentucky & Iowa. A very, very rough average rate is $150-200 per session, but local market research will help you narrow down a reasonable range.
Business Goals
As much as your rates should be reasonable for where you live, they should also provide you with enough income to support the life you need (and want) to be living.
We’re going to take costs of running a business out of this quick calculation for simplicity, but here’s an example:
If your goal is to make $100,000 per year, see about 20 clients per week, and take 4 weeks off per year, you’ll need to make at least $104 per session (likely higher, to cover any office rent, business insurance, software subscriptions, etc - but it’s a starting place).
A quick note on mindset: Just because you wouldn’t pay your own rate right now doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people out there who would. Confidently communicating and standing behind your own fees is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to making money and growing your practice without burning out.
How To Set Private Practice Fees: Specialization & Marketing
The more specialized and experienced you are as a therapist, the more you can charge for sessions - but no matter what, your marketing (your website, social media, etc) should make your value incredibly evident. By making it clear that you understand your ideal client from the get-go, your potential clients will feel seen and validated before you even hop on a consultation call, and your rates will feel much more reasonable.
How To Set Private Practice Fees: Raising Your Rates
You can raise your fee on your website and in your marketing at any time for new clients. For existing clients, we usually recommend waiting about a year after beginning to work with them before raising your rates.
Some therapists choose to have a standard practice for raising their rates (example: increasing $10/year), while some choose to (or need to) raise their rates more aggressively because they undercharged while starting their practice.
It’s important to note that rate changes may lead to losing some clients, and that changes to rates for existing clients should always be communicated at least 30 days before they take place.
In the Therapist Private Pay Accelerator, we provide a sample rate increase letter to therapy clients for this exact scenario - so you can confidently raise and communicate your rate increases, and stop burning out due to undercharging and overworking.
If you’re thinking about how to set private practice fees (and even raise them), you’ll need a strong message and website to help justify your rates to prospective clients. Download our free guide 5 Simple Website Fixes to Attract Private Pay Clients here!
