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Build Your Private Practice - 4 Keys to Niche Success

• Identify your private practice niche

• Locate high quality trainers in your private practice niche

• Identify key stakeholders in your community as niche referral sources

• Network with other therapists, EAP counselors, and other professional referral sources in your broad private practice niche

• Identify your private practice niche

Even if you are more a generalist than a specialist at this point in your practice, it is important to identify your private practice niche. You do that by reviewing your training and life experiences to determine what clients you enjoyed working with and what people come to you for help in your life. Your specific niche will evolve over time.

For example, when I first started out, I worked with unwed mothers placing their unborn babies for adoption. Years later, I realized this was the stepping stone to working with abused children and adults. Through serendipitous events, I ended up working with domestic violence victims, offenders, and child witness victims. When I took a step back, I saw the spectrum of abuse across the lifespan. This is where my niche evolved to the point I acquired training to work with all age groups around abuse and dysfunctional family issues.

• Locate high quality trainers experienced in your private practice niche

Once you identify the types of clients you enjoy working with in your practice, the next step is to concentrate on acquiring training to work with your particular niche. It is important to find trainers with direct experience in working with your practice niche clients. You gain some benefit from reading books and research literature about your clients, however, the best way to become a high quality therapist is to train under therapists who specialize in your niche area. Trainers with real life experience have the ability to pass on what treatment approaches work and what treatment approaches to avoid.

This was brought home to me clearly by a former professor in community psychology. She went all the way through her educational program without gaining real world experience. She taught the course strictly from a theoretical standpoint. Whenever she wanted to make a point, I would raise my hand and anchor it to a real world experience from my private practice. By the end of the third week into the course, I felt like I was dominating the classroom with my comments. I asked some of the other students how they felt about this. Their unanimous response was for me to keep doing this. It was the only way they were able to make sense of the theory the professor was teaching. Make sure your private practice niche trainers can provide examples from their experience to help you anchor the theories they are teaching.

• Identify key stakeholders in your community as private practice niche referral sources

Discover key stakeholders in your community who have regular contact with your private practice niche. These may be caseworkers from local government agencies such as, Department of Human Services, Public Health Department, or Vocational Rehabilitation. They may be connected with the criminal justice system in probation, parole, or diversion programs. Schools are another resource for identifying clients. You can connect with principals, school counselors, or teachers. Employment related resources are another location where you may find referral sources. Take some time to consider where your clients may be during the normal course of their daily lives.

• Network with other therapists, EAP counselors, and professional referral sources in your broad private practice niche

Make it a point to network at least once each week with other therapists and EAP counselors. Be sure to show your appreciation when you receive referrals consistently from one source. You can do this ethically by taking your source to lunch, sending a thank you note with a plant or flowers to their office, and make sure to remember to send them holiday greetings.

Do some reflective thinking on other professionals in your community who may come in contact with potential clients for your private practice. Some groups to consider are physicians, nurses, dentists, and other medically related professionals. Your practice may bring client referrals from attorneys, accountants, and others who provide advisory services in your community. If there is a group within your local chamber of commerce that can be helpful, become a member as a business owner in your community.

Implement these four keys and include them in your marketing plan on a regular basis. The business side of your private practice is as important as the therapeutic side. Learn to market like other businesses for private practice success. Now you can build your private practice and develop your niche market with Adult Children from Dysfunctional Families when you train with an experienced professional.

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