75 Ethical Business Strategies for Counselors: Navigating Growth with Integrity

As our counseling practices flourish, we're faced with the critical task of balancing ethical standards with the burgeoning demand for our services. This episode promises to guide you through the thorny issues ranging from the use of client testimonials and navigating the pitfalls of Google reviews to ensuring compliance with HIPAA and House Bill 300. We tackle the potential for burnout during the delicate transition from agency work to private practice, and share effective strategies for self-care and professional sustainability. If you're curious about incorporating AI into your practice without overstepping ethical boundaries, you won't want to miss the wisdom imparted by guest expert Jenny Melrose, who also provides the opportunity for earning continuing education credits through her illuminating webinar.

Navigating the murky waters of content creation is no simple feat in the mental health profession—misrepresenting your skills in pursuit of market appeal can lead to serious consequences. We'll confront the ethical quandaries in advertising, particularly concerning the accurate portrayal of one's expertise in sensitive areas like eating disorders. Struggling with client waitlists? We offer ethical and practical solutions to provide value while clients anticipate your services. Moreover, the complex journey of trademarking, as I've personally experienced with AchieveBalance.org, is demystified, showing how it integrates with ethical business expansion. This episode wraps with a call to uphold responsibility, especially in rural and underserved communities, while extending an invitation to collaborate and grow within our professional support network.

Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

you're going to learn the ethical implications of growing, and you know I always talk about how you're amazing and you're going to grow. Your community is going to love you. So, even if you're like I just want to be a little standalone solo practice, well too bad, you're going to have people knocking on your door because we need you. So, are there ethical implications of growth? Well, yes, and I wouldn't have done this if there weren't right. So there are lots of things that I've already covered. So, for example, google reviews, client testimonials. That's always the thing when you're trying to grow, right, because everybody says, well, you've got to have testimonials. Just like a restaurant, you have to have reviews, you have to have all of those things. Well, I covered that in Texas counselors creating Badass Businesses Podcast, episode 73. And Step it Upers you have it as a training or you will as soon as I add it. Also, I talked about self audits and proper onboarding. This is a requirement for HIPAA and House Bill 300. Well, this is covered in Episode 70 of Texas counselors creating Badass Businesses and Lucky, step it Upers you also get this as a training. I talk about burnout right, because that's an implication of growing, whether you're growing too fast, or a lot of times I hear people have had an agency job and they just kind of think that's how things are supposed to work. You're supposed to have 50 clients a week and just go until you drop. And private practice is so much different because you have so much control over your schedule, how much you charge. So I talk about that in Episode 61. So those are the things I'm not going to be covering in this training, because you either have it if you're a Step it Uper or if you're listening on the podcast. You can access it that way. Today I'm going to focus on what our guest expert, blogger, social media influencer, jenny Melrose, covered in her webinar on Thursday. Now I'm not going to give it all away because I want you to watch the training and that's actually a CE. So it's a CE when you attend live and Step it Upers. You get the CE when you watch asynchronously, which just means you watch it later. So I'm not going to give it all away, but there were some key elements that I wanted to pull out and just kind of compact into a little mini training for you today and, of course, I will answer your questions. So one of the things we talked about in that webinar was the use of chat GPT to create content. So those of you who aren't familiar with chat GPT and you're Googling that right now, you're going to find that this is artificial intelligence, ai that can basically save your bacon when it comes down to having writer's block and you're like I don't know what to do. Or you've listened to all of our advice and you're going to create that very first freebie for your particular client population and you're like OK, I'm going to create a checklist of things you must do as you're waking up your kiddo and getting them ready for school when they have ADHD. Here are the five things you need to do. Well, chat GPT can totally help you out with that, as you're growing and you're not having the time to kind of craft all these things on your own. Or I know a lot of practice owners who are growing and I'm going to give you two examples. So you might have a practice owner who's growing and they're like I'm going to have my supervisees or the people that I hire do all that content work. Or maybe you are the one who is going to be in charge of the content, but you're growing and growing and growing and you just don't know which direction to go and you're just like it's like feeding the beast, right, you have to create content. So, ethically, what can happen or what may be happening is scope of practice issues. So imagine, if you will, if you're a supervisor and you are looking at your supervisees website copy because they own their own private practice, which, of course, everybody knows you can do in Texas. You can have your own private practice. Well, you can have your own private practice. You look at that website copy and remember copy is just another word for content and you notice, hmm, they seem to be writing about, like, helping people with eating disorders and oh, they're level one and I don't recall them having any special training in eating disorders. So you broach the conversation and you say, hey, you know, I noticed you're writing this really informative article and using chat, gpt, and it's great and all, but you don't do this specialty. This is not within the scope of practice we've discussed or I've evaluated you for, etc. Etc. And they say well, it ranks. So when I go to Google, this topic ranks super high and I know that if I can put this article out there, it's going to boost my website and the Google machine. So, hey, brilliant, right, supervisor? No, not brilliant, because that is informational. Sure, you know, and information is always a good thing if it's accurate. But if your supervisees call to action at the end of that blog or that content or on that website page that has that AI generated copy, is he click here to book a session with me? Well, that's, that's like the old maybe bait and switch back in the day. Right, like I'm going to the car dealership because you're offering a deal on Chevy's and when I get there, all you sell are Hyundai's. I don't have a problem with either car, just an example, right? So when you're a supervisor and you're thinking about OK, there's no rule that says my supervisor can't do this. Well, that's why we're calling it an ethical implication. If your supervisor is putting out information with a call to action that leads to an appointment and that information doesn't reflect their, their, their current scope of practice, right, maybe it's aspirational, like someday they would like to work with eating disorders and get trained. That's on you, supervisor, because it's clinical and it does fall under marketing, right, in the LPC and LMFD codes in Texas, you must only rep your represent yourself for the skills you actually have right, you can't misrepresent yourself in that way. So chat GPT is a lifesaver when it comes to creating content that you already specialize in. And I know our supervisors don't have specialties, right, they want to and they're getting there. And maybe you too, right, like you've been in an agency forever and you're like you know, I really would like to get into working with folks with chronic pain. Yes, get trained in that someday. But if you ask chat GPT to create content so you can grow remember that's the title of this training the ethical implications of growth and you're growing for the sake of growing and you're like oh, we'll find out, we're not a good fit at our first session. That's not ethical. You just wasted that person's time. That's also what I wrote down in my notes. Rank without regard, this idea that it's going to boost me in the rankings, but I really don't care who clicks, I just want to be number one and I want Google to see that my content is good and it boosts me. That's really ranking. Desire to rank without regard for being a mismatch for your clients Again, not really against a rule in the LPC LMFT code, especially if you're just giving information. You're not saying this is what I do, but you're offering information with a call to action that some person out there who's suffering is now going to think, oh gosh, well, they have the content, they're giving me an opportunity to make an appointment. They have to have the expertise right. So that's where it falls under that umbrella of ethics, so the ethics of growth when it comes to creating content to boost your website. Another ethical issue I want to talk about is actually something I hear my colleagues talk about a lot, and it's the ethics of the waiting list, or the wait list. Right, you'll hear, or I hear, people say all the time oh, I don't keep a wait list. I think that's unethical to have people on a wait list. Well, first and foremost, there's no rule in the LPC or LMFT codes that say you cannot have a wait list. So we're talking about it in terms of ethics, not rules. And so when you're growing, because you're amazing, people will love you, and especially if you are in an underserved area, right, bless you if you are serving folks in underserved, rural or frontier Texas and you have this waiting list, you know, because there's only one, you and you have so many hours in the day and you don't want to burn out. Well, that's growth. Everybody, that's what that is. So one of the things and I'm going to be talking about this more in the upcoming months is creating an online course, creating a freebie resource, something my friend, cindy Doyle, and I kind of coined this term pieces of you, something that the client can take away while they're on your website and we talked about this in the webinar last week with Jenny Melrose. This can be your call to action. Right, you've read the blog and now here's something you can do today. So I think my example in the training was you know, if you're a play therapist and you have a wait list, you could create some kind of a short YouTube video that says here are five things you could do before your first play therapy appointment. Or, if you don't like videos and recording yourself, do a checklist here are a list of five things you can remember while you're playing with your child Before your first therapy appointment. So, in that sense, you're filling a need. You're giving that person on your wait list something to do. That feels effective, right, it feels like you're actually doing something. You're not just giving them fluff while they're maybe going to get an appointment with you. Because, let's be real. If you're awesome and you're amazing and you're in an underserved area, that person may never get that first appointment or it may be too late. Right, something has already happened and they've had to go another route. So they want you, they want what you have to offer. What's wrong with giving it to them, right? If you're a step it up, there are trainings right now. I think I may have to edit this out. I think there are trainings right now. If there aren't, I know we're going to open the archive and bring some trainings back, and that would definitely be one of those creating an online course, but it doesn't even have to be that ambitious. If you're in Texas counselors creating badass businesses Facebook page, you know that every Wednesday, I put out a call for all the badassery I want everybody to post if they sell something, if they give something away, if they've written a book. Well, one of the things that maybe made you kind of go hmm, what is that? Is a downloadable. Right? That's just something that you've turned into a PDF and you're able to put it on your website so that folks can download it and have it in their hands, hit print and have access to it immediately. So this is one that came up at the TASIS conference. So supervisors you and me, for just a second right and I know you're trying to do good work. Actually, this came up in the Texas Supervisor Coalition monthly consultation group. If you're in a small town, or even a big town and you're like part of the solution, right, so you're gonna have a ton of supervisees. I hate to break it to you. Well, no, I don't hate to break it to you, I want to break it to you you must meet with them. All right, I don't want you to be under any delusions at all. You must meet with your supervisees. So if you have done so well in the therapy room that now you're growing outside of the therapy room, you took the 40 hour training, you became a supervisor. You're growing these colleagues I'm sorry, these counselors, beginner counselors into your colleagues and you're like, oh, my goodness, I'm the only one around, I'm growing, I'm growing. Remember, lpc doesn't limit you, and I don't believe LMFT limits you either on the number, the total number of associates you can have. But we're hearing about people cutting corners that they are not meeting with their supervisees. And you notice I'm not qualifying that with on a regular basis, like I'm literally saying here into the camera, they are not meeting with supervisees and this is how they're cutting corners. And or they're doing 100% group right, because if you have 30 supervisees, I mean that's 30 hours a week you'd have to do individual supervision, or triadic would be 15, I'd have to do the math on that. So, yeah, of course you can do group with LPC and LMFT right at least half of the time, but half of what, like you plan on doing group for a year and then trying to make up the difference for the next 18 months I'm sorry, six months if their direct hour or cruel time is 18 months. So you see, it becomes an issue, not just an ethical issue. This is a rule issue. This is direct liability. This can jeopardize your license. So growing is wonderful. Filling a need in your community is wonderful. Growing these counselors into your colleagues is wonderful. The ethical implication is it can be overwhelming. You run out of time, you start doing things cutting corners. These are, you know, things you think you need to do in order to stay ahead. Reach out, ask for consultation, ask questions, listen to stuff like this, go to conferences like the TASIS midwinter conference, attend Texas Supervisor Consultation Group. Do whatever you gotta do, but just know the ethics behind growing when you're a supervisor. Last but not least, I'm gonna show off a little thing. I did my clinical practice, achievebalanceorg. I started that actually it started off as all about the family in 2004. And in 2007, I did a DBA and an S-Corp anyway, an LLC and so since 2007, I have been achievebalanceorg. Well, just gosh, it took about six months, but about two months ago I finally got the trademark and it's hanging up behind me. So right here, when you see that that's my official trademark and I was so proud of that and I have that because when you grow, you're going to have people who copy you. Now I'm gonna take my glasses off. I want you to see this with a smile. This is kind of a compliment, right. When people copy you and they're getting ideas from you and even ideas for website copy and things like that, right, that's a wonderful thing that they're getting ideas to grow and they're getting ideas to grow their own practice in their own little towns. But you've worked hard on this. You have grown enough so that other people notice your good work and the work that you're doing on the website. Now you know, in this group and any group that I'm a part of. I don't foster competitiveness, right. I think there's enough business to go around, but your work is your work. So the ethics of growing number one is, you know, don't copy stuff that doesn't belong to you. Either one without permission, or two offering proper credit, or both right. Let the other person know. Hey, I love how you're advertising working with clients with eating disorders. I wonder if I could pick your brain a little bit, or if there's a way that I could offer a similar resource. Right? Sometimes communication is all it takes, right? So that's one. Don't take other people's stuff without permission. But on the other side, if you're amazing, go through the process of getting trademarked. There are lots of ways to do it. I'm not gonna do a webinar on that because I don't even really remember all the steps I went through. I did it on my own, but I know I had to go back and forth a few times. You have to prove how many years you've been in business. You have to show them PDF screenshots of marketing because, gosh, I wanna say back in 2007,. We had the internet, obviously, but I think I had to even show them PDFs of kind of paper cards and brochures that I had used in the past, so long and short. If I find people out there using AchieveBalanceorg, you know me, I'm not putting anybody out of business because we need you. But what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tap them on the shoulder and say, hey, I noticed that you have my clinic's name and so Would you just let people know, if they're looking for me, how to contact me? Like, I don't want to put you out of business. I don't want you to have to spend thousands of dollars defending yourself while we go into some weird legal battle over a name. I just need you to be sure that if a client's looking for me, you send them my way. Here's my contact information, right. That way we're all staying collegial, we're fostering collaboration. We're all on the same page. We're trying to help people but at the same time, if you steal stuff that doesn't belong to you, there will be consequences. So if you're feeling wrapped up and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't think of anything to write, I need to produce website copy. Don't cut corners, right. Reach out, ask for help. That's what this group is all about. That's what Texas counselors creating bad-ass businesses is all about Ask for help, right, get. You can tag me Tag me on Facebook and say can you do a webinar on how to create great website copy? Yes, absolutely, but you got to let me know. So ethical implications of growth. Just to wrap up, I gave you the episodes and some trainings that I've done previously. I've talked about website copy, not only for you, practitioner, but also for supervisors. I talked about rank without regard and the ethics of the waiting list, how to give people pieces of you, especially in rural and underserved areas. I talked about supervisors. You got to meet with every one of your supervisees, no matter what, and I didn't tell you how to trademark, but I told you maybe dangle the carrot if that's something you want to do someday.