Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses

89 Unlock New Income Streams with Clinical Supervision: The Art of Client Load Balancing

July 05, 2024 • Dr. Kate Walker Ph.D., LPC/LMFT Supervisor • Season 3 • Episode 89

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Can you truly maximize your clinical supervision practice without taking on a massive number of supervisees? What if thinking like a business owner could transform your supervision model into a profitable and sustainable venture? Join Dr. Kate Walker as she debunks the myth that success in clinical supervision means juggling numerous supervisees. Learn how to start slow with time-based supervision contracts and discover the power of identifying the specific problems your supervision business addresses. By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with strategies to make your practice more effective and profitable.

But that’s not all—Dr. Walker dives into innovative strategies to expand your clinical supervision opportunities. From the benefits of practice mentoring to the revolutionary Ann's Place sliding fee scale model, you'll gain insights that can set your practice apart. Plus, learn how to leverage new Texas CE credit rules to create additional income streams through becoming a CE provider and developing online courses for passive income. Participate in our Step it Up Facebook group to explore your interests and gear up for a bootcamp schedule that promises to diversify your income streams and enhance your supervision practice. Don't miss out on this opportunity to transform your clinical supervision journey!

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.

Speaker 1:

Hey, I'm Dr Kate Walker and today I'm going to help you understand what you can do with your S right, that clinical supervision designation that make more money than just supervising right, because sometimes, you know, I sell the 40 hour training to become an LPC and LMFT supervisor in Texas and the first thing people think about as you would think they would is okay, I got to see a ton of supervisees, and that's the myth I'm going to debunk today. So you're going to get those three things and a lot more. But let's let in some folks who want to attend live, and that's awesome. So we've got people attending live and, of course, this will live stream into the Facebook. I'm sorry it's not going to live stream into the Facebook group because Facebook doesn't let us live stream from Zoom anymore. So if you're hanging out just listening, you can leave your camera on or off, totally up to you. You can use the chat. I've got the chat up. Otherwise, I'm going to talk a little bit about the three things and then I'm going to take your questions. So, glasses on, I'm going to refer to my notes. So here's the thing. When people get their S, they think, okay, I am going to just get a ton of supervisees. Well, here's the problem with that as a supervisor, you are faced with the same developmental model as your supervisees right, you got your S. Well, you're brand new at this. Your supervisees right, you got your S. Well, you're brand new at this. And so if you're going to start taking on supervisees, you've got to take it slow as well, and I talk about this in my new book, the Clinical Supervision. Let me say it right, the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide. I talk about this developmental model for you, the brand new supervisor. So, yes, I know people who have been supervisors for years and they have actually converted their practice to almost an exclusively supervision practice. So they have a ton of supervisees, but that's all they do, and they've spent years doing it, and so they're really, really good at it. Also, in the clinical supervision survival guide, I talk about supervising by time or supervising by distance, and so I'm going to talk about those two terms before we dive into this.

Speaker 1:

Supervising by time and a lot of new supervisees I'm sorry, supervisors, a lot of new supervisors, make this mistake. They're like oh, you know what, I'm going to hang with my supervisee for as long as it takes. Well, in Texas, both LPC and LMFT associates can be associates for up to 60,. That's a six and a zero months. That's five years. Can you imagine how few clients you would need to see every week for this to take five years? So when you're a new supervisor, it's almost like when you're a new clinician and you're thinking I'm just going to see anybody who walks through the door. You're like I just want, I want a new supervisee, I just want to make sure they like me, right. So I can't tell you strongly enough or I can, I will, I am, you do not need to supervise folks for 60 months. We call that supervising by distance, right? It means I'm going to go the distance with you.

Speaker 1:

As a new supervisor, you can supervise by time. That means you can tell them hey, I'll be with you for 18 months LPC associates, 24 months LMFT associates, and in Texas those are the minimum times it could take for that associate to accrue all of their hours. And then you know what, if you're not done, we are going to have to renegotiate this contract. I don't really want to be with you for five years and listen to that language I just used. Let me try that again. I definitely do not want to be with you for five years and listen to that language I just used. Let me try that again. I definitely do not want to be with you for five years. So those are the two terms I want to make sure we put out there at the very, very beginning.

Speaker 1:

Supervising by time means you give your supervisee a time that you will stop supervising them, and I always recommend the minimum number of months and distance, which means I'm going to go the distance with you. So, as I'm talking about these business plans that can make more money than just supervising alone, I want you to keep in mind those two terms because I may use them and I hopefully will use them right, because I've been known to get those two confused. Get those two confused. So let's talk about number one. Think about what problem you want to solve Now. I'm talking to you like a business owner right now, because you're going to have to market yourself, and I get questions all the time. Well, how do I market myself? How do I get more supervisees? How do I grow this supervision business? Well, you have to think what problem is your business solving?

Speaker 1:

Now, as clinicians, we're kind of spoiled. You know, we're like dentists. Like dentists, don't have to think a whole lot. Sorry, dentists, I respect dentistry, but most people are coming to you because of their teeth, right? I mean, if you got teeth, you got to maintain your teeth. There we go. You don't have to really be out there marketing a whole bunch of other services and I know folks who do, and that's great.

Speaker 1:

So, as clinicians, we get a little spoiled because we're thinking well, I solve problems related to mental health, easy peasy, right? Well, as a supervisor and you're going to try these other things that make more money than just supervising you've got to dig a little deeper. You've got to think like a business owner what problem are you trying to solve? So if you are one of those folks and you've been a supervisor for a long time and you're going to take on a ton of supervisees, well, the problem you're solving is the shortage of supervisors. The problem you're solving is trying to get more clinicians out into rural and underserved Texas or portions of your community. So, yeah, you're solving a problem just by getting your S. So go you. I'm proud of you.

Speaker 1:

As you start thinking about these other things, though, we're going to put them in terms of what problem are you solving and how are you solving it? So, number one business plan that makes more money than just supervising is private practice mentoring. Right, in Texas, lpc associates can own and operate their very own private practice, and so if you are planning to turn off alarm, there we go. If you are planning to turn off alarm, there we go. If you are planning to do some supervising and you're thinking, well, you know what, how do I set myself apart from the crowd? There are a lot of associates out there. The problem is they don't know how to run a business. Well, okay, we all know that because we didn't learn that in school. But I want to know what problem you're solving. So we call this a return on investment.

Speaker 1:

So if you're wanting to offer private practice mentoring, here is the plus side for you supervisor, right? You can require more hours with you, right, and charge for that. You can charge more for the hours related to private practice mentoring right, because it's a specialized skill. So you're solving the problem for you so far right, because you're charging more money. What problem are you solving for them, right? So as you think about marketing your private practice mentoring, you're going to have to show these supervisees how you are going to save them time, right, you're going to help them not make mistakes have to fix mistakes, right, because mistakes cost time and money. You're going to have to show them how what you're teaching them can get them clients in the door. Because I know a lot of private practice mentors. I'm going to make my double quote sign. They do their thing and there's no extra money coming in the door for their coachees, right the folks who are paying them for the mentoring.

Speaker 1:

So, as you think about marketing your mentoring services as an LPCS or LMFTS, think in terms of okay, I've got to show these new folks how to save time, how they are going to make more money, how they are going to avoid mistakes, how the things you're teaching them are going to create a sales funnel or somehow they're going to create a marketing loop for these new clients and you're going to have to show them some KPIs. It's kind of like what we're doing this for this 14 week bootcamp. Remember, I challenged you to think of things that you could count, specific, trackable, measurable, trackable things, so that you know what I'm teaching you is actually making a difference. Well, you'll do that for your associates, so you'll be able to check in with them and say, hey, you get more clients, hey, you get more phone calls. Hey, right, so you SEO, you're going to have them. Maybe do understand how many page views their blog is getting and how that results in more emails, more phone calls, more contact. Right, so that's number one. Contact right. So that's number one.

Speaker 1:

Lpc supervisors, lmft supervisors in Texas, offering practice mentoring in addition to supervising All right. Number two is the one I get asked about a lot, and that is the Anne's Place model. So when I was supervising, I had two practices. I had my private practice, achievebalanceorg I still have that practice and I had a nonprofit called Ann's Place Now Ann's Place. It simply offered low-cost counseling to my community using the services of my associates we called them interns back in the day. So, yeah, anne's Place model had a few specific criteria. Number one this is for you supervisors who own your own practice, right? This isn't going to work real well if you don't have access to some way of organizing yourself, either as a nonprofit or a for-profit practice. Another criteria is you have a desire to offer low-cost counseling to your community.

Speaker 1:

And remember, I told you earlier about the supervising for time or supervising for distance. That's where this comes in, because a key to success for the Anne's Place model, in my opinion, is requiring your associates to be finished by their minimum time 18 months for LPC associates, 24 months for LMFT associates. So let me explain why. So when I did the Anne's Place model, it was important that my community benefited from their services. I had an office. I had spare hours in my office. If you own your own office, you do too. You don't come into work at seven in the morning. I hope You're not working on a Saturday and a Sunday. I hope so. Those are spare hours. They're sitting there. Your office is sitting empty.

Speaker 1:

And so if your supervisee provides low cost counseling to the community during those off times and you charge for those services, so you can use a sliding fee scale, you can ask for evidence of their pay and then use the federal poverty standards in order to set a rate. And I can't go into that too much in this particular training, but I talk about it a lot in other trainings and I'll promise to bring it up again. But what you're doing is you're charging the community, and I'll just give you an example. At Ann's Place we charged anywhere from $10 to $20 to $40 to $60 per hour, all right, and how the client was charged was based on their evidence of what they brought in each month, how many people were in their household, and we based it on that year's federal poverty standards. And so what happened was then we, as a practice Ann's Place was getting income. We were getting income from those clients, those families, those couples that the associates were seeing. So it wasn't like this was a donation, right, we were actually making money from this.

Speaker 1:

So the associate was required. I'll pull it over here to the associate side. I required each associate to only donate three direct hours per week to me, and this gets into taxing issues, right? Because if I had said, yep, I want you to work 20 hours in my office and I'm not going to pay you anything, but I'm going to give you free supervision, then you get into some taxing issues. I'm not a tax attorney, I'm not an accountant, I'm not with the IRS, so, but you can ask them.

Speaker 1:

So what I required was hey, associate, you donate three hours a week to me at this clinic and I want you to go get the rest of your hours somewhere else. I want you to go work at a hospital, I want you to go work in a prison. I want you to go work with adult kids aging out of foster care. I want you to go someplace else to get the majority of your hours, because I was supervising by time, not distance, and that lit a fire under them. Right, they understood they had to get hours, but they wanted and here's the kicker the Ann's Place model offers those associates free supervision in exchange for those three direct hours. So if I charged let's just say I was charging normally $60 a week for supervision Well, if I was bringing in $60 a week from that associate's clients, right, if they had three clients and we were charging them $20, 20, 40, 60, right, so I'm making the same amount of money, but I'm making it from services delivered to the community instead of from my associate.

Speaker 1:

And my associate was getting this great private practice experience and they were still accruing the majority of their hours in a setting where they could experience all kinds of different diagnoses and site supervisors and mentoring, peer supervision, all sorts of different thingsoses and site supervisors and mentoring, peer supervision, all sorts of different things that they need, right, that's an opinion thing you guys do you? But for the Anne's Place model for it to work. I'm going to go back to the criteria. It's important that you own your own practice. Now, one of the things we did with the Anne's Place model that I thought was kind of cool we had some partnerships with the Salvation Army. We had a partnership with an organization that worked with adult kids who had aged out of foster care and a couple of other places that my associates could go to those places deliver services. They'd donate their three direct hours a week for a total of 12 direct hours per month and we would charge the organization. We weren't even charging the client. So it was a great way for these organizations to get some really low cost counseling for their clients from our associates. It was a win, win, win, win. So many wins here, and we were able to offer a good experience to the supervisees.

Speaker 1:

The other criteria owning your own practice and a desire to offer low-cost counseling. Right and again, sometimes that's called a sliding fee scale. There are other names for that, but that has to. In my opinion. You've got to offer that in a way that is specific, measurable and trackable. So, again, how we did it at Ann's Place we required from the client to give us some sort of evidence of what they made each month, how many people were in their household, and then we compared that to the federal poverty standards. So, in a nutshell, ant's Place exchanges, free supervision for the donation of three direct hours, and we were at the end of the month. We were making more money from the client income than we ever would have made from me just getting money supervising income, than we ever would have made from me just getting money supervising.

Speaker 1:

So that's number two. Number one was practice mentoring. Number two Ann's place model. Number three is kind of like number one, right? Number one is the practice mentoring. Number three, though, is kind of cool because of the new rule that went into effect in Texas last year for CE providers. So, as an S, you become one of the 50% of CE providers a type, not an approved provider, but a provider type and every licensee LPC, lmft, social work they have to get CEs from this type of provider, 50% of their CEs from a certain type of provider. One of those types is supervisor. So watch how this works, right. So, as number three, you have a specialty. Or, if you don't have a specialty, get a specialty, offer your supervision specialty, get a specialty, offer your supervision under this specialty. So, yes, of course you're a clinical supervisor. All of these hours are going to count towards your associates license, their experience hours toward licensure. But if you have a specialty in EMDR or play therapy or disordered eating or something like that, and you're going to take these supervisees in and you're going to offer this specialized supervision, oh my goodness, that's going to set you apart from the crowd, right? What problem are you solving? So many of these new graduates? They're graduating and they're looking for specialized training. Right, they've been in a graduate program but they didn't have any couples training. Well, do you know how to do couples? Could you train them Then offer that? Offer that as a specialty, right? So it is like number one, because number one is offering a specialty in the practice mentoring, and then you can charge more, you can require more hours. So, yes, that's still a thing. And for this one, though, I'm putting in that 50% rule, because now you can start creating a course, you can become a CE provider, and that's really what this training is all about.

Speaker 1:

Today is taking you out of supervising completely for a couple of reasons. Right, if you're a new supervisor, I don't want you taking on a ton of supervisees anyway, I want you to get used to it. I want you to get your feet wet. I want you to figure out, if you're supervising by time or distance, what works, what doesn't work for you. So imagine if you're supervising one or two people awesome go you. Thank you for solving the problem of not enough providers in Texas.

Speaker 1:

But you're also going to come up with a course. You're also going to develop an online course. You're going to make it an asynchronous course, which means you can get money while you're sleeping for people who are taking your online course. How to supervise this specialty? Or if you're just directing it to the associate. By the way, associates don't need CE, so I'm throwing it in here, but it doesn't have anything to do with the 50%. But you could train associates and say, okay, here, you know I don't have any room for you in my supervision group right now, but watch this course. It costs you 50 bucks. Take the course and then I know you're ready and when I have an opening, I will slide you right in and I'll know you're ready to go, because you took my course and you learned what I wanted you to learn.

Speaker 1:

So there is a way to use it as a marketing tool to get those supervisees in to see you, and they've already gotten to know you, they've already heard you teach, they've already seen your you, they've already heard you teach, they've already seen your face, they've already heard what a great teacher you are. So that part is definitely part of getting them in and marketing. And then, of course, we have just be a CE provider. There are ways you can offer workshops live workshops, live and virtual. That's the same thing, right? No limits on either one. Or's the same thing, right, no limits on either one. Or take the live thing record it, put it up asynchronously and, voila, you have an asynchronous course that people will take and you don't have to keep your hands on it. Right, there is software out there and in a training coming up and I know it's next week for our Step it Up members I'm going to walk you through how to create an online course and I'm going to show you exactly how I do it. I'm going to walk you through the software that I use. I'm going to take you through stuff that I did when I was first starting out and I didn't want to spend a ton of money, right? So there is a way for your est, for you to create a course that sets you apart from the crowd because it solves a particular problem for licensees. If a licensee needs 50% of their CEs from a particular type of provider, you are that provider.

Speaker 1:

Now, last thing I want to talk about before I open it up to questions. It's something I get asked a ton and I would be remiss if I didn't talk about it. If I'm just talking to a supervisor who wants to get supervisees and you're like Kate, I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to market myself. I want to talk to you for a second.

Speaker 1:

Okay, please, please, take some time and form a relationship with a graduate program and not just a program, a person. Find out who does the practicum, who's in charge of internship. Speak to the Chi Sigma Iota chapter one night about this practice specialty or practice mentoring or one of the things we've talked about today. And you're not going to spend that time marketing yourself, but what you're doing is you're helping those professors learn to trust you because, believe me, they want a list of supervisors, of people they trust, to hand to their graduating students. So, as you form this relationship with that university, you're going to have a funnel, you're going to have a total pipeline of supervisors who are knocking on your door. The other thing you've got to get out and network with your colleagues. Your colleagues are going to get full and especially I'm talking about your supervisor colleagues. So if you are in the Facebook group Texas Supervisor Coalition or in your community, if there are people who meet in person I know Austin has groups, dfw has groups, el Paso has a group Get into those groups so that you can start letting people know I've got openings, I've got openings, I've got openings.

Speaker 1:

And when word gets around, the problems that you solve, the particular problems that you're solving with these additional things that go way beyond supervision, right, you are adding value to your community, you're adding value to your associates and, of course, it's going to make more money than just supervising alone. Right, one of the things I discourage my soapbox. I don't want you charging your client rate for your supervisees and I know people are going to push back on that and I respect that, I totally respect it. If you're going to charge the same rate as your client rate for a supervisee, I mean that's your right, I mean it's your time, you know. I just I know because I've been doing this for a long, long time that there is so much more you can do with your S.

Speaker 1:

So, to recap, before I open it up number one, practice mentoring. Number two, the Anne's Place model. And number three, becoming a CE provider along with developing or just advertising your specialty. And then, of course, the cherry on top Let me say that again, I'll edit that out Cherry on top Form relationships. Form relationships with universities you trust Universities, you trust I can't talk today and with your local community of fellow therapists and therapist supervisors, so they know you have openings. All right, I'm going to open it up for questions. I'm ready. I'm ready when you are. Hi, kate, hey, dr Powell, how are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm good. How are you Good? Great, I really enjoyed this webinar because it kind of well not kind of, but it hits home with things that I've had on my mind lately. And you mentioned something about a specialization that we could offer the supervisees. So I come from a school counselor, I have a school counseling background, so would you consider that a specialty? I mean, it does seem like you know, the majority of my supervisees have been school counselors and that's because you know affiliation with the schools. But would would that be something that I could profit on or bank on the school counseling piece?

Speaker 1:

You see, by my reaction, yes, I mean, this is absolutely something like when I was supervising. I would not take on school counselors at all because of the HIPAA, ferpa thing and there are just so many different rules and you know, it was just a different animal and I loved it when I could refer to a supervisor in town who offered that specifically. It's like when I have Dr Solmanson as a presenter for our workshops, just talking about school counseling, I'm just learning so much right along with her. So, yes, yes, yes, that is a specialty and I know for me. I hear so many times about school counselors who are retiring and want to do private practice Right, and so they want to know how to transition, how to keep a foot in school counseling Well, you know the ethical stuff that can go along with that and to have a good supervisor be able to walk them through that. Absolutely, I consider that a specialty, ok great, thank you, you're welcome.

Speaker 1:

How about you, Mary Piat?

Speaker 3:

No, I'm just soaking it all in. I'm an LPC associate right now and I'm just, you know, listening in on the boot camp. So, yeah, I'm just learning. But this I do see the need for diversifying to bring in new income streams. So it's all good information.

Speaker 1:

Good, good, yes, this week is about supervision, next week is about creating those online courses, and so, absolutely, associates can do that, right, so you can, you can get involved with that and it'll and we'll talk about. Oh my gosh, there's so many things I'm excited about this bootcamp. It's a ton of stuff and I'm just going to give you everything I can think of, and if there's something that you want, put it in the Step it Up Facebook group and tag me. You know it's like Kate, I wanted you to talk more about this or that or something specific. I'm happy to do that. I love that, all right. So any other questions?

Speaker 2:

okay, all right guys, this has been, this has been wonderful good, see you next week.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, bye-bye, bye.