Whilst a certain level of supervision is mandatory, do ensure that, as your practice grows, your supervision hours reflect your increased case load. BACP accredited therapists are expected to have a minimum of one and a half hours of personal supervision per month for those months that they are seeing clients. Therapists who are not
Personal Development and Presentation
There is a further area of personal development that is vital to the success of your private practice. This really is simply, your own persona. The development of warmth, empathy, genuineness, patience intelligent interest and a desire to truly understand your client and his difficulties will stand you in as good, if not better, stead
Continuous Professional Development
This is now a “given” for anyone belonging to any professional body. Firstly, do ensure that you complete the number of development hours required by the professional body you belong to, to ensure that your accreditations and registrations stay up to date. More importantly, however, if you wish to develop as a therapist, you’ll need
Professional Memberships
Do ensure that you keep up your membership(s) to professional bodies. Not only will this give your clients confidence in you (and may result in a larger number of clients – some will wish to know such things before committing their time and money to you), but they will keep you in touch with up-to-date
Fee Levels and Fee Payment
You may wonder as a new practitioner, what level of fees to charge? The BACP publish an annual Counselling and Psychotherapy Resources Directory and you can request a copy for your area (as well as nationally, if you wish). The therapists listed will normally quote their fees or fee scales, and this will give you
Becoming Self-Employed
I’ll assume that you understand the principles of self-employment, that you have registered with HM Inspector of Taxes as self-employed (in the UK), have set up a DDR to pay your National Insurance contributions, and will be submitting an Income Tax Return by either the 30th September each year (if you want the Inland Revenue
Financial Considerations
The spectre of fluctuating finances, and your ability to stay afloat through possible lean periods, needs serious consideration. It may well be that, in order to develop your business slowly and solidly, you’ll continue to generate other, more regular income from either salaried counselling work or another part-time job. Unless you have sufficient funds to
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