Show Notes

Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast, and I’m your host, Kayla Das.

In today’s episode, I’m going to be discussing how business building is a competency. In addition, I’m going to be discussing the ethical responsibility as practice owners that we have when it comes to the business side of practice. And I’m going to tie in some standards of practice and some code of ethics, specifically that of social work, in this episode to tie this all together.

Maybe you’re not a social worker or maybe you’re not in Canada, because I will be providing some Canadian ethics, and some Canadian standards of practice. I want to use these as examples. So regardless of whether you’re a psychologist, a psychotherapist, a counselor, a social worker, at the end of the day, this particular episode is going to give you a framework in thinking about how practice owners must build upon our business knowledge so that it is a competency just like our therapeutic modalities, clinical growth, and other areas of practice that we would focus on.

Building Professional Competencies

However, as a business coach, I can say that business building or business investment is probably one of the last things that private practitioners invest in when it comes into the competencies of being a private practice owner.

Now, before we go in and I tie in a bunch of examples, I really want to highlight what I identify as the three main competency builders as a mental health therapist practice owner.

Now, most of us know that we have to go to school. We need to get our therapy or counseling degrees. Then we become registered or licensed in our regulatory body. But that is just the start of building our competencies long term.

There are three areas that I think practice owners should be investing in, and I think that some are investing in more of these areas than others.

The first, which I think we’re all aware of and I’m sure we all participate in some form or another, is formal training and therapy-based approaches. So whether you’re getting your CBT training, DBT, EMDR, somatic therapy, and so forth. So as practitioners, whether it’s because it’s our regulatory bodies or licensing boards requirements, we obtain continuing education credits each year to continue to build our competency as a therapist.

The second competency builder, which I think we invest a little more in, but I will say it’s probably less than the CEUs, is obtaining clinical supervision and consultation. Many of us do require obtaining clinical supervision as a requirement for licensure. And while some of us will continue to seek consultation after we meet those requirements, some choose to focus more on the training aspect of building the competency than the clinical supervision or consultation side of things.

But from a clinical perspective, the training is just a piece of the puzzle because obtaining that mentorship and support from a clinical supervisor, someone who’s been there and has experience in that particular area of practice is irreplaceable with any type of training because your supervisor can help you integrate those new tools or knowledge that you’ve learned in a real and practical way that maybe sitting in a classroom or watching a webinar wouldn’t be able to do. while I think obtaining formal training is definitely the first piece, obtaining clinical supervision and consultation is the next when it comes into building your clinical skills.

The third practice builder is obtaining business, marketing, and administrative knowledge. Now, I do know that some practitioners will seek guidance from a clinical supervisor or a consultant regarding the business side of things. And if a clinical supervisor is in private practice and has significant knowledge with business frameworks and marketing, then they may be a good place to start dipping your toe into business frameworks.

However, not all clinical supervisors have the same experience when it comes to building business frameworks. In saying that, this is where you as an individual seeking to build your competencies can ask clinical supervisors, do they have this knowledge? If they do, what are their business frameworks? How can they help you? That said, it’s also important to understand the clinical supervisor’s main role and purpose is to help you build your clinical skills.

Who might be a better fit is someone who has significant business-building skills, marketing frameworks, and knowledge in administrative processes. So that might be a business coach, a business mentor, or it still could be a clinical supervisor who focuses on that side of business building as well.

Now, as you know, I’ve been a business coach for several years and when we think of clinical supervision versus, say, administrative supervision or business mentorship, they are very different competencies.

Just because someone is great in their clinical world does not necessarily mean they have the skills or competency or have built the skills and competency in business, marketing, and administrative knowledge.

So when it comes to identifying who might be the best fit to work with you in building those business marketing and administrative knowledge, it’s really important that you identify who that person might be. Is it someone who is a clinical supervisor and has significant business knowledge?

It might be a business coach. And it’s also important to understand that not all business coaches come from the same frameworks, same understanding, just like every clinical supervisor doesn’t come from the same framework or same understanding.

And adding an extra layer to it, it’s also important that you find someone who has the knowledge in ethical practices for therapists because as I’ll mention later in this episode, just because something might not be inherently unethical in the business world, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s appropriate or ethical in a mental health therapy practice. So identifying who that person might be is the next best step.

So I just want to repeat these three competence-building areas, which is formal training in a therapy-based approach, clinical supervision and consultation. And then if you’re in private practice, of course, this is what we’re talking about today, obtaining business knowledge, marketing knowledge, and administrative knowledge when it comes to building your practice.

Why Invest into Your Private Practice?

So this brings me into investment into private practice. I’m not going to talk about financial investments or anything like that, but I mean investing into your practice and investing into your knowledge.

Many of us are so familiar in investing in CEUs, whether it’s required from us or not. And we almost don’t even bat an eye when it comes to signing up for the latest training, but we’re less inclined to pay for a business coach or invest in some sort of product, whether online, digital, in person, to build our business.

Similarly, some of us may be more hesitant to invest in clinical supervision or consultation after we obtain the hours needed for licensure or registration.

I want to highlight that it’s also an ethical responsibility as practice owners, to focus on all of these areas.

I also want to share something with you. It’s a little statement that I know might feel a little uncomfortable as you hear me say it, but I think it’s really important to highlight this statement when we’re thinking of building our practices.

We, as private practice therapists, ask our clients to pay and invest in themselves each and every day. But are we also doing the same? Are we walking that same path? Are we truly investing into what it is that we need for ourselves?

Let me paint a picture for you.

Let’s just say hypothetically that you’re a new practice owner. You’re charging $150-$200 an hour, and you want to build a full pay practice, meaning that your clients pay you for your full services.

Then you realize that maybe your marketing isn’t converting the way you had hoped so. Maybe you want to enhance your website, focus on your social media marketing, or have a review of your Psychology Today profile.

Maybe you might be lucky enough to have a colleague or someone that you know review your Psychology Today profile for you. Or maybe your spouse is someone who excels in social media marketing. Or perhaps you have a clinical supervisor who can give you a few tips on your website.

But, at the end of the day, are you getting the support that you need to grow your business? Or are you going to just sit and hope that eventually the marketing will just start working? Chances, are at this point, you may need to invest in someone to help you with those particular areas of growth.

I’ve been in this field for a while, and I can tell you that I’ve seen so many therapists sit on the fence of, ” Oh, I don’t think I’m going to invest in this, that, or the other thing because it costs a lot of money.”

So if you are sitting on the fence and you are hoping that your clients invest in themselves and work with you, why won’t you do the same?

Now, this question can feel a little uncomfortable, and I’m asking it on purpose because I want you to really think to yourself, ” Why won’t I invest in myself?” What is it that feels so uncomfortable?”

And this is a really good question to ask yourself for two reasons. One, it actually puts yourself in your clients’ shoes. When we’re in private practice, people aren’t just sitting around thinking, “Oh, I got all this extra money to spend. I think I’m going to go out to get a therapist.” No, they have a problem that they’re prioritizing and that they’re investing in themselves or that situation, depending on what it is, and they’re paying you for your service to help them.

Business-Building as a Competency

So if we think of going back to business as being a competency, if it is an ethical responsibility for you to invest in yourself, yet you haven’t, or maybe you’ve been trying to dabble into all the free or low-cost resources or getting all of those free consults with every business coach out there, but then all those free consults become gobbly goop in your brain because every person comes from a different frame of mind, it’s important for you to really hone in onto your priorities and what competencies you need to build.

When we look at business it can seem like a very big competency. There’s understanding the legislative side of business. There’s policy and procedures in business. There’s hiring in business. There’s ensuring that you’re following your ethical codes and your regulatory requirements in business. There is the system side, the marketing side of business. So I can see why it can get really confusing in understanding where do we go?

Just like when we think about therapeutic modalities, there’s CBT, DBT, EMDR, somatic-based, mindfulness, EFT. There’s so many different places that we can go.

But a big part of it is really prioritizing where do you need that growth first and how can you get that growth and build upon that growth? Because if you don’t invest in yourself, Can we truly ask our clients to invest in themselves? That’s something to take away.

Ethical Considerations of Building Business Competency

Now I want to bring in some of the ethical pieces because you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Okay, Kayla, you’re talking about the different competencies. This is great. However, show me the information on where this matters.” And again, I’m going to be bringing in mostly social work-related examples from a Canadian context. But if you are a social worker in a different country, or maybe you’re not a social worker, you’re of a different profession, I would bet that there is something along the lines of your ethical codes or your standards of practice that also talks about business and private practice and what that might look like. So I encourage you to look into those. But regardless of whether you’re a social worker or not, I still think that these ethics could apply to any therapist, and it’s because business building is a competency. But it’s a competency that we tend to leave to the side and just hope for the best.

I hear so many times therapists saying, “when I have 20 years of experience working as a therapist, I’ll go into private practice, because I’m going to feel super confident.” Sure, you might feel confident in your clinical skills. But if you don’t build your business skills, you’re never going to feel confident in business, and it’s because business itself is a competency.

Bringing in the Code of Ethics

Okay. So I want to bring in the Canadian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. So this is their newest version in 2024, and I love that they incorporated principles around private practice. So I’m going read portions of this principle in this episode, but I encourage you to go to the CASW’s website and check it out. I’ll actually link to it down in the show notes as well.

So Guiding Principle 5.4 says, “Social workers in private practice act with integrity in all business practices.” This means that “social workers in private practice are responsible to conduct their business with integrity and transparency.” (CASW, 2024)

Now, before I go into the other pieces of this guideline, sure, that sounds really easy. I’m going to conduct my business with integrity. I’m going to be transparent in my business. But if you don’t understand your business, how can you be transparent about what it is, what it does, and then the practices you implement in your business? Because if you don’t know what they are, you can’t necessarily be transparent about those things.

So this ethical guideline continues in talking about ensuring that you have liability insurance, you maintain registration with your regulatory body or your licensing board. This one I love, which is 5.4.3. “Establishing and implementing clear policies, procedures, and practices for documentation, storage, retention, security, and destruction of records” (CASW, 2024).

And why I love this so much is I can tell you that 9 out of 10 times I work with a client, they do not have clear policies, procedures in their practice regarding any of these. Those policy and procedures are in their head.

They know what they are, or at least they think they know what they are. But if someone had asked them what their policies are, they wouldn’t have it written on paper or would have a difficult time trying to explain what they are.

This particular guideline also goes into fee structures. It talks about ethical advertisements. How you’re presenting your practice. For instance, it explicitly states here, “Does not elicit testimonials or endorsements.”

Now, this is where I also want to highlight that sometimes where we’re getting our business information is very important.

Because while in the business world testimonials and endorsements are not considered unethical, in a therapy practice, most regulatory bodies and ethical guidelines indicate that testimonials or endorsements are not appropriate or ethical in a therapy context.

And if you hire a regular businessperson, the first thing they’re going say is, “Make sure you get your testimonials and put them on your website.”

But that is not ethical according to the CASW. And I do know there’s many regulatory bodies out there, social work and otherwise, that have very similar statements.

So again, when we’re thinking about how the business pieces are important, that is entirely something that we need to build upon. And while these guidelines are a great place to start, unless you have someone who’s been there, who’s done that, who’s specialized in that area, are you truly going to know what is required from you?

ACSW Private Practice Guidelines

I also want to bring in the Alberta College of Social Workers’ private practice guidelines. And they very recently, well, about a year ago, have developed a private practice resource. And again, I will link this down in the show notes if you’re looking to review it because I think it is very well-written. Honestly, it talks about the clinical supervision side, it talks about the therapy side, and it talks about the business building side.

And one statement that they even have bolded here is, “You must be knowledgeable in many areas beyond the focus of the practice itself before establishing a private practice” (ACSW, 2025). And they continue on to include a bunch of different components, which includes dual relationships and conflict of interest, leaving or closing a practice, working with third parties, insurance requirements, documentation and file management. And here’s a really good one, competence in business practices, accessing consultation and supervision, informed consent and confidentiality, and working as a contractor, of course, if you are a contractor. And these are just some of what they have listed here.

And I think this is beautiful because it highlights that, yes, business building is a competency. And so we as practitioners should be focusing on how can we build all areas of our practice, whether it’s our clinical skills, whether it’s getting mentorship for our clinical skills, whether it’s our business building skills.

And when we think of business building, it could still be training side of things, it could be mentorship, it could be a mixture of both.

Growing Your Business

And I want to bring in one more piece, that not only is this an ethical requirement, is that when you invest in your business, your practice is going to grow because you’re going to learn strategies that you might not have otherwise learned. You’re going to build in practices and systems into your business to make things more efficient, more accessible. And you can be more transparent with clients about your business practices.

And so these are all of the reasons why I think it’s important for all of us to think about if we’re investing in our CEUs every year, and we’re investing in clinical supervision, how come most of the time the business building is the piece we skimp on the most?

So I want to go back to that question I asked you before. If you’re sitting on the fence and you’re hoping the clients will invest in themselves, but you won’t invest in yourself in the areas that matter for you in your practice, again, whether it’s business building, whether it’s clinical supervision. How can we truly expect our clients to prioritize the services we’re providing if we’re not focusing on ourselves and where we need to prioritize first?

I really believe in the laws of attraction, and what we put out in the world is what we’re going to get back. And if we believe and invest in ourselves, we can easily expect our clients to invest in themselves and our services.

Okay, I just want to recap that I think there’s three places that we should be focusing on as competency builders in our practices: therapeutic trainings, clinical supervision and consultation, and then getting that business, marketing, and administrative knowledge can help us move forward in our practice.

Private Practice Stages Quiz

I have a free quiz that I’d like you to take if you’re not sure which stage of practice you’re on or kind of where you should be focusing on. It is called the Private Practice Stages Quiz.

This quiz can give you an idea of where in your practice you are and what kind of competencies you might want to start building upon first. It also gives you a list of podcast episodes that’s related to that particular stage.

So maybe you’ve listened to them before, but you want to go back and revisit them. Or maybe you haven’t listened to those episodes before. So I recommend signing up for my free quiz. It takes a few minutes and it’s free. It’s called the Private Practice Stages Quiz.

You can take the quiz at kayladas.com/privatepracticestages, and I’ve also linked it to the show notes as well.

And like I said, it will give you the results of which stage of practice you’re in. It’ll give you some Designer Practice Podcast episodes that might be helpful. There might be a few additional resources to also tie into that. And that is one place to start.

It doesn’t take away from the mentorship and learning and trainings in other areas. But it’s definitely a starting point if you’ve been putting off the business building side of your business.

Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode, and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

Music by Denis Pavlov Music from Pixabay

The Designer Practice Podcast and Evaspare Inc. has an affiliate and/or sponsorship relationship for advertisements in our podcast episodes. We receive commission or monetary compensation, at no extra cost to you, when you use our promotional codes and/or check out advertisement links.

References

ACSW. (2025). Private Practice Guideline. Retrieved from https://acsw.ab.ca/resource/private-practice/

CASW. (2024). Code of Ethics, Values, and Guiding Principles. Retrieved from https://www.casw-acts.ca/files/attachements/CASW_Code_of_Ethics_Values_Guiding_Principles_2024.pdf