The Advantages of Opening a Group Practice

Group Practices: Top 4 Advantages

Working for a group practice can prove rewarding both for the practice owner and the clinicians working for the practice. In private practice, your income depends on the clients you treat. This is generally the same in group practice, but you could easily see more clients—or a steady number of clients—when working for a group practice. Depending on the type of practice you work for, you might also receive a salary instead of a session fee. A set income can help eliminate worry over financial insecurity and could be higher than what you’d make in your own practice.

Group practices may have higher income potential because operating expenses and administrative costs are shared. The counselors employed by the practice typically won’t do their own billing, which allows for more time spent working with clients and increases the potential number of clients paying for therapy at any given time.

Research from the American Counseling Association suggests that, although group practices don’t always yield much more of a profit than a private therapy practice, a well-managed group practice may net a significant profit. It’s not unusual, in fact, for a group practice on the larger side to draw a yearly revenue of a million dollars. To compare, some more successful private practices might earn a yearly 6-figure revenue—but exceeding this is rare.

2. Coworkers

Some therapists find private practice a lonely business, though this certainly depends on your personality type and unique need for professional interaction. While you most likely still have colleagues or a supervisor to reach out to when faced with a challenging therapy situation or ethical dilemma, you may struggle to get in touch with someone right away. The American Psychological Association points out that working in a group practice gives you increased opportunities to consult with your peers and share professional experience.

A private practice could suffer if you have an unexpected personal issue or illness that temporarily prevents you from seeing your clients. You might need to scramble to cancel your appointments or find a trusted colleague to whom you can refer people in immediate need.

In a group practice, though, colleagues may be able to cover missed sessions. What’s more, your clients won’t need to worry about finding an unfamiliar location when already potentially stressed by the need to work with an unfamiliar counselor.

3. Shared responsibility of the business side

Skillfully managing a business, however small it is, requires a range of talents. You’ll have to make a lot of decisions for yourself, and you’ll need to oversee all aspects of your private practice. This includes managing your taxes, insurance payments, and any legal issues that come up, just to name a few. You’ll generally also need at least a rudimentary knowledge of business management skills.

If you’re not particularly interested in business, this scenario may not seem appealing. Many therapists want to focus on helping people and avoid business management. A group practice may suit your needs if you have little interest in business and don’t mind having less control over potential clients you’ll work with.

Different people have different strengths, so some group practices might also operate by sharing business responsibilities, such as billing, depending on personal interest. If your practice is successful, you may even choose to forgo administrative responsibilities by hiring a trained manager or receptionist. This may free up even more of your time to work with clients, generating more income for the practice.

4. Referrals within group practice

Having a pool of qualified mental health professionals in the same office can make it easy to provide referrals when necessary. Say you primarily work with teenagers dealing with depression and/or family issues. Your newest client talks about depression in his first session, but in the second session you realize he’s also struggling with an eating disorder. Your colleague in the group practice has specialized training in eating disorder recovery, so you recommend your client continue working with you to address depression while also working with your colleague.