Fearless Practice Julia Smith

As a therapist – especially in private practice – there is much to know and to make sure to do in your everyday schedule, besides seeing clients. It can feel like a lot, so this is a quick, simple, and informative episode that you can keep on hand to make sure that you are staying within the guidelines while working towards your goals. 
The don’ts 
Avoid waitlists:
Once you get busy enough that you have the option of starting a waitlist, that’s great! It shows that you are succeeding within your niche and that your ideal clients are glad to be working with you. 
However, it’s not the best practice for the sake of your clients to put them on a waitlist. 
What you can do instead: hire another counsellor into your private practice or clearly state on your website or any social media platform that you are currently not accepting clients and refer inquiring clients to another therapist in your area that you endorse. 
Don’t offer free consultations: 
Most other medical and healthcare professionals don’t offer free consultations. You could be exploiting yourself by always offering free consultations for your time, which is valuable. 
What to do instead: consider sending potential clients a list of links with valuable information when they enquire about a free consultation. 
Additionally, if you feel that a potential client might not be a great fit for you, you can email them and refer them to another therapist that you think would be best. 
Do not use testimonials: 
Due to your therapeutic alliance with clients, you cannot ask them to do something for you that would help you with your business. If you are in a regulated province or you are part of the CCPA, it is simply not allowed or ethical to ask that of your clients.  
Be wary of connecting your EMR with an external calendar: 
Be careful of where and how you integrate your EMR with an external calendar. 
With Jane App, you have access to an online booking page where no information is shared with a third party, but that link can be accessed through your website by potential clients. 
Don’t advertise in regulated provinces: 
There’s a more in-depth discussion about this topic in one of my recent podcast episodes, if you’d like a detailed explanation. Consider reading this PDF and article for more information about regulation as well! 
Don’t allow extra family member names on invoices: 
Some clients might ask for additional family member names to be added to their invoices to expand their insurance claims and payments, but this is not allowed. It is insurance fraud, and it can get you in trouble. 
Not showing your candidacy: 
You have to put the fact that you are a candidate on your websites and business cards. Even if you practice psychotherapy or you are a Counselling Therapist, you are still a Counselling Therapist Candidate or a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying). 
The do’s 
Get a VPN: 
Look into getting a virtual private network, especially if you are a virtual therapist, even though EMRs are totally secure. Follow this link for a VPN discount! 
Set up an emergency fund: 
When you are starting a Canadian private practice, definitely look into setting up an emergency fund that could last you three to six months. 
Network! 
Reach out to the other therapists in your town, city, or niche! Take them out for coffee, get to know them, and build those foundational professional relationships. 
Get a clinical supervisor 
You need a clinical supervisor to get your full license, but afterward, I still think it’s important to keep working with a supervisor, especially when you are in solo practice. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 64: How to Enjoy Private Practice in the Winter 
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  
Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an O

Does the change of seasons also create a change in your energy levels? Do you sometimes find it difficult to maintain a faster working pace in the colder months? Is there a way to work slowly and still effectively?  
In these colder months when your energy levels can shift, it could be best for you and for your work to also adjust your pace, allowing you to continue doing great work without burning yourself out. 
In this Episode:
Why private practice can feel more difficult in the winter 
My past tactics compared to what I do now 
Slow and steady! 
How to slow down 
Why private practice can feel more difficult in the winter 
In winter, it’s common that your energy could drop a bit. You want to be inside, cozy, and warmer, and it can take an extra scoop of discipline to get up, get ready, and go out to the office or get behind your desk and start working. 
But there can also be loads of other fun activities to do in winter that feel the most fun to do when it’s cold! Such as skiing or spending time outside in the snow with loved ones, snuggling on the couch and watching a movie, or reading a good book. 
My past tactics compared to what I do now 
In the past, I had to make it work. I was stretching myself thin by working numerous jobs while simultaneously trying to get my Canadian private practice launched. Through the good weather and the bad, I was trying to get to everything, and I ended up putting my own needs last. 
Now that I have a successful Canadian private practice, I’ve shifted my tactics. I raised my rates and see fewer clients which allows me to find a better work-life balance by opening up my days to exercise as well as making time to rest. 
Slow and steady! 
Efficient is not synonymous with fast. You can do great and meaningful work with your clients and within your private practice without giving in to the hustle culture. 
The main trick to working well at a slower pace is to not get wrapped up in the hustle culture. Most people continue working at a fast pace all year round, but it may not be healthy for you. 
Taking time to rest or even changing the pace at which you complete your work to suit your needs is not by any means a failure, quite the opposite! Of course, it will look different depending on your lifestyle or whether you have dependents. 
How to slow down
Take (longer) breaks between your clients: spend some time between client sessions for longer than 10 minutes. Allow yourself the chance to recharge, have a snack, rest, and prepare for the next session without being rushed. 
See fewer clients per day: raise your rates and reduce your caseload so that you don’t get burnout seeing too many clients! 
Bunch your clients: allocate areas of your day to seeing clients and areas of your day for admin work (instead of spreading it out) so that you have more time for rest and exercise! 
Outsource what you do not need to do: invest in hiring a virtual assistant who can get the work done that you do not specifically need to do. 
Sticking to a budget: keep an eye on your spending and your budget so that your income can cover your financial needs. 
Ease up on the workload: to harness slower but still effective work, I reduce energy in some areas of work and focus it on lower energy tasks. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 63: New Psychology Today Feature: Updated Endorsements! 
Learn more about the tools and deals that I love and use for my Canadian private practice
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  
Listen to my Canadian private practice journey up until now! 
Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an Online Canadian Private Practice
Jane App (use code FEARLESS for one month free)

Are you looking for ethical and effective ways to market yourself? Is there a fellow counsellor in your field that you want to recommend? Have you heard about the new Psychology Today feature? 
Even though the endorsement feature on Psychology Today has been around for some time, they recently revamped it, allowing you to clearly showcase your endorsements and recommendations on your profile to potential clients. It’s a great, free marketing tool that benefits all therapists! 
In this podcast episode, I explain the process of writing endorsements for other clinicians, as well as general communication guidelines for when it comes to sending and receiving recommendations from other therapists. 
In this Episode:
Why endorsements are important 
How to write an endorsement for another therapist 
General communication guidelines 
Why endorsements are important 
With the new updated Psychology Today feature, your endorsements will now show up right next to your profile as a little heart, which allows potential clients to see how many other therapists have recommended you. 
It might not seem like much, but those little recommendations can make a big difference when it comes to whether a client chooses to work with you or with someone else. 
So, whether you are receiving endorsements or writing them for other Counselling Therapists, it will benefit you and other fellow therapists!
‘[Endorsements] build your credibility and they help to gain public trust in the services that you provide. So the more endorsements you get, the better for your profile on Psychology Today, and the more legit you become as a therapist!’ – Julia Smith 
How to write an endorsement for another therapist 
Go onto your account 
Click on “account settings” in the top right-hand corner 
Select “endorsements” from the drop-down menu 
Search for other therapists that you know, and start writing!
Here are some suggestions of what you could write about or mention in your endorsement for another therapist: 
How you know them 
If you have worked with them in the past 
Why you think that they are an asset to the counselling profession 
The skills that they have 
Their helpful personality traits 
General communication guidelines
The general guideline is if someone writes you an endorsement, and you know who they are and you are familiar with their work, then it’s considered good practice to return the gesture and to write one for them too. Aim to write back that endorsement within a week. 
Also, if you write a therapist that you know an endorsement and they do not write you one back within a week, I recommend writing them a short, polite email to follow up. 
Keep in mind that endorsements have to be accepted for them to appear on a profile. So, if the therapist has not written you a recommendation back, it could be because they have not seen or accepted the endorsement that you initially wrote. In this case, you can also follow up with a polite email! 
Remember, it’s unethical to ask clients to write testimonials for you and your Canadian private practice. Listen to this podcast episode for a recap on the ethical marketing techniques that you use when it comes to endorsements. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 62: Marketing Your Private Practice on Podcasts
Want 6 FREE months of Psychology Today Canada that’ll give me a free month too? Email me your name at info@fearlesspractice.ca and I’ll hook you up ☺
Learn more about the tools and deals that I love and use for my Canadian private practice
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  
Listen to my Canadian private practice journey up until now! 
Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an Online Canadian Private Practice
Jane App (use code FEARLESS for one month free)
Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcast

You might feel uncertain as to where to begin when it comes to marketing yourself on podcasts – it’s something new! Even if you are a little nervous, it’s easier, more lucrative – and more fun – than you might think.
Being a guest and talking on someone else's podcasts or even starting one for your Canadian private practice are great, creative, and versatile ways for you to showcase your practice. Podcasting can offer you tools for connecting with your ideal clients, like dynamic marketing and boosting your SEO ranking. 
Listen to this episode where I take you through the benefits, the process, and how to get started on becoming a podcast guest!
In this Episode:
Podcasts are free marketing 
Boosting your SEO and Google ranking 
Dynamic marketing 
How to become a guest!
Podcasts and free marketing 
Being a guest on a podcast is not only a great tool and a fun experience, but it doubles as free marketing! 
As a podcast guest, you are exposed to a whole new audience, and being promoted to them, for free. Not only will you have a great conversation with a like-minded person, but you open yourself and your practice up to new people who don’t now know that you’re out there. 
Boosting your SEO and Google ranking
Along with being promoted for free, your name, your private practice, and your information will be added to the show note of that podcast when it’s published. 
When another website adds your business links to their website, those links become backlinks.These backlinks on other websites help Google to trust you more, which boosts your SEO (search engine optimisation) ranking.  
When Google sees that your name and information are being referred to in other places, it will in turn boost your name in searches more, because it sees that you are trustworthy and sought-after. 
Dynamic marketing 
Static marketing is often just words on a page. 
Where dynamic marketing offers you that edge to success is that it allows you to connect with your potential clients using your voice. It helps them to trust you and potentially want to form a connection with you. 
Additionally, using podcast marketing allows potential clients to interact with you and your work in a lot of environments. They could be listening to your episode while driving, cleaning, or going for a walk. 
How to become a guest! 
The first step is to do research: which podcasts are in your area, province, or mental health field that relate to your niche, areas of interest and expertise, or Canadian private practice? Make a list of those that you want to connect with. 
The second step is reaching out: write a friendly, professional, and open email to the podcast hosts of the shows that you would like to appear on. In your communication, be sure to cover topics like: 
Who you are and what your focus is 
What your niche is 
Who you help and how
Some bullet points of what you would like to discuss with them in the episode 
Finally, end the email: thank them for their time and let them know how to reach you should they wish to chat with you further.
Bonus tip: listen to a few episodes first! And ask for a 24h buffer period after the recording if you decide you don’t want anything specific to be made public. 
Even though it can be scary, it’s so important to put yourself out there and bring attention to your Canadian private practice. If you’re looking for some motivation, listen to my podcast episode with Lisa Simone Richards where we go through the importance and value of great marketing strategies. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 61: How to Provide Inter-Provincial Online Counselling
Learn more about the tools and deals that I love and use for my Canadian private practice
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  
Listen to my Canadian private practice journey up until now! 
Sign up for my free e-course o

Have you been considering expanding your Canadian private practice? Can you counsel people who live in other provinces besides yours? What are the protocols? 
Online counselling is here to stay, and many counselling therapists and clients alike prefer this system with its flexibility and the autonomy it can provide them. However, there are some important regulations to be aware of when it comes to online counselling, especially when you want to broaden your reach and work with more clients. 
In this podcast episode, I take you through the process of finding out which provinces you can – at this time! – advertise in, and how to go about it ethically and safely, both for you and your future clients. 
In this Episode:
Check for regulations 
Advertise in unregulated provinces 
Check your insurance 
How to counsel people in other provinces 
Check for regulations
For the short answer, yes, you can provide interprovincial online counselling. However, there are a couple of important rules that you need to be aware of. 
If another province is regulated, then you cannot advertise in that province. For example, you cannot advertise yourself and your services in a directory, or any other type of paid advertising, that operates in the regulated province. 
However, there are two exceptions: 
if you have a client that moves to another province and you are already seeing them, then you can continue seeing them
if someone finds your Canadian private practice by chance and wants to receive counselling services from you 
Advertise in unregulated provinces
The provinces that are regulated – where you cannot advertise from another province – include: 
Nova Scotia 
New Brunswick 
Prince Edward Island 
Alberta (although the college has not yet been proclaimed) 
Ontario 
Quebec 
Unregulated provinces wherein you can advertise yourself include: 
Manitoba 
Saskatchewan
British Columbia
Yukon 
North West Territories 
Nunavut 
Newfoundland 
Check your insurance
The next thing that you need to check is whether or not your insurance allows you to counsel outside of your province. For a recap of insurance in Canadian private practice, listen to this podcast episode. 
‘If you are counselling people outside of Canada, with BMS insurance, they will only cover you if the complaint is filed in Canada. So, there’s a lot of risk to counselling people outside of Canada.’ – Julia Smith 
I choose to counsel people only in Canada to reduce the risks, and so that my professional liability insurance stays in check. 
How to counsel people in other provinces
If you decide to counsel people in other provinces, then you need to make sure that you let your clients know about: 
The college that you are part of, if applicable
Where you are located 
How to contact your regulator 
Your video-conferencing platform is PIPEDA compliant 
Additionally, if you are under supervision, you should only be counselling people in other provinces if your supervisor agrees to it. 
‘Once you have checked off all those boxes, then you could counsel people in other provinces! You could advertise in provinces that aren’t regulated, and if you have a client that moves to a different province, you can continue to see them!’ – Julia Smith 
Another tip: keep up to date with which provinces are regulated and which ones aren’t to avoid having to pay a fine. 
Here’s some more information for you about CCPA and regulations for counselling in Canada. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 60: Adding Insurance Companies to Your Canadian Private Practice 
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  
Listen to my Canadian private practice journey up until now! 
Listen to my podcast episode with Tara about insurance in Canadian private practice! 
Sign up for my free e-cour

Do you want to take insurance in your Canadian private practice? Are you feeling frustrated with managing your direct billing? What is the best way for small business owners to handle their energy and time when it comes to collecting payment? 
Once you have your license number, it is much easier to be recognized by Canadian insurance companies as a provider. Unfortunately, a lot of plans don’t recognize Counselling Therapists or Psychotherapists yet. Although, this is slowly changing day by day! 
In This Episode:
The difference between taking insurance in Canada and the US 
Collecting Payment  
Canadian Direct billing 
Contacting insurance companies 
How to invoice 
EAP programs 
The difference between taking insurance in Canada and the US 
In the US, you have to apply to be on company insurance panels. Therefore, for counsellors in the states, it can take a lot more work before they can accept insurance from their clients. 
Luckily in Canada, this is not the case! As licensed Counselling Therapists or Psychotherapists, we do not have to ask most insurance companies to be put onto their insurance system. If you have the license number, then you qualify for automatic approval with many Canadian insurance companies! 
It is beneficial to help promote counselling in your province, and to promote getting a regulatory body so that you can get a license number! By being able to accept insurance, it will make your counselling services more accessible to more clients. 
Collecting Payment 
Even if you are a candidate, you are still covered by insurance companies! 
There are two options for collecting payment: 
Your clients can submit their invoices to their insurance companies who will then pay the clients back directly 
You can submit the invoice to the client’s insurance company yourself and get paid directly from the insurance company (direct billing)
Direct billing
I don’t personally use direct billing because it can be a hassle. Each company has a different system of paying therapists out, with different websites and login details, so it can take a lot of admin time to be paid. 
Keep in mind that if you do choose to offer direct billing, you will be spending a lot of energy and unpaid time outside of sessions to receive your fee. As a small business owner, it may not be the best investment of your time and energy. 
Whatever you decide to do, make it clear on your consent forms and when you are meeting a client for the first time. 
Reach out to insurance companies 
In my seven years of Canadian private practice, the top three insurance companies that employers use for plans for their employees: 
Sunlife: although some of their plans don’t cover RCTs or RPs 
BlueCross: over the next few years they will start to include RCTs in their standard plans 
ManuLife: clients are mostly covered
Write up accurate and helpful invoices 
Be proactive with writing up invoices that have all the information your client will need in order to submit to their Canadian insurance company for possible reimbursement. . 
Make sure to include things such as: 
The provider (you)
Your client’s name 
The business address 
The telephone number 
Your license number 
The service provided 
The date of the service 
The session length 
The fee
The HST (which needs to be separate from the fee for most insurance companies) 
EAP programs
Sometimes employers can offer an EAP – Employee Assistance Program or EFAP – Employee & Family Assistance Program. You can apply to be a contract therapist in many of these programs, BUT many EAPs don’t often pay therapists a lot, and they can require a lot of paperwork. 
Connect with me:
Instagram
Website 
Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: 
Ep 59: John Hubert: Regulation and Why It Is Vital for Canadian Counsellors 
Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website