Social workers, especially those specializing in counseling and psychotherapy often lean toward a career in private practice.
“I absolutely love being in private practice, everything about it,” says Barbara Groves, LCSW, who has a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The flexibility, for example, to write off copays for motivated single working moms and students from low-income homes. The variety of patients in racial, socioeconomic, and spiritual orientation, as well as gender and political affiliation is so rewarding to me. I feel that I make a difference every day in helping patients become more self-aware and to become enlightened stewards of their lives.” (The Challenges of Private Practice by Sue Coyle, MSW, Social Work Today, Vol. 23 No. 3 P. 10)
Ms. Groves introduces the benefits of private practice as she sees them in her career.
Interviews with other social workers who have chosen private practice reveal these additional benefits:
The term private practice focuses on the practice aspect of counseling and other therapies but ignores the glaring fact that a private practice is a business as well as a practice. Social workers by their nature tend to focus on the service aspects of their profession and overlook the business aspects of a private practice. Business is a science and must be learned in the same way that any science is learned. The main drawback to going into a social work private practice is that you are going into business as well, and you had better do your homework.
When social workers go into private practice, they do not simply nail up their “shingle” and start seeing patients. Before seeing patients, they have to start a business. Starting a business requires prior and proper preparation.
Many more business details will crop up along the way that you will be responsible to look after. Running a business is time consuming and errors can be costly. Many social workers who attempted to go into private practice in the past gave up and went back to agency work because they couldn’t handle the business end of things.
In Business for Yourself
Be aware that going into private practice is going into business for yourself. Certain personalities wouldn’t have it any other way despite the added burdens. Be sure to ask for counsel before you decide if that is you.