Starting a Successful Practice in Clinical Psychology and Counseling: A Guide for Students in Psychology and New Career Psychologists PDF
Preview Starting a Successful Practice in Clinical Psychology and Counseling: A Guide for Students in Psychology and New Career Psychologists
CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY Clinical and counseling psychology are rapidly growing yet chalenging professions: the Starting a SucceSSful preparation is arduous, the training is highly selective, and the results—an established Practice in clinical and fnancially successful practice—are not easy to achieve. This book explains how to prepare for and surmount al of the hurdles presented to those who hope to eventualy PSychology and counSeling develop a lucrative and rewarding practice in clinical psychology. It is the frst of its kind a guide for Students in Psychology and new career Psychologists to focus primarily on fnancial success, though it does also look at the personal stresses and rewards of the profession. The author provides tips from his own experience and from other fnancially successful private practice psychologists, and offers business techniques and pointers that are not explained in training programs. Undergraduate students contemplating a career in psychology will fnd advice on preparing for the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), applying to graduate schools, and getting involved in research and clinical work. For graduate students, an overview of a graduate clinical psychology program, preparing and completing a dissertation, and gaining experience in psychological testing are provided. Chapters then focus on how to build and manage a private practice, the best ways to manage personal and business fnances, and how to practice good self-care. Additionally, the book includes a chapter by an expert on student-loan repayment that examines how to best work through the process of paying back student loans while building a practice. Owen J. Bargreen, PsyD, is a Seattle-area private practice psychologist who specializes in school violence, domestic violence, and personality and cognitive assessment. He is an affliate professor of psychology at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, WA. Cover image: © Shutterstock ISBN 978-0-415-83295-3 www.routledgementalhealth.com Routledge titles are available as eBook editions in a range of digital formats 9 780415 832953 Owen J. Bargreen Starting a SucceSSful Practice in clinical PSychology and counSeling Bargreen S tarting a Successful Practice in Clinical Psychology and Counseling C linical and counseling psychology are rapidly growing yet challenging professions: the preparation is arduous, the training is highly selective, and the results—an established and f nancially successful practice— are not easy to achieve. T is book explains how to prepare for and surmount all of the hurdles presented to those who hope to eventually develop a lucrative and rewarding practice in clinical psychology. It is the f rst of its kind to focus primarily on f nancial success, though it does also look at the personal stresses and rewards of the profes- sion. T e author provides tips from his own experience and from other f nancially successful private practice psychologists, and of ers business techniques and pointers that are not explained in training programs. Undergraduate students contemplating a career in psychology will f nd advice on preparing for the GRE (Graduate Record Examina- tion), applying to graduate schools, and getting involved in research and clinical work. For graduate students, an overview of a graduate clinical psychology program, preparing and completing a dissertation, and gaining experience in psychological testing are provided. Chapters then focus on how to build and manage a private practice, the best ways to manage personal and business f nances, and how to practice good self-care. Additionally, the book includes a chapter by an expert on student-loan repayment that examines how to best work through the process of paying back student loans while building a practice. O wen J. Bargreen, PsyD, is a Seattle-area private practice psychologist who specializes in school violence, domestic violence, and personality and cognitive assessment. He is an af liate professor of psychology at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, WA. Page Intentionally Left Blank S tarting a Successful Practice in Clinical Psychology and Counseling A Guide for Students in Psychology and New Career Psychologists O wen J. Bargreen F irst published 2014 b y Routledge 7 11 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 S imultaneously published in the UK b y Routledge 2 7 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA R outledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Taylor & Francis T he right of Owen J. Bargreen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A ll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. T rademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bargreen, Owen J. Starting a successful practice in clinical psychology and counseling : a guide for students in psychology and new career psychologists / Owen J. Bargreen. pages cm Includes index. 1. Clinical psychology—Practice. 2. Psychotherapy—Practice. 3. Counselors—Training of. 4. Psychotherapists—Training of. I. Title. RC467.B355 2013 616.890068—dc23 2013014390 I SBN: 978-0-415-83294-6 (hbk) I SBN: 978-0-415-83295-3 (pbk) I SBN: 978-0-203-50794-0 (ebk) T ypeset in Caslon b y Apex CoVantage, LLC C ontents A CKNOWLEDGMENTS VII 1 HOW CAN I HELP YOU MAKE MONEY? 1 2 UNDERGRADUATE AND POST-UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION 15 3 ON STUDENT LOANS 33 D r. JD Friedman 4 GRADUATE SCHOOL 59 5 LIFE AFTER GRADUATE SCHOOL 87 6 STARTING YOUR PRIVATE PRACTICE 93 7 BUILDING YOUR PRIVATE PRACTICE 105 8 MANAGING FINANCES 139 9 SELF CARE 163 I NDEX 177 v Page Intentionally Left Blank A cknowledgments I couldn’t have written this book without the fantastic support of my parents, Howie and Melinda Bargreen, and my sister, Maren Bargreen Mullin. They have helped me in so many ways to become the suc- cessful man and businessman that I am today. I am eternally grateful to my grandfather, Howard Bargreen, and my grandmother, Grace Bargreen, for providing me the incredible opportunity to attend Whitman College, where I found a good deal of my original inter- est and influence in the field of psychology. I would like to thank my inspirational graduate school professors and supervisors, particularly Dr. Martin Landau-North, Dr. Michael Wrobel, Dr. James Madero, Dr. Jose Lichtszajn, and Dr. Jon Nachison, for their help in guiding me through the daunting task of getting through graduate school. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, particularly Ross Field, Tim Mullin, and psychologists Dr. Ian Wolds, Dr. Danny Tucker, Dr. Will Zahn, Dr. Renee Low, and Dr. JD Friedman, for their support over the years. People tell me that I have great friends and I feel that I have the best friends of anyone I know. vii Page Intentionally Left Blank 1 HOW CAN I HELP YOU MAKE MONEY? W hy Write This Book? M any people ask me why I should write a book that helps other psychologists make more money. That is a very complex question. The answer is multi-faceted. I want to help you. When you do better, the profession does better. Ultimately, it is about the advancement of the profession. The more that you make, the more others will make. We all want to earn money, but we want to feel good doing so. With the proper foundation, you can be financially successful and feel good about helping others. There is some natural cognitive dissonance that comes with making money in psychology. I can remember the first person who paid me for therapy. I felt badly about it and my initial thoughts were that I shouldn’t be receiving a good deal of money for a therapy session. An automatic thought I had was “Maybe I should be charging less.” My ensuing epiphany was “I am running a business and I have innumerable expenses including student loans, mortgages, car payments, and business expenses—really too many expenses to name.” My book explains that it is OK to be financially successful in our profession. You can help kids, adolescents, adults, families, and couples and feel good about getting paid to make a difference in the world. It feels good to be paid to make a difference. Really, there is no good reason not to be financially successful. There are some sacrifices that you will need to make, but it will be worth it. By making good money, you will be protecting your future. I promise to explain more about that later. P sychologists face some grave issues. Reimbursement rates for psy- chologists are declining. When the Medicare reimbursement goes 1
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