Get started on your independent practice!

Unlock your success!  Back by popular demand and now brought to you via webinar for easy access and anytime viewing. 

This didactic, interactive, and experiential hour-long course explores participants’ strengths as individuals, art therapists, professional mental health clinicians, and entrepreneurs in a variety of consultant and self-employment situations.  The basics of how set up a business, as a consultant and/or an independent practitioner, and understand the difference of each, will be explored with discussion of the various types of business entities available and some of their implications for liability protection and taxes.  The essential forms and contracts needed to get started as a business will be covered, including: Consent to treatment, release of information, HIPAA forms, as well as how to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN), National Provider Number (NPI), and business licenses and professional insurance(s) and what they mean to your business, your professionalism, and potential well-being as a business owner.

The interactive discussions will explore each participants’ unique skills and how to utilize these skills when presenting oneself to potential employers and/or clients, and patients as well as negotiating contracts, marketing, and networking.  Participants will explore the potential gains and obstacles of self-employment, as an independent contractor and in private practice.  Additional discussions will identify the balance between a satisfying personal and career life and common barriers and stereotypes that prevent fulfilling careers as a self-employed person.  Numerous resources available to small businesses will be provided. 

The experiential component of the course, which you may work on independently, will emphasise the importance of maintaining a vision for your ideal work or career situation while also acknowledging fears and other concerns, which may inadvertently sabotage efforts to fulfill one’s independent career goals (Malchiodi, 2004).  Additional resources about under-serviced niche and specialty markets will be given (Lawless & Wright, 2000; LoPresti & Zuckerman, 2004) and how they may be tailored to art therapists’ strengths. This course is geared for both the novice as well as seasoned clinicians seeking more professional freedom. It is an excellent resource for new graduates, as well as veteran clinicians wanting to make a career transition or build on an existing practice.

Grodzki, L. (2000). Building Your Ideal Private Practice: How to Love What You Do and Be Highly Profitable Too. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Lawless L. L. & Wright, G. J. (2000). How to get referrals: The mental health professional’s guide to strategic marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

LoPresti & Zuckerman (2004). Rewarding Specialties for mental health clinicians. New York: The Guilford Press.

Malchodi, C. A. (2004). Art Therapy and career counseling: Strategies for art therapy seekers. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21, 1, pp. 30-37.

Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

1. Understand at least two differences and their implications between being an independent contractor and being in a private practice (i.e., AATA & ATCB codes, and legally).
2. Identifying at least 3 of your strengths and how they may be advantageous to you as you set up a consulting business or private practice.
3. Name at least 3 skills to present yourself (and your skills) as a professional to a potential employer (i.e., as a consultant to a business or to clients or patients).
4. Identify at least 2 forms you must provide to clients and/or patients before commencing work with them (as well as know who needs to sign them, especially in the case of working with a minor).
5. Understand how to apply for business licenses, professional insurance, National Provider Identification (NPI) and an Employee Identification Number (EIN), and why each of these are important.
6. Name at least 5 marketing and networking strategies to build referrals and business notoriety. 

About the Facilitator:

Michelle L. Dean, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, CGP, HLM (DVATA) – is the Co-founder of The Center for Psyche & the Arts, LLC with locations in Berwyn and Lansdowne, PA and has been an Adjunct Professor at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania since 1997. She is a supervisor for ATR candidates and clinicians wanting to further their knowledge and support in transitioning to independent practice.  This lecture is based on several presentations given at local and national art therapy conferences, including as an advance-practice course. It is Ms. Dean’s intention to educate, mentor, and inspire other creative therapists.

Panelist:

Mark Dean, MFA, MA, ATR-BC, LPC  is a Jungian Analytic Training Candidate with over 20 years of clinical experience as an art psychotherapist and licensed professional counselor and educator.  Mark has worked in a range of clinical mental health settings.  As a professional artist, he has earned the National Endowment on the Arts Award as well as two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Awards in Painting.  He is a co-founder of The Center for Psyche & the Arts, an organization devoted to the study and application of the uses of art, imagery, and creative process in clinical work. 

Be sure to arrive at GoToWebinar® site a few minutes before the start of the course in order to successfully sign in on time. If you have difficulty signing in, please email: contact@psychearts.org.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation via a downloadable file, notes, and a link to the webcast (previously recorded program) will be provided once purchased, which is hosted by GoToWebinar®.  You will need to have internet access and in some cases download the free application to your device for easy viewing. Also attached will be a downloadable file which contains a printable handout for the course.  It includes the description, objectives as well as all of the text for the presentation slides and pre- and post-evaluations.  It is only available upon purchase.  Launch your private practice today! 

Please note that only current members of The Center for Psyche & the Arts, LLC are eligible for the member’s rate.  If you wish to become a member at this time in order take advantage of this and other discounts, kindly visit our membership page in order to add your desired level of membership to your cart.  Thank you for your understanding and attention.