When starting a practice what is the appropriate amount to charge?

Starting a Private Practice

My suggestions:

1.Make some calls/consult some colleagues - what is the fee being charged in your area?

2. Decide what it is you'd feel comfortable with - not "giving it away", feeling your expertise and experience are being respected.

3. Be flexible! Many of the practitioner's I know (including myself) say: "my usual fee is ... . It leaves space for someone to negotiate.

A former teacher of mine said, due to having to move, he had to start a practice four times. At the outset, he would agree to see people who couldn't pay his regular fee for just about anything. However, the fee set was the result of a negotiation. He would ask what they felt comfortable paying and then he would always say, "could you manage ...?", adding 5 or 10 dollars to whatever they said.

One should always add, "if at any time your circumstances change, either up or down, we will renegotiate".

Also, if, as the therapist, you become aware of significant changes in your patient's circumstances, you can certainly bring up a fee adjustment.

One last caveat - if, at any time, you feel taken advantage of - meaning you believe you've given this person a lower fee, but they can really afford either a higher rate or your full fee - it's something to bring up and even insist upon. It's unhealthy for the therapist to feel "used" and it's anti-therapeutic for the patient to believe s/he is putting one over on the therapist, feeding into, most likely, neurotic (or more significant) behavior.

Good luck!
Nancy Zwiebach