The Bad Therapist Show

Opening a group practice can feel like the obvious next step once your private practice is full and you’re turning away potential clients every week. But too often, therapists make that decision from a place of scarcity instead of strength, and that’s exactly why it backfires.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing the three questions I wish every therapist would answer before hiring their first clinician. If you can’t confidently say yes to all three, opening a group practice probably isn’t your next best move—at least not yet.
I'm diving into whether you genuinely have an abundance of time and money (or just enough demand to feel busy and stretched), what consistent long-term demand really looks like, and the identity shift from clinician to business owner that catches so many therapists by surprise.
If you’re thinking about expanding into a group practice, these three questions will help you decide whether you’re truly ready and give you a roadmap for what needs to happen first.
Topics covered on Opening A Group Practice:
The one financial question that decides whether you're expanding from strength or scarcity
Full private practice isn't always the green light for opening a group practice
The uncomfortable gut check: would you feel excited or a little sick handing your favorite clients to someone else
The identity shift nobody warns you about, and why it lights some therapists up and wrecks others

Resources from this episode:
Liberated Business: www.thebadtherapist.coach/liberatedbusiness
Website: www.thebadtherapist.coach

Connect with Felicia:
Get my freebie & join the email list: The Magic Sheets
Instagram: @the_bad_therapist

Related episodes:
Growing Your Group Practice: Why Your First Hire Should Be A 'Mini-You' w/ Nicole McCance [Ep 124]
What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Team Member for Your Private Practice [Ep 17]

Quote:
"A group practice adds complexity, it adds responsibility, and it adds overhead before it adds freedom." Felicia

Taking time off as a therapist feels borderline reckless, even though your clients disappear for two weeks every summer without a flicker of guilt. Summer arrives, the cancellations roll in, your calendar opens up, and instead of enjoying the space you feel that dread I call the summer slump.
Good therapist conditioning taught you that being available equals being dedicated, so stepping back feels like letting people down, and underneath it sits one big fear: if I am not in the room, my business will fall apart.
In today's episode, I'm diving into what has to be true for time off to feel safe, the revenue streams and coverage that make it possible, and how to build the business around the life you want rather than the other way around.
If your clients can vanish for two weeks and everything keeps running, it might be time to ask why you can’t. Let's find your date.

Topics covered on How to Take Time Off as a Therapist:
The reason taking time off as a therapist feels so scary in summer, and why your vacation ends up feeling twice as expensive
Good therapist conditioning and the belief that constant availability is what makes you dedicated
What has to be in place before time off feels safe instead of like a gamble
Why most therapists build their practice backwards, and the order that finally fits your life

Connect with Felicia:
Get my freebie & join the email list: The Magic Sheets
Instagram: @the_bad_therapist
Website: www.thebadtherapist.coach

Quote:
"If your clients can disappear for 2 weeks and everything's fine, it might be time to ask why you can't." Felicia

Ready for a private practice success story that’ll light a fire under you? In this episode, I’m joined by Ben Sollenberger, who left his full time corporate operations role and built a nearly full private practice, on track for six figures, in just a few months of joining Liberated Business!
Ben shares the pivotal moment he stopped playing it safe, the mindset shift that helped him tune out the doubters, and the strategic moves that sped up his growth. From leveraging his corporate background to learning a new skill set, his journey is full of unexpected turns and practical takeaways. If you're on the fence about starting your own private practice or wondering if it's really possible to succeed quickly in today's market, Ben's journey might just be the nudge you need to finally make your move.
More about Ben Sollenberger:
Ben is a resident in counseling who specializes in counseling men in their 20s and 30s. In addition to loving counseling, Ben continues to enjoy working as a contractor in business operations, his first career.
Topics covered on Private Practice Success Story:
How Ben found a big gap in the mental health market and used it as a key element in his private practice's success story
The surprising ways Ben’s corporate background helped him (and also didn't fully prepare him) for private practice
The exact moment that convinced Ben to finally take the leap into private practice after months of hesitation
Ben's clever Psychology Today profile hack that helped him stand out in a saturated directory
The strategic investments Ben made that led to his private practice filling quickly
The dual income strategy Ben uses to feel more confident and calm while building his therapy business

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Liberated Business: https://www.thebadtherapist.coach/liberatedbusiness
Hold Space Creative

Connect with Ben Sollenberger:
Website: https://www.virginiatherapyservicesforyoungmen.com

Connect with Felicia:
Get my freebie & join the email list: The Magic Sheets
Instagram: @the_bad_therapist
Website: www.thebadtherapist.coach

Related episodes
Liberated Business: How to Transform Your Private Practice in Six Months [Ep 63]

Quote
“ It's definitely not gonna work out if you don't have that blind trust in the universe.” - Ben Sollenberger

When was the last time you stepped back and reconsidered your marketing instead of simply doing what you’ve always done? Most marketing advice for therapists is built for people chasing their first 10 clients. But if your caseload is already full, that same advice might be keeping you stuck at a ceiling you don’t even realise exists. In this episode, I explain why marketing for established therapists is a different job entirely. The goal moves from getting found to getting known.
I'll walk through the shift from survival marketing to authority marketing, the 10/80/10 rule for systematising what already works, and selling your point of view rather than your services.
There’s a version of your private practice where your reputation does the heavy lifting and the right people reach out without you working harder.
This is what marketing for established therapists looks like. Not grinding for visibility, but building the reputation that does the heavy lifting for you. Ready to learn how? Tune in!
Topics covered on Marketing For Therapists:
What it means to be an established therapist
The difference between survival marketing and authority marketing
How to audit the marketing channels that are already working
The 10/80/10 rule and how to systematise what already works so boredom does not pull you into self sabotage
Real client examples of authority marketing in action

Connect with Felicia:
Get my freebie & join the email list: The Magic Sheets
Instagram: @the_bad_therapist
Website: www.thebadtherapist.coach

Related episodes:
The Five Growth Stages Every Successful Therapist Goes Through [Ep 171]

Quote:
"Early stage therapists market what they do, but established therapists market how they think." Felicia

You have a clinician who's been underperforming for three months. You’ve had the conversation twice, you’ve been patient and fair, and you still haven’t made the call. Why?
That’s your therapist brain in the driver's seat when your CEO brain needs to step in.
The qualities that make you a great clinician—your empathy, your rescue instinct, your ability to stay client-centred and accommodating—are skills you’ve spent years developing. But being a CEO requires a completely different muscle, and most of us don't realize how big the gap between the two is until we hit a decision that feels really hard.
We’re often quick to advocate for our clients and our team, but much slower to advocate for ourselves. That's where things get complicated: the difficult conversations about fees, the cancellation policy you don’t enforce, the team member who’s no longer the right fit, or the agreements that stopped working for you.
In this episode, we’re exploring the difference between your therapist brain and your CEO brain, and why learning when to use each is one of the most important leadership skills you’ll develop as a practice owner.
Topics covered on Therapist Brain, CEO Brain
The empathy that makes you a great clinician is the same empathy keeping a team member on your payroll for too long
You can challenge a client all day, but the second you have to go to bat for yourself on fees or your cancellation policy, conflict avoidance takes over
One of my clients was paying someone more than she paid herself for the same work
Integrating therapist brain and CEO brain in a way that will make you a better leader and a better clinician at the same time

Connect with Felicia:
Get my freebie & join the email list: The Magic Sheets
Instagram: @the_bad_therapist
Website: www.thebadtherapist.coach

Quote:
“ Being a great CEO makes you a better therapist, and being a great therapist makes you a better CEO because you can bring all of those skillsets together.” - Felicia