Guest Article

Additional Income Sources For Therapists: Expand Your Practice By Teaching

Fran Wickner, Ph.D., LMFT

In recent years, the income of many psychotherapists has been steadily declining.  In order to keep income up with inflation, therapists often need to work harder at keeping their practices full. As I’ve mentioned on my website there are many ways to build and expand your practice, but one way that is not often addressed, yet very rewarding, is to teach counseling and/or psychology at the graduate or undergraduate level.

Why would a therapist want to be an instructor? Because teaching is a wonderful creative venue that will help inspire the clinical work you do. Preparing lectures, viewing videos to show your class, reading textbooks, all keep you up to date on current clinical issues and can hone your counseling skills.

Private practice can sometimes be lonely. The interaction with faculty and students can be a needed anecdote to isolation. 

Being a faculty member in your community can lead to more referrals to your private practice and/or help you get a clinical job. You will be seen as an expert in your field, leading colleagues and potential clients to seek you out for referrals and/or job possibilities. Your students will also see you as someone to refer to.

And last, but not least, teaching is fun.

Many therapists seem to be intimidated by the process of getting a teaching job. When therapists come to me for help with their business, they often say that they don't know how to go about getting a faculty position. The following are some ideas to get you started.

In order to apply for a teaching job, you will need the following:  a resume, a cover letter and a course proposal/outline. But before you begin rewriting your resume or writing a course proposal, write down a list of topics you would like to teach. You might decide to teach a mainstream course like Couples Counseling or Diagnostic Appraisal. Maybe you specialize in an area in which few schools are offering a course. For example, you may have a practice specializing in eating disorders and want to offer a course on this specific issue.

When you write your academic resume, highlight any teaching experience. This should include classes you have taught, workshops, agency trainings, or if you have been invited as a guest speaker. Include any publications, blogs or newsletters you have written on the subject. Under your job descriptions, highlight clinical experience related to the course(s) you want to teach.

Your cover letter and course proposal will differ depending if the school already offers the class you would like to teach or if it is a new course. For current classes, the cover letter should include why the school should hire you to teach this particular course. If it is a new course you will need to convince the school that they should add this to their program. Include how this new course fits into the curriculum.

For current and new courses, include the clinical expertise you have in this area, any special training or certification, any previous teaching experience on this subject and if you have anything published in the area.

The course proposal should go into more detail. You should include the course title, how many credits/units and why (you can give a range), the description of course content, proposed methods of presenting the material (ie: lecture, experiential, videos, role plays), learning objectives and presenter expertise.

Teaching is a way to expand your practice, increase your income and deal with the isolation of private practice. And your interaction with other faculty can lead to lifelong support and friendship.

Fran Wickner, Ph.D., MFT has been a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 1983. In addition to her clinical practice in Berkeley, Dr. Wickner is a practice building consultant and offers individual consultations and workshops as well as availability to speak to your consult group or professional association on all aspects of building and expanding your private practice. Website: FranWickner.com/ForTherapists