How Therapists Are Earning 22% More—Without More Sessions
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[00:00:06] The hourly model is fragile. The, the, the model where you trade an hour of your time for money only works when everything goes right.
[00:00:18] You have to have the right client at the right time. Everybody's gotta be in the right head space. There's no cancellations, no weather delays, no sick days. No your child, uh, your school's child. No. Your school's child. The school calls with something wrong with your child. It takes, it's a cooperation between you and your client, whether you're telehealth or not.
[00:00:46] It's a fragile system. And guess who's holding all the risk? Guess who's absorbing all the risk of this fragile system? That, that's right. It's you. It's you, the [00:01:00] therapist.
[00:01:03] Hi, friend. Welcome to the Scaling Therapy Practice. I'm James Marland, your course creation coach. I am here to help therapists who want to scale their reach with effective online courses. I'll share with you all the tools, tips, and technology I've learned along the way that will help you put your mission in motion.
[00:01:25] The world is waiting for somebody like you to take action. Let me help you take your first steps.
[00:01:36] Welcome to the Scaling Therapy Practice. This is the show where we empower mission-driven leaders to launch life-changing online courses. I have a question for you today. How long does it take for the average therapist to stop practicing or burnout? How long do you think it is? What's the, what's the number [00:02:00] you got in your head?
[00:02:01] Well, according to counseling.org, the average counselor has a productive lifespan of approximately 10 years. 10 years. In 10 years. That's before the, the loans are paid off, that the therapists are quitting before the kids are out of school, before you even feel like you're in a groove. And if you're a therapist, you probably don't.
[00:02:29] Need a stat to tell you about that, the exhaustion and the burnout. You, you already feel it, you, you feel it every day, week after week, the treadmill of session after session and the, the session, the time for money model works until it doesn't work. And if you've ever thought, I can't keep doing this forever, there's gotta be a better way.
[00:02:58] I still want to help [00:03:00] people, but I'm, I'm, I'm reaching that 10 year limit and I can see, see the horizon. Well, then this episode, this episode is for you. The first idea I wanna convey here is the hourly. The hourly model is fragile. The, the, the model where you trade an hour of your time for money only works when everything goes right.
[00:03:26] You have to have the right client at the right time. Everybody's gotta be in the right head space. There's no cancellations, no weather delays, no sick days. No your child, uh, your school's child. No. Your school's child. The school calls with something wrong with your child. It takes, it's a cooperation between you and your client, whether you're telehealth or not.
[00:03:55] It's a fragile system. And guess who's holding all the risk? [00:04:00] Guess who's absorbing all the risk of this fragile system? That, that's right. It's you. It's you, the therapist. And this risk doesn't just show up in your bank account. Like, like, uh, if I, if I don't show up, I'm not earning money. Uh, the risk shows up in your time, but it also shows up in your body, uh, your energy, your focus.
[00:04:28] And it brings me to the question like, who's caring for the caregiver? When you're absorbing all the risk and you have to make sure all the details work out and you're delivering an excellent therapeutic service, uh, it. It leads to, uh, burnout, it leads to anxiety, it leads to worry. When the caregivers are, are not properly compensated, [00:05:00] it leads to worse outcomes.
[00:05:02] Like I, I think you can feel that like when you're not, when you're worried about the bills or you're worried about, you're grinding out another session, it shows up in outcomes. When people are properly compensated, the outcomes go up. But when reimbursements stay low and caseloads get too high, it, it's really the therapist that carries the cost, both, both professionally and personally.
[00:05:32] But if that's true, then you can flip it. There's hope because if the. If the model's flipped, when we reduce the load and invest in purposeful training and professional development, the ripple effect is real. Therapists can thrive and clients can heal when you're properly compensated and the system and then starts working for you instead of working against you, really, I think the, [00:06:00] the, the money for our model does not.
[00:06:04] Compensate the therapist appropriately for all, all that they've done. The next big idea here is the system is capping your earning potential because even when everything goes right, the the time for money system for therapists has a ceiling. In 2022, according to the US Bureau of LA Labor Statistics, the average salary for somebody with a master's degree, you got a number in your head.
[00:06:33] The average salary for somebody with a master's degree was $78,842,000, seven $77,842. What, what do you think the average salary for a licensed counselor was? I think this might be the start out rate. Um, I didn't check the thing myself, but what do you, what's that number in your [00:07:00] head? The number I I got from the article was thirty five thousand six hundred forty two thousand forty two dollars.
[00:07:08] And in the article it talked about therapists talking to each other and somebody, somebody said that they knew somebody who was offered $29,000 for a starting position. A licensed master's degree that severely undervalues, severely undervalues the education and the work it took to get there. Same education, roughly half the pay.
[00:07:34] That's just not feasible. That's, that's systematic underpayment. And over time working in that system, no matter how. Dedicated, you are to helping people. It can wear you down because the burden to get that licensure was great. You know, hundred, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars or a a hundred thousand dollars.[00:08:00]
[00:08:00] No wonder the average career lifespan for a therapist before, uh, their productive years is about 10. Some choose to do something else, some checkout and some burnout. But the hopeful part is, according to the A Therapy Den article, and I'll, I'll cite this in the show notes, is that therapists who add just two ancillary income streams like telehealth across state lines, A CEU workshop or an A coaching panel, boost their income by up to 22% within 18 months.
[00:08:38] I'm gonna let that sink in for a second. You're using the same education, same, same experience, same dedication to helping people just diversified. It's not double the hours, it's not grinding out more sessions. It's just a, just a different way to use the system. Just a smarter [00:09:00] structure. So if you're, if you're, if you're feeling stressed, let.
[00:09:07] It's not you, it's the system. The system is designed to keep you trapped to the couch, the calendar, into a compensation system that just doesn't value you, and you can break through the ceiling with some smart working the system differently
[00:09:26] because, and this is the big idea. Number three, you deserve to be paid well too. You, you, you have the education and the experience. You help people in amazing way. You deserve to be compensated. The caregiver needs to be cared for because here, here's a question I want you to think about. If you or your partner or your child needed help, would you want them to see a therapist who's burnt out and barely making ends meet?[00:10:00]
[00:10:00] Would you want that? Would you want one who's clear-minded, well-resourced, and truly present? I mean, we already know the answer. We want the person who is cared for. So why is this hard to apply to yourself and your situation there? Uh, the therapy 10 article says about. Extra income, the fair, uh, um, and how therapists can you earn extra income after licensure?
[00:10:34] Quote, fastest lifts come from adding high demand CPT codes like biofeedback or A DHD evaluations. Therapists also grow by launching telehealth services across state lines or publishing a CEU workshop. These strategies diversify income and protect your energy. So one digital product, one workshop, one course, one workbook, or a small [00:11:00] group program in a high demand area can be the difference between burnout and just making enough to, to make ends meet.
[00:11:10] It's not just margin, it's it's mental margin, emotional margin, soul margin. You're not just making more money, you're taking care of yourself. By U using your education in the system a different way. When you can stop worrying about the college loan payment, when you can stop thinking about your no-show rate.
[00:11:31] When you have additional revenue streams that earn you money when you're not in the room, you can be more present and your client incomes can improve. Now we know. Most of the people listening to this show are helpers. You didn't, you didn't really become a therapist to get rich. You became a therapist, a coach, a counselor to help people, but you also didn't sign up to bear all the risk to bear all the burden to be underpaid, [00:12:00] overworked, and barely hanging on.
[00:12:04] You deserve better. Your clients definitely need you to be compensated. It's absolutely possible. So let's, uh, let's wrap up here. You're not imagining it. You are underpaid. The system is fragile. It does not respect your time, and you're not overreacting according to, according to the statistics, people with the same educational level are earning more.
[00:12:36] The pay gap is real. Yeah, but also you're not stuck. People need, if when you solve people's problems, they will pay you like you can solve real problems that really impact people. Your in. You can create income that's not chained to the couch or the calendar. You can build something sustainable, ethical, [00:13:00] and that sustains your life.
[00:13:03] And one of the ways to do that is to build a course or a CEU product that you can start selling either through, uh, uh, uh, a distributor or on your own website. And I, I've created a free resource to help you brainstorm some ideas to help you get started on your first course idea, and maybe even build a, a customer journey or a customer ladder.
[00:13:31] Where pe where people start out with something free or low cost and you build up to something, um, like a a three-day workshop. Online or in person, and I have, I have just, uh, ways to, to do that. It's called 15 ways to package your Experience into a coaching Product, and you can download it now for [email protected] slash store and look for the free resource or just check out the show notes.
[00:13:59] [00:14:00] It's gonna be right there in a link waiting for you.
[00:14:06] Uh, you're a therapist that wants to help other people. You also need to be well cared for yourself. You keep, you became a therapist to help other people, and I want you to start putting work into the model that supports you and supports your lifestyle so that you become the person who can be present all the time with your ideal client.
[00:14:31] Because you're being taken, cared for and you're working the system in a way that that supports you and, um, you're earning, you're, you're getting a great return on investment in what you have already put in your education and your, um, your education and licensure. All right? Uh, so you can, with just a few simple steps, uh, you can start.
[00:14:59] [00:15:00] Putting a system in process where you can earn up to 22% more, um, using what's already available to you. You're not starting over, you're just using the system smarter. If you need any support, you can download the resource or email me, [email protected]. And remember, it's now time to put your mission in motion.
