Counsellors and psychotherapists in private practice - how many clients do you see per week, and what is your approximate yearly net profit?

[987y987]

I'm a private practitioner, and see approx 14 clients per week. My net profit after room rental, supervision etc is approx £17k. I really need to earn more money, and had originally (when training 10 years ago) imagined that I'd be seeing at least 20-25 clients a week. This would obviously be more financially viable, but I had underestimated how emotionally taxing the work is, and I can't realistically see myself working with more that 18 clients a week.

When I spoke to my supervisor about it, she essentially confirmed that my current case load is in line with most other therapists she works with. She noted that she'd be reluctant to supervise someone with a case load higher than about 18-20 clients per week.

I love my work, but think I'm going to have to start looking at other jobs, in order to earn more money. I'm wondering how other therapists in private practice manage this? I'd love to hear others' experience and/or tips!

I'm retired so not of current relevance re actual amount of money, but numbers of clients sounds about right and I agree it's hugely emotionally draining. One thing that occurs to me is that long-term clients are generally a bigger emotional commitment, could you take a mix of long-term and short-term so you have an extra few slots that are not as taxing? I know it's not necessarily clear when you take a client on how it's going to pan out.
Another possibility is ongoing training so that you progress and can start to take supervisees, maybe run small groups, involve yourself in training etc.
Seems a shame to have to take other work.
Lastly can you work from home at all? Then no room fees. Almost everyone I knew worked from home either all the time or for part of their practice.
Best of luck. It may be draining and not as lucrative as we'd like but it's also hugely enriching of the soul to do the deep work with people.

Thank you - that's a really helpful reply, especially regarding the long term work. Most of my clients are indeed long term, and I think I would benefit from a change of pace. Were you a supervisor? My own supervisor has suggested I go down this route, but I just wasn't sure if it would be much different from working with clients (in terms of the weight of responsibility / emotional load).

Unfortunately I can't see clients in person at home, although video sessions are possible.

Hi, only just checked back! I trained to be a supervisor but then my circumstances changed and I ended up retiring before getting that off the ground properly, but I did do a bit of supervision and my sense was it's not quite as demanding because you're not at the actual coal face. Your supervisee is holding the clients and all of their distress etc, you are a more distant outer container. Also it's another opportunity to do group work, you can have a small group of supervisees and also you might be lucky enough to get supervisory work in agency settings (I had a supervisee who herself supervised in a college, I think the variety of doing something like that lightened the load somewhat).
That's a very good point about being able to do online sessions from home without needing a full set up. I think there'd be a certain amount of juggling involved because most clients want - and undoubtedly benefit from - at least some in person work. But it's possible you could incorporate online work as extra sessions when needed for example, or evening sessions if a client can't make a day session. I think you'll need to think creatively about that.
Also of course as you get more experienced you'll feel more confident to raise your fees.

Ah - this makes me realise I miss it! Not that I'd want to start working again, but it is incredibly special work. 🙂

Thanks again @heldinadream . I really would miss my work, and I think group work (running workshops etc in my special interest areas) etc would be a good addition in the future. Also perhaps couples' counselling?

How much do you charge? Can you raise your hourly rate?

If you have a lot of long term clients who presumably like you and want to continue then definitely think about upping your hourly rate. Any increase, even just £5 a session would increase your profit margin. Also could you share your space with another therapist so that they pay something towards your costs when you are not seeing clients?

What is your rate? That does seem out of whack - either you aren't charging enough or your costs are disproportionately high.