5 Policies You Need in Your Practice for Work/Life Balance
Balance isn’t just about taking vacations and working less. It is about decreasing confusion and time making decisions. As therapists, we are constantly making decisions-what should I ask next, should I keep my face blank or show emotion? This leads to decision fatigue which in turn ultimately leads to poor business decisions and burnout. Creating systems and policies help you to decrease the number of decisions you make in the day to day. Here are 5 policies you need to have and review routinely.
Intake Policy: how do clients first reach out, what can they expect paperwork wise, what will the session or sessions be like, when will the treatment plan be completed and reviewed?
Equity Policy: how do you approach sliding scale or equity rates, how may do you offer, how do you base your scale?
Late/Cancellation Policy: how long do you wait to start, do you reach out if people are late or miss, do you charge if they miss, how many can they miss total?
Billing/Financial Policy: do you keep cards on file, do you bill before session, or at the end of the month, how often do you review your rates?
Termination Policy: how long can a client go without seeing you, do you email or call to check in after a certain amount of time, can they restart after termination?
It is helpful to have these written somewhere, it doesn’t have to be formal. However, I do often include these in my informed consent. It is helpful to review routinely particularly when you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed to see if you can lighten your load by making changes. As always, if you need help with specific planning please feel free to join our mastermind group or schedule an individual strategy session with me to explore ideas and receive loving accountability on getting those policies written.
