Where Making Money and Making a Difference Come Together

If you are a physician, therapist or any other helping professional whose business model relies on third party manged care reimbursement you are engaged in the World’s WORST business model (and that’s not hyperbole…keep reading to see what I mean.)
Let me start with a story to set the stage:
Imagine you are a bright, idealistic college [...]

Hey, have you seen the most recent Newsweek article by Sharon Begley?  It seems antidepressants don’t work. Apparently, 82% of the improvement people feel is placebo effect.  If you are a mental health professional, you know this, whether or not we want to admit it.
Let’s face facts, folks. When it comes to curing mental illness, [...]

I started my career working with gang bangers, sexual offenders and grand theft auto convicts.  All of them were under the age of 18.  It was one of the best jobs I have ever had.
In no particular order,here is what those kids taught me about life, work and business.
1.  People want to be good.
2.We need [...]

I’m frustrated with mental health as a profession. There have been a few articles and info bites I have seen in the last few weeks that lead me to believe we seem to be stuck in at the developmental level of middle schoolers trying to navigate separation-individuation (Though I’m not sure what or who [...]

I know it is a new idea to develop a specialty niche. It feels uncomfortable and “wrong” if you have the ability to help all sorts of people with a variety of presenting concerns.
But trust me, you will have a much more successful practice with people lining up to work with you if you specialize.
As [...]

People  don’t like to feel that they are alone with their problems. This is why our culture is so attracted to reality TV and prime time shows like “Intervention.”  We all know others have the same problems we do, we just don’ t know exactly who they are.
Of course, we need to respect confidentiality and [...]

Rich Text Area.
I just returned from the Massachusetts Psychological Assoc. conference “Psychology 2.0:  Building 21st Century Psychological Careers” (gee, who do you think came up with that name?).
While I did present on Ethcial and Effective Marketing there were a number of other fantastic speakers encouraging us to broaden our practice, utilize [...]

They physician networking site, www.Sermo.com, just announced they have started a Practice Mangement Exchange for their members, where "Physicians Turn to Social Media to Share Peer-to-Peer Advice and Solve Real-World Business Challenges."
Good for them! Do you think we as mental health businesses need to do the same?
Curious about Sermo.com? I am.  Here is some of [...]

I'm currently reading Seth Godin's, "Small Is the New Big" (affiliate link). Interesting insights and ideas on marketing in the new world of internet and social media. But one page caught my eye and I will quote it here:
"How Dare You
How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage or the greatest shifts of our [...]

There seem to be 4 types of mental health and wellness practitioners:  Idealist, Hobbyist, Traditionalist, and Innovators.
Which one are you? Let's take each in order:
Idealists:  Idealists are those who have great intentions of helping people.  They talk a lot about "giving," "not doing it for the money," and "want to make a difference."  Those who [...]