Raising Your Rates In Private Practice: A Troubleshooting Guide
You've finally done it, private practice therapist. You've sat down with your numbers, crunched and re-crunched them, and determined a new fee for service that is sustainable. Now? You are experiencing all sorts of mindset barriers that make it hard to tell your current clients about your fees and adhere to those boundaries. In this blog post, I'll share some rebuttals for those common fears when you raise your prices as a private practice therapist. First, I'll talk about when to increase prices as a therapist; then, I'll provide tips on addressing your mindset fears after you raise them.
When to increase prices in therapy
I have an old meme that I keep dusting off about when it's time to increase prices as a therapist. Most therapists think they can only raise their fees "when." As in "I'll raise my fees after another year," or "when I get another certificate," or "when I have more clients." But this type of logic is based on external fuzziness, not the realities of building a sustainable private practice. My take on when you should increase your fees? It would be best if you raised your prices annually at a minimum. Why? Because with inflation growing around 2.5-3% per year, if you don't increase your fees by that amount, you are effectively taking a pay cut.
In addition to an annual review of your fee and a fee-raise, other times to raise your prices are when your practice is 75% full and when you niche or specialize. By the time your practice is 75% full, you have "proof," so to speak, that your services are not only in demand, but you are doing good work with your therapy clients. This is a signal to you that it's time to increase your fees. Another time to raise your fees is when you go from being a generalist to a specialist. Specialists are able to charge more for their services due to their increased knowledge and training in treating a certain diagnosis or type of client. Perhaps you, like a former coaching client of mine Stephanie Gardner-Wright, focused on anxiety but became enamored with the traits of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). You take additional training, read more books, and specialize in serving people who meet HSP criteria. This type of specialty garners a valid reason for increasing your therapy fee.
Remember that the initial fee increase doesn't have to be drastic. Raising your fees $5 or $10 per hour can help bring in an additional $4-9k per year! A $5 fee raise on 20 clients week x 48 weeks = $4,800. A $10 fee raise on 20 clients a week x 48 weeks = $9,600!
Now onto those questions that are likely popping into your head after you raise your fees.
How to increase prices without losing customers? How can I raise rates on existing clients?
I'm pretty straightforward with my clients when it comes to increasing my prices. I let them know that I review my fees annually in my private practice. I tell existing clients that I won't raise them without giving them a fair warning. I share that I'll give them at least a 30-day notice before their fees go up. This gives them time to prepare financially, time for us to figure something out if a fee change would make therapy inaccessible, or time to connect them to a better fit therapist if needed.
It's also helpful to share with your clients the perks of being in private practice. How their support allows you to provide the type of care you couldn't if you were in an agency, hospital, or school setting—practicing gratitude often helps when raising fees.
I'm worried about fees and boundary setting in therapy!
Fees and adhering to them is a form of modeling and boundary setting in therapy. Let's say you come up with a new fee of $175/session.
In an initial phone call with a prospective client, you say, "My fee is $175/session. But I can change it if that doesn't work for you! Yes, I'm so sorry. I can really do more like $100 an hour. Or if that's still too much, maybe we can make $50 a session work? Does that work?"
Contrast that with this phone call with a prospective client, "My fee is $175/session."
Of those two scenarios, which therapist sounds like a therapist who is collected, grounded, and aware of the value of the services they provide? The later! The first one sounds like a frantic, anxious, and potentially scattered therapist. Use your fee, and adherence to it, as a form of boundary setting and modeling to your client the importance of self-preservation and respect.
Would I be a good therapist . . . ?
"Would I be a good therapist if I raised my rates? Said no to offering a sliding scale? De-paneled myself from insurances?" These "what if" scenarios about being a good therapist associate being a good therapist only with a fee that's charged. Pause for a second and brainstorm what you think makes someone a good therapist. Did "they charge hardly anything for their services" pop into your head? Probably not! Most likely, the qualities that make someone a good therapist that came into your mind were things like: warm and empathic, culturally competent, non-judgmental, and helpful.
There you have it, therapist friend! Some tips on combating those mindset gremlins when you raise your fees in private practice.
Still Struggling?
If you are struggling to implement these tips, I can help! As a private practice financial therapist, I get the nuances of raising fees from an emotional and psychological perspective! I offer a couple of services that may be helpful. I offer Power Coaching sessions, 75-minute deep dives to help you with similar questions to those posed in this article. You can learn more about Power Coaching and book your session here.
If you are a therapist or allied care provider in private practice and are struggling with creating a fee structure that works for you, I can help! Sometimes when we struggle, we really need clarity and guidance on what we need to focus on in our practice, learning how to market our practices, or something else sustainably. I’ve got a suite of mini-courses just for private practice therapists, here: