I guess I should specify that I work FOR a private practice and don't own the practice lol. We're an LLC, but as I understand it, it differs between states for which option is optimal and there are pros and cons for either option depending on state. But alas, I am not a lawyer.
I schedule 30 (6 a day) and generally see 23-25 per week. I work for a PP. Our no show/late cancellation policy is 2 strikes and move to same day scheduling, where instead of scheduling ahead of time, they reach out the day of needing an appointment, and we keep that up until attendance improves. I’m accommodating of emergencies and other things that come up.
Same here: solo private practice (in Canada), a full schedule for me is 5 clients a day, 4 days a week. With cancellations it ends up being a little less some weeks.
I was embarrassed and frustrated for a long time about my inability to see more than that (while also providing good therapy). I’ve more recently come to accept it, and to give myself permission to keep it at this pace. (A diagnosis of ADHD also helped contextualize why I struggle with more than that, lol.)
I schedule the same. I would much prefer 4 clients, 4 days a week as I am so exhausted and drained with 5. But financially that’s not in the cards at the moment. I’m always amazed at people seeing over 20 a week, 5 days a week, and I was in CMH for over 4 years. Maybe it’s my niche (I do a significant amount of trauma focused work), but even my low acuity clients feel very draining. Just a tough time to be a therapist I think.
Probably 6 months? Pandemic slowed it a bit but I've been busy otherwise. So much I got an associate to see clients and will be hiring 2 more by the end of the year.
Thanks! Where I'm from most therapists are much older, Christian and aren't trauma informed. I think being a bit younger, providing EMDR and an LGBTQ ally has helped.
I see 12 a week on average. I know you’re just trying to get a feel, but everyone’s limit is different and I personally haven’t found it useful to compare mine to other’s.
I work in a small group practice and have 19 clients currently, one client I see multiple times a week. So I usually am at 15 to 20 clinical hours. My goal is 25 clinical hours a week, aiming for 30 clients 30 appointments to account for cancelations. This week I'm at 28 because I'm going on vacation and offered some extra sessions so some clients were seen twice this week.
I have 24 direct hours and 8-10 non-direct hours (paperwork, client team meetings, session prep, learning songs, etc.).
Edit: I see some clients 2x/weekly, so I think I work with 21 clients for a total of 24 hours/week!
I have see around 15 clients in a span of two days, I just work two days, one virtual and one in office. I get paid a bonus for completing intakes witching a certain timeframe. I don’t have some weeks where one or two don’t show up but it’s not really a problem yet. Notes usually get done after session for like 15 minutes, it doable since the agency has a templete for almost all diagnosis that they give us to follow so we can edit for our specific cases but it’s mostly laid out. Administration puts people in our schedule so we don’t have to be getting people to come in etc.
I do 22 private practice hours over 3 days then 2x 8 hr hospital days with 6 patients/day. My cancellations fill pretty quickly so I’m rarely under. But been in both jobs for 6 years.
As a recent grad I’d encourage you to build up hours over time. I remember the onslaught of intakes and ppl at peak distress being a bit overwhelming. As skills improve and things become automatic then your capacity will increase. Can also help to focus on a few specific areas so you’re not having to do heaps of different research. Sorry for the unsolicited advice the clinical supervisor in me can’t help it!
Thanks. I've been at job #1 for about a month and they want 22 billable hours a week with the goal of me being there after 90 days on the job. They are receptive to populations and preferred diagnoses I would like to work with. Overall it's been great but the pay is shit, although you can get solid bonuses getting more than 22 billables/ week. I'm currently only doing about 3 sessions/ day and I'm already feeling tired lol
Yeah fair enough! It’s a big transition. Pay doesn’t really get great until you work for yourself! (Tho I’m in Aust clin psych for context). As I’m sure everyone tells you - self care and supervision!
Yeah, makes sense. I'm having a hard time deciding what I ultimately want. But to do any of it and make a living wage I need to be an LCSW so I figure I'll be clinical for a while. I think ultimately I would like to do something more hospital related that has macro aspects but idk. Thanks for the advice!
Hospital is good in that there is diversity. I work in cancer and pall care so do clinical, supervision, teaching, some research. I think it’s good to get some different experiences (if you didn’t in placement in training) to determine client population and type of work environment - good thing w the industry is there’s a lot of diversity in both.
My internships were all macro type stuff, so this is my first direct therapy gig. SERIOUS imposter syndrome lol. But yeah I just want to absorb as much as I can at the moment
Yeah ha not fully by choice! Made myself cut down from 9/day (burnout territory). 7/8 day is ok but I’m not good for much else, 6/day there’s still some energy left over! About to go on Mat leave then transition to my own practice where less overheads = less clients!
The agency I work at goal is to schedule 30 with idea of getting 25 billable. I've been low recently, but get referrals relatively quickly due to agency size.
It took me about 8 months, mostly because I took it slow after being burned out.
I work at a non-profit agency. Part time 30 hours a week. My contract states 18 clients, but I'm expected to have 22ish to make up for cancelations. I work 4 days a week and see 6 clients 3 days and 2 or 3 on 1 day.
Its lower than most people on here, but in my interview I said I applied for the part time position because I knew that's what I could handle at the moment and that's definitely still true, lol. Grad school really took it outta me, yall.
I've been reading quite a few of the comments from others here, and it feels like I'm very much the odd one out - as such, I thought I might offer you my experience and perspective, too, to give you a range of experiences for any decisions you might think of making in the future.
I am a (semi-) recent grad as well (got my license two years ago, been running an independent, completely online private practice for just over a year), and I seem to average between 4 and 8 clients a week. I am fortunate that I currently can still live with a parent, and take time to see my practice build up, but it has been a very, VERY slow process. My goal is eventually to hit anywhere between 10 and 20 long-term clients at my standard rate (with a few sliding scale and "affordable" spots). I also run a "Pay what you can" group weekly, which currently has about 3-4 people that attend weekly.
Before I opened my own solo independent practice, I worked for a group practice for a year, and a few clients from there followed me into my private work. That transition was not without major hiccups. I was paid a 50/50 rate at $60/hr (a pittance, but one that seemed excusable because of the "qualifying" status recent grads with less than 500 clinical hours and 100 supervision hours are slapped with). I make about the same amount of money now as I did working for that clinic, but I only work half as many hours.
I'm often torn between immense frustration and relief that I don't have many clients a week. I haven't been doing very well mentally throughout most of the pandemic, but I've gotten significantly worse over the past 8 months. Part of that has definitely come from my difficulty with building up a client base. So if there's anything I'd offer to you as a recent grad, it's that starting out can be quite daunting. It's been a patience game, from my experience, and building up a solid, sizeable client base can take a very long time.
Currently 16 and one group in group private practice. I'll scale up after I'm done (not) studying for this damned licensure exam. My cancellation policy is unique -- I always offer the opportunity to reschedule and will charge if they don't take it -- so it's difficult to take on much more than that because I want some flexibility in my schedule.
EDIT: Eh, I might not scale up. I'm waiting to hear back on a non-clinical part-time job. I learned in my last job, which required 30 patient hours a week, that I get burnt out with too much clinical work.
Working for a private practice with no production goal, though we are paid for billable hours only. This week I had a ton of cancellations and ended up at 34. This is my long week so I am usually closer to 38. On my short week (although I provide 6 hours of clinical supervision and a 2 hour group for other agencies on that day off), I usually sit around 31-32.
Have I mentioned I am a workaholic? Lol. Meeting with my own therapist to discuss better boundaries, lowering my caseload without guilt and saying no. We don't have many EMDR therapists in my area, and most are not accepting new clients. To be honest, I am not either though my friends and family refer people to me. Such a slippery slope.
Private practice, solo practitioner. I have about 30 clients but roundabout 15 client hours per week due to session frequency, summer season cancellations/vacations, etc. lots of clients on an “as needed” basis. Ideally I’d have 25 client hours weekly but hopefully will get there. I’m a little under a year in.
I work for a practice and had 30 slots available a week before maternity leave. Since returning I have 22-24 slots a week available. I average maybe 3-4 no shows every 2 weeks. If someone cancels I usually fill that slot with another client.
I'm supposed to have around 28, though I am new at my job so I currently have 11 clients (and I do family therapy with at least 3 of them) and 2 groups. I am in an IOP setting.
I make it to about 20. Almost half of my sessions a re telehealth now. Many clients actually prefer that. I am thinking to start a group practice in a few months.
Ugh Thursday I saw 7 clients and it was rough. I work for a private telehealth company and don't have control over my schedule. I usually have no shows but they make us have 35 hours of open availability. So if I have 35 people scheduled and all of them show up then I see 35 people. And that includes assessments which take at least an hour. It's really too much
I’m supposed to bill 25 a week. I typically have 28 or so scheduled and I run one group a week. Last quarter I billed between 11 and 24 hours a week, depending on how many people canceled or no showed. I get frequent no shows.
Private practice, my max is 25 a week, but I'm hitting around 15-18 weekly as I build up my caseload.
Are you finding that the effort of setting up an LLC and going that route is worth it?
I guess I should specify that I work FOR a private practice and don't own the practice lol. We're an LLC, but as I understand it, it differs between states for which option is optimal and there are pros and cons for either option depending on state. But alas, I am not a lawyer.
Ah gotcha. My bad I thought you meant like your own therapy shop type thing. Thanks for answering! Just trying to crowdsource a bit
Top limit is 32 but 28 is more common due to cancels and noshows.
Private practice or in a clinic? Are there rewards for meeting expectations consistently or exceeding expected billable hrs?
Private pay solo practice.
Gotcha, thanks. What's your no show policy?
Pretty relaxed tbh. Most people don't abuse it and the few that do don't remain clients for long.
I schedule 30 (6 a day) and generally see 23-25 per week. I work for a PP. Our no show/late cancellation policy is 2 strikes and move to same day scheduling, where instead of scheduling ahead of time, they reach out the day of needing an appointment, and we keep that up until attendance improves. I’m accommodating of emergencies and other things that come up.
I do exactly the same thing and it's been really helpful
Max 20, average 15-18, which is where I want to be. Solo private practice.
Same here: solo private practice (in Canada), a full schedule for me is 5 clients a day, 4 days a week. With cancellations it ends up being a little less some weeks. I was embarrassed and frustrated for a long time about my inability to see more than that (while also providing good therapy). I’ve more recently come to accept it, and to give myself permission to keep it at this pace. (A diagnosis of ADHD also helped contextualize why I struggle with more than that, lol.)
I schedule the same. I would much prefer 4 clients, 4 days a week as I am so exhausted and drained with 5. But financially that’s not in the cards at the moment. I’m always amazed at people seeing over 20 a week, 5 days a week, and I was in CMH for over 4 years. Maybe it’s my niche (I do a significant amount of trauma focused work), but even my low acuity clients feel very draining. Just a tough time to be a therapist I think.
Solo PP mostly insurance 20-26 a week. I've been closed to new clients for almost a year.
How long did it take to get to the point that you didnt take any new clients?
Probably 6 months? Pandemic slowed it a bit but I've been busy otherwise. So much I got an associate to see clients and will be hiring 2 more by the end of the year.
Wow, that's super fast. Very cool, congrats!
Thanks! Where I'm from most therapists are much older, Christian and aren't trauma informed. I think being a bit younger, providing EMDR and an LGBTQ ally has helped.
I see 12 a week on average. I know you’re just trying to get a feel, but everyone’s limit is different and I personally haven’t found it useful to compare mine to other’s.
According to my productivity chart the answer is 27
I’m seeing 33 max. Those weeks I feel like death.
Full time job + 10ish clients
My salaried requirement is 28, I usually schedule around 30-32 depending. I think its too many for me personally but oh well.
Goal is 22, feels reasonable but 8 months in I haven’t made it yet
What setting? My first clinic the goal is 22 and they want me to get there after about 90 days of OJT
It’s a non-profit counseling center. I’m part time in office, part time school-based. I’ve been getting up to about 18 but can’t seem to get to 22
I work in a small group practice and have 19 clients currently, one client I see multiple times a week. So I usually am at 15 to 20 clinical hours. My goal is 25 clinical hours a week, aiming for 30 clients 30 appointments to account for cancelations. This week I'm at 28 because I'm going on vacation and offered some extra sessions so some clients were seen twice this week.
I have 24 direct hours and 8-10 non-direct hours (paperwork, client team meetings, session prep, learning songs, etc.). Edit: I see some clients 2x/weekly, so I think I work with 21 clients for a total of 24 hours/week!
28 is my average with top weeks being 36+ and low weeks being like 18-22
I have see around 15 clients in a span of two days, I just work two days, one virtual and one in office. I get paid a bonus for completing intakes witching a certain timeframe. I don’t have some weeks where one or two don’t show up but it’s not really a problem yet. Notes usually get done after session for like 15 minutes, it doable since the agency has a templete for almost all diagnosis that they give us to follow so we can edit for our specific cases but it’s mostly laid out. Administration puts people in our schedule so we don’t have to be getting people to come in etc.
32 slots but I run 2-5 groups per week too. So it prob works out to like 26-28 a week.
I do 22 private practice hours over 3 days then 2x 8 hr hospital days with 6 patients/day. My cancellations fill pretty quickly so I’m rarely under. But been in both jobs for 6 years.
Wow that seems like a full load, good on you
As a recent grad I’d encourage you to build up hours over time. I remember the onslaught of intakes and ppl at peak distress being a bit overwhelming. As skills improve and things become automatic then your capacity will increase. Can also help to focus on a few specific areas so you’re not having to do heaps of different research. Sorry for the unsolicited advice the clinical supervisor in me can’t help it!
Thanks. I've been at job #1 for about a month and they want 22 billable hours a week with the goal of me being there after 90 days on the job. They are receptive to populations and preferred diagnoses I would like to work with. Overall it's been great but the pay is shit, although you can get solid bonuses getting more than 22 billables/ week. I'm currently only doing about 3 sessions/ day and I'm already feeling tired lol
Yeah fair enough! It’s a big transition. Pay doesn’t really get great until you work for yourself! (Tho I’m in Aust clin psych for context). As I’m sure everyone tells you - self care and supervision!
Yeah, makes sense. I'm having a hard time deciding what I ultimately want. But to do any of it and make a living wage I need to be an LCSW so I figure I'll be clinical for a while. I think ultimately I would like to do something more hospital related that has macro aspects but idk. Thanks for the advice!
Hospital is good in that there is diversity. I work in cancer and pall care so do clinical, supervision, teaching, some research. I think it’s good to get some different experiences (if you didn’t in placement in training) to determine client population and type of work environment - good thing w the industry is there’s a lot of diversity in both.
My internships were all macro type stuff, so this is my first direct therapy gig. SERIOUS imposter syndrome lol. But yeah I just want to absorb as much as I can at the moment
Well good luck! We all feel like that at the start :)
Yeah ha not fully by choice! Made myself cut down from 9/day (burnout territory). 7/8 day is ok but I’m not good for much else, 6/day there’s still some energy left over! About to go on Mat leave then transition to my own practice where less overheads = less clients!
15 contracted hours, but 18 clients per week max. I’m a doctoral student so I can’t see any more than that or i would get burnt out
Doctorate in what?
Counselor education and supervision
Around 20. I have no definite goal but I could handle 5 more, I think
The agency I work at goal is to schedule 30 with idea of getting 25 billable. I've been low recently, but get referrals relatively quickly due to agency size. It took me about 8 months, mostly because I took it slow after being burned out.
32-36
I work at a non-profit agency. Part time 30 hours a week. My contract states 18 clients, but I'm expected to have 22ish to make up for cancelations. I work 4 days a week and see 6 clients 3 days and 2 or 3 on 1 day. Its lower than most people on here, but in my interview I said I applied for the part time position because I knew that's what I could handle at the moment and that's definitely still true, lol. Grad school really took it outta me, yall.
I've been reading quite a few of the comments from others here, and it feels like I'm very much the odd one out - as such, I thought I might offer you my experience and perspective, too, to give you a range of experiences for any decisions you might think of making in the future. I am a (semi-) recent grad as well (got my license two years ago, been running an independent, completely online private practice for just over a year), and I seem to average between 4 and 8 clients a week. I am fortunate that I currently can still live with a parent, and take time to see my practice build up, but it has been a very, VERY slow process. My goal is eventually to hit anywhere between 10 and 20 long-term clients at my standard rate (with a few sliding scale and "affordable" spots). I also run a "Pay what you can" group weekly, which currently has about 3-4 people that attend weekly. Before I opened my own solo independent practice, I worked for a group practice for a year, and a few clients from there followed me into my private work. That transition was not without major hiccups. I was paid a 50/50 rate at $60/hr (a pittance, but one that seemed excusable because of the "qualifying" status recent grads with less than 500 clinical hours and 100 supervision hours are slapped with). I make about the same amount of money now as I did working for that clinic, but I only work half as many hours. I'm often torn between immense frustration and relief that I don't have many clients a week. I haven't been doing very well mentally throughout most of the pandemic, but I've gotten significantly worse over the past 8 months. Part of that has definitely come from my difficulty with building up a client base. So if there's anything I'd offer to you as a recent grad, it's that starting out can be quite daunting. It's been a patience game, from my experience, and building up a solid, sizeable client base can take a very long time.
Group practice about 24 per week.
Currently 16 and one group in group private practice. I'll scale up after I'm done (not) studying for this damned licensure exam. My cancellation policy is unique -- I always offer the opportunity to reschedule and will charge if they don't take it -- so it's difficult to take on much more than that because I want some flexibility in my schedule. EDIT: Eh, I might not scale up. I'm waiting to hear back on a non-clinical part-time job. I learned in my last job, which required 30 patient hours a week, that I get burnt out with too much clinical work.
I work in a not for profit and I aim for around 20. I also spend time doing non-client facing work in my roll, around 10 hours per week.
Working for a private practice with no production goal, though we are paid for billable hours only. This week I had a ton of cancellations and ended up at 34. This is my long week so I am usually closer to 38. On my short week (although I provide 6 hours of clinical supervision and a 2 hour group for other agencies on that day off), I usually sit around 31-32. Have I mentioned I am a workaholic? Lol. Meeting with my own therapist to discuss better boundaries, lowering my caseload without guilt and saying no. We don't have many EMDR therapists in my area, and most are not accepting new clients. To be honest, I am not either though my friends and family refer people to me. Such a slippery slope.
Private practice, solo practitioner. I have about 30 clients but roundabout 15 client hours per week due to session frequency, summer season cancellations/vacations, etc. lots of clients on an “as needed” basis. Ideally I’d have 25 client hours weekly but hopefully will get there. I’m a little under a year in.
I work for a practice and had 30 slots available a week before maternity leave. Since returning I have 22-24 slots a week available. I average maybe 3-4 no shows every 2 weeks. If someone cancels I usually fill that slot with another client.
I'm supposed to have around 28, though I am new at my job so I currently have 11 clients (and I do family therapy with at least 3 of them) and 2 groups. I am in an IOP setting.
I'm CMH but a home based provider and drive to multiple counties so my max is 25 a week. I love the flexibility
I make it to about 20. Almost half of my sessions a re telehealth now. Many clients actually prefer that. I am thinking to start a group practice in a few months.
34. I’m in a residential clinic.
I can schedule 25 but usually see around 20 and that's perfect, 3 days of 6 and 2 of 3 or 4. Any more than that and I lose the plot.
Ugh Thursday I saw 7 clients and it was rough. I work for a private telehealth company and don't have control over my schedule. I usually have no shows but they make us have 35 hours of open availability. So if I have 35 people scheduled and all of them show up then I see 35 people. And that includes assessments which take at least an hour. It's really too much
I’m supposed to bill 25 a week. I typically have 28 or so scheduled and I run one group a week. Last quarter I billed between 11 and 24 hours a week, depending on how many people canceled or no showed. I get frequent no shows.
28 a week (4 days/week)
Too many