Many people still consider seeing a therapist as something you only do when you’re trying to heal. Personally, I see a therapist to maintain and improve my own emotional wellness, i.e. my mental health.
As the stigma is decreasing, I believe practice owners have the opportunity now more than ever to emphasize the power of therapy to help us move beyond healing into wellness.
This shapes a core belief that led me to start Practice Axis - If the business of running a group practice in mental health were closer to the business of running a wellness studio, maybe the perception of mental healthcare would shift to that of a wellness practice for each client.
What if we thought about the business of therapy more like the business of running a gym?
You may think that’s a stretch but let’s take a closer look: Fitness studios offer 1-1 sessions that require highly choreographed calendars for each practitioner who requires a safe and private environment.
When you peel away the service and compare the business model to that of a private group practice of therapists, many pieces are identical: payroll, scheduling, client experience, clinician turnover. And that’s true of a lot of other businesses in the wellness space as well.
Businesses like these often grow so large that they’re franchised, you know the big ones - Massage Envy, Orange Theory, and they can do that because they have robust software and proven systems that make it easy for anyone to open a studio and scale.
So…why can’t group practice owners just adopt these same software and practices to scale and grow to help more and more people?
If only it were that easy!
If you're running your own group practice offering therapy services, you know why it’s not a perfect comparison. To name a few reasons:
Even though therapy is often an elective service, it is also a healthcare service. Therefore it should and will always have a different set of standards, ethics and laws than elective wellness services like a fitness studio.
Since mental health services sit between healthcare and wellness, traditional sales and marketing strategies fall short to help private practices in mental health to scale.
At Practice Axis we believe that group practices can benefit tremendously from the underlying operations that keep wellness centers running smoothly, as they scale and even franchise. We think (perhaps boldly) that there is room for a paradigm shift to inch mental health closer to being seen as a wellness practice, simply based on how you run your business.
After 15+ years of running my own personal training studio, opening and operating six franchised gyms, and sales training in real estate and finance, I know that the systems you need already exist. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to run your group practice, though it may feel like it at times. Our aim is to put these core business development tools in your hands so you can focus on fostering your community of clinicians and clients.
One key business development tool in every industry is a Client Relationship Management system or CRM. In January, we launched the latest version of Practice Axis, a CRM that speaks the language of group practices in mental health, and reflects the unique workflow of a new therapy client.
To learn more about it, click here to schedule a demo.