Got Therapy Practice? Create Your Own Website!

The Minimalist Guide to Creating a Therapist Website

Are you a social worker or mental health professional who would like to set up your own wordpress blog?

If yes, you are likely to find the WordPress Video course created by Cathy Hanville, LCSW, very helpful.

Cathy is a licensed clinical social worker who has a clinical private practice and a business consultancy. Some of you may already be familiar with Cathy’s expertise on internet marketing from The Zen of Online Marketing for Private Practice.

This post will provide you with a review of the video course for therapists, as well as some valuable career insights from Cathy for recent social work and other mental health graduates.

WordPress Video Course Review

Cathy has essentially converted a face-to-face course that she provides her therapist clients to a 10-session video format, thereby making this information accessible (and affordable) to mental health professionals across the country and world.

This course covers the following topics:

• Domain Name and Hosting

• This includes domain name considerations, where to get your domain name, what and how you set up web hosting (including how to point your domain name if your domain name is from Go Daddy and your web hosting is from another firm).

• WordPress Themes (what to look for, main differences between paid and free themes and two theme installation demonstrations)

For example, some features to consider when evaluating themes are:

• How much customization is available? (paid themes tend to provide more customization than free ones)
• Is there online support?
• Are many other people using it? How many people have downloaded it?
• Is it visually compelling?
• Are most of the reviews favorable?
• When was it last updated? Is it current with the current version of wordpress?
• Is it mobile ready?

• WordPress Pages
• WordPress Blogs

Here Cathy walks you through the use of the dashboard and how you go about creating a page, a blog post, making edits, disabling comments and adding in photos/videos.

She also makes sure to show you how to discourage your site from “search engine visibility” until your site is ready for visitors.

• WordPress Plugins
• WordPress Menus and Widgets

In these videos, Cathy provides with you guidance on how to install both free wordpress plugins and ones that you may purchase from the marketplace, as well as how to add/adjust menus and widgets.

• WordPress Settings
• Back-up and Security
• Measuring Success

Cathy demonstrates the various settings (and how you probably want to have them configured).

In addition, she provides you with some good security guidelines and a couple of recommendations in terms of plugins such as back-up system for your website (that makes restoration of your site extremely easy should something go wrong).

Lastly, you are given a brief introduction to google analytics and some of the metrics that you may want to keep an eye on.

In sum, I think that this is an excellent introductory course for social workers and therapists interested in building their own wordpress sites.

Not only does this course cover most of the concerns you would have in setting up your own website, but Cathy also demonstrates the actual steps required for carrying out most of the steps involved (and you can watch them as many times as needed).

When listening to the videos, you feel as if Cathy is providing you with a personal tutorial and you will have no trouble in keeping your attention focused. The lessons average about 5 minutes in length.

While different wordpress themes have varying degrees of customization, this course is likely to facilitate your transition/adaptability to whichever theme you choose.

This is because you are guided through the key general wordpress settings and common features across themes, as well as what to look for/expect in different themes. These, in turn, are likely to make tackling the mission of starting your own website far less intimidating and more do-able.

Lastly, a couple of additions that Cathy may wish to consider for her next edition:

• An accompanying handout with some of her key recommendations and/or instructions
• A discussion about the thought process involved in creating categories vs tags
• Some guidance for therapists who have a non-wordpress site (such as what steps should they take to direct traffic from old site to new site etc.)

Interview with Cathy Hanville, LCSW

What would you recommend recent social work (or other mental health) grads interested in developing a private practice (as soon as requisite licensing/experience requirements are filled) look for in their first post-grad positions?

I am not sure I am the best person to answer this. When I went to social work school and for many years subsequent I had no intentions of opening a private practice. In fact I was dead set against it. 
But I think the skills I got in my employment that served me best were good clinical skills with a variety of populations. 

The thing that has probably helped me most is strong assessment skills. I can screen out people that I am not the best match for while on the phone with them which is easier than telling someone after you have met them that you aren’t the therapist for them 

Are there certain positions that are more likely than others to give recent grads the necessary skills to stand on their own feet sooner rather than later?

A position where you both have a lot of autonomy and a lot of support. It is hard to be in private practice and the more clinical experience you have before you do it the better. You want to have a confidence level that you can use to sell yourself and to do good clinical work. 

Do you believe that therapists are better off developing a niche? And if so, what advice could you offer to beginning professionals to help them narrow down what their specialty might be if they are unsure?

I absolutely believe therapists should develop a niche. I think it is great both for marketing purposes and for clinical work. Since I narrowed my niche down, I feel like I am working with the clients I do my best work with which is great both for me and for my clients. 

To narrow it down, I would ask who are the clients you enjoy working with the most and what are they saying when they call you. I specialize in trauma, but I market more to anxiety because that is what those clients say to me when they call me:“I am anxious,” not I have experienced trauma. 

You’ve developed expertise in a number of areas: EMDR/trauma, anxiety, gender identity, grief and loss, as well as internet marketing for therapists. How did your interest and work in these different areas evolve?

I got trained in EMDR early in my career path. I feel like it is the best think I ever did for my practice. I got turned on to EMDR because when I got licensed you had to take an oral exam, which freaked me out. Another therapist I know said I saw a therapist for EMDR to help me pass the oral exam you should try it. I did try it and I passed the first time and I knew I would get trained in EMDR.

My specialty in gender identity came when I moved my practice from San Francisco to Albany three years ago. That was the point that I really had to think about who I wanted to work with. I had an interest in gender identity and as a person who is not gender conforming myself it was a good match for me. 

The more I worked with these clients the more I wanted to work more with transgender and gender non-conforming people. Many of those clients have had horrible past therapy experiences that I wanted to create a safe and supportive environment for them. 

The Internet Marketing specialty also came at that same time. When I moved my practice, I had to learn to really market my practice. I, like many therapists, had neglected that area of my practice. 

Then last year, my friends who had created/supported my website said they were no longer able to do that for me. At that point, I learned how to make my own site with WordPress and expanded my internet marketing practice to work with people on WordPress. That has generated a lot of interest for me. 

How important do you feel is the development of a website or a social media presence to the success of an established therapist? 

You absolutely must have a website. I have had a bunch of clients say to me they choose me because of my website. They also expressed surprise that so many therapists don’t have a website.

I think social media is becoming the next must have. You need to be able to market and connect where people are. I have met so many great people (like you) online. 

What are the areas that you find therapists struggling the most with vis a vis their websites?

People struggle with making the commitment to a website. I think they often get really overwhelmed with writing the copy. Many therapists have a hard time selling themselves. 

In private practice, the business is us and we have to sell ourselves to others. This can be very uncomfortable. 

Many therapists also don’t want to make the financial or time commitment that is required for putting together a a good site. Some therapists resist a site because they never did that before.  Change can be hard. 

How important do you feel is the development of a website (or social media presence) to a recent mental health graduate?

I think if you have a practice you should have a website. If not, I would think it is less important. 

I think social media is a great way to make connections and meet people and for a new grad that would be very important. 

Lastly, what 3 pieces of advice do you wish you had been told before you opened up your own practice?

• You don’t have to accept every client. In fact you shouldn’t.
• A practice is a business; treat it as such, including marketing. You will have to leave your comfort zone. 
• Develop community. Private practice can be very isolating and you need support. 

Thanks so much, Cathy, for providing us with some valuable career guidance!

What your thoughts about this topic? What concerns, if any, are holding you back from creating a website of your own?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was given temporary free access to the course mentioned above in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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