How to Make Money as a Therapist | 9 Ways to Reach $200K
Mental health professionals have so many options to make extra money, especially if they're willing to move beyond the rigid expectations of the traditional psychotherapy practice. As a licensed therapist, you can use your expertise in mental health and human behavior to grow your small business exponentially.
If looking for how to make money as a counselor online, this post will walk you through the options most suited to mental health professionals. I'll cover how to maximize what you can earn in your private practice and how to generate truly passive income.
And these ideas work—they’re not just a pipe dream. I’ve seen therapists make money from these twelve ideas in my business coaching for therapists.
You're ready to make some extra cash and have more time for your self-care. Let's go!
If we haven’t met yet, hello! 👋🏻 I’m Felicia, the Bad Therapist©. I’m a business coach who helps therapists make more money and impact in their practices without sacrificing their values and pleasure.
Profitable side hustles for therapists
Because of your experience and training, you have a wide range of skills that other professionals simply don't. Take advantage of them! I've handpicked a few of my favorite ways for therapists to turn their passions and skills into lucrative side hustles.
In order to take advantage of these additional income streams, make sure to create a separate business entity to protect your license and maintain professional ethical standards.
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You may not realize it yet, but you have a methodology. Think about it. What do you say over and over again to your clients? What practices do you lead them through? What transformations have you witnessed as a result of clients working with you? Your answers to these questions can inform the curriculum for your online course.
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Have you a fount of knowledge when it comes to mental health tips or communication skills for couples? Don't keep it to yourself! Use your writing skills to generate income. Try writing a compelling newsletter and monetizing it on Substack.
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If you like to gab and have a lot to say, you might love being a podcast host. Again take advantage of the experience you've gained as a therapist and choose a mental health topic that you can't shut up about. Do you work with busy moms on stress management? That could be a great topic for your podcast. Personally, I'm passionate about helping therapists break through their Good Therapist Conditioning™️ and build the private practice of their dreams. My podcast episodes offer stories, tips, and insight from myself and other therapists to help make that possible.
Once you grow your listenership, you can partner with other brands and companies to place ads on your podcast and generate ad revenue. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, ad revenue from podcasts is projected to reach a projected $4 billion dollars in the next few years. 🤯 Uhhh...yeah. There's a lot of money to be made.
And don't worry. Partnering with other companies or taking sponsorships doesn't have to be smarmy. You get to be choosy and only work with companies that align with your values. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions to make sure before making it official.
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If you're a therapist that loves connecting people with other trusted service providers or products you love, then this could be a great option for you. And it can get dangerously closer to passive income in done right. 😍
I've begun doing more of this over the years as I've built relationships with other professionals that I just love. I'd be referring people to them anyway. Why not get paid when folks sign up?!
Just remember, you cannot solicit your therapy clients. Also, you should create a secondary business that's separate from your practice for any non-therapy business matters.
Each one of these side hustles for therapists has the possibility of greatly increasing your income and even generating some passive income.
That said, the chances of success of your side hustle will rely in some part on you expanding your reach, growing your influence, and establishing yourself as a subject matter expert. Just because you create courses doesn't automatically mean people will buy them. Uploading a few YouTube videos doesn't mean companies will be knocking down your door to sponsor you.
Passive income for therapists
Passive income is truly possible. However, expect to invest some time (and possibly invest money) in building your customer base, developing your offer, and marketing it.
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These are some of the easiest products to make and perhaps the easiest to deliver. They can be purchased from your website and downloaded or delivered via email. Maybe you created a super-helpful handout that you've used with your own therapy clients. Why not monetize it?
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Use online platforms like Stanstore to host your self-led courses and receive payments without lifting a finger. Bonus: selling a class online also increases accessibility. You can reach more people without having to pack more clients into your caseload.
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Partner with brands and products you love. If you'd be recommending them anyway, you may as well earn a commission. Again, this doesn't have to feel icky. If it does, it's a sign you either need to reconsider the business you're partnering with or unpack the Good Therapist Conditioning™️ you've been spoon-fed all these years.
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If you have a podcast or a blog with high traffic, you can get paid to allow brands and companies to place ads. Remember that $4 billion we talked about earlier? There's a slice of that pie that's out there waiting for you to come grab it.
How to get rich as a therapist quickly with less responsibility
Nearly every therapist I speak with thinks they need to add more clients to make more money. But I've found that for so many therapist, fee and policy shifts can actually massiving increase their income without increasing their caseload size.
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It's that simple.
I've found that for so many therapists, fee and policy shifts can actually massively increase their income without increasing their caseload size. Take a private practice therapist in Santa Barbara, California. In our first month of working together this therapist had 14 clients and generated $4,275 in revenue. At the end of working together she still had 14 clients but generated $8,710 in revenue. (this stat may actually change bc we still have a few months of working together.) Some of this change occured through getting more clear on her niche, nailing her messaging, modernizing her website, and building a social media presence, therefore attracting new clients. But much of it occurred through updating policies and fees with current clients! Not only that, but this therapists courage and curious attitude toward online marketing created the opportunity to add another revenue stream through one on one and group coaching. With the the addition of group and passive offers, this therapist now has the ability to infinitely increase her income while keeping her direct client service hours at a manageable level.
But I've found that for so many therapist, fee and policy shifts can actually massiving increase their income without increasing their caseload size. Take a private practice therapist in Santa Barbara, California. In our first month of working together this therapist had 14 clients and generated $4,275 in revenue. At the end of working together she still had 14 clients but generated $8,710 in revenue. (this stat may actually change bc we still have a few months of working together.) Some of this change occured through getting more clear on her niche, nailing her messaging, modernizing her website, and building a social media presence, therefore attracting new clients. But much of it occurred through updating policies and fees with current clients! Not only that, but this therapists courage and curious attitude toward online marketing created the opportunity to add another revenue stream through one on one and group coaching. With the the addition of group and passive offers, this therapist now has the ability to infinitely increase her income while keeping her direct client service hours at a manageable level.
Other clients have generated additional revenue through in person and online workshop, therapy intensives, KAP sessions, and DEI facilitation contracts. One of the wonderful things about being a therapist is finding creative ways to use our skill set. It's a win win creating more money and more variety in our careers.
It's about working smarter, not harder to leverage your expertise and experience to make extra money. A lot of things will make you extra money but require time and energy that you don't have (or want to spend on working). In this section, I'm going to be sharing my tips to make money without adding another full-time job.
Increase your private practice income
Are you making the most of your therapy practice? With a couple of targeted adjustments, you can earn more money without increasing client sessions.
A limited cancellation policy will immediately boost income while decreasing no-shows and reducing the time you spend scheduling clients. It is a total game-changer.
If you're still charging your "I'm afraid to talk to clients about money" rate, then it's time to reassess. You may be due for a fee increase! As a licensed therapist, you can earn $200 or more per session. Take the leap and claim your worth. Remember, you have thousands upon thousands of hours of professional experience. You deserve financial security.
There's only so much one-on-one counseling you can do in any given week. With these two policy tweaks, you'll make the most out of your therapy practice without overworking. Plus, you'll have time to pursue other money-making opportunities.
Check out this post for guidance on what to charge and my tool, the Magic Sheets, to see how a fee increase would impact your monthly income.
P.S. If you have a physical office space but aren't using it all the time, rent it during the days and hours you aren't seeing clients! Free money baby! 🤑
Scale your mental health services
By scaling your private practice, you can serve more clients. This increases your ability to earn money.
Offer group therapy sessions in place of individual client sessions to generate extra income. A group of six clients paying $100 per person will generate $600 per group session! Even with the extra time it takes to write notes, offering group therapy sessions could be worth your time.
If you have the capacity and a steady stream of referrals, you could be well-positioned to start a group practice. Your business will become more complex and new expenses will come into play, but if done correctly you could easily earn extra money (more than $100,000 per year).
Book speaking engagements
Public speaking engagements have some of the highest hourly rates. Sought-after speakers can command $2,000 to $5,000 (or more) per event sometimes with as little as a 1-hour time commitment.
If this is something you're interested in, start by establishing yourself as a subject matter expert in the public. Leverage your experience in the field and hone in on some mental health topics you already know a lot about. You can build a following on social media platforms, create a YouTube channel, start a podcast, or get featured in publications using HARO.
Know that this will be a time commitment but if you love speaking and sharing your knowledge about mental health with the world, this could be a great fit for you.
Be famous 😉
I debated including this section because building your influence takes a lot of time and effort. It doesn't happen overnight except for the lucky few.
But I decided to add it because once you have it, it will make everything else you do (getting sponsorships, speaking engagements, book deals, or selling out your course) so much easier. The effort you put into building your influence now and becoming a recognized leader will be a huge time saver in the future. Share what you know, get yourself out there, and push your visibility edges.
Earning money by leveraging your mental health background can be fun, and rewarding, and it can add variety to your professional life. If you're a multi-passionate therapist, the good news is that there are more opportunities now than ever to expand beyond the traditional therapy practice.
It’s time to prioritize your financial well-being as a private practice therapist. I can help.
At first, it may feel a little weird to be so "business-y" as a therapist. After all, you probably didn't get into the mental health field thinking you'd become an entrepreneur. Good Therapist Conditioning™️ tells us if we even think about money, it must mean we don't care about our clients.
You and I know that isn't true, but that doesn't make this easy.
This is exactly where business coaching can be so helpful—especially with someone who's been right where you are!
The entrepreneurial therapists I work with nearly all have some secondary revenue stream outside of their therapy practice. They host monthly workshops, speak at local schools, facilitate DEI workshops at law firms, and run online programs. I've helped therapists craft killer marketing plans that they're proud of, land contracts worth $10k, and grow group practices that fund maternity leave.
If you're ready to get started with business coaching, check out the Work With Me section on my website. I offer a variety of different services to best meet your budget and needs. Not sure whether my signature Liberated Business program, one-on-one coaching, day-long coaching intensive (hello, CEO day!), or business retreat is right for you? Let's talk. Book a free call with me here.
