29th Annual Conference
Thursday, January 7 - Sunday, January 10, 2027
Complimentary Pre-Conference: Wednesday, January 6, 2027
00
Days
:
00
Hours
:
00
Min
:
00
Sec
< Back to workshops

The Business of Mental Health: Building a Thriving Self-Pay Practice

Thursday, November 5th, 2026   10:00 AM EST -11:00 AM EST
Rivka Sidorsky, LCSW-C, CST,C-PST
$30.00 USD

The Business of Mental Health: Building a Thriving Self-Pay Practice

Please note: This workshop does not offer Social Work credits.  See Accreditation tab for credits offered.

Building a successful self-pay mental health practice requires more than clinical expertise. It requires a clear professional identity, intentional branding, effective marketing, and strong relationships with colleagues and referral sources. This course explores practical strategies for developing a distinctive practice brand, communicating your clinical expertise and value, and creating an authentic marketing presence that attracts appropriate self-pay clients.

Participants will also learn how to build and maintain professional referral networks and collaborative relationships with colleagues and other healthcare providers. The course emphasizes ethical, relationship-centered approaches to practice growth while helping clinicians create a sustainable practice that reflects their unique expertise, values, and professional goals.

About the Presenter

Rivka Sidorsky is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist Supervisor, an IAPST Certified Psychosexual Therapist, an IAPST Certified Psychosexual Supervisor, a licensed clinical social worker, a Social Work Board Certified Supervisor, a Faculty Lecturer, a published author, a Harvard University research fellowship recipient, and an experienced lecturer. She is the owner and director of a group psychotherapy practice in Silver Spring, Maryland. She teaches sex therapy on topics such as female sexual dysfunction, sexual pain, vaginismus, sexual aversion, couples sexual issues, and performing sex therapy with diverse religions and cultures. She lives in Silver Spring with her husband and their five children.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify key elements of professional branding and positioning that support the development of a distinctive and sustainable self-pay mental health practice.
  2. Describe ethical and effective marketing strategies for increasing visibility, communicating clinical expertise, and attracting appropriate self-pay clients.
  3. Develop strategies for building collaborative professional relationships and referral networks with colleagues and other healthcare providers to support practice growth and continuity of care.

Agenda:

Welcome and Speaker Introduction
Brief overview of Rivka's credentials and background, and why this topic matters for self-pay practitioners.

Learning Objectives
Overview of the three core objectives: branding and positioning, ethical marketing strategies, and collaborative referral relationships.

Defining Your Niche
Why specializing beats generalizing, how to think like your client when identifying where to find them, and setting a clear, guilt-free personal goal for your practice.

Branding and Online Presence
Color psychology in branding, building a website that speaks to the client rather than the clinician, and optimizing your Google Business presence.

Marketing That Builds Trust 
Email marketing for staying top of mind, social media strategy based on your audience, and doing strategic free or low cost work like speaking and writing.

Collaboration and Referral Networks
Building relationships with other providers who see your ideal client, coordinating care, and prioritizing collaborative referral sources over direct competitors.

Growing Revenue Beyond the Therapy Hour
Multiple streams of income, passive income models, and increasing the number of people you can serve in the same hour through groups, supervision, and teaching.

Practice Infrastructure
Insurance needs, electronic records, and knowing when to hire help instead of doing everything yourself.

Q&A and Closing 
Open floor for questions and information on business consultations and the sex therapy training program.

This workshop offers 1 Live Interactive Continuing Education Credits

This presentation is open to:
  • Social Workers
  • Professional Counselors
  • Therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Licensed Mental Health Practitioners
  • Medical Doctors and Other Health Professionals
  • Other professionals interacting with populations engaged in mental health based services
Course Level: introductory
Level of Clinician: beginner
  • New practitioners who wish to gain enhanced insight surrounding the topic
  • Experienced practitioners who seek to increase and expand fundamental knowledge surrounding the subject matter
  • Advanced practitioners seeking to review concepts and reinforce practice skills and/or access additional consultation
  • Managers seeking to broaden micro and/or macro perspectives

Participants will receive their certificate electronically upon completion of the webinar and course evaluation form.

Disability Access - If you require ADA accommodations, please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification. Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often, and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly to obtain a ruling. The grievance policy for trainings provided by NEFESH INTERNATIONAL is available here Satisfactory Completion Participants must have paid the tuition fee, logged in and out each day, attended the entire workshop, and completed an evaluation to receive a certificate (If this is a pre-recorded program, a post-test with a passing grade of 80% to receive a certificate.) Failure to log in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available. Certificates are available after satisfactory course completion by clicking here.
There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
  • This program meets the requirements for the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT certification and renewal of certification. AASECT Core Knowledge Areas: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P. May be used for Sex Therapy Area .
Refund Policy:
Full Refund until 48 hours before scheduled date.
48 hours before: full refund less $5.00 processing fee. After event no refund will be given.
*exclusions apply for reasonable need and cause.