Define Your Niche - an exercise!

Defining your niche or determining who you want to be working with in your private practice is an essential step to building the private practice that meets your needs. Here is an exercise to help you narrow your client demographic and get clear on who you want to focus on -

Look at your caseload for the next week or two. As you look over the scheduled sessions, I want you to notice which clients you are most excited to work with. Why are you excited to work with them? Is the reason they are presenting for therapy why you are looking forward to the work? Is it their age? Note which cases you feel most energized for and ask yourself why.

Once you have notated which cases you are most looking forward to - see if you can identify a pattern. Maybe you really enjoy seeing women in their thirties with small children. Maybe you feel a sense of fulfillment working with clients who are navigating grief. If you feel conflicted and feel excited to see everyone - then take the reverse strategy, and notice which cases you are not looking forward to. Ask yourself why you aren’t looking forward to working with that particular client / case.

Once you have determined your preferred client, do a writing exercise and write about what it is like to work with your ideal client. What sort of things do they struggle with? What things do they say to you? Do they appreciate your validation? Do they appreciate that you understand them? Let your mind wander and really get a good understanding of who these people are and why they work well with you.

Congrats! You’ve narrowed down your niche. Next, we will work on crafting your website and psychology today to attract more of those ideal clients for you to work with.