March Presentation Summary
Create and Sustain a Successful Private Practice Career
Lynne Azpeitia, MFT and AAMFT Approved Supervisor
Joint Meeting of SVC-CAMFT and Sacramento Networking District AAMFT
Lynne Azpeitia is a licensed MFT and Approved AAMFT Supervisor. She trained at the California Family Study Center, where she received her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. Lynne worked with Virginia Satir, which was evident in her experiential style of teaching. Her practice in Santa Monica, CA includes psychotherapy, coaching and work with gifted adults. Lynn brought energy and personality to her presentation. She held our attention while challenging us to envision our ideal careers and practices.
She provided us with a booklet of “Practical & Cost Effective Tools and Approaches”. This was a helpful guide, containing an outline of much of the material that was covered in the presentation. It also provided a resource to be used as we continue to plan strategies to design our own practices.
The following are some of the areas covered
*5 Main Tools to Develop Your Private Practice: Your Introduction – How you introduce yourself Your Business Card – including email
Your Contacts – you Rolodex
Your Website or Webpage
Listings on Web Directories
*The Success Star:
Skills, Expertise & Training
Personal & Professional Reputation
Referral Sources & Contacts
Personal Presence, Awareness, Growth, Consciousness, Vision & Creativity Self Care & Development of Personal Resources
Business Practices – Therapeutic and Business
She addressed the needs of each of the various levels of professional status, i.e. trainees/interns, newly licensed and experienced therapists. Although the emphasis was on private practice development, Lynne also generalized some of the material for agency work. Individual and small group exercises helped participants evaluate their values and vision of their ideal practice, including the type of clients, setting, as well as their roles. It was an informative and thought provoking presentation that left us with the tools and information to revamp an existing private practice or start a new business.
Submitted by Eva Tak, MFT
This article was first published in the Sacramento Valley CAMFT Chapter April 2011 Newsletter.