WP156 | Choosing the Right Structure for your Group Practice - Live Consulting with Brittany Osborne, MA, LPC
Have you ever wondered what the right structure for your group practice should be?
Should you hire employees or contractors? Or could a collective model be the best fit for your vision?
In this week’s episode, I sit down for a live consulting session with Brittany Osborne, MA, LPC, to explore these questions and help her map out the next phase of her practice. Brittany is a therapist in Marietta, Georgia, who specializes in helping kids, teens, and adults navigate ADHD, anxiety, and OCD. After years of balancing motherhood and solo private practice, she’s ready to expand her impact by building a team that offers comprehensive, compassionate care for families.
Together, we talk through what that could look like—from choosing the right structure to setting up systems for supervision and collaboration that align with her long-term goals.
Starting with Vision and Purpose
What I loved most about this conversation is how Brittany’s “why” came through so clearly. She shared how her youngest daughter’s food allergy diagnosis opened her eyes to what it feels like to find comfort, clarity, and care through a specialized clinic. That experience became a model for what she wants to offer in her own practice—a place where families facing ADHD, anxiety, or OCD can feel seen, guided, and supported.
As I reminded Brittany, holding on to that why is crucial when building a group practice. Growing a team is one of the hardest and most rewarding things you’ll ever do. Your mission keeps you grounded when the logistics get complicated.
1099 vs. W2: Finding the Right Fit
One of the biggest questions I hear from practice owners is whether to hire independent contractors (1099s) or employees (W2s). Each model comes with its own pros and cons, and the right fit depends on your goals, level of oversight, and desired culture.
Here’s how I explained it to Brittany:
The 1099 Model works well when you’re bringing in specialists—like an OT or a coach—who operate independently, manage their own schedules, and use their own systems. It’s less oversight for you, but you also have less control and team cohesion.
The W2 Model is ideal when you want to shape your practice culture, oversee quality of care, and provide benefits. It allows for a stronger sense of community and long-term stability within your team.
I also shared from my own experience: when I shifted my group from 1099s to W2 employees, it completely transformed the culture. We became more connected, turnover dropped, and our profit margins actually improved. It gave me the chance to build the kind of supportive workplace I wished I’d had earlier in my career.
The Collective Model
Brittany was also intrigued by the idea of a collective—a space where multiple practitioners share an office, cross-refer, and collaborate while running their own independent businesses. I’ve seen this model work beautifully, especially when you have a mix of modalities or when you’re not ready to take on the full responsibility of employing others.
A collective can offer flexibility and connection without the administrative complexity of payroll and benefits. However, I explained that it’s most financially viable if you own your building or combine it with a group practice component. It’s a great way to start building community while keeping your structure simple.
Key Takeaways from Our Conversation
As we talked, a few big takeaways emerged—insights I believe will help anyone considering a group practice:
Lay a strong foundation. Make sure your business structure, name, and systems can grow with you.
If you’re going to change something, do it early. Adjust before your team grows—it’s much easier.
Hire a clinical supervisor early. Especially if you plan to bring on associates; it lightens your load and ensures quality care.
Plan for four to five therapists. That’s the sweet spot where you’ll start seeing real financial and time freedom.
Culture is everything. Structure matters—but community, connection, and shared purpose are what keep great people around.
The Value of Community
Brittany has been part of the Wise Practice Membership, and I loved hearing how the community has supported her. She shared that having one trusted place to turn for business guidance and faith-based encouragement has been invaluable.
And that’s exactly why I created the Wise Practice Membership—to give faith-based practice owners a place where they can learn, grow, and connect without feeling alone. Inside the community, you’ll find live trainings, expert Q&As, accountability groups, and practical tools to help you grow your practice with confidence.
If you’ve been thinking about joining, now is the perfect time! From November 12–14, you can try your first month for just $0.89. That’s less than a dollar to see how transformative it can be to have a community walking alongside you as you grow.
Brittany Osborne’s Resources
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Hi, I am Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice.
While also having a good time. Now let's get started.
[00:00:29] Jingle: Where she grows your practice. She don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice
[00:00:43] Whitney Owens: Podcast.
Hello friends. Welcome back to The Wise Practice Podcast. I am thrilled to have you here. So over the next few weeks, we're gonna be doing something really fun with the podcast. We've already kind of been doing a little bit of it, but just some live consulting with practice owners. We are gonna answer your burning questions surrounding private practice.
That could be from everything to being a solo practice owner, to a group practice owner, and all that's in between With that from money. To managing team members to doing branding mission values. We're covering it all. So we're gonna be bringing this to you, live consulting here on the podcast, and I brought in a few different people from the Wise Practice membership community to share their experiences, their stories, and ask their questions.
And speaking of the Wise Practice community, I want to let you in on a very limited time opportunity. As you know, in the past when I've had the Wise Practice membership community, I've only opened the doors during certain times of the year, and even though that's great, I started feeling like I want y'all to join anytime.
So now you can join the Wise Practice community anytime, but over the next few weeks, I'm gonna be sharing a lot more with you about what that is and what it looks like. But because I love this community so much and I want as many faith-based practice centers to be involved, I'm offering a special deal.
From November 12th to 14th, we are gonna open the doors for only 89 cents For your first month. Yes. You heard me? 89 cents. For your first month, this is gonna give you the opportunity to understand the community, see the ins and outs before you have to make more of a commitment to it. So for less than a dollar, you get to try it out inside the community.
We have weekly live teachings on topics related to private practice. I personally teach those along with the rest of the consultants at Wise Practice. So whether you're just starting out or you're scaling your group, we have everything here for you. We have expert guests live q and a sessions, small group meetups for encouragement.
We have accountability groups every other week with people. In your same phase of practice, we have paperwork that you can grow, go in and access, and that's everything from handbooks to interviewing to disclosure statements. And all that in between. So you can grab that, edit it for your own practice. But the most important thing that I think as part of the community is it's a space where other Christian practice owners gather and support each other.
You no longer have to feel alone as a faith-based practice owner. So if you're listening to this podcast. That tells me that you love the content that I bring. You love learning about growing your faith-based practice. I can tell you you're gonna love being a part of the Wise Practice membership community.
You will get deeper connection, accountability, and practical steps to help you grow your practice. You don't have to do it alone. So the Wise Practice community is where you're gonna be supported, challenged, and encouraged as a practice owner and follower of Christ. So remember. Mark your calendar November 12th through the 14th, only 89 cents for your first month.
I would be thrilled for you to join and I would be seeing you live during our Zoom meetings, so I think that's so much fun. So we have a wise practice member here with us today. It is Brittany Osborne. And her question for the podcast is about the structure of your group practice and the different ways we can do a group practice.
So if you've ever considered even a little bit of what would a group practice look like and you're not really sure, there are so many different ways to set that up. So make sure that you stay tuned 'cause we're gonna jump right in with the different ways to set up a group practice.
Well, welcome back to the Wise Practice Podcast and we'll be doing some live coaching consulting today. Excited to introduce you to Brittany Osborne. She specializes in helping kids, teens, adults navigate A DHD, anxiety and OCD with practical tools, compassionate care. At her practice based in Marietta, Georgia.
Brittany works with clients ages eight and up to improve emotional regulation, build healthy systems at home, and reduce the overwhelm that keeps them stuck. She also offers workshops and group programs to create connection and growth outside of the traditional one-on-one session, and helps to grow into hope and hopes to grow.
I apologize there into a known and trusted provider in the area. Brittany, thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. I am excited. Yeah. Well, why don't we kind of start out with you, Sharon, a little bit more about yourself. How long have you had your practice? And tell us a little bit about your family, just so we kind of get to know you a little more.
[00:05:28] Brittany Osborne: Yeah. Well, I am, um. Marietta, I have my practice I've been working at for maybe three and a half years. I was at a group practice before that, community mental health before that. So I've kind of, I feel like I've done a lot before settling into private practice. Outside of that, I have three girls, so I'm a girl mom.
I like cooking. For them and everybody. Aw. I like reading all that stuff. So, but my kids are younger, so I am also kind of in the little kid years. Yeah. What ages are they? Two, five and eight. Woo.
[00:06:10] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Mine are nine and 12. So there is, there's a different season coming for, for the better and the worse.
Right, right. So, great. What do you like to cook? Your
[00:06:20] Brittany Osborne: favorites. I like to cook like for a crowd, like my favorite thing is like to cook for a lot of people and like have people in my kitchen.
[00:06:30] Whitney Owens: It's one of my favorite things. Well, I'll call you when I'm in Marietta. I'll bring all my friends. Yeah, there you go.
That's great. Okay, awesome. So what's your question for me today?
[00:06:42] Brittany Osborne: Okay. So, you know, mentioning my kids, I feel like we are ending the season of having kids, which was about an eight year season of me either building up my caseload to go on maternity or. Weaning off my caseload to go on maternity leave or building it back up.
And I feel like I just was in that rhythm for about eight years, and now I feel like I can look ahead and make my business what I actually want it to be instead of what I need it to be.
[00:07:14] Whitney Owens: Hmm.
[00:07:15] Brittany Osborne: Um, so. A little bit of backstory. The baby, my youngest, she, when she was about six months old, we figured out she had food allergies, um, allergic to peanuts and eggs, and of course it's like terrifying, right?
Figuring that out. And then also the trajectory of like, what do I do? What does this mean? What am I like? Just it was so confusing. And then the internet tells you like. A million different things that are all conflicting on what to do and where to go. Should you expose them to peanuts? Should you avoid the peanuts?
Should you do shots? Should you have a special diet? It was so confusing and overwhelming, and I found the specialty food allergy clinic that. Was so wonderful. They had like many, they had like nurses and doctors and they did research and I found so much comfort going there. 'cause I'm just like, I felt taken care of.
I knew that they would know the answers to my questions and that we would just be taken care of and it was. Kind of an aha moment for me. 'cause I'm like, I want to do this for other people. You know, like getting diagnoses of like A DHD or like, I know my kid has anxiety, or I'm just now realizing that my whole life, all these patterns are actually OCD can be really terrifying and overwhelming.
And if you Google it, like it doesn't help. I feel like it's e even more overwhelming and terrifying sometimes. So I think my question is, is. How do I go about this? 'cause I'm realizing as a solo practitioner, I can't provide those, all those services myself. I really want a team to be able to build this service for people and families.
So setting up my business for hiring therapists, but also coaches and maybe like ot, which would be another therapist or other modalities that would kind of help. Create this business model that I'm looking at.
[00:09:24] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Sure. Loaded question. Um, but a good one. So I love, first of all, your story of what it means to you, so thank you for sharing that and, and you will be holding onto that as you grow your practice.
Growing a group practice is one of the hardest things you'll do. I've now learned that I need to say that every single time because it's really difficult, but it definitely can be done. And I've seen lots of people do it lots of different ways. So I think a big part of it is you've already set up your practice with some of the main components.
So you are already ahead, like you already have an LLC, right?
[00:09:59] Brittany Osborne: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:00] Whitney Owens: Yes. You already have a account for your banking connected to your LLC. And you already have a space, you know, you already have liability insurance, so you already have some things in place. So that's really great. Also, making sure that the name of your practice is something that you can grow with.
Mm-hmm. And when you make changes and start something, first of all, try to set a really good foundation so that you don't have to change things along the way. Mm-hmm. But also, it's okay to change things along the way. But if you're gonna change something, change it sooner rather than later. Because once you start hiring, now you're changing it for other people and it gets more complicated.
[00:10:39] Brittany Osborne: Right.
[00:10:39] Whitney Owens: So what is the name of your practice? It's Oakleaf Counseling Services. Okay. I love it. It's beautiful. Um, so when you think about your vision of what it would look like, do you feel like Oak Leaf Counseling Services encompasses what you're doing?
[00:10:57] Brittany Osborne: I feel like it can, like initially I chose that name and not my own name because I wanted to leave room for growing and doing other services that would be counseling that maybe not, might not be specifically therapy.
Mm-hmm. Um, so I think I could make it work. Yeah. Maybe with a good tagline too.
[00:11:19] Whitney Owens: Definitely I, I think you can too. And you know, along the way you could always update it to something very similar. It could be Oak Leaf Wellness, or Oak Leaf, you know, services or whatever it's gonna be. Mm-hmm. Okay. That's all really great.
So then we're looking at the differences between a 10 99 and W2 in which you set it up as, and I could see this going lots of ways when we can kind of dive into this. In, in the state of Georgia, there are some rules surrounding who you can employ with different modalities. So, for example, I cannot hire a medication provider to work at my practice as a W2 employee because the owner does not have the ability to write scripts.
So if I were to, and I, I got this from the medical board now, this was years ago, but. So, 'cause I was looking at hiring a psychiatrist. Mm-hmm. So he said, unless you're gonna get the psychiatrist at least 50% of your business, you cannot employ someone to prescribe meds. Okay. I don't know how that works for other modalities like OT or things like that.
You'd have to ask, but to me it just makes more sense with these additional modalities to be a 10 99 based model. Because you're hiring them to come in to provide a service for the people at your practice. So it would make a lot of sense if you had an OT person come in two days a week to provide OT for your clients, but then they worked somewhere else part-time, you know, where they're providing contract work.
Mm-hmm. So it's something to think about. Yeah. Um, now with your, with your therapists, I think you could consider either model. We can kind of walk through what each one looks like and which one might be the best fit for you is, would that be helpful?
[00:13:11] Brittany Osborne: Yeah, I think so. Is there, and we might answer this in a minute, but is it, would it be weird to have both W2 employees and 10 99?
Most of the things for myself,
[00:13:26] Whitney Owens: yeah. And you can ask an accountant about that most of the time I would say yes. But you're, you're providing something totally different. So your W twos, if you were to go with W2 therapist, they would be employed by the business, working full-time, that kind of a thing. And you are overtly supervising.
I mean, you're supervising them. And I don't mean clinically, I mean overseeing their work as a. Director, and that's your modality. So that would make some sense that you would treat them like employees. You're telling 'em directly what to do, how to do their work. But with an ot, you don't have experience in that.
You don't understand it. I mean, you do, but you don't. And so it's not like you're gonna be telling them how to do their job. You're gonna say, Hey, I've got these clients I wanna refer to you. Can you come in and offer this work? And they would come use your space and offer that work. So that's a little bit more of a traditional 10 99 model.
The thing that gets confusing, I think, is that a lot of therapists hire 10 90 nines to work at their practice, but they treat 'em like W twos, so then it's like, well, what's going on? What's going on here? 10 90 nines tend to work at different places. Just like when you hire a painter to paint at your house, they have the expertise of painting.
They bring all their own stuff to paint. It's like you don't know what kind of EHR they would need. You know, like they're gonna have their own way that they do their notes. You're not gonna look at those notes, but with your therapists, you know exactly what they need and you're gonna be looking at their notes, making sure they're doing good clinical work.
You know, or maybe you have a supervisor that would be doing that, a clinical supervisor. So they're, they're kind of two different things. So like, your painter comes to your house, they bring their own paint, they bring their own ladder, they come whenever they wanna come and you say, Hey, you're the expert at painting this house.
I can't do it. And they come in and do it. Does that make sense?
[00:15:18] Brittany Osborne: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. So it would make sense to even separate those two because they're completely different services of like an OT or a coach. I would probably, I would treat them differently no matter what, because, yeah. Not my
[00:15:33] Whitney Owens: modality.
Correct. Another thing you could consider is more like a collective, so maybe Oak Leaf Counseling Services is a, is a its own entity. And maybe one day you own a building and you own the whole thing and you've got 10 offices and maybe five therapists are there seeing clients using half the space. And then you rent out the other offices to other people with different specialties, modalities.
They have their own business. They rent their own space and do their own thing, and they just pay you for the space if you wanted to have it completely separate.
[00:16:12] Brittany Osborne: So would like do, would they like select, like referrals and all of that would not be through Oakleaf?
[00:16:21] Whitney Owens: Correct.
[00:16:21] Brittany Osborne: Okay.
[00:16:22] Whitney Owens: They'd get their own referrals to do their own thing.
And when I, and one of the reasons, now this is a little bit different, but I've always leaned that way because. I've been looking to hire someone for medication.
[00:16:36] Brittany Osborne: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:36] Whitney Owens: And you, and you know, there's some rules about you can't refer someone to someone and get a kickback for it.
[00:16:44] Brittany Osborne: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:44] Whitney Owens: That's like an unethical practice.
So if you really thought about it, if I were to have a medication provider come in and I hire them as a 10 99, and let's say I get a six, you know, it's a 60 40 split. I technically am making something off of referring to that person. Yeah. Does that make, yeah. Mm-hmm. So do I think that someone's gonna come after me?
Probably not. And it probably would be okay, but to me, I just don't even wanna get close to that and especially 'cause they're doing a practice. That's totally not what I do anyway, and I don't really have a lot of experience in understanding it. I'd rather, I feel like the safer thing is, Hey, you pay me this rent.
And you have this space. Now, naturally we are gonna cross refer 'cause we're in the same office and we want to care well for people. So you technically could give it a name and call it a collective. And it's not necessarily a, a organized business entity, it's just kind of, you know, we are this. Mm-hmm.
Like, you know, this in this community.
[00:17:49] Brittany Osborne: Okay. So it would basically be like. A landlord kind of person, but you are creating a, a little world of people that you want to be there.
[00:18:04] Whitney Owens: That's right. That's right. And you see people do this in private practice. Like they, they go out and buy an office space of five offices and then they just say, Hey, any therapists wanna rent here?
Therapists make their own businesses. They go rent the space, and then they all just refer to one another and get help. And that's actually how I started. I was out in Colorado and we call it ourselves, mountain View, but we weren't really technically a business. And we did create a website that was like Mountain View Counseling, but we all had our own LLCs and we just shared space and were cross referred.
There were about five of us.
[00:18:39] Brittany Osborne: Okay.
[00:18:40] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So is there any downside to that? Well, you don't make money. I mean, you make some money, right? At least you're renting out your space and, and, and look investing in real estate. That's it. That's a good idea. It's something that you'll have in retirement and everything.
Um, and they're paying off your rent, you know, they're paying your mortgage, so that's really great. Yeah. Um, they will refer back and forth to you, but some people don't like that because they don't get a kickback. Yeah. You know what I mean? They're not making a financial benefit and they're tech, and I guess you're giving them clients and they're finding out about it through you, but mm-hmm.
Um, I think it's the easier way to do it. Sounds like tax wise,
[00:19:22] Brittany Osborne: uh, it would be more simple.
[00:19:25] Whitney Owens: Yep, definitely. It's definitely the simpler way to do things than Okay. I mean, with 10 90 nines you have to create contracts, have attorneys review those. Um, you know, we have some of that in wise practice, but especially if you were to do a contract with someone that has a entity or a organizations very different than what you do, you'd have to specialize it to each one.
Mm-hmm. And that's kind of complicated. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Makes sense. Mm-hmm. All right, so then when we go back to your, you hiring therapists and looking at what you want, looking at the different models is really important. And I think, uh, the model that you choose can also indicate. Your branding, your purpose, your mission, you know?
Mm-hmm. So a 10 99 model, like I said, you're hiring another business. So this person would have the, the therapist needs to have their own LLC mm-hmm. And their own liability insurance, their own things. And they come into your office and provide a counseling service to the clients that you give to them.
So you're referring the clients to them. Um, and usually there's some kind of split that's involved there. 60 40 is pretty standard. Some people will do 50 50. If you're doing 70 30, you're losing money. Don't do it. Okay. And you have less say over the work they do. Like, you know, you can't say, use this kind of treatment, or I recommend that you tell the client this.
Like, no, that's, they get to decide how they're gonna do their treatment. They technically decide when they come to work, what they wear to work. Just like the painter decides, I'm gonna show up at your house at 10 o'clock on Tuesday. You have to be okay with that, you know? Mm-hmm. Now, because you have office space, it's only available at certain times.
I think you certainly can say, here's your. Here's your block of time, you know? Mm-hmm. But they get to decide when they see clients during that time. Okay. Yeah. Um, so it's a little bit more independence. Now, that also being said, a lot of people will say to me, well, I don't wanna do a W2 because I have to have too much oversight, and I want them to be more independent.
I wanna manage them. You can create a WW practice in such a way that you're not constantly managing your team. You know, and people will say, I don't wanna deal with all my time being sucked up by that. Again, as you grow, you set up a leadership structure so that the other people are managing the team, you know?
Mm-hmm. So anyway, a W2 practice, you employ them, you tell them when to come to work, you know, you tell them what the policies of your practice are, the procedures of how you do things. And they come in and they do the work and they leave you provide the oversight that they need to do their work. So yes, you have more control and structure in your, in your place of work.
I started as a 10 99 model because that's what everybody else was doing. That's what my coach was doing, and I didn't know anything else. And once that started, I realized that we were not as connected as I wanted to be. Like everybody was kind of doing their own thing and didn't wanna share things. You know, this is my own business and so I didn't like that.
Also, you can't force people to do things as a 10 99. So, and I know that sounded kind of bad to say force, but I, I wanted everyone to come to staff meeting. It's important to me that we. Spending time together every other week, talking through what's going on in the practice, encouraging each other that building that community.
You can't make a 10 99 do that, and so I was not enjoying that aspect of it. I also realized that as a private practice owner, I wished that there had been a place to have health insurance and retirement and all those things. Well, you can't offer that as a 10 99 practice, and so I wanted to have a place that was more community focused and longevity of therapists and being able to take time off and get paid for it, because that's what I hated about running a private practice is you take that time off and you're stressed of being off because you're not making any money.
So now I have a group practice where not only they get paid time off, which the paid time off's not as high as if they were seeing clients, but it's better in nothing. But now I can take time off and still get paid too, because I run the practice. So that's, that's a really nice gift for me. And just on as a sidebar, you do tend to see that private, I'm sorry, that, um, W2 based practices make greater income and profit margins than 10 90 nines.
[00:23:50] Brittany Osborne: I'm sure there's less
[00:23:51] Whitney Owens: turnover. Less turnover, indeed.
[00:23:54] Brittany Osborne: Yeah. So it was harder for you to kind of create the culture you wanted with 10 90 nines, and you found that a lot better in W twos. Mm-hmm.
[00:24:05] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Speaking of turnover, at the same time that was happening, a dear friend of mine in another state had a practice of about 12 to 14 therapists.
And she could not get past that number. Like every time it was like someone was leaving, someone was doing their own thing, you know? And so she made the transition around the same time I did. And I can't say exactly how many therapists she has now, but it's like 50 plus.
[00:24:28] Brittany Osborne: Mm-hmm.
[00:24:29] Whitney Owens: So she was able to start growing after that.
[00:24:32] Brittany Osborne: Yeah. Because people are looking for the benefits and the retirement. Mm-hmm. That's right. Makes sense.
[00:24:41] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So what other questions do you have based on kind of what I shared about those two models?
[00:24:48] Brittany Osborne: I think this is interesting because it seems like I can kind of do a, I do a couple different things. It doesn't have to be like just one, like just doing 10 90 nines or just doing W twos.
But if I'm wanting this to be kind of like a, a. The collective part was very intriguing and didn't ever consider that. Um, do you feel like the collective part would be financially viable if you didn't own the building? Yeah.
[00:25:22] Whitney Owens: Um, not particularly. Okay. I mean, you certainly would refer back and forth, you know, so maybe they would send some clients your way, but yeah, you're not really making any money off of them.
Yeah, it would just be you have everybody together. Mm-hmm. But if you had a group practice mm-hmm. Of therapists along with that, I could see a little more beneficial because you, you couldn't take on more clients. You know, you can only take on so many. Right, right. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Another important thing for you to just be aware of with group practice, if.
Money is a goal, which for most of us, it's at least some kind of a goal. Mm-hmm. You need to get to four to five therapists to make it very, and to make it where you're really benefiting financially. Mm-hmm. So a lot of people start a group practice and yeah, you might make something off of one or two therapists, but then they get frustrated.
They've put all this work in, I've hired these people and I don't see a difference, and they're still having to see clients. Usually you gotta get to four to five before you can start decreasing the number of clients that you see. Mm-hmm. So that, that phase of growing it and working on the business, but still having a full caseload, it, it's a lot.
Mm-hmm. It's a lot, but boy, it's so, it's so cool when you start making those transitions and you walk into your office and other therapists are seeing clients and you have greater impact. It's neat. Mm-hmm.
[00:26:52] Brittany Osborne: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I've, I've really enjoyed so much about solo private practice, but I definitely miss that part of group practice is even just having like a warm body on the other side of the wall, you know, that I know someone else is there, and even if we can't collaborate all the time, I really do miss that.
Mm-hmm. So that's a motivation too.
[00:27:14] Whitney Owens: That's great. Yeah. Well, wonderful. Any other thoughts, questions that you have about your kind of setup and what you're looking at? I don't think
[00:27:23] Brittany Osborne: so. It's a lot to think about, but it definitely is getting the, the gears running in my head about what, what the next step is.
That's great. That's great.
[00:27:34] Whitney Owens: And then in the state of Georgia, are you a clinical supervisor? No. Okay. That's, that's totally fine. Thought
[00:27:41] Brittany Osborne: about it. Thought about a lot of things, but well haven't done that.
[00:27:46] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Uh, that's okay. And, you know, you can play both roles. 'cause you know, the state of Georgia wants you to have a clinical supervisor and a director.
Mm-hmm. And you certainly can be both of those, but they frown upon it. Right. So it is actually more advantageous to you to not be a clinical supervisor. Mm-hmm. Um, and to try to hire a clinical supervisor as an early hire. Okay. Especially if you do a W2 model. Because then you'll have it in-house a 10 99.
It's a little bit easier to be like, Hey, you have to find your own outside supervision. Mm-hmm. And then they just pay for it and do that all on their own. Yeah. That makes sense. Mm-hmm. I don't
[00:28:27] Brittany Osborne: think I thought about hiring a clinical supervisor. That would make a lot of sense.
[00:28:32] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. We have, we actually have three, which is really great.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love hiring associates.
[00:28:41] Brittany Osborne: Yeah, that feels like too many hats for me. If I was the clinical director and a clinical supervisor,
[00:28:48] Whitney Owens: definitely. And I've seen people do it to start that way, but then, yeah, they usually end up getting burned out. But you can see the conflict there. It's like someone might not wanna talk about a bad clinical situation with their boss, right.
You know, so this provides that space for that. And, and for me as, as the boss, I've really appreciated having multiple inputs as about employees and how they're doing and us being able to see things from different perspectives. Um, because yes, I am spending so much of my time focused on the business side.
It's great to have someone else who's focused on the clinical and attending clinical trainings like. Our clinical director's about to attend a training on suicide prevention for two days so that she can really hone in on our suicide awareness policy.
[00:29:31] Brittany Osborne: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Just kind of spreading out, not having to do everything right.
That's right. Yeah. That's right.
[00:29:38] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. Well, what are come, so you said you're gonna be thinking a little bit more about the collective idea, thinking through some of that. Mm-hmm. Is there anything else that's a takeaway for you?
[00:29:46] Brittany Osborne: Yeah, I mean, I think the. The associates, interns, fully licensed people. I'm gonna be thinking about that too, of like the mix that would be most beneficial to me at the beginning, especially.
And then also kind of you shared about like going ahead and hire like the goal for four to five. Not like the goal for one, which is That's right. You know, you might wanna, I, there's a tendency for me to be like, all right, I'm just gonna focus on one, but. Really diving in.
[00:30:20] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Great. Well, Brittany, I know you, you've been a part of the membership community for a little while now.
Mm-hmm. Um, could you share a little bit about why the Wise Practice Membership community is important to you and what you gain from it?
[00:30:33] Brittany Osborne: Yes. It's been really, really helpful to have like one spot that I know I can go to, to really get. All kinds of information on running a business and especially, you know, the comradery I guess that you have of being faith practice, faith-based practices, you know, gives me a lot of comfort and I don't have to like weed through things in my brain, like if I'm looking on a Facebook group.
So, um, I've really enjoyed kind of just having almost the security of like, well, I'll go here if I have this question. It's been really helpful.
[00:31:09] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I've heard people say that and, and some people utilize it just for that. Just to know they have a place. And sometimes you could be like, oh, I'm paying, you know, at the time of the recording, it's $89 a month.
It's like I'm paying $89 a month for one question. But the truth is one question could save you lots of money or make you lots of money. So, yeah, but I, I appreciate that and obviously there's so much more with the resources and the courses and all that kind of stuff, um, but everybody kind of finds where they fit in and finds what works for them with their schedules, and I'm certainly really glad that you have found us.
Yes. Thank you. I, I've really enjoyed it. Wonderful. Well, thank you for your time today. Looking forward to hearing about your growth of your practice and, uh, excited to, excited for that. Awesome. Thank you.
[00:31:58] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and The Wise Practice
[00:32:13] Whitney Owens: Podcast. Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
