Judd Carlton | Retirement Planning In Private Practice | TPOT 179
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
Release Date: 05/24/2021
Beyond the Diagnosis: The Stories That Shape Our Clients | Dr. Travis Heath | TPOT 454
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
What do we miss when a diagnosis becomes the whole story? Dr. Travis Heath joins Gordon Brewer to explore how narrative therapy helps us understand the stories clients tell about themselves—and the stories their families, communities, and culture tell about them. Together, they discuss how labels can both offer clarity and limit understanding, why slowing down matters in therapy, and how curiosity can open up new possibilities. Travis also shares ways therapists can reflect on their sessions, question familiar assumptions, and move beyond simply listing a client’s strengths to hearing the...
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What Growing a Group Practice Really Takes | Whitney Owens | TPOT 453
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
Growing a private practice takes more than adding clients and hiring therapists. It also means learning to delegate, trust your team, and let go of doing everything yourself. In this episode, Gordon Brewer welcomes back Whitney Owens, founder of Water’s Edge Counseling and Wise Practice Consulting. Whitney shares her journey from solo therapist to group practice owner, including the challenges of building a leadership team, navigating staff turnover, and creating systems that support growth. Gordon and Whitney explore how confidence develops through experience, why clear values matter in...
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How Therapists Can Practice What We Preach About Mindfulness | Debi Trent Brown | TPOT 452
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
Therapists spend a lot of time encouraging clients to slow down, practice mindfulness, and become more aware of what they need—but practicing those same things in our own lives can be much harder. In this episode, Gordon talks with Debi Trent Brown about mindfulness beyond meditation, the importance of creating small moments of joy, and what it means to live more authentically. They explore how the “rules” we pick up from family, culture, and society can quietly shape our choices, why pausing before we respond can help us better understand ourselves, and how consistency—not...
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How to Make More Impact Without Adding More Clients | James Marland | TPOT 451
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
What happens when being “successful” in private practice starts to look a lot like burnout? In this episode, Gordon talks with James Marland about the three traps that can keep therapists stuck in one-on-one work: the clock trap, calendar trap, and couch trap. They unpack why being fully booked isn’t always the same as being free, and how tying your income, time, and impact entirely to client hours can eventually become exhausting. James also shares practical ways therapists can begin thinking beyond traditional one-on-one work through workshops, courses, trainings, and other resources...
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Supporting Postpartum Moms Through Private Practice | Hannah Short | TPOT 450
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the work we feel most drawn to often has some connection to our own experiences. That doesn’t mean our story becomes the center of the therapy room, but it can absolutely shape the populations we care about, the problems we notice, and the kind of practice we want to build. In this episode, I talk with Hannah Short about how her own experiences with eating disorder recovery and postpartum helped shape her clinical niche. We also get into thoughtful self-disclosure, creating a practice where clients feel genuinely understood, moving from...
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Branding Your Private Practice: How to Stand Out and Get Found | Ritu Riedweg | TPOT 449
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
When therapists think about branding, it’s easy to immediately think about logos, fonts, colors, and websites. But your brand is so much more than what your practice looks like online. It is also the feeling people get when they encounter you, the story they associate with you, and ultimately, whether they feel like they can trust you. In this episode of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Ritu Riedweg about personal branding, marketing, and what therapists can do to make their practices easier to find and easier to connect with. Ritu brings an interesting...
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Working With High-Risk Teens in Private Practice | Katie K. May | TPOT 448
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
Working with high-risk teens can feel overwhelming, especially when self-harm, suicidal thoughts, emotional dysregulation, or repeated hospitalizations are part of the picture. So how can therapists provide both compassion and structure without letting fear drive the treatment? In this episode, Gordon talks with Katie K. May about working effectively with high-risk teens and their families. Katie shares why validation matters, how therapists can provide strong clinical leadership, and why caregiver involvement is such an important part of the process. They also discuss proactive safety...
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Why Rapport Matters More Than Ever in Private Practice | Nora Anger | TPOT 447
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
Building rapport isn’t just about helping clients feel comfortable. It can play a major role in whether they trust you, open up, and keep coming back. In this episode, I sit down with Nora Anger, LPC, to talk about building stronger therapeutic relationships in private practice. We discuss what clients really want from their therapists, common reasons they leave therapy, thoughtful self-disclosure, creating safety and trust, and how to balance compassion with challenging clients when they need it. Resources Mentioned In This Episode Meet Nora Anger Nora Anger, MS, LPC, is a...
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Is Your Private Practice Too Dependent on You? | TaVona Denise | TPOT 446
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
What happens to your private practice when you step away? In this episode, Gordon talks with TaVona Denise about what her Private Practice Vitality Report revealed about owner dependency, burnout, delegation, and the systems that keep a practice running. They explore why hiring more staff doesn’t always create more freedom, how to tell if your practice still depends too heavily on you, and the simple 30-day question that can uncover exactly where your systems need work. If you want to build a practice that can grow without requiring you to be involved in every decision, this conversation is...
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The Systems Your Private Practice Needs to Run Smoothly | Lisa Permar | TPOT 445
The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer
A private practice can look successful on the outside and still feel exhausting behind the scenes. Clients are showing up, revenue is coming in, and everything appears to be working, but the owner may still be answering every question, fixing every exception, following up on loose ends, and carrying far too much of the practice in their own head. In this episode, Gordon talks with Lisa Permar about the small, repeated friction points that quietly drain a practice owner’s time, attention, and energy. They explore how everyday tasks around intake, scheduling, billing, documentation, and team...
info_outlineThe sooner you start planning for retirement, the better off you're going to be in the long run. Even if it's just a tiny bit that you save towards your retirement, it's going to make a big difference! Judd Carlton is a financial advisor serving families, individuals, and businesses in Morristown, NJ. He explains the importance of thinking about retirement as soon as possible. Then, we dive into the more financial aspects of your practice. For instance, if you've got a group practice, Judd describes why you may want to create either a 401(k) for your employees or some other retirement plan within your practice. Plus, Judd reveals the differences between SEP IRA & SIMPLE IRA Plans.
Meet Judd Carlton
Judd Carlton is a financial advisor serving families, individuals, and businesses in Morristown, NJ, and beyond. He specializes in finance for business owners and mental health professionals, helping them align the finances of their practice with their long-term financial planning and investment objectives.
Judd graduated Magna Cum Laude from New York University with a BA in Economics and has an MS in Accounting from the Silberman College of Business at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also holds the CFP® and AIF ® designations.
Judd is also a husband, father of three girls, and dog dad. He posts, blogs, and makes YouTube videos on financial subjects that may be of interest to business owners, psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health group practice owners.
Think About Retirement Early
It's essential to start thinking early about retirement because, in the world of investing, time is on your side when you have a lot of it. The earlier you get started then, the better things will work out for you because of the power of compounding. Even starting five years or ten years sooner can make a huge difference. As you change and develop in your career, you might jump from an employee role to a self-employed role; then, the complication accelerates. The wise choice when it comes to investing in your retirement is to be conservative. You never want to have an issue or feel stressed about money. Once you cross those hurdles, it's good to start thinking about what's next. So that's often where Judd will offer some guidance about managing your cash flow while saving up for retirement.
How To Approach Retirement
There's a couple of ways to approach setting up the right retirement plan. First, you need to consider what kind of business structure you are working with. If you have a solo practice, saving for retirement will be a lot simpler to figure out. If you have a group practice, things are going to be more complicated. However, both will have great opportunities. A great way to start is with small and simple things. As time goes on, you can really be more methodical and look at every possibility. Hiring therapists can be challenging when there is a mental health crisis. So, you may want to offer therapists a 401(k) option as an incentive. Even as a small business, you can create a 401(k) that feels just like what a fortune 500 company might have. Later, you can start thinking about a pension plan.
SEP IRA & SIMPLE IRA Plans
Judd recommends a few different options when it comes to retirement plans. SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plan provides employers a method to make contributions to the employees' retirement and their own retirement. The SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) gives employees a way to make salary reduction contributions, and the employer makes matching or nonelective contributions. Each plan has a limit on how high you can go. SEP goes a little bit higher, and there's less flexibility with this plan – everyone is going to get the same percent. Any financial planner or accountant can help you figure out which plan is right for you and your practice.
Why You Should Consider A Roth IRA
The Roth IRA was introduced for people who are early in their career or for people who do not want to save. Some of the regular IRA plans are not that helpful when you are in a lower tax bracket. When you put money into the Roth, you don't get any deductions. However, that money is going to grow for years and years. When you take that money out, it's going to be completely income tax-free. That's going to be tremendous savings; it's a powerful tool. If you're newer to your career and you want to start saving money, Judd highly recommends starting a Roth IRA.
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Meet Gordon Brewer, MEd, LMFT
Gordon is the person behind The Practice of Therapy Podcast & Blog. He is also President and Founder of Kingsport Counseling Associates, PLLC. He is a therapist, consultant, business mentor, trainer, and writer. PLEASE Subscribe to The Practice of Therapy Podcast wherever you listen to it. Follow us on Twitter @therapistlearn, and Pinterest, “Like” us on Facebook.