Overview

Private Psychology Practice is booming in Australia. 75% of psychologists report that they are in some type of private practice as part of their work role. The advice as to how to manage clinical governance, digital health, practice management, business performance and clinical standards is limited. Psychologists report that they struggle to identify the critical elements to establishing and growing a practice.

This 5-part series of webinars tackles the fundamentals of contemporary private practice and also forecast what is required to succeed in private practice in the post-pandemic world. 

1. The future is mental health: Getting on the front foot:

Looks at the forces of change and key challenges for private psychology practice.

2. Choices: Finding out what is right for your private practice:

​Examines business planning, leadership, digital health initiatives.

3. Compliance and governance: What do you need to know to be in front?: 

Reveals the clinical and business governance that will support your practice. 

4. Supporting your workforce and maximising client engagement and outcomes:

Looks at various models for private practices and that maximise market share.

5. Dealing with common dilemmas in private practice: 

Focuses on solving common issues face by private practitioners.

Level of learning

Intermediate. This activity is targeted to those who have some previous learning on the topic.

Duration of acccess

Access to these activities is for 12 months from the date of confirmed registration.

APS CPD-Approved

This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality.

Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process

CPD Frequently Asked Questions

Refer to the APS CPD Frequently Asked Questions for general and technical information when undertaking APS Professional development activities.

Activity details

• On-demand webinar recording

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of each relevant activity, participants should be able to:

1. The future is mental health: Getting on the front foot: 

• discuss the health care outlook,

• analyse and utilise the advances in technology and demand for services to your advantage—what does an agile practice need to thrive?, and

• recognise the role of data, strategy, and reporting systems to drive change and improvement.

2. Choices: Finding out what is right for your private practice: 

• recognise the importance of culture and leadership and a clear vision,

• discuss the automisation and optimisation of systems such as practice management systems, back-office processes, and applications, and

• construct a business case and effectively implement it.

3. Compliance and governance: What do you need to know to be in front?: 

• develop a checklist of the minimum practice standards required for clinical governance and financial sustainability,

• develop template policies and procedures and understanding what is right for your practice, and

• manage performance: Dealing with business risks and client risk management.

4: Supporting your workforce and maximising client engagement and outcomes: 

• niche practices: how to decide who you want to see and its sustainability,

• discuss reliance on Medicare and other third-party payers, and

• discuss virtual administration, no administration, reception services and full service administration.

5: Dealing with common dilemmas in private practice: 

• discuss the thorny issues: Recruitment and retention of staff, wait lists, cancellation fees, employee v contractors, scaling up—pros and cons to consider, and

• knowing when to ask for help: advisors, consultants and other help—what’s reasonable and what is critical to future growth.

Presenter(s)

Kaye Frankcom FAPS and Dr Aaron Frost FAPS

About the presenter(s)

​Kaye Frankcom GAICD, B.A, B.S.W, Grad Dip. Counselling. Psych., Master Clinical Psychology, Master of Science in Medicine (Pain Management). Kaye is a highly accomplished businesswoman, and leader in the health sector. She is an endorsed clinical and counselling psychologist, consultant and business coach to psychologists, in-demand speaker and trainer and has held national roles in psychology regulation, training, and professional standards. She built a successful group psychology practice in Williamstown, Victoria which she sold in 2018. She was the lead author of Fit for Practice: Everything you wanted to know about starting your own psychology practice in Australia but were afraid to ask (published November 2016). She was the author of the APS Private Practice Management Standards (3rd edition, 2018).  She is an approved supervisor with the PsyBA.  She is the independent Chair of the Professional Psychology Programs Advisory Board of Deakin University. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology (Deakin University.
Aaron Frost Bachelor of Psychology (Hons), PhD in Clinical Psychology, Associate of ICCE, AHPRA approved Supervisor. Aaron is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Benchmark Psychology in Brisbane. For the past 10 years Aaron has been collecting data on his effectiveness as a therapist in order to improve his own performance. The improvements he has been able to measure inspired him to start Benchmark Psychology as an outcome informed practice on the southside of Brisbane where evidence based therapies are delivered to clients, and where psychologists can be actively involved in measuring and improving their performance. Aaron is a STAP accredited supervisor and has trained over 500 psychologists nationally in the practice of professional and peer supervision as a consultant for STAP. Aaron is also a sought-after Brisbane based speaker and runs training workshops on topics including parenting, personality disorders, and schizophrenia. He brings the same commitment to quality assurance to training as to his clinical work, and consistently receives excellent reviews from his training workshops from psychologists and other health professionals.