Any MFTs out there?

[PiscesMama24]

I'm working toward my MFT license, can I ask any of you what price range you generally charge per hour and what you consider your approximate annual salary to be? I want to find out if it's feasible to start my own private practice or if I'll need to look into an alternate source of income as well. Any ideas mamas?

[Gendenwitha]

Originally Posted by PiscesMama24

I'm working toward my MFT license, can I ask any of you what price range you generally charge per hour and what you consider your approximate annual salary to be? I want to find out if it's feasible to start my own private practice or if I'll need to look into an alternate source of income as well. Any ideas mamas?

I think you're probably looking in the wrong section. There was a discussion on MAC vs MSW over in MotheringDotCommune Forums > Parenting > Parenting Issues > Working and Student Mamas that might be where you'll find more like-mindeds. Most MFTs won't also be working at home. I'm considering remodeling to have part of the house as an office, but I'm cautious about doing so. Remember the most dangerous call a police officer gets is a domestic disturbance. For both physical and emotional health you might not want to have your practice at your home.

If you're looking for info on income, the gov't keeps track of these sorts of stats at dept of labor.

I don't know where you're at in school, but from what I've been looking at, you don't really have the option of starting out from school into private practice. Where I've looked at you need a paid or unpaid internship of x number of hours... Antioch-Seattle's site is down, but LA's said 3,000 supervised clinical hours and that sounds about right. I'm just now applying for grad school for this. Where are you at & where are you going to school or planning on going to school?

[PiscesMama24]

You're right about the issues with having a private practice in my own home. This issue was discussed many times throughout my masters program. However, the only reason I'm considering it as a possibility is because the population I would like to work with is mostly young children with aspergers or autism and I'm not sure how many domestic violence disputes would be likely to arise. That said, I would never want to put my family at risk in any way so it is something I'm looking into very thoroughly.

I go to graduate school in California. Right now I'm finished with my coursework for my Masters in Counseling Psychology. I'm just about done with my practicum hours (500) and am scheduled to take my comprehensive exam in the Fall. After that's done I will have about 2500 more hours to complete before I can sit for my licensing exam.

I always like to think ahead and plan for the future which is why I posted in the first place. I might think about re-posting in the forum you suggested though. Thanks for your input and good luck with your grad program!

[Eben'sMama]

I am an MFT and am working in private practice with another therapist who gives me lots of referrals. When I get clients on my own, I make $90-$120 an hour; when I get clients through her, I make $75 an hour, as she gets part of the fee to cover her extensive advertising and maintaining multiple offices. It works out well. She is a very experienced clinician with a high level of very specialized training and she gets tons of new clients on a regular basis--like 10-15+ calls a week! So, I do about 10-14 clinical hours of work a week, so I average about $45,000 a year, just from the referrals from her.

Starting out on your own can be difficult; many people sign up with EAPs or insurance plans and get referrals that way, but then you make more like $50-$60 an hour, which is still good money, just about half of what you would make with private paying clients.

I have known clients with PPs in their homes who have made it work well; you just have to screen people very carefully. Another thing you might think about is that when working with young children, as I have for many, many years, it is considered best practice to do home visits as much as possible, as it is easier to work with the child and the parent-child relationship in their natural environment.