HEIDI STURGEON: HOW I LAUNCHED AND GREW MY CANADIAN PRIVATE PRACTICE | EP 31

Launching an online practice

Heidi launched her private practice into the digital space after she resigned from her government job in 2015. Way ahead of the curve, Heidi decided to have this feature in her Canadian private practice to make it more client-focused and accessible. 

There are often barriers to clients accessing therapy due to transportation issues or finding affordable child-care services to take care of their families while they seek professional counselling. 

‘[Noticing] some of the concerns I had seen clients dealing with over the years, I felt that being able to access services from their location of choice would be more client-focused for them.’ – Heidi Sturgeon  

More than that, Heidi wanted to work from a home office space and have more control over her schedule, and building a Canadian online private practice helped her to achieve those goals. 

‘It seemed that an online practice would fit what I wanted to do, where it could be very meaningful work [while] also [meeting] my personal needs too.’ – Heidi Sturgeon 

Allow flexibility and change 

For any Canadian therapist on their private practice journey, Heidi’s advice is to have a plan in mind and to work towards your goals but to also allow some flexibility. 

There will be changes and shifts that happen in your business and life and practicing being flexible and open-minded will help you to more easily overcome those challenges. 

‘For anyone launching a private practice just [know that even though] you envision it from day one, that it’s okay if things change along the way.’ – Heidi Sturgeon 

Unexpected things may happen that steer your Canadian private practice in a new direction that you never even considered, and it may work out better than you had imagined! So work with a goal in mind but also learn to adapt to what can change, and be open-minded to new directions.

Heidi’s tips for finding clients 

Get going on building your network. Referrals can find you through any stream whether through past or current clients, or fellow therapists who need to refer other clients out. 

‘That’s the number one thing: network, network, network. As you continue in your years … the more people you meet, the better it is.’ – Julia Smith

Networking efforts can look different and range from: 

• Joining an organization for business in your community or province 
• Connecting with fellow Canadian therapists who see clients with similar pain points to yours 
• Building relationships with health practitioners that work with your clients 
• Creating authentic and relatable content on social media platforms 
• Signing up for online directories to help clients find you 

‘Having a social media presence and a website … is really important … when people are searching for therapists they go [online] because people do look at websites.’ – Heidi Sturgeon 

Do you want to hire therapists? 

There is the hustle-capitalist culture in our society that urges people to constantly push to the next level, to never stop, and to always be chasing a goal. 

If you want to grow a successful and large Canadian private practice, hiring more therapists  is key. However, is that what you want? Are you defining your work fulfillment based on the quick succession of successes, or on the quality of the work that you do with clients and colleagues? 

‘It’s a lot of work [like] the onboarding and the managing and I’m happy to do that work, but the thought of hiring on more therapists [means] a lot more work, and do I want to spend time and energy doing that type of work?’ – Julia Smith