SAMANTHA SARTY: SETTING BUSINESS BOUNDARIES TO GROW PRIVATE PRACTICE | EP 116

MEET SAMANTHA

Sam Sarty is a Registered Social Worker and Registered Nurse practicing in Dartmouth, NS, Canada – the land of the Mi’kmaq people. She specializes in working with trauma particularly in the first responder and veteran population. She is currently working in solo private practice (Following Seas Psychotherapy) after working in the public mental health system for the last decade as well as part-time work for a group practice.

Learn more about Samantha on her Psychology Today and LinkedIn profile, and private practice website.

In This Episode

• How Samantha became a social worker 
• Using Jane App for managing a business 
• Expanding the business with boundaries 
• Using social media in private practice 
• How Samantha offers sliding scale 
• Looking to the future 

How Samantha became a social worker 

‘I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial side. I remember when I was doing my application to university … for the Bachelor of Science nursing program, I had mentioned in my application that I really wanted to eventually go on to doing my nurse practitioner, and to run my own clinic that would be supportive to marginalized communities.’ – Samantha Sarty 

After completing university, Samantha pursued nursing but didn’t want to go through the traditional route, and instead completed a mental health course, and then found her passion with that type of nursing work. 

Once Samantha completed nursing school, she went onto working at the local children’s hospital before coming back to adult mental health in 2016. 

‘I’ve been doing therapy ever since then. What I came to realize is that … it did appeal to me to run my own business and have my own clinic … I think I have a rebellious side to me … I have all these ideas … So having my own clinic, policies, and having that flexibility and creativity to give people a high quality of mental health care was appealing to me, and that’s what motivated me to do my own thing.’ – Samantha Sarty 

Using Jane App for managing a business 

Samantha uses the Jane App in her private practice, and for her it’s incredibly useful and helpful. 

‘It’s great [how] it’s all in one. You can take payments, do the scheduling, do charting and documentation and everything is secure. It’s so helpful … Especially [since] I’m part time and I don’t have any admin assistants …  Jane [App] is a godsend!’ – Samantha Sarty 

Without any associates or admin assistants, Samantha does all the work in her private practice currently, from taking the calls, replying to emails, and billing.

Expanding the business with boundaries

Samantha wants to grow the business while being mindful of her own personal boundaries at the same time.

Since the business depends on her effort, she knows that it’s important to scale the business while doing it intentionally with her needs so that she doesn’t have to exchange the success of the business on a loss of her health or wealth. 

‘I’m trying to set boundaries with myself and not grow too big, too soon … I’m trying to balance everything I have going on in my life as a parent and as a partner and a friend … A big part of my self-care is engaging in my hobbies and [leisure] activities of leisure, and I want to make sure I have time for [those] as well.’ – Samantha Sarty 

Using social media in private practice 

For Samantha, it was important to use social media as a tool to spread knowledge and information instead of disinformation. Not to give her clients or audience therapy through social media, but actionable tools, awareness, and information. 

In this way, social media can become a way to not only market your Canadian private practice, but it also becomes a way to serve the community. 

‘I don’t have a background in copywriting for marketing, so I just try to be my authentic self and hope that it lands [because] I figured that it would speak to some people, and [to] some people it did.’ – Samantha Sarty 

Even though Psychology Today is currently one of her strongest referral sources that brings her the most clients, Samantha has found that word-of-mouth referrals as well as referrals from doctors have been the most successful. 

Therefore, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Use social media as a marketing tool, but still invest in connecting with your surrounding community, because personal referrals are worth their weight in gold.

How Samantha offers sliding scale 

Samantha does clinical supervision, and offers sliding scales for other therapists because she wants to help invest in the profession itself. 

‘It’s my way of trying to give back to the community, so I offer therapists a sliding scale if they’re seeking consultation to try to improve or enhance or get support in their practice, because that’s something that’s important to me.’ – Samantha Sarty

Looking to the future 

With regards to what’s up ahead, Samantha is considering the possibility of offering intensives to future clients. 

She’s found that they can be incredibly helpful to clients looking to process traumatic events, so Samantha is wanting to incorporate this into the future of her Canadian private practice. 

For listeners out there, Samantha encourages you to understand that doubt will occur but that you shouldn’t let it hold you back from working toward the goals that are calling you. 

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