211 - Building a Practice That Supports You (Not Just Your Clients)

What if the heaviest part of private practice isn't the clinical work, but everything around it?

For most therapists, burnout isn't about the sessions. It's the admin, the paperwork, the after-hours notes. You're working all the time and something feels off, but you don't have space to figure out why.

Damien Adler makes the case that a draining practice is usually a design problem, not an inevitability. And design problems can be fixed.

Damien is a registered psychologist and co-founder of Zanda, a practice management system used by tens of thousands of practitioners across more than 20 countries. He built a group private practice with his wife before turning to technology, so he's lived this himself and now sees the same patterns play out worldwide.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why your training prepared you for clinical work but not for running a business
• How "vanity metrics" like staff count and revenue pull you away from what you actually want
• Why a practice built around one key admin person is a hidden risk
• How most practice management systems can do far more than scheduling
• Where AI lightens the load, like drafting SOPs and writing clinical notes in your style
• Why you should block recurring quarterly time to work on the business, not just in it

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 186. From Burned-out Psychologist to Software Entrepreneur with Damien Adler
• Zanda Health
• Damien on LinkedIn and X
• Damien's Substack

Our Sponsors:

Alma simplifies access to high-quality, affordable mental health care by giving providers the tools to build thriving in-network practices.

Zanda gives practitioners simple, secure tools that reduce admin and strengthen operations. Start your free trial today.