Growing your Local Network

Garrett Bass is an LPC in Birmingham, AL who runs his own solo practice in the historic Five Points South neighborhood.

When sharing his story, I was impressed by his deliberate and strategic approach to networking.

As he puts it, “When I first started my practice, I spent the majority of time between sessions reaching out to other providers in my area.”

Typically, Bass would ask providers if they would be open to:

• Sharing more about their practice with him so he could make referrals for individuals who fit their niche

• Setting up a coffee meeting to learn from their background and career trajectory

• Letting him drop off his business card and informational material to also be a referral option

• Telling him more about local clinical groups, collaboratives, and networking events

Early on, however, Bass noticed an important networking pitfall that most clinicians fall into early in their career.

“A mistake I feel like a lot of therapists make when first starting to network is that they only reach out to other therapists. This is definitely important, but I've found that it is incredibly helpful to make sure that you are also reaching out to clinicians in adjacent fields, such as primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists.”

Bass continues: “Even better… try to find individuals who practice in fields that are closely connected to your specific niche.”

Some examples to consider:

• If you treat eating disorders 👉 network with registered dietitians & nutritionists

• If you treat adolescents 👉 network with school counselors, social workers, and after-school programs

• If you treat veterans 👉 network with your local VA

• The list goes on!

As Bass concludes: “It was easy to get discouraged when I was just starting out, because it felt like I had been spending upwards of 5-6 hours each week networking with people, only to get a referral every other week or so. However, 6 months down the road I began to see why it was such necessary foundational work!”

Networking has a compounding effect. Keep leaning in and the tipping point will come!