Increase Your Practice Income

Increasing the Profitability of a Mental Health PracticeBecome Certified as an Anger Managment Providerby John Elder, MA, CAMF, Diplomate AAAMP
In this day of managed care and tightened budgets, becoming a certified anger management provider offers mental health professionals an opportunity to expand their practices and to generate additional income.
Most anger management students are mandated to take classes as a condition of probation, part of a plea bargain, or by their employer. Generally, these are people who would never have voluntarily sought mental health care. Their freedom and/or livelihood depends on completing a set of classes that certified anger management providers can offer them. These classes frequently result in more interest in psychological growth. Mental health providers can take advantage of this by becoming certified as anger management facilitators.
Frequently, anger management students become somewhat attached to their teachers. Once they have completed their mandated coursework, the opportunity for psychological counseling to address other issues arises. Offering anger management classes can thus help to expand a mental health practice.
In order to offer anger management classes and abide by ethics and regulations, mental health providers need to be specifically trained to offer anger management. Anger management is not psychotherapy, not group counseling—rather it is psycho-educational work that requires specific training in the field. Becoming a certified anger management facilitator is an excellent way to gain the appropriate training and expertise.
Recently, a well known anger management facilitator and trainer was brought into a legal case where the quality of his anger management work had been called into question. He demonstrated that he had been trained, certified, and was a Diplomate of the American Association of Anger Management Providers. This ended any questioning of the quality of his program, and discredited the accusing party who had received anger management from an unqualified provider.
Advertising anger management as a specialty can raise the visibility of a mental health provider. The community exposure that offering anger management classes provides also helps to market mental health professionals' practices. It provides an opportunity to speak as an expert on anger in the workplace, school, or family, thus offering free exposure. Short, introductory anger management workshops can be provided for people who aren't certain whether or not they need anger management.
© John Elder, MA, CAMF is an Anderson & Anderson Certified Anger Management Facilitator and trainer with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology. He provides anger management classes at Anderson & Anderson's Brentwood locations as well as anger management certification training. John is a Diplomate of the American Association of Anger Management Providers.