Business Outside the Box Coaching - Kathryn Bowen

03/18/2026

For all those Montana supervisors utilizing supervisor billing for your PCLCs and SWLCs (called Provider in Training billing for BCBSMT) check out these important changes that went into effect in February. It basically requires supervisors to be on site with their supervisees.

03/04/2026

Since I'm taking a break from 1:1 business consultations for this year, I'm going to continue trying to remember to leave tips on here.

Ken Clark is an amazing resource with his updated YouTube channel.
He is the founder of Semi-Private Practice, which is a wealth of information for not only group practice owners but also solo practitioners.
He's got so many free resources and some other great low cost options.

I have learned a lot about our industry by following Ken.

Private practice tips, tools, strategies and encouragement. Helping you launch, stabilize and scale your therapy practice through practical advice from one of the industry's most successful private practice founders. Ken Clark (and his team of coaches) have scaled from just one clinician, with one c...

10/24/2025

Therapist Financial Self-Care Tip:

With cyber security crimes and identity theft on the rise, it's a good idea to put a credit freeze on your credit with each of the three major credit agencies; Transunion, Equifax, and Experian.

It's a pretty easy process just don't get tricked into signing up for one of their paid services. You can sign up for an account for free with all three credit agencies, and look for the tab/link to freeze your credit.

And then if you need to have your credit run, you can unfreeze your reports.

It's also a good idea to check your full credit report at least once a year and even twice a year can be helpful to make sure there are no errors.

You can also sign up for alerts with each of the credit agencies so that anytime there's a change to your credit you are notified.

Hope this is helpful!

09/24/2025

Therapist Tip:
Something that's really served me well over the years running my therapy practice, is to take a few minutes every month and read the provider newsletters that come out from insurance companies.

These insurance company provider newsletters tell us about changes in billing policies like telehealth codes, payment policies, fee increase updates, etc. All the good stuff and maybe not so good stuff, will come out in these provider bulletins/newsletters.

Most of the time insurance companies don't notify providers of these changes except for in these newsletters. So it's worth subscribing and taking a few minutes to peruse them quickly every month.

Set up a rule in your email so it automatically puts them in a folder for you and you don't have to go searching for them. And then literally set aside 5 minutes, that's all it will take to see if there's anything useful that's being updated.

Most recently, by paying attention to a provider newsletter, I was able to access an increase in my allowable contracted rate, which was a nice bonus.

More tips to come soon!

07/28/2025

We mental health therapists are sometimes so busy taking care of clients, that we can neglect our own financial self-care.
Financial self-care is just as important as any other type of self-care.
Sometimes it's that anything money related can feel overwhelming and we don't know where to start.

Just like we encourage our clients to take baby steps and "slice it thinner", I encourage therapists to tackle tasks in small doses related to their financial well-being.
I'm going to share some financial self-care tips in small doses on this page in the upcoming months.

Tip #1- This one is more about protecting your assets and helping them go to your loved ones quickly, if something happens to you.

Take 10 minutes and call your bank and make sure you have someone designated to be the beneficiary of your personal bank accounts. If you pass away and have done this, then your beneficiaries will not have to go through probate, they can access the funds quickly.

Next time I'm going to share tips about what to do for business bank accounts.

05/09/2025

I'm going to be presenting at an upcoming MT NASW Virtual Lunch & Learn on W-2 vs. 1099 status. Attorney Kyle Moen (who I highly recommend for therapists) will be co-presenting.
Hope to see you there!
Registration Info below

NASW-MT Webinar Event: Clinical Supervision Contracts: Gaining Insight into the 1099 vs. W-2 Dilemma

05/02/2025

Montana therapists! We can accomplish a lot together with an hour of one-on-one business coaching/consulting.

I've been a bit shy in the past about sharing the feedback I've been getting, just because that's who I am.

But I'm remembering that if I play small and hide away, it might keep other therapists from getting some needed business help.

In a session from earlier this week, a seasoned therapist said they learned more in our hour together than they've learned from their CPA in the last 15 years!

Another therapist who attended one of my recent trainings, gave feedback on Facebook that it was the most helpful learning experience they've had so far professionally in their 5 years as a therapist.

I'm humbled by these comments and also excited because I am so passionate about helping my fellow therapist.

It took me a long time to embrace the fact that my prior career as a CPA and my corporate experience could be helpful to fellow therapists.

I was so burnt out from that corporate world that I wanted to leave it far behind when I became a therapist. Now I'm finally seeing how the two worlds can come together in a much healthier and helpful way.

I truly come alive in these business sessions when I'm training or providing coaching for therapists. It feels effortless.

It's that thing that "they" say you should keep doing if you can talk about it endlessly, teach it, and embody it effortlessly.

I'm so grateful now for that past experience as a CPA and business executive because it's enabled me to grow a group therapy practice from two clinicians to 25 clinicians in four short years.

This May Bozeman Counseling Center turns 4 years old and we're adding our 25th therapist to our amazing team in beautiful Bozeman Montana.

A huge thank you to our local therapist community and all of my friends, old and new, who have supported me along the way! And an even larger thank you to the therapists past and present who have been part of Bozeman Counseling Center ❤️. You will always have a huge place in my heart.

I'm going to post this on my personal page as well so I can show my gratitude to all my friends.

Therapists don't be shy about reaching out for help!

04/14/2025

Upcoming Training: Business Skills for Supervisors
I still have room for a few!

04/01/2025

In my work with therapists through my business workshops and individual business coaching, I continue to find that we therapists each have a unique way of learning business skills.
I love adjusting my style of teaching to match what each therapist needs to learn, develop skills, and improve their financial self -care.
Some therapists need big picture first, and then we drill down into the details.
Others learn better by doing, and so we break out the laptops and get into the bowls of Therapy Notes or CAQH.
Many therapists struggle with embarrassment and even shame around what they are challenged with in their private practices, and so we start by addressing those beliefs.
Others are just flat out overwhelmed and don't know where to start, and so I help us find a starting point.

All of my business coaching clients get action items to focus on that are "sliced thinner" so they don't feel so overwhelmed and have specific tasks to start working on.

And I love giving resources! As time allows, I am going to start posting resources on this FB page for those therapists who like to DIY. Stay tuned!

04/06/2024

Tax day is right around the corner.....Take a deep breath.

I can remember years where I have literally cried when I made that final tax payment and was reminded of what I paid during the year to Uncle Sam. It can be tough to work so hard and then see such a large percentage exit the bank account.

As therapists it can be difficult to find deductions because typically our costs are low. It can also be hard to get a clear answer from your tax preparer on what to do differently.

In my upcoming course on April 26th, we are going to explore some tax planning ideas to help make tax time a little less sad and less overwhelming.

Hope to see you there!

04/01/2024

I have a training coming up for therapists - Business Basics for Therapists
I am keeping the class limited to 30 therapists.
Hope to see you there! Here is the link to register https://kathrynbowen.podia.com/business-basics-for-therapists-in-person-workshop