Frequently Asked Questions

We mean any mental health professional who’s running a private practice. This includes licensed counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Since the titles that states use for licensing can vary, we stick with the generic “therapist” for brevity.

The answer is yes and kind of. Sometimes we try to avoid the terminology of “professional will” because it could trigger a need for escrow, which a business closure doesn’t necessarily require. But colloquially, your closure plan could be called a professional will. We prefer the terms “closure plan” and “professional administrator” so there is less overlap in legal terminology, but for simplicity we can use “professional will” and “professional executor.”

Start here! Begin by downloading The Pause or Close Blueprint. This free tool is designed to guide you through gathering information about your practice and will serve to set up an initial plan.

The main challenge is that it’s hard.

It’s emotional to consider your life’s work and sit with the importance of the role you’ve played in so many lives. It’s ok if you need extra support to process those feelings.

You need a plan because your business has a lifespan. Because emergencies happen. Because you’re important to a lot of people, both personally and professionally. Because you spend a lot of time cultivating relationships.

But mostly you need a plan because it’s the ethical thing to do.

Essentially, it’s accountability. You can complete your plan with support from a consultant. At the end of the two hours, you’ll have the plan you created as well as guidance for your next actions. The plan you create is your responsibility; the action steps are yours and you’ll need to assign your own administrative person who’s willing to serve in that role for you.

This is a personalized plan created with the support of an expert. You choose the options you want as part of your Pause or Close Blueprint and a Time Well Spent expert will serve as your administrator when the services are needed.

These options include Emergency Administrator Services, Retirement and Business Closure, and Temporary Leave coverage.

You’ll work with your Time Well Spent expert to tailor a plan that’s right for your practice. That plan can be further customized for instructions for pause, planned closure, retirement, or death.

Pausing is different than closing. Closing is different than retiring. And all of those are different than dying. A Time Well Spent expert can help you determine what services you’d benefit from in each of those scenarios.

Absolutely! What, you just want out of the business and you don’t want to have to retire or die to do so?

We can customize a plan to help you get the support you need for closing your practice and moving on to your next challenges.

That’s up to you! Your Time Well Spent consultant can help you make a list of possible referrals to give to clients so they can choose. Or you can name a specific person you’d like to refer to and your Time Well Spent expert can facilitate those logistics.

Your expert will not take over your case load. Though they are licensed mental health professionals, that’s not the role of your expert.

Great question! Choose someone who is a fellow mental health professional. They should be knowledgeable about privacy and trusted to contact your clients. That can be a person you already know, or you can assign a Time Well Spent expert to serve this role for you.

Yes, almost certainly. In Texas, the BHEC guidelines state that every provider needs a plan for record custody and the plan needs to be relayed to clients. So, they may not say “professional will” exactly, but they do want you to have a documented plan. So you might as well work with us to make one!

That really depends on the decisions you make now. If you’ve got a clear plan in place with an assigned person to take custody, then the administrative impact is pretty low. If you don’t have a plan though, this can get complicated. There could be a lot of confusion for clients on accessing their records, and it may be handled by someone who isn’t really qualified, like a friend or spouse. But whether you’re alive or dead, you’ve got to meet state and federal record retention guidelines.

That can depend on the way you set it up. You could create your professional will yourself so it’s totally free. There’s other companies who charge more, and there’s companies who charge less. Time Well Spent Consulting has worked hard to be priced to be accessible to solo practitioners. We’ve got a range of costs from $125 up to $500 depending on the services you choose.