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Reaching out to clients with debt and money troubles
The financial crisis is creating or exacerbating stress, anxiety, marital
discord, and a general unease about the future. So even if debt and money
problems aren’t a regular part of your clinical work, reaching out to potential
patients with financial concerns makes sense. If there’s such a thing as a
"broad niche," this is it.
In this report, we talk with three therapists who, in different ways, have
made money issues part of their marketing approach. One is in New York,
one in Southern California, and one is at Ground Zero of the real estate crash:
Detroit. All three agree that demand outstrips the supply of therapists
who offer relief to these patients.
And in case you were wondering, not everyone who needs help in this area is
broke, or unable to access benefits. In many cases, even the unemployed have
benefits they can tap--either as part of their severance package, or with
health insurance they’ve hung onto through the COBRA program.
l Detroit’s Sally Palaian
started offering money-focused therapy as a small sideline about five years
ago--long before the financial crisis. Now, she tells us, about 25% of her
caseload--which ranges upwards of 25 clients per week--is talking to her about
money problems.
Additionally, she offers two money-based workshops, each twice a year. One is
called "Couples Talk Money," and the other "Money Matters." They draw an average
of 10 attendees at $120 per head.
She considers her in-office work in the financial area to be a mix of therapy
and coaching. And her rates are high: $145 for individual sessions, and $200 for
75-minute couples sessions.
Although Detroit is struggling, Palaian’s practice has dipped only slightly
in the past two years. And she still has an all-cash practice.
“Because I work with money and financial recovery, [the financial crisis]
hasn’t affected me that much.”
Until five years ago, she concentrated her work on eating disorders. But she saw
even then that people were getting in over their heads with debt, and realized
this was an underserved niche.
Now, she talks to clients about credit card management, banking skills, spending
plans--and helps them create a sustainable vision for the future. “People need a
spending plan so they can see how much it costs to live.” Traditional therapy
comes into the picture when necessary.
Palaian has marketed her services through public speaking and by
networking--forming relationships with other therapists and physicians. She gets
many of her referrals from one family physician in particular “who really
believes in therapy.”
“Public speaking does enhance your practice,” she adds. “I can look back on
small speeches I’ve given and see that they’ve turned up clients. And even if no
one from an audience contacts me, it still helps to have your name out there.”
In May, she’s coming out with a book titled, Spent: Break the Buying Obsession
and Discover Your True Worth.
“People would approach me after a speech and say, ‘Where’s your book? I want to
read about this.’ So I decided I better do one.” She’ll be promoting it with a
series of speaking engagements.
l
April Benson, a New York
therapist, has also written a book on this topic: To Buy Or Not to Buy:
Why We Over-shop and How to Stop. She’s been tapping the over-shopping niche
in her clinical practice for several years, with groups and individual therapy.
When we first spoke to her, the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic had
just been released--and that alone was generating traffic to her Web site
and into her waiting room. "I’m getting more visitors to my site than ever," she
tells us. (See her site here: www.stoppingovershopping.com.) "I don’t know
whether it’s the movie, the economy, or because I hired a search engine
optimization guy. It could be all of the above."
She also works the overshopping angle
with a $350 "Stopping Over-Shopping" kit that includes an audio CD, a workbook,
a diary to keep track of shopping habits, and a laminated card with questions
clients need to ask themselves before purchasing anything.
Next, she plans to starts a telephone-based psychoeducational group on the
topic. Her target is a $1,350 price tag for 12 sessions. She has a list of 50
prospects who’ve expressed interest in the product. "I know I’ll get a group
together," she says.
Finally, Benson tells us, she’s begun training other therapists in the
treatment of overshoppers.
Of course, all of this leads us to ask the question: Given the state of the
economy, isn’t the population of over-shoppers dropping? Benson says no.
Overshoppers don’t stop shopping just because money’s tight.
"Some of them are using the incredible
bargains out there as a justification to keep over-shopping," she explains.
Contacts: 1) April Benson, 300 Central Park West, Ste. 1K, New
York, NY 10024, (212) 799-3793, www.stoppingovershopping.com; 2) Sally
Palaian, 30400 Telegraph Rd., Ste. 331, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, (248)645-5960,
www. sallypalaian.com.
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