How to Start a Private Practice and Get Clients as an Introverted Therapist

If you're an introverted therapist, you've probably wondered whether marketing is simply built for other people.

The therapists who seem to love being on camera.
The ones who post every day.
The ones who always know exactly what to say.

It might feel like getting clients requires becoming more outgoing, more visible, or more confident than you naturally feel.

But after sitting down with therapist, coach, and former group practice owner Becca Ferguson, I was reminded of something we so often forget:

You don't need to become someone else to build a thriving private practice.



You need to stop building your business around everyone else's expectations.

What you’ll learn about how to get clients as an introverted therapist

Today, I'm joined by therapist, coach, and former group practice owner Becca Ferguson for an honest conversation about building a therapy practice that aligns with your values instead of hustle culture.



In this episode, we discuss:

• 1:55 - How Becca unexpectedly became a therapist (as an introvert with ADHD) 
• 8:36 - How to get clients as an introverted therapist if marketing isn’t your strongest skill set.
• 12:45 - Why your personality is one of your greatest marketing strengths
• 14:55 - The reality of starting a group practice, and eventually closing it.
• 21:21 - Going back to alignment: Building a business around your values instead of hustle culture
• 26:01 Lessons learned from building out of chaos & how to build out of clarity instead
• 32:20 - How boundaries & marketing shape the kind of clients you attract
• 34:55 - Making bold moves in building a business
• 38:05 - Pivoting in business is not failure
• 44:06 - Becca’s best tip for introverted therapists who are scared of being too bold, too visible, or too much. 
• 48:15 - The connection between entrepreneurship, healing, and trusting yourself
  

There isn't one right path to becoming a therapist, or building a business

Becca never planned to become a therapist.

Growing up in a conservative Christian environment, she didn't even know mental health was something people talked about. It wasn't until she went to college, experienced her own panic attacks, and eventually started therapy herself that someone suggested she become a therapist.

She simply trusted the advice she was given.

Looking back now, Becca can see that much of her early life was spent following paths other people had laid out for her.

And honestly, I think many therapists can relate.

You follow the expected career path.
You follow the marketing advice.
You follow the business milestones you're told should come next.

Until one day you stop and ask:

Do I actually want this?

That question became the thread running through our entire conversation.

Getting clients as an introverted therapist starts with trusting yourself

When I asked Becca how she found her first clients, I expected her to mention networking, social media, or referrals.

Instead, she said something much simpler.

Her clients started showing up when she stopped trying to market like everyone else.

She realized that the goal wasn't to copy someone else's strategy, but to find a way of marketing that actually worked for her brain.

As someone with ADHD, trying to follow rigid systems and marketing formulas only left her overwhelmed. What worked far better was showing up in a way that felt natural.

That's such an important distinction.

There isn't one perfect marketing strategy for therapists.



There is only the strategy you can show up for consistently because it feels aligned with who you are.

Authenticity doesn't mean sharing everything

It’s important to distinguish the difference between authenticity and vulnerability.

Those two words often get used interchangeably, but they aren't the same.

Authenticity doesn't require telling the internet every detail of your life.

It simply means allowing your values, personality, and perspective to come through.

That's exactly why I encourage therapists to tell parts of their own story on their websites and in their marketing.

Not because your story is the product.

But because your story helps people understand who you are.

Clients aren't looking for the therapist with the most polished Instagram feed.

They're looking for someone who feels safe.



And authenticity creates that connection far better than perfection ever could.

Building a group practice didn't fix burnout

At some point, Becca decided to turn her private practice into a group practice.

It wasn't because she'd always dreamed of running one.

It was because she was burned out.

Like many therapists, she thought hiring other clinicians would reduce her workload and create more freedom.

Instead, the opposite happened.

Managing therapists, making decisions, supporting the team, handling the business, and carrying the emotional responsibility of leading others created an entirely new level of overwhelm.

Listening to her story was such an important reminder that growth isn't always the answer.

Sometimes we think we need another offer.
Another business.
Another certification.
Another income stream.

But if we're building from burnout instead of clarity, we're simply stacking more responsibilities onto an already exhausted nervous system.

As Becca put it so beautifully:

You can't build something healthy on top of chaos.

Building from clarity looks different than building from burnout

Eventually, Becca made one of the hardest decisions of her career:

She closed her group practice.

For a long time, she believed closing it would mean she'd failed.

But it soon became clear that what looked like failure from the outside was actually alignment.

Today, she's returned to a solo practice while combining it with coaching that reflects what she genuinely loves doing: teaching therapists how to build businesses that fit them.

That shift feels important because so many therapists believe pivoting means starting over.

It doesn't.

Every version of your business teaches you something.

Sometimes the business you build isn't the one you're meant to keep.



Sometimes it's the one that teaches you what actually matters.

How boundaries & marketing shape the kind of clients you attract

Another insight from our conversation that stayed with me is this:

Your marketing and boundaries influence which kind of clients you attract. 

Becca shared how, early in her career, she noticed herself attracting clients who wanted to vent session after session without making changes.

At first, she thought she was doing something wrong as a therapist.



Eventually, she realized something deeper.

She was showing up in ways that invited certain expectations.

The same thing happens in business.

When we constantly people-please in our marketing, we often attract people who expect us to continue people-pleasing.

When we're clear about our values, our boundaries, and how we work, we naturally attract clients who are looking for exactly that.

Marketing isn't just about visibility.

It's also about fit.

What old labels are shaping your marketing as a therapist?

Toward the end of our conversation, Becca shared a story I believe holds truth for many of us.

As a teenager, her parents bought her a bright pink shirt that said "Drama Queen."

It became a label she carried for years.

Even as an adult, every time she wanted to speak honestly about her struggles, that old story would whisper:

"You're being dramatic."

How many of us are still carrying labels like that into our businesses?

Too quiet.
Too emotional.
Too sensitive.
Too much.

Those stories don't disappear just because we become therapists.

They often show up the moment we try to become visible.

The moment we write a post.
Record a podcast.
Raise our prices.
Or share an opinion.

But maybe the goal isn't becoming more confident.

Maybe it's realizing those labels never belonged to us in the first place.

The connection between entrepreneurship, healing, and trusting yourself

I recently saved a post from Instagram that rang so true to me.

The message?

"Your business will expose every unhealed part of you."

Entrepreneurship has a way of revealing our people-pleasing tendencies, our scarcity mindset, our fear of failure, our need for control, and our struggle to trust ourselves.

But maybe that's what makes building a business so transformative.

It's not just about getting clients.

It's about becoming the person who trusts herself enough to build a business that feels aligned.

And perhaps that's the biggest takeaway from this entire conversation.

Getting clients as an introverted therapist isn't about becoming louder.



It's about becoming more you.

Listen to the full conversation on The Marketing Couch Podcast

If you've been trying to build your private practice by becoming more instead of becoming yourself, I hope this conversation gives you permission to pause and question that. 

Becca's story is an honest reminder that the most sustainable business isn't built by following someone else's blueprint. It's built by returning to your own values, your own voice, and your own way of showing up.

If you'd like to hear the full conversation, I'd love for you to listen to the full episode of The Marketing Couch here.