Have you thought about retiring?  As some of you know, I stopped seeing clients several years ago and retired from teaching and consulting.  This departure is a bit earlier than expected due to my husband’s Parkinson’s and our desire to travel while we can.

I’ve received many requests for an article on what to consider before retiring.  I asked my e-newsletter subscribers for their questions on this topic and got numerous thoughtful responses, which I’ll attempt to address in two articles on this topic.

Today’s article focuses on the practical considerations of retirement.  A second article will focus on the clinical and emotional side of retiring.

First, clarify your needs.  Consider carefully: Do you want to retire completely from therapy, or are you just looking for a way to reduce stress or simplify your life?  Would resigning from insurance plans or hiring a biller help?  Would you like to stop doing therapy, but consider continuing supervision, consultations, or managing your group?  If you love doing therapy, but feel burned out, maybe you just need to make some changes, or take some time off to recharge (for tips on identifying and addressing burnout, see my article here).

Consider reducing your client load.  Before I stopped seeing clients, I gradually decreased my workdays from five days a week to four, then to three, and finally to two.  I learned that having even a single scheduled client made the entire day feel like a workday.  Therefore, rather than distributing a small number of clients throughout the week, I found that dedicating two fuller days to client sessions and keeping the remaining days completely free significantly reduced my stress level.

Consider your finances.  Maybe you can’t afford to retire now.  But planning for retirement is always possible.  Calculate the monthly income you get from therapy sessions, minus the inevitable late cancellations.  Then make your best guess at your monthly expenses in retirement.  Can you afford the income loss if you stop completely?  If not, maybe taking some time off, cutting your client load, or quitting insurance plans you work with could help reduce stress and simplify your life.  In the meantime, perhaps you can put away a little of your current income in a retirement fund.  Consulting with a financial planner can help you analyze if Social Security and other income could fill the void, and plan for the future. 

Stop your malpractice?  After you stop seeing clients, consider ending your malpractice coverage.  But check your policy type first.  A “claims-made” policy only covers you if it is active when a claim is made, so maintaining coverage might be smart.  An “occurrence” policy covers you for all incidents during the coverage period, even after discontinuation. And you don’t have to wait to cancel until the policy expiration date – you should be able to get a partial refund for any unused months.

If at any point you had a claims-made policy, you might consider getting “tail coverage,” which will cover you in the future if a claim is made.

What about your license?  After you see your last client, check with your state licensing board for options regarding your license status. For instance, in California, Master’s level therapists can select from active, inactive, or retired status.  Before deciding, be sure you are ready to stop seeing clients, and verify the process for resuming practice at a later date if you might change your mind. Note that choosing retired status may make returning to active status more challenging.

Cancel any practice management software, online platforms, or billing services you are using. These include programs like SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, or platforms like Headway, Alma, and Grow Therapy. If you have session notes in these programs, ask what happens to these if you cancel. You may lose access and need to download each note as a PDF before unsubscribing.

Discontinue CAQH or let it lapse, if you have a profile with this online data management website for insurance providers.

What about your office?  If you have a physical office, review your lease, plan ahead, and give the appropriate notice.  Plan when and how you will move out any files, furniture, and other belongings.  Leave your office clean.  If you paid a security deposit, be sure to collect your refund.

What about mail?  You may still receive professional mail for years after retiring and leaving a physical office.  If you have a kind landlord like I do, you can stop by to pick up mail on occasion.   Otherwise, ask the Post Office to forward your mail to your home or a P.O. Box.   Change your address with the USPS online (click here) or go to the Post Office in person and ask for a Mover’s Guide, and fill out PS Form 3575.  It is recommended that you submit a change of address several weeks in advance.  Keep in mind that the Post Office will only forward your mail for one year, so you’ll need to send change of addresses to anyone who continues to send you mail.

Note: If you are submitting a business change of address request in-person at a Post Office, you may need to have certain documentation (like a notarized letter, power of attorney, or letter on company letterhead signed by someone in a leadership role) that shows you’re an “Authorized Agent” who can submit a change of address request for the business.

Should you notify insurance plans?  Check with each health plan to see how much notice is required before resigning, typically 90 -120 days.  But the health plan may notify your clients of your resignation, so be sure to tell your clients first.  Remember you need to continue abiding by your plan contract until your resignation becomes effective. Resigning from a health plan can be challenging and time-consuming but helps remove retired therapists from provider directories, saving clients from futile calls.

Do you still have a landline? I was pleased to discover that I could seamlessly transfer my office landline, which I had maintained for over 30 years, to my personal cell phone without altering the phone number. This setup enables me to receive two phone lines on my cell phone, each with its own voicemail system. When a call is received, I can distinguish whether it originates from my business line or personal line and identify the caller, allowing me to decide how to respond to the call.

Update your outgoing voicemail greeting.  Your outgoing voicemail message should inform potential and past clients that you have retired.  Better yet, give a referral to another therapist, if they have agreed, and/or the number of an emergency hotline.

Update your website and online listings. Identify any online listings that display you as a practicing therapist. Remove your listing in Psychology Today’s Therapist Directory or other online provider directories, or temporarily leave them with a message indicating your retirement.

What about your records?  State laws on record retention typically require that you retain records for years after termination.  Even in retirement, you must retain records and protect confidentiality.  Ensure all records are securely stored and protected but available for record requests. Go through each client file and mark when they can be shredded, and be sure to do so in a safe manner (I had a mobile shredding van come to my home so I could ensure they were shredded).

Consider a Therapist Will.  With a Therapists Will you designate a colleague to have the ability to access your records in emergencies or in the event of your death. Your loved ones can then contact this person to handle client files if needed.

Rob Reinhardt of TameYour Practice.com, has a resource called Private Practice Preparedness: The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Closing a Practice Due to Retirement, Death, or Disability which provides the information and tools to ensure a smooth transition of care, regardless of circumstances.  This resource includes templates to collect and organize such materials and information, as well as a professional will template.   In-depth descriptions of the roles of the Emergency Response Team for closing a practice, their duties, and templates to assist in carrying them out are included.  All tools needed for anyone in private practice to respond to an emergency thoroughly and quickly are laid out in this book.  He is providing a discount code to my readers to get 10% off: YP7EH — click here to find out more.

What about clinical and emotional considerations?  I cover how to handle endings with clients, how much notice to give, and how to deal with your own feelings in Part 2 of this article —  click here