Join a Group Practice for Therapists in BC

Q: Is it worth it to join a group practice as a therapist?

It depends what you're optimizing for. Solo practice offers autonomy, but you handle all infrastructure, marketing, and support alone. A collective like Heartwood offers infrastructure, community, and referrals for a membership fee.

Q: What's the difference between a group practice and a counselling collective?

In a group practice, you're often an employee or contractor and the clinic takes a cut of revenue. In a collective, you stay self-employed, set your own rates and hours, and pay a flat fee for shared infrastructure and community.

Q: How much does it cost to run a solo private practice?

More than most clinicians expect. Scheduling software, a website, a professional email, and telehealth typically run $150–250/month, before accounting for your time or any case consultation.

Q: Do I get more referrals in a group practice?

Generally yes, especially with an established practice. Your profile benefits from years of SEO and referral relationships, and cross-referrals happen naturally within the collective.

Q: How do I know if a group practice is the right fit for me?

Ask whether the practice's clinical identity aligns with how you work, whether the other clinicians are people you'd want to consult with, and whether it feels like a community rather than a brand you're buying access to.

Q: Can I join Heartwood if I'm based outside Victoria?

Yes. Heartwood has remote clinicians practicing across BC. The office is in Victoria, but registered clinicians offering telehealth in BC are welcome to reach out.

Private Practice, Without the Isolation

Heartwood aims to undo the aloneness of counsellors practicing private therapy. We offer team meetings, group consult, co-learning, internal chats, and shared office space. We love working together, learning from each other, and sharing knowledge and resources. Better, happier therapists makes for better, happier therapy!

Are you looking to join a group practice? We are a collective of RCCs, CCCs, and RSWs who practice independently but never alone. We share a clinical identity of relational, experiential practitioners and an investment in one another's work.

What Membership Includes

Practice infrastructure

Heartwood membership includes an SEO-optimized profile on the Heartwood website, the highest level of Jane App (scheduling, billing, insurance tracking, and telehealth), and a professional email address, all set up and maintained.

Community and consultation

Clinical consultation. We offer 2 hours of biweekly clinical consultation. It's a beautiful experience to hear about the work these amazing therapists are doing, inspiring to witness the vulnerable sharing, expansive to hear diverse perspectives and advice, and good for the soul to laugh and catch up.

Community and conversations. Heartwood clinicians consult with each other. We believe there’s no ethical practice in isolation. If you're sitting with a complex case, a heavy heart after a challenging session, or you want to celebrate the win with the client you discussed last group consultation, your colleagues are just a message away.

Cross-referrals. When a client contacts Heartwood and isn't the right fit for one of us, they find their way to someone who is. A well-matched collective helps this happen naturally.

A benchmark for your own work. When we practice in isolation, we lose the ambient professional feedback that helps us know whether we're doing well. Knowing our colleagues, seeing how they think, having people to compare notes with matters more than most clinicians expect.

On-call support, both clinical and administrative. Sticky client situation? Billing question? Court document you've never had to write before? Let’s tackle it together!

Resource sharing. We share what we've built from handouts, frameworks, referral lists, and policies. No one has to start from scratch.

Annual CE gatherings. Once a year, we come together for continuing education, sharing a meal, and joyful connection.

Who This Is For

Heartwood is for clinicians who practice experientially, who work from a place of relational presence, and have done the personal work that makes that possible.

We particularly want to hear from therapists trained in:

Relational Life Therapy (RLT)
AEDP
EMDR
IFS
Somatic Experiencing
Other experiential and body-based modalities

Beyond credentials, we're looking for clinicians who are actively pursuing professional development, who've received their own experiential therapy, and who are passionate about their work. Our group consultation is a place where therapists bring difficult cases and honest questions, as well as encouragement, joy, and play.

This isn't the right fit for clinicians who primarily practice cognitive or advice-based approaches, or for those who prefer to keep their professional struggles private rather than bring them to a community.

This is also not an employee position. Heartwood’s therapists are self-employed, running their own caseload, with Heartwood as their professional home.

Sound Like a Fit?

If this resonates, we'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

FAQ: Joining a Group Practice vs. Solo Private Practice

Is it worth it to join a group practice as a therapist?

It depends on what you want! Solo practice offers maximum autonomy, but it also means you're entirely on your own for professional support, business infrastructure, marketing, and the kind of casual consultation that keeps your clinical thinking sharp. A collective like Heartwood gives you infrastructure, community, and referrals in exchange for a membership fee.

We’ve worked very hard to make a model that is fair. Rather than a group practice that takes a big percentage and has admin support, expensive ads, and corporate vibes, we offer a small collective that works together to support one another for a fair rate.

What's the difference between a group practice and a counselling collective?

In a traditional group practice, you're often an employee or contractor. The clinic sets rates, manages your schedule, and takes a cut of your revenue. In a collective model, you remain self-employed. You set your own rates and hours, keep your own income, and pay a flat membership fee for shared infrastructure and community. For clinicians who want independence without isolation, it tends to be a better fit.

How much does it cost to run a solo private practice?

More than most clinicians expect when they start out. A basic, remote setup typically includes scheduling software, a professional website, a professional email, and a telehealth platform. Before you account for your time managing it all, you're often already at $150–250/month in fixed costs - with no case consultation and one to call when something goes sideways.

Unfortunately there can be a gap of months or years between setting up a private practice and getting enough clients to sustain your practice, while the clinician is still paying overhead. A collective can launch your practice much faster.

Do I get more referrals in a group practice?

In our experience, yes! Even a very skilled solo clinician building from scratch has a hard time getting their name out in the sea of therapists. Clinicians at Heartwood can build on our years of SEO and solid reputation. Cross-referrals also happen within the collective, and we get several referrals from physicians and agencies who trust our reputation.

What's the loneliness of solo private practice really like?

Burnout in private practice isn't always about caseload, it's often about isolation. When you work alone, you lose the ambient professional feedback that comes from being around colleagues: the sense of how others navigate difficult cases, whether your rates are reasonable, whether what you're experiencing with a particular client is unusual or pretty normal. Whether you have a hard session you need to debrief or a great session you’d like to celebrate, having colleagues adds buoyancy to the heavy work therapists do.

How do I know if a group practice is the right fit for me?

A few honest questions help: Does the practice have a clinical identity that actually aligns with how you work? Are the other clinicians people you'd want to consult with? Does it feel like joining a community, or just buying access to a brand? We're a small group of experiential clinicians who share a genuine commitment to this kind of work. We're not trying to be the biggest practice in Victoria. We're trying to be a really good one that serves clinicians and clients alike.

Can I join Heartwood if I'm based outside Victoria?

Yes. Heartwood has remote clinicians practicing across BC. Our office is in Victoria, but the collective isn't limited to in-person work. If you're a registered clinician offering telehealth services in BC, we'd be glad to talk.

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