With worrisome inflation and a scary economy, relying on a sole source of income is a risk that many people are choosing not to take, even those with well-paying jobs.
The problem is that not every profession can afford to have side hustles, and private practice therapists already have a mental toll on their minds with all the mental health issues they deal with.
Fortunately, therapists can still find some side hustles that somewhat overlap with their career in mental health. In this article, we’ll talk about side hustle for a therapist to gain additional income without a steep learning curve.
1. Offer Telehealth Services
Working in telehealth therapy services is a decent alternative for a therapist, both for making more money and for professional development. That’s because this service is in high demand, as evidenced by the astounding salary you can make, which is $115 per hour or $238,000+ per year.
This is a great side hustle to consider because you can still practice your profession. What’s more, it gives you much better job flexibility, allowing you to meet clients from anywhere in the world and anytime online. Such flexibility also holds true for your clients as they don’t have to travel to your office in person for clinical supervision.
To get started as a telehealth service provider, you need to acquire the necessary licenses, which vary by state. What you’ll need afterward is the basic kit that any online worker uses: a computer, a reliable internet connection, and a high-quality web camera.
2. Create and Teach Online Courses
If you want to utilize your profession from a different aspect, why not consider teaching online? It allows you to share the knowledge you gained from private practice with medical students and other people interested in the field.
As an online course teacher, it’s difficult to put an estimate on how much passive income you can generate.
Your earnings will depend on how much you charge per session, how many sessions you teach a day, and how many students you have. Still, ZipRecruiter provides an estimate of around $42 per hour or $86,938 per year.
Teaching online courses doesn’t require any licenses to get started, but having one will surely improve your credibility.
Regardless, you’ll still need to create your curriculum, which includes making videos, documents, downloadable content, and PowerPoint presentations. You’ll also need a working laptop and a strong internet connection.
3. Become a Content Writer
Because of the constant need to explain conditions to patients, therapists often have the skill of organizing and simplifying information. This makes content writing a good option for you to earn extra income while doing your private practice.
Becoming a content writer isn’t as complicated as it seems to be. You only need to be knowledgeable on a certain niche (for instance, mental health area), make a good outline to ensure the ideas follow a logical order, use simple word choices and engaging tone, and follow punctuation and grammar rules to write articles.
Once you’ve got all that covered, you can write content for clients. Many of them would hire inexperienced writers to write generic or niche-specific content.
But if you want to upskill as a writer or endear yourself to high-paying clients, you’ll have to take some online course certifications and create a portfolio. Those, along with substantial experience, can easily earn you around an average of $39 per hour.
4. Become a Life Coach
As a private practice therapist, you’re already helping people through their lives. How about joining the coaching business and using the same set of skills to help people achieve their goals?
Much like telehealth services and giving courses, becoming a life coach won’t require much extra knowledge because most of the information needed is already there.
However, you may want to complete a course (free or paid) online first just as a guide to put you on the right track. Then, although not required, you may also want to get certified by a reputable life coaching organization. Such certification doesn’t only add to your reputation but also provides proof that you have the right set of skills to help your clients.
According to ZipRecruiter, a life coach in the U.S. can make an average of $19 per hour. The amount differs according to the coach’s niche and level of experience.
That’s why it’s important for you to decide which niche you want to specialize in, as well as on what platform you’re going to find clients, whether online or through your local network.
5. Become a Yoga Instructor
Yoga is another field where therapists can shine with minimum training. Yoga is a fantastic blend of maintaining mental and physical health, making it a great side hustle for those who already know your way about the human body.
If you think of it, you’re creating your group therapy sessions where you can mix psychological assessments with group practice.
Becoming a yoga instructor means that you have to practice yoga yourself. You can do this by completing at least 200 hours of training, after which you’ll obtain a certification.
Then, it becomes a matter of finding a location and marketing for yourself. If done right, you can make around $31 per hour. That rate can go higher if you have more classes and experience.
The option to teach online yoga classes is also available. However, yoga is one of the activities where joining the group in person can be a lot more beneficial. With you and the class being in the same room together physically, you all can motivate one another during the session.
6. Become a Public Speaker
Becoming a public speaker means directing your knowledge to many people at once instead of doing so to one or two people in a closed room.
As a therapist, you already have a ton of material to talk about; all you have to do is organize that material and ensure they’re succinct before presenting your piece to the audience.
Add to that, there’s a fair share of flexibility in becoming a public speaker, as you don’t have to present every single day, and you can refuse a conference when you can’t go.
Last but not least, being a public speaker can pay well when your career starts to kick in. According to ZipRecruiter, you can make a decent $49 per hour.
However, you should keep in mind that the income won’t be high when you start, as you’ll mostly be speaking for free, most likely at local schools or clubs, to practice your presentation skills first. After all, even if you’re a social person, talking in front of an audience can be daunting. Soon after, you may start networking with other public speakers and get paid for your work.
Other Jobs to Check Out
The following jobs may not directly correlate with your career as a therapist, but they can still be interesting and profitable:
- Online tech jobs: If you have some software skills, why don’t you put them to use in these online tech jobs?
- Translation work from home: Are you bilingual? You’d be surprised how much you can make if you’re fluent enough to translate from and to another language.
- Remote gig jobs: Do you want jobs that won’t force you to leave your house? Check these out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Makes a Suitable Side Hustle for a Therapist?
Flexibility is the most important factor in a job for it to be suitable as a side hustle for therapists. Therapists often have busy schedules, which is why the job needs to go hand-in-hand with such a schedule.Â
Can a Therapist Shift Into Their Chosen Side Hustle?
Yes. Therapists do earn a good monthly salary, but if the side hustle proves to be more lucrative, there’s no reason to stop them from making the said side hustle their primary source of income.Â
Does Being a Therapist Help With Finding Side Hustles?
Therapists have great communication, listening, and problem-solving skills, which are mandatory skills required for most jobs. As such, having a degree in therapy does help with finding a side hustle.Â
Wrapping Up
Therapists have a set of skills that allow them to connect to people and easily explain what they have in mind. That’s why many side hustles are suitable for them to help them achieve personal growth and get an additional income stream. As such, we hand-picked the jobs above so any determined therapist can quickly branch out into a new career.
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