Six Years in Private Practice: What Success Really Looks Like

Theres no Q&A today - but theres this conversation as I restart the Therapist Spotlight conversations

Therapist Spotlight with Rebecca Armstrong from Littlemore Therapy Practice

I first met Rebecca when she was just setting up her private practice. She joined my private practice course with no clients, plenty of nerves about whether anyone would actually come, and a very clear idea that she wanted to do things her own way.

Six years later, her practice is thriving but perhaps not in the way we traditionally think about business success.

Rebecca runs Littlemore Therapy Practice in the Bradford area and works just three days a week: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She starts at 7 am (yes, really!) and sees around 15–20 clients a week, leaving the rest of her week free to homeschool her daughter and enjoy her life outside work.

And that has always been the goal.

As Rebecca put it:

“I feel like I buy my freedom.”

A practice built around her life

In the early days, Rebecca saw clients here, there and everywhere. Over time, she realised that one of the biggest benefits of private practice was being able to decide when she wanted to work.

Her early-morning appointments have proved surprisingly popular with clients seeking therapy before work or the gym, while working Saturdays allows her to take quieter weekdays off.

Her caseload has stayed fairly consistent at around 15–20 clients, and she has built the practice entirely around self-funding clients rather than referral companies.

Most enquiries now come through word of mouth and her website.

Rebecca has also found a wonderfully natural way to market her practice. She began sharing photographs of small, mindful moments from everyday life using the hashtag #OneCalmThing. Rather than constantly posting about therapy or anxiety, she shares the things she notices when she’s out walking with her camera.

People engage with the posts, get to know her and remember her practice when they do need therapy.

It’s a lovely example of marketing that doesn’t really feel like marketing.

What does success actually mean?

Rebecca currently charges £95 per session and recently had her first £5,000 month while working part-time.

But money isn’t really how she measures her practice’s success.

For her, success is earning a sustainable income while still having four days of her week for her daughter, walking, photography, and the things she loves.

She described it as the “invisible things” that other people might not recognise as success.

And I think that’s such an important point.

Your private practice doesn’t have to become bigger and bigger.

It can simply become better at giving you the life you wanted it to give you.

“You are good enough to do this.”

When I asked Rebecca what she would tell herself if she could go back to the beginning, her answer was simple:

“You are good enough to do this.”

You don’t have to know how to run every part of a business before you start.

Rebecca’s advice is to find the right support: good supervision, other therapists around you, an accountant for the things you don’t want to do yourself, and a community where you can ask questions.

Six years in, the things that once felt daunting have simply become part of running her practice.

Perhaps that’s one of the most reassuring things about Rebecca’s story.

You don’t need to have everything figured out on day one.

You build it, learn as you go, and gradually create a private practice that works — not just financially, but for your life.