Bookkeeping for Baltimore Mental Health Practices
Monthly bookkeeping for therapists, psychologists, and group practices in Baltimore. Books kept current and tax-ready by Aretha Dirden, working with you directly.
Bookkeeping for Baltimore Practices
Baltimore trains a lot of mental health clinicians. Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, Sheppard Pratt, Kennedy Krieger, the VA. Plenty of the therapists, psychologists, and nurse practitioners in private practice around this city spent years inside one of those institutions first, then opened their own doors in Mount Vernon, Hampden, Roland Park, or a quiet home office in Charles Village. They are excellent at the clinical work. Nobody ever sat them down and taught them the money side.
That is the part I take off your plate. My name is Aretha Dirden, and I keep the books for mental health practices around the country from my office in Lancaster, California. Before this I spent more than fifteen years as a licensed nurse working in mental health, so your world is familiar to me and your work never needs explaining. Bookkeeping for therapists is all I do, and you work with me directly, every month.
Books That Stay Current
Books That Stay Current
Every month I categorize your transactions, reconcile your bank and credit card accounts, and send reports you can absorb between sessions. Full-service bookkeeping starts at $165 a month and keeps you looking at real numbers instead of guessing.
Getting Caught Up
Getting Caught Up
If the books have not been touched in a while, we start there. Months or years of transactions recorded, accounts reconciled, and no lecture from me about how it got that way. Falling behind is common. Staying behind is the part we fix.
Ready for Your Tax Preparer
Ready for Your Tax Preparer
I do not prepare returns. What I do is hand your preparer organized, reconciled books well ahead of the deadline, with the documentation behind them. Tax season turns into a simple handoff.
Payroll and Year-End 1099s
Payroll and Year-End 1099s
For practices whose payroll system is already up and running, I process each pay period on time. At year end I prepare 1099s for associate clinicians, contract supervisors, and vendors. Book a consultation and we can walk through what your practice actually needs.
The Practices I Work With Around Baltimore
The mix here is wide. A solo therapist with an office off Charles Street and a caseload built on referrals. A psychologist doing testing and assessment work that arrives in long engagements with report hours attached. An LCSW who left a city agency job and now runs her own practice. A psychiatric nurse practitioner seeing medication management visits back to back. A group practice in a converted rowhouse that started with two clinicians and now has seven.
A lot of Baltimore clinicians hold licenses in more than one place around the DC and Maryland area, and plenty see clients on video from a home office. That works well with how I practice, since my clients are already spread coast to coast and organized records travel easily. Licensing and multi-state tax questions belong with your attorney and your tax preparer, and my job is to keep the books clear enough to make those conversations short. If you want to talk it through, book a consultation with me.
Therapists and Counselors
Therapists and Counselors
Session revenue reconciled from your practice management system down to the bank. Private pay and insurance deposits that land on their own schedules sorted out. Sliding scale arrangements and cancellations visible in the numbers, so you can see what a week of clinical hours really earns.
Psychologists and Assessment Work
Psychologists and Assessment Work
Testing engagements, report time, therapy hours, and consulting income all land in the same account and blur together fast. I separate them so you can see which part of a mixed practice is carrying the rest.
Recovery and Addiction Counseling
Recovery and Addiction Counseling
Baltimore has a long history with this work, and the people doing it deserve books they can trust. Individual sessions and group work priced differently, payment arrangements that vary by client, and steady monthly bookkeeping that keeps a recovery-focused practice financially honest with itself.
Group Practices and ABA Teams
Group Practices and ABA Teams
Associate splits, W-2 staff alongside 1099 contractors, and payroll that has to land on time every period. I record compensation correctly and report margin by clinician, so you know whether the next hire is helping the practice or stretching it.
Questions About This Area
You're in California. Can you really keep the books for a practice in Baltimore?
Yes. All of my clients work with me remotely and they are spread across the country. We talk by phone or video, your statements and bank feeds come through online, and you deal with me directly every time.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost?
Full-service bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. Payroll for a practice whose system is already running starts at $150 a month. Your number depends on how many accounts and transactions you have, and I will quote it after we talk.
My books are months behind. Is that a problem?
Not at all. It happens to good clinicians all the time. If the books were never done, that is catch-up work. If they were done and the numbers are wrong, that is clean-up. Either way I get you current and then keep you there.
Do you run payroll for group practices?
I do, for practices whose payroll system is already set up and running. I process each pay period so your clinicians and staff are paid on time. I do not build new payroll systems from scratch.
Do you prepare tax returns or handle insurance billing?
No on both. I keep your books tax-ready so your tax preparer has clean numbers to work from. Billing, claims, credentialing, and coding stay with your biller or your practice management team.
Helping the People Who Help Others
Let's Start With
a Short Conversation
Tell me where your books stand right now, even if the honest answer is that nobody has looked at them in a year. I'll ask a few questions and give you a clear idea of how I can help.
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