Bookkeeping for Decatur Mental Health Practices
Bookkeeping for Decatur therapists, counselors, and group practices. Books kept current, clear, and ready for your tax preparer.
Bookkeeping for Decatur Mental Health Practices
Decatur has more therapy offices per square mile than most cities its size. Converted houses a few blocks off the square, suites along Ponce de Leon and Clairemont, quiet second floor offices out toward Oakhurst. Clinicians here refer to each other, share waiting rooms, and sometimes share a front desk. It is a good place to build a practice, and I keep the books for the therapists and counselors doing exactly that.
My name is Aretha Dirden. I am in Lancaster, California, and I work with practice owners all over the country. Before bookkeeping I spent more than fifteen years as a licensed nurse in mental health, so your week does not need explaining to me. Everything happens remotely and you work with me, not a rotating team. If you want to talk it over, book a consultation and we will start there.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Monthly Bookkeeping
Monthly bookkeeping means transactions categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, and a report you can read between sessions. Starting at $165 a month, so you always know where the practice stands.
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Some practices have books that were never done. Others have books that were done badly and nobody trusts anymore. I handle both, and I have no commentary about how it got that way.
Payroll and 1099s
Payroll and 1099s
If your practice already has a payroll system running, I take over processing so payday stops living in your head. Year-end 1099s for associate clinicians, contract supervisors, and vendors handled too.
Tax-Ready Records
Tax-Ready Records
I don’t prepare tax returns. What I do is keep everything organized all year, so your tax preparer gets clean numbers in January and you stop digging through payment reports in March.
Decatur Practices I Work With
The practices around Decatur cover the whole range. Solo LPCs seeing a full caseload from a rented room. LCSWs who left agency work and are running a business for the first time. Group practices near the square with four or five associates. Psychologists doing assessment work for families across DeKalb County. Counselors working in recovery, and psychiatric nurse practitioners carrying a medication management panel.
What they have in common is a money side that keeps getting pushed to Friday, then to next month. Bookkeeping for mental health professionals is the only thing I do, so I am not learning your world on your time. I know what a superbill is, what an EHR deposit looks like when it hits the bank, and why your December never looks like your September.
Solo Therapists and Counselors
Solo Therapists and Counselors
One clinician, one caseload, and a hundred small expenses. I separate practice spending from personal, reconcile private pay and insurance deposits that arrive on their own schedules, and show you what a week of sessions actually earns.
Group Practices
Group Practices
Associates on fee splits, W-2 staff, 1099 contractors, supervision hours. I record compensation correctly and report margin by clinician, so you can see whether adding the next associate is helping the practice or just adding work.
Psychologists and Assessment Work
Psychologists and Assessment Work
Testing engagements carry scoring and report time that revenue alone never shows. I track therapy, assessment, and consulting income separately so a mixed practice can see which part is really carrying it.
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Plenty of Decatur clinicians now see clients across Georgia from a home office. Platform and EHR subscriptions, merchant processing fees, and payouts matched to sessions all get reconciled instead of guessed at.
Questions About This Area
You're in California. Does that actually work for a Decatur practice?
It works well. Decatur runs three hours ahead of me, which usually helps. I can take a call early in your morning before your first client, or catch you in your afternoon. Everything else moves through secure file sharing and your accounting software, and you work directly with me every time.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost?
Monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. The final number depends on how many accounts you have and how much activity runs through them. I look at your books first, then quote a flat monthly price so nothing surprises you later.
My books haven't been touched in over a year. Is that a problem?
Not to me. That is one of the most common reasons people call. I gather statements and access, work through it period by period, get you current, and then keep it that way so it does not happen again.
Do you handle insurance billing or claims?
No. I don't do insurance billing, claims, credentialing, or coding. If you have a biller or a billing service, I work alongside them. My side is recording and reconciling what actually lands in your bank account so your books reflect what you were really paid.
I rent a room in a shared suite. Can you handle that kind of setup?
Yes, and it comes up constantly with Decatur practices. Room rentals by the day, sublet rent paid to another clinician, split front desk or cleaning costs. Those get recorded properly so your expenses and your profit picture are accurate.
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.
Other Areas
