Bookkeeping for Jacksonville Mental Health Practices
Monthly bookkeeping, catch-up work, and payroll support for Jacksonville therapy and mental health practices. You work directly with Aretha.
Bookkeeping for Jacksonville Mental Health Practices
I’m Aretha Dirden, and I keep the books for mental health practices across the country from my desk in Lancaster, California. Bookkeeping for mental health professionals is the only work I take on, and that includes therapists, counselors, psychologists, clinical social workers, addiction counselors, and prescribers in and around Jacksonville. Before I ever opened QuickBooks, I spent more than 15 years as a licensed nurse in mental health, so you won’t have to explain your world to me.
Everything happens remotely, which suits a city this size. You don’t drive anywhere, you don’t sit in traffic on 295, and you don’t wait for an appointment slot. You work with me directly, not with a rotating team, and you can reach out when something comes up. If you’d like to talk through where your books stand, book a consultation and we’ll go from there.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Monthly Bookkeeping
Transactions categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, and a monthly report you can read between sessions. Full-service bookkeeping keeps your records current so you know what the practice earned and what it actually costs to run.
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
If your books were never started, I record and reconcile the missing months. If they exist but nobody trusts them, I find what’s wrong and fix it properly. Either way, we start with where you are, not where you wish you were.
Payroll and 1099s
Payroll and 1099s
For practices whose payroll system is already up and running, I handle the runs each pay period so your clinicians and staff get paid on time. I don’t set new payroll systems up. At year-end I prepare and file 1099s for associates, contract supervisors, and vendors.
Books Ready for Your Tax Preparer
Books Ready for Your Tax Preparer
I don’t prepare returns. What I do is hand your preparer books that are already clean, reconciled, and categorized, with documentation where it belongs. Tax season turns into a handoff instead of three weeks of digging through statements.
Jacksonville Practices I Work With
Jacksonville covers more ground than just about any city in the country, and practices here feel it. A clinician with an office in Riverside might see clients who drive in from Mandarin, Orange Park, the Beaches, or over the county line from St. Johns and Nassau. Some owners rent a room in one part of town and a second one closer to home. Others gave up the commute entirely and went online.
The practice owners I work with usually have between one and ten people on the roster. Solo therapists building something steady, group practices adding their second or third associate, prescribers keeping a full schedule, ABA teams growing faster than their bookkeeping, and counselors doing recovery work in a city with a real need for it. Different practices, same wish, which is to stop guessing about the numbers.
Solo Therapists and Counselors
Solo Therapists and Counselors
LMHCs, LMFTs, and LCSWs running their own caseload. Session revenue reconciled from your practice management deposits to the bank, business spending separated from personal, and a monthly picture of what a week of clinical hours really brings in.
Group Practices
Group Practices
Associate splits, salaried clinicians, contractors, and an office to keep running. I record compensation correctly, run payroll for practices already set up on a system, and show you margin per clinician so you know whether the next hire pencils out.
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
A lot of Jacksonville clinicians went online rather than ask clients to cross the whole city. Telehealth practice bookkeeping means reconciling processor payouts, tracking the EHR and software stack honestly, and keeping home-office records clean for your preparer.
Prescribing Practices
Prescribing Practices
Psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychiatrists running high-volume medication management schedules. I spent 15 years in nursing, so the rhythm of your day makes sense to me. Your reports stay short, accurate, and easy to absorb between appointments.
Questions About This Area
You're in California. How does that work for a Jacksonville practice?
It works the same way telehealth works. I'm in Lancaster, California, and my clients are all over the country. We meet by video, you send statements and access through secure upload, and I do the work. Jacksonville is three hours ahead of me, so I start early and can meet before your first client or after your last one.
What does monthly bookkeeping cost?
Monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. Your rate depends on how many accounts you have and how much activity runs through them. I'll look at your books first and then quote you a flat monthly number, so nothing surprises you later.
My books are several months behind. Is that going to be a problem?
No. It's one of the most common reasons practice owners reach out to me. Caseloads fill up and the bookkeeping quietly slides. I'll get you current, reconcile everything, and then keep it current going forward. There's no lecture waiting for you.
Do you handle insurance billing or claims?
I don't. No claims, no credentialing, no coding. That stays with your biller or your billing service. What I do is reconcile the money that actually lands in your bank account against your records so your books reflect what the practice really collected.
Do you file my tax return?
No, I'm not a tax preparer. I keep your books clean, reconciled, and organized all year so your preparer has everything they need without a scramble in March. Plenty of my clients hand off in one email.
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.
