Bookkeeping for New York City Private Practices
Monthly bookkeeping for therapists, psychologists, and group practices across the five boroughs. You work directly with Aretha, remotely.
Bookkeeping for New York City Practices
There may be no place in the country with more private practice clinicians per square mile than New York City. Therapists renting a room in a Midtown suite two afternoons a week. Clinical social workers with a Park Slope office and a full waitlist. Psychologists running evaluations on the Upper West Side. Psychiatric nurse practitioners seeing medication visits back to back, and ABA teams working across three boroughs in a single day. What I hear most often from clinicians here is that the practice grew faster than the recordkeeping did.
I am 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 15 years as a licensed nurse working in mental health, so nothing about your week needs explaining to me. Private practice bookkeeping is all I do, and mental health practices are the only kind I take on. When you hire me, you work with me, not with a rotating team.
Books Kept Every Month
Books Kept Every Month
Transactions categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, and a short monthly report you can read between sessions. Rent, sublet hours, your EHR subscription, liability insurance, and continuing education all land where they belong.
Getting Current Again
Getting Current Again
If the books were never started, that is catch-up work. If they exist and nobody trusts them, that is clean-up. Either way we go period by period until the numbers are accurate, and I will never make you feel bad about how it got this way.
Payroll for Practices With Staff
Payroll for Practices With Staff
If your payroll system is already set up, I run it every pay period so your associates and admin staff are paid on time. I do not build payroll systems from scratch. At year end I prepare 1099s for contract clinicians, supervisors, and vendors.
Records Your Tax Preparer Can Use
Records Your Tax Preparer Can Use
I do not prepare returns. What I do is hand your preparer a set of books that is already organized, reconciled, and documented, which usually turns tax season into a short conversation instead of a scramble.
New York City Practices I Work With
A practice in this city rarely looks simple on paper. You might rent a room by the half day in one neighborhood, share a suite in another, and see the rest of your caseload on video from your apartment. The money can arrive from private pay sessions, insurance reimbursement that shows up weeks after the work, supervision fees, a weekend workshop, or an adjunct class. All of it belongs in the books in a way that still makes sense at the end of the month.
That sorting is my job. Deposits matched to what actually hit the bank, personal spending kept out of the practice, and every recurring cost recorded where it belongs so you can see what a week of clinical hours really earns. Steady monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. If you would like to talk about where your books stand right now, book a consultation with me and we will walk through it together.
Solo Therapists and Counselors
Solo Therapists and Counselors
LMHCs, LMFTs, and LCSWs who left an agency or hospital job and are keeping business records for the first time. We separate practice money from personal money, track the sliding scale and the no-shows honestly, and get you a real picture of what the caseload supports.
Group Practices Across the Boroughs
Group Practices Across the Boroughs
Practices with a handful of associates and an office manager, including ABA and behavioral health teams. Group practice bookkeeping means splits or salaries recorded correctly, W-2 staff and 1099 contractors kept straight, and reporting that shows whether the next clinician you add actually helps.
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Telehealth and Hybrid Practices
Video caseloads with clients spread across state lines and a subscription stack that quietly adds up. Platform fees, merchant processing, and payouts reconciled against sessions, plus clean home office and equipment records for your tax preparer.
Testing and Assessment Practices
Testing and Assessment Practices
Psychologists doing school evaluations, neuropsych batteries, and mixed therapy and consulting work. Multi-hour engagements with report time attached look nothing like a weekly session, and the books should show which side of the practice is carrying the other.
Questions About This Area
You're in California and I'm in New York. Does the distance get in the way?
It hasn't yet. The work happens through your bank feeds, the reports from your practice management system, and QuickBooks Online, so we never need to be in the same room. Being three hours behind you actually helps. I start early, so a call at nine in the morning my time is your lunch break between sessions.
What does this cost?
Monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. Payroll processing starts at $150 a month for practices whose payroll system is already up and running. Bill payment and invoicing support start at $85 a month each. Catch-up and clean-up work is quoted per engagement after I look at what you have.
I have not touched my books since I opened the practice. Is that too far gone?
No, and you are in very good company. A lot of the clinicians who call me start out apologizing. We gather your statements, record and reconcile period by period until you are current, and then move into monthly service so it does not pile up again.
Do you handle insurance billing or claims?
No. I do not do claims, credentialing, or coding. Your biller or your practice management system handles that side of things. My work starts when money moves, reconciling what actually landed in the bank against your records so the numbers in your books are real.
Will you file my tax return?
No, I do not prepare returns. I keep your books tax-ready so your tax preparer receives clean, organized records, and I am happy to answer their questions directly so you are not stuck relaying messages in March.
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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