Bookkeeping for San Diego Mental Health Practices
Bookkeeping for San Diego therapists, group practices, and telehealth providers. Work directly with Aretha Dirde, remotely, every month.
Bookkeeping for San Diego Practices
Bookkeeping for therapists is the only kind of bookkeeping I do, and San Diego keeps me busy. I’m Aretha Dirde, and I run AD Keeps The Books from Lancaster, California. Before this I spent more than fifteen years as a licensed nurse working in mental health, so when you tell me about your caseload, your associates, your no-show week, or the payout from your EHR that landed three days late, none of it needs translating.
Most practice owners who reach out want the same four things. Books that are up to date, financials that are ready when their tax preparer asks for them, a clear read on the financial health of the practice, and an honest picture of what the practice actually earns. San Diego makes that last one matter even more. Office rent in Hillcrest or Mission Valley, a stack of software subscriptions, and processing fees can quietly eat a month that felt like a good one.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Monthly Bookkeeping
Transactions categorized, bank and credit card accounts reconciled, and a short set of monthly reports you can read between sessions. When a number looks strange to you, call me and I’ll walk through it in plain language.
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Catch-Up and Clean-Up
Books that were never started and books that were kept badly are two different jobs, and I do both. I record and reconcile the history, hand you accurate numbers, then keep things current so next January is calm.
Payroll for Practices with Staff
Payroll for Practices with Staff
For practices whose payroll system is already running, I process every pay period for associates, admin, and support staff. Your team gets paid correctly and on time, and you stop counting days until the next run.
Tax-Ready Records and 1099s
Tax-Ready Records and 1099s
Your return belongs with your tax preparer. My job is making sure they receive books that are reconciled and organized, along with year-end 1099s for the contract clinicians, supervisors, and vendors you pay.
San Diego Practices I Work With
San Diego has one of the deepest benches of mental health clinicians in California. Solo therapists sharing a suite by the day in North Park or Hillcrest. Group practices in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa with associates working toward licensure. Psychologists doing assessment and report work. Psychiatric nurse practitioners with a full schedule of medication management visits. ABA providers with teams out in the field. Telehealth practices run from a spare room in Point Loma with clients spread across the state.
None of these practices have an accounting department. Usually it’s the owner doing the books at ten at night, or setting them aside for another month. That’s where I come in, with full-service bookkeeping on a steady monthly rhythm, sized for practices with one to ten people. If yours has been sitting for a while, book a consultation with me and we’ll look at where things stand together.
Solo Therapists and Counselors
Solo Therapists and Counselors
Session revenue reconciled from your practice management deposits to the bank, private pay and insurance payments arriving on their own schedules, sliding scale and cancellations visible in the numbers, and business spending finally separated from personal.
Group Practices
Group Practices
Associate pay under a split or a salary recorded correctly, W-2 staff and 1099 contractors kept straight, supervision costs tracked, and margin visible per clinician. That’s the part of group practice bookkeeping that tells you whether the next hire is working.
Telehealth Practices
Telehealth Practices
Platform and EHR subscriptions, merchant processing fees, and payouts matched to the sessions behind them. A San Diego clinician seeing clients from a home office and a bookkeeper working remotely fit together naturally.
Recovery and Addiction Counselors
Recovery and Addiction Counselors
Individual sessions and group work at different rates, payment arrangements that shift with the community you serve, and monthly numbers steady enough to keep a mission-driven practice sustainable. My nursing years covered this territory, so it’s familiar ground.
Questions About This Area
You're in Lancaster. Can you still work with my San Diego practice?
Yes. All of my work happens remotely, and San Diego practices are a normal part of my week. We meet by video, you send documents through a secure upload, and you work with me every time instead of a rotating team. I'm about two and a half hours up the road if you ever want to talk California practice life.
What does bookkeeping cost for a San Diego practice?
Full-service monthly bookkeeping starts at $165 a month. Payroll starts at $150 a month for practices whose payroll system is already running. Catch-up and clean-up work is quoted per engagement once I've seen what shape the books are in, so you know the number before anything begins.
My books are a year behind and I'm embarrassed about it.
You'd be surprised how often I hear that, and it has never once changed how I treat someone. Falling behind is what happens when your calendar is full of clients. I gather your statements, record and reconcile period by period until you're current, and then keep it that way month to month.
Can you run payroll for my group practice?
Yes, as long as your payroll system is already set up. I process each pay period for your associates, admin, and support staff so payday stops living in your head. I don't build payroll systems from scratch, so if you're starting one, get it running and I'll take it from there.
Do you handle insurance billing or prepare my tax return?
No to both. I don't do claims, credentialing, or coding, and I don't prepare tax returns. What I do is reconcile the deposits that land in your bank from your billing system and keep your books tax-ready so your tax preparer has clean numbers to work from.
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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