Addiction & Recovery Counselors
Bookkeeping for drug and alcohol counselors and recovery-focused practices. Group work, individual sessions, and mixed payment arrangements kept straight by someone who already knows this world.
This Work Runs On Dedication
Recovery work asks more of a person than most jobs do. You take the call at an hour nobody else would answer. You sit with someone on their hardest day, and then you are there again on the day it finally starts to turn. Many counselors in this field came to it through their own story, and it shows in how they practice.
I spent more than 15 years as a licensed nurse working in mental health, so this territory is already familiar to me. I know the language, I know how a practice runs on an ordinary Tuesday, and I know what it costs the people doing it. What I do now is keep the books, so the business side of your practice stays steady while your attention stays where it belongs.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Drug and alcohol counselors, certified and licensed addiction counselors, substance use disorder counselors in private practice, and small recovery-focused practices with a few staff members. Solo offices on up through teams of about ten.
Why It Fits
Why It Fits
You can describe your week to me in your own words and I will follow every bit of it. Nothing about group facilitation, individual work, or the realities of this population needs explaining first. That takes the tiring part out of hiring help.
How The Money Actually Comes In
A recovery practice rarely has one clean revenue line. Individual sessions carry one rate. Group runs at another, and group income moves with how many people are in the room that week. Some months the groups carry the practice. Other months the individual caseload does most of the lifting. Books that pile it all into a single number hide which is which.
Then there is the question of how payment arrives. Card payments through your practice system, cash handed over at the door, a family member paying on someone’s behalf, a weekly arrangement worked out with a client who is rebuilding their finances from the ground up. My job with monthly bookkeeping is to make sure every one of those deposits lands in the right place, gets matched, and gets reconciled, so the report you read at the end of the month reflects what really happened.
Group Work And Individual Work, Kept Apart
Group Work And Individual Work, Kept Apart
I set your books up so group revenue and individual session revenue show separately. When you look at a month, you can see what the groups brought in against what it takes to run them, including room rent, facilitator pay, and materials.
Payments From Every Direction
Payments From Every Direction
Processor deposits, cash, payment arrangements, money that comes through an employer program or a community contract. I reconcile all of it against the bank so nothing sits unexplained and nothing gets counted twice. Whoever handles your billing keeps handling it, and I work from what actually lands in the account.
Where It Usually Gets Tangled
The books are almost never the first thing to slide. Caseload comes first, then the notes, then the group that needs a facilitator, then someone in crisis at four o’clock on a Friday. Months go by that way. By the time anyone opens the bank statements, most of a year is sitting there waiting, and the weight of it grows every week it sits.
The other common tangle is money that was earned and never collected. Payment arrangements in this field are generous on purpose, and they need somebody keeping an eye on them, otherwise balances quietly age and the practice absorbs the loss without ever making that decision. A sliding scale is a choice worth making with the numbers in front of you.
Books That Fell Behind
Books That Fell Behind
If it has been months or years, you are in good company and there is nothing you need to explain to me. Catch-Up Bookkeeping exists for exactly this. I gather your statements, work through the periods one at a time, reconcile the accounts, and hand you current books. Then monthly service keeps it from happening again.
Practice Money Mixed With Personal
Practice Money Mixed With Personal
Plenty of these practices grew out of one person’s own checking account, and untangling that is normal early work. Once business and personal are properly separated, your reports start telling you the truth, and your tax preparer gets records that make sense.
Numbers A Mission Can Stand On
A practice built on service still has to be financially honest with itself. When the books are current, you know what a month of individual sessions earns, what the groups contribute, and what it truly costs to keep the doors open. Decisions about fees, group size, and how many clients you can carry get made with real figures in front of you.
Every month I categorize your transactions, reconcile your bank and credit card accounts, and send you reports you can read between sessions. Your books stay ready for whoever prepares your return, since I keep the records rather than file the taxes. If that sounds like what your practice needs, book a consultation with me and we will talk through where things stand.
A Steady Monthly Rhythm
A Steady Monthly Rhythm
Books closed on schedule, accounts reconciled, and a clear picture of profitability each month. If your practice already has a payroll system running, I can process your pay periods too. Setting up a brand new payroll system is outside what I do, and I will say so plainly.
You Work With Me
You Work With Me
No rotating team and no handoffs. You send a question, I answer it, and I will walk you through any number on your report in plain language. That is how I practiced in nursing and it is how I keep books.
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.
