Before You See Your First Client begins where courses, workshops, training seminars, and textbooks leave off, providing a candid behind-the-scenes look at the fields of therapy, counseling and human services. In a reader-friendly and accessible style, Dr. Howard Rosenthal offers his readers useful and practical ideas for the implementation, improvement, and expansion of one's mental health practice. Each of 55 concise chapters provides vital information regarding clinical work and policy issues on topics such as opening a risk-free private practice, maximizing one's salary, resume-building, ethical issues of advertising & marketing, managed care, billing, confidentiality, and malpractice policy rates. Stand-alone chapters allow the reader to easily find a topic of particular interest for a quick overview of the issue, followed by worthwhile tips and advice. Based on the author's own personal experiences, the book is written in an intimate and personal style to which inexperienced and beginning therapists can easily relate.