Where to Start: Your First Steps Into Private Practice
Just getting licensed, or finally ready to see your own clients? You do not need to figure out everything at once. Here is a simple, beginner-friendly order of operations for California therapists.
If you are licensed and want to take insurance, joining a platform like Headway is often the easiest first step: it handles insurance credentialing and billing for you, and it helps you get your CAQH ProView profile set up and kept current. From there, work through the checklist below at your own pace. If you are an associate or pre-licensed, start with the associate page instead.
Step 1: The easiest first step if you are just beginning
Credentialing with insurance companies on your own means separate applications, contracts, and follow-up for every payer. Headway is a platform that does much of that for you. According to Headway, it:
- Credentials you with its insurance partners in the states where you are licensed, and says it does this for free (headway.co).
- Submits claims and handles insurance billing, with eligibility checks and biweekly payments (headway.co).
- Includes scheduling, notes, and telehealth tools in its platform (headway.co).
- Uses your CAQH ProView (now called DataSpring ProView) profile to credential you, and its help center walks you through setting it up: uploading documents, setting authorization to "Yes, I grant access," adding Headway practice locations, and re-attesting (Headway help center, CAQH FAQs).
That last point matters for beginners. Getting a clean, complete CAQH profile is something you will need for almost any insurance path, so doing it with guidance is a good start.
Referral disclosure: This is Mason's Headway referral link. Mason may earn a referral reward if you join Headway through it. The help you get here is exactly the same whether or not you use it, and Alma, Rula, or contracting directly with insurers may fit you better.
No guarantees. Headway decides who it accepts, and credentialing timelines depend on Headway and the insurers. Your profile stays your responsibility: Headway notes that providers maintain their own CAQH profiles and documents. Read Headway's provider agreement before you sign, and confirm contract questions with an attorney.
Associates and pre-licensed therapists
Headway credentials licensed clinicians, and its accepted license types vary by state. If you are an associate (AMFT, ASW, APCC) or pre-licensed, check Headway's accepted licenses by state before assuming you are eligible, and start with the Associate / Pre-Licensed page and the guide Can associates bill insurance in California?
Other good options
Headway is not the only path. Alma and Rula also help therapists take insurance, with different models, and you can always contract directly with payers to keep full control of your contracts and rates. Compare them side by side in Headway vs Alma vs Direct Insurance.
Steps 2 to 6: A simple sequence
- Set up CAQH ProView properly. Documents, authorizations, and the 120-day re-attestation. See the CAQH guide.
- Choose your insurance path. Platform, direct contracts, or a mix. See Insurance Credentialing for Therapists.
- Set up the business basics. Entity, NPI, bank account, policies, and local requirements (confirm legal and tax items with an attorney or CPA). See How to Start a Therapy Private Practice in California.
- Work the checklist. Track every launch task in one place with the free California launch checklist.
- Bring your questions to a free call. Leave with a personalized plan and your next three actions.
Not sure where you fit?
Book a free call and we will sort out your first steps together. Business support only, so please don't share patient information. Current AMH employees and supervisees are not eligible.