CAREERS AT SUMMIT COUNSELING
Join a Practice Built by Clinicians, for Clinicians
Since 2017, we’ve intentionally cultivated a supportive private practice grounded in flexibility, curiosity, respect, and reciprocity. Founded by LPC/MHSP clinicians Lindsay and Ben Taylor, Summit offers high-quality therapists an environment where you feel seen, valued, and empowered in your clinical passion.
CLINICIAN BENEFITS & CULTURE
Why Therapists Love Working at Summit
Competitive Compensation
You should be paid well for your professional skills and clinical expertise. We offer competitive, transparent compensation packages.
Professional Growth
We support advanced specialty training and actively encourage our counselors to cultivate a practice niche they are truly excited to serve.
Autonomy & Flexibility
Work-life balance isn’t just a buzzword here. We help build schedules and caseloads that fit alongside your real life, preventing burnout.
JOIN OUR CLINICAL TEAM
Current Openings
Outpatient Licensed / Pre-Licensed Counselor
- Professional Development Stipend & Paid Time Off (PTO) Available
- Full W2 Status (Taxes withheld + Summit professional liability coverage provided)
- Flexible Scheduling & Work-Life Balance Emphasis
- Clinical Supervision Included for Pre-Licensed Providers (LPC/MHSP Track)
- No marketing, insurance, or extra administrative responsibilities.
Overview & About Our Culture
Our counseling team consists of a wonderful group of talented clinicians. We take pride in a positive, helpful, and engaged culture and are looking to add a new counselor to join our team who matches and contributes to this energy.
We are interested in building a counseling practice which actively values quality clinical care and creating balance for employees. It’s important that our employees feel respected, confident, supported, and excited about their work.
A good candidate is someone interested in working in a smaller team environment. Someone who has or is interested in developing a niche or working with specific populations. Someone who is creative and curious about the process of counseling. Someone who wants to learn and share with other talented and creative counselors.
Position Summary
We are seeking a qualified licensed counselor/therapist/social worker to join our team and provide individual and/or group outpatient counseling services. This is part-time position with hours in the afternoons and early evenings. Pre-licensed candidates are welcome to apply though considerable preference will be given towards applicants with full licensure status.
The position has the option to be a fee per session or salary position where you are paid a flat amount each pay period throughout the year.
This position will see most clients in the office from our downtown location. Some telehealth sessions can be expected. You can expect your caseload to grow gradually. This position also includes a brief paid onboarding period.
This therapist role will be a W2 employee position rather than a 1099 contractor position. As such, all mandatory federal and state taxes will be withheld automatically and you will be covered by Summit’s professional liability coverage.
What You'll Do
What You’ll Do:
- Provide standard counseling services to individuals, couples, or families in a private practice setting.
- Formulate DSM-5 diagnoses.
- Maintain a sense of curiosity and hopefulness about clients and the counseling profession.
- Maintain ethical and justice-oriented care to all clients, respecting cultural backgrounds, differences, and marginalization.
- Maintain timely documentation utilizing Therapynotes electronic health records system.
- Maintain Tennessee Licensure status.
- Actively participate in our professional team and contributing to group meetings and consultations.
- Actively participate in team meetings and contribute positively to the culture of Summit.
- Actively express and pursue professional interests and specialty areas.
- Provide quality, evidence-based counseling services to clients.
- Demonstrateprofessionalism, motivation, and a genuine interest in the counseling experience for clients.
Who You Are & Qualifications
Who You Are:
- You are licensed (or actively are pursuing licensure) to provide counseling services in the state of Tennessee.
- You are curious, empathetic, confident enough to make decisions, and humble enough to seek and receive feedback from peers.
- You are aware and sympathetic to cultural and social diversity and experiences.
- You can demonstrate knowledge of diagnostics, psychopharmacology, and supportive treatment approaches as applied to child and/or adult populations.
You May be Interested in this Position if
- You seek the experience working with a group of motivated and highly talented providers.
- You are interested in developing a specialty in regards to modality, clientele, or presenting concerns.
- You desire to leave the community mental health grind to focus on providing effective therapy.
- You hold a natural curiosity about people and strategies to help them.
- You have a fondness for clients and a belief in their ability to improve.
Full Benefits & Compensation Details
- Salary or fee per session pay depending on what fits your needs.
- Flexible schedule.
- Paid time off.
- Professional development assistance.
- Clinical supervision for pre-licensed providers (LPC/MHSP track).
- Paid licensure application and annual renewal
Ready to grow with Summit?
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until positions are filled.
FREE CLINICIAN RESOURCE
Confused About Navigating Private Practice?
Graduate school rarely prepares clinicians for comparing employment models. We’ve put together a straightforward guide outlining common private practice structures—complete with pros, cons, and essential questions to ask during interviews.
Tips for Finding A Private Practice Position
Private practices are ran in lot of different ways. There are some basics you should know as you explore options to find what is best for you!
A W2 employee is a traditional employee of the practice. The practice handles your taxes and may provide benefits like paid time off and health insurance. A 1099 contractor is an independent business owner operating under the practice’s umbrella, meaning you’re responsible for your own taxes, insurance, and business expenses.
Often times the split for a 1099 is higher (and should be) due to the need to pay extra in taxes, liability insurance, and other business expenses. Be wary of practices that hire 1099 contractors but treat them as W2 employees.
A W2 employee is a traditional employee of the practice. The practice handles your taxes and may provide benefits like paid time off and health insurance. A 1099 contractor is an independent business owner operating under the practice’s umbrella, meaning you’re responsible for your own taxes, insurance, and business expenses.
Often times the split for a 1099 is higher (and should be) due to the need to pay extra in taxes, liability insurance, and other business expenses. Be wary of practices that hire 1099 contractors but treat them as W2 employees.
The main pros are a stable, consistent income and the practice handling administrative tasks like taxes. The main cons are less flexibility and fewer tax write-offs for work-related expenses.
The main pros are greater flexibility in scheduling and the potential for a higher income. The main cons are a higher administrative burden and the responsibility for your own taxes and benefits.
The three common payment models are fee split, salary, and flat rate per session.
In a fee-split model, you receive a percentage of the revenue generated from the clients you see. For example, in a 60/40 split, you get 60% of the client’s payment, and the practice keeps 40%.
A salary model means you are paid a consistent amount every pay period. The main pro of a salary model is steady, predictable pay, which is good for financial planning. The main con is that your pay is not directly tied to your caseload, which may limit your potential for higher earnings.
In a per-session model you are paid a set amount for each session you conduct, regardless of the client’s payment. It’s a middle ground between the fee split and salary models.
This depends on your needs and the quality of the practice. The fee split model often offers a higher range of pay but it includes more risk as well. If the practice cannot fill your caseload or does a poor job of tracking payments from insurance and clients your pay will be impacted. You’ll also likely not be paid for the time it takes to fill your caseload as well.
A salary model is more consistent and safe for you as you’ll be paid no matter your caseload size generally. However, because there is more risk to the practice in this case your overall salary might be less than if you were on fee-split and had a full caseload.
A private practice that is transparent and can confidently answer your questions is a good sign. Other green flags include clear explanations of their operational model, a willingness to share historical data (like how quickly they fill a caseload), and an emphasis on values like work-life balance and clear communication.
Be cautious if a practice gives vague answers, gets defensive when you ask detailed questions, or can’t provide historical data.
Be wary if they demonstrate a lack of transparency about administrative responsibilities or a culture that discourages questions are also warning signs.
Be cautious of practices whose emails end in @gmail.com or similar. These are not HIPAA compliant and a possible sign that practice operations are not buttoned up well.
Salaries posted in listings that seem too good to be true often are. These are usually reflective of fee-split models and assume seeing 30ish clients a week at the practice’s highest reimbursement level and 100% payment by clients and insurance. More likely you’ll see 20-25ish clients a week and the reimbursement level will vary.
You may ask what an average reimbursement per session is for a clinician of your licensure level.
You may ask how they chose their specific pay model(s). They should hopefully be able to explain the pros/cons to you.
You should ask how billing is managed; does the practice take charge of payments from clients are are you responsible for tracking billing?
Who is responsible for marketing and filling your caseload? You or the practice?
How quickly do caseloads tend to fill?
Are you paid for no-shows or cancellations?
What is the culture of the practice? What is it’s vision? What were the goals for starting this practice?
What administrative tasks are you vs the practice responsible for?
Will the practice provide a phone or phone number if you are responsible for direct client contact?
Does the practice offer any benefits?
What are your performance expectations within the practice? How will you know if you’re doing a good job or poor job?