Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Need Name For Clinical Psychology Practice

Posted by Anonymous on 1/21/2011 at 12:24 AM ET 250 Points
I'm a clinical psychologist and I need to name my practice, but am having difficulty coming up with something. I work with both pediatric and adult population. For the pediatric population, often times there are co-existing issues that need to be addressed, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, social work services, work with the school/special ed, etc. I envision my practice to have a division for adult treatment, and a division for pediatric services. The pediatric team will be multidisciplinary.

My main specialty is treating anxiety disorders in children (namely selective mutism), and most of my current caseload consists of these cases. These children tend to need speech and occupational therapy as adjuncts to exposure therapy to cope with their phobia of speaking.

I don't want to have a name that just focuses on selective mutism, however, because I want to keep it general to encompass the multidisciplines that I envision eventually having at my practice.

I don't want to just call it my name -- I have a very long name and would prefer having something that is memorable and easy to spell! I will be setting it up as an S-Corp, so I also have to choose which of these I prefer at the end of the name: S.C., P.C., or Ltd.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/21/2011 at 12:33 AM Accepted
    One approach would be to use either the city name or some other local reference, followed by a broad description of what you do. Example:

    [CityName] Mental Health Institute

    It also depends on where you're located and how ready the community is for a name that specifically calls out that you deal in Mental Health. The old stigma may cause some to be reluctant to go to a place that has "mental health" in the name -- which is why so many mental health professionals just use their names. If this is a problem for you, then you may need to just be generic with [CityName] Professional Center or something equally non-descriptive.

    Again, CityName can be a literal city name, or it can be the name of a local landmark, river, neighborhood, etc.


    As for the type of entity, from a marketing perspective it doesn't matter, because you don't need to use it for marketing purposes. My personal preference is P.C., but that's very subjective and doesn't really impact your prospective clients.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/21/2011 at 4:35 PM Member
    Anxiety Clinic
    Phobia Clinic (or any of the Latin equivalents: Anxietas, Tumultus, Cura, etc.)
  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/22/2011 at 9:51 AM Moderator
    The Centered Center
  • Posted by totem on 1/22/2011 at 7:41 PM Accepted
    "Your Inner Voice"

    Maybe one more word on the end? [Coach], [Revealed], ... to give it action/resolution.

    Or [Clinic], [Institute]... if you need to make the service more obvious.

    HTH!
  • Posted on 1/22/2011 at 8:59 PM Author
    Thanks for these responses. I'd like to avoid the city name because I'm not certain I'm staying at that location. When the practice grows, I'll need more space. Also, I may have more than one location.

    I like Professional Center, but need one more word in front.

    Anxiety Clinic or Phobia Clinic is too narrow, and also not discreet enough. To protect privacy, I personally think it's better to have a general name that doesn't give away what the place is, in case someone other than the client were to unintentionally see a business card or piece of mail from the clinic.

    Centered Center and Inner Voice are good ones, too. Inner Voice might focus too much on selective mutism, but then again it could be general ...

    How about using a word that means perseverance, victory, strength, fortitude, something along those lines. I like the idea of using a Latin word, like vicere, but then not sure if I can make it work. Or maybe I can combine these ideas, what's latin for inner voice? or strong voice? or inner strength?

    Any other ideas?




  • Posted by totem on 1/22/2011 at 9:17 PM Accepted
    To me, voice has a broader meaning than merely the mechanics of speaking. I don't know your methodology but I am sure by the other services you offer that your treatment extends deeper than the speech itself.

    I don't know the latin equivalent, but it sounds like the "id" in practice. Not that many people get that concept.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/23/2011 at 8:40 AM Accepted
    [CityName] can be as broad as a large region, if you want. Example: Rocky Mountain Professional Center. Or a state/province name, like Ontario Professional Center or Mid-Atlantic Professional Center.

    And if you have more than one location you can simply add a location identifier: Marin County Professional Center - Sausalito.

    This approach will make you sound bigger than you are and still keep you "local."

  • Posted on 1/23/2011 at 3:07 PM Author
    Good point. It has me thinking ...
  • Posted by bill.hoelzel on 1/23/2011 at 8:21 PM Member
    Crossroads Behavioral Counseling.
  • Posted on 1/23/2011 at 8:31 PM Author
    Initial reaction: would pref not to have "counseling" or "behavioral" in it, but I do like just Crossroads.

    Thanks, these ideas are all helping me think.

    What do you think of Ardor Institute?
  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/23/2011 at 8:56 PM Accepted
    What's "Ardor?" Do you mean like "Passion?" Not sure what that adds or communicates, but it probably wouldn't be negative.

    We should understand the objective better. Are we going for a "generic" name or a benefit name? Are we avoiding mental health words?
  • Posted on 1/24/2011 at 10:42 AM Author
    Ardor is "great warmth of feeling". Trying to communicate strength, as in inner strength or fortitude, and found Ardor in the thesaurus, and thought Ardor Institute went well together. Also considering logo to be fire, representing inner light or strength, and maybe tag line to tie it all in, such as Ardor, alive in you or something like that. Still developing the idea. Not sure if it works.

    This process so far has helped me figure out I'm looking for:
    1.) generic name, avoiding mental health words (but flexible); going for positive words,
    2.) going for something that symbolizes strength, and
    3.) a colleague suggested "institute" or "center" or "foundation" may be better (for future, when we apply for funding of programs).

    Do you think Ardor is easy to remember/spell? Still open to other ideas for the first word.

    Thanks!
  • Posted by totem on 1/24/2011 at 11:40 AM Accepted
    The word ardor first conjured up the image of trees in my mind. Then I wondered if it wasn't the root of the word arduous.

    If you had to dig into a thesaurus to find a word, it certainly will not have broad comprehension.

    Maybe of interest:
    https://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/10/the_new_rules_o.html
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