Dear Community,

Welcome to all of our new members and subscribers!

The Link is a monthly newsletter for the Brooklyn and Beyond Mental Health Group (BBMHG) and the Upper West Side Psychotherapy Alliance (UWSPA). Founded by Kari Groff MD and Ari Fox, LCSW, we are a thriving community of 5000+ mental health and allied professionals. Each month, we will share tips and resources to help you build connections, take your practice to new heights and have more fun in the process.

In this issue, we share a recap of last month’s popular workshop on accounting for private practitioners, Kari breaks down Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Ari writes about his quest for the best HIPAA compliant email solution.

In this section, we highlight a resource we think the community would find helpful, interesting, or just amusing. We will draw from books, articles, podcasts, shows, movies, and more. Topics range from networking tips to self-care and everything in between.

Paubox: The Best HIPAA Compliant Email Service

Running a private practice in 2025 is hard! A therapist in private practice wears many hats, from clinician to marketer to business owner and much in between. On top of that, there is the ever-changing myriad of confusing CPT codes and modifiers, location codes and data compliance regulations. It is enough to make one’s head spin.

Most mental health professionals want to stay in compliance but the requirements can be confusing and overwhelming.

Ari needed a simple and affordable HIPAA compliant email solution for his practice. Like many therapists, he believed this could be accomplished by using a paid Google Workspace. After all, Google gives a BAA (Business Associate Agreement). Turns out, this is not enough. The BAA covers you for data that is sitting in your inbox, but not for email after it leaves your inbox on the way to someone else’s. If you want your practice email to be compliant, you need additional encryption. This will ensure that protected health information (PHI) is not exposed. 

In his journey from solo to group practice, Ari has learned that streamlining systems is extremely important. He is always looking for ways to make his practice more efficient so that he and his team of clinicians can focus on patient care. Patients also appreciate when the intake process is seamless and billing is automated so they can submit superbills and be reimbursed in a timely manner. Ari wanted a HIPAA compliant email system that would be SIMPLE for both the sender and the recipient. 

After doing some research, Ari discovered that nearly all the options for sending compliant email added unnecessary hassle. In these platforms, patients or other clinicians are required to log in to a portal to read messages, which could lead to important messages being missed. His EHR has a feature to send secure messages, but who wants to log in to a system just to send an email (and on a phone it’s even more cumbersome!).

Ari wanted to send emails the usual way. No extra steps. No passwords. Just securely. He was pleased to find Paubox (pronounced Pow Box): a service that does just that. You type your email, hit send and your message is received with a footer noting that it has been encrypted by Paubox. The initial setup takes minutes to connect to Google Workspace, is really easy and there is nothing else to worry about. Paubox signs a BAA and once connected, all the emails in your account will be encrypted (info@, admin@, etc). For Ari, It is comforting to know that his practice emails will reach their intended destination safely and securely.

Paubox is offering The Link BBMHG-UWSPA subscribers a special discount of $250 off the first year with the code PAUBOXPROMO. 

You can check out Paubox Here:

 Why SEO is So Difficult for Therapists: You're Not Alone 

Kari Groff MD

If you're a therapist in New York City looking to attract more clients online, you’ve probably realized that ranking on Google is more complicated than simply creating a website, listing your services, and adding a few keywords. While these steps are foundational, the competition for online visibility in NYC is fierce, and Google's algorithms are constantly evolving. I want to share my personal experience of how I learned all about SEO (I had never paid much attention to it at all) with my husband during the pandemic and why I think it is important to at least know the basics in today’s competitive world of online marketing of a practice.

Highlights of Our January Accounting Workshop For Clinicians

Last month, expert CPAs Steve Furman and Tim Doepfner gave a special workshop for BBMHG and UWSPA members. The talk was well-attended and informative and Steve and Tim answered therapists’ questions about deductions, software for bookkeeping, business structure and more. Due to popular demand, we likely will offer similar workshops in the future. Stay tuned!

CLICK HERE for key points of the workshop.

CLASSES

Kari is offering some great online classes in March!

Space is limited. For more information click ‘Sign Up’ below:

Psychopharmacology for Therapists

Monday, March 17th, 12-1:30 PM

ADHD: What You Really Need to Know

Monday, March 24th, 12-1:30 PM

Working With Your Ideal Client to Build Your Best Business

Monday, March 31st, 11AM-12PM

Our UWS photo/networking session on Friday, March 7th, 2025, 10 AM- 1 PM @ Cope NYC is Sold Out.

Limited spots are available for Brooklyn Headshots & Networking:

Kari and her husband, Goran, are hosting private photography/networking sessions in March to help BBMHG-UWSPA members get high-quality, affordable headshots. They still have room for six more people. These March sessions are private 1:1 sessions for photography, networking, and discussing your practice. For more information, pricing, and dates and to sign up for a 1:1 photography/networking session in March, use the link: https://www.schedulicity.com/scheduling/KGMGYRX/workshops

For examples of photos: www.michaelgveljic.com

Host an Event!

Contact us if you want to host an event for The Link BBMHG-UWSPA! We would love to co-host your in-person networking event! Reach out and let’s make a date. It is a great way to get to know more people and showcase your practice as well.

Thank you for reading and for all you do to help make our community such a wonderful resource for our patients and for each other!

Best regards,

Brooklyn and Beyond Mental Health Group and the Upper West Side Psychotherapy Alliance