Your mission statement is a concise, action-oriented description of what your practice does, why it does it, and how it works toward achieving its vision.
This is the third post in our Building a Successful Private Practice in Phoenix series, and in it we bring together the three most foundational aspects of your therapy practice: vision, values, and mission.
As we’ve explored in previous posts, every practice should be built in response to community needs—the local problems your work seeks to address. From those needs, you create a vision, which represents the ideal future state where your practice has successfully tackled these challenges. Once your vision is clear, you establish your values—the core principles that guide your decisions and shape the culture of your practice.
The final piece is your mission—the practical, action-oriented steps your practice takes to address the community needs and work toward achieving your vision, all while staying aligned with your values.
In this post, we’ll dive into what a mission is, how to craft an effective mission statement, and provide examples to help you define the mission for your private practice.
What is a Mission Statement?
Your mission statement is a concise, action-oriented description of what your practice does, why it does it, and how it works toward achieving its vision. While your vision inspires clients and colleagues to dream about the long-term impact of your practice, the mission is about the here and now—defining the actions you take daily to make a tangible difference as you work toward the vision.
At its core, a mission answers three essential questions:
- What does your practice do?
- Why does it do this work?
- How does it address the community need(s) you’ve identified?
A well-crafted mission statement is specific enough to guide your practice’s operations but broad enough to allow flexibility and growth. It should reflect your practice’s commitment to solving the mental health challenges facing your community, whether it’s providing accessible care, culturally competent therapy, or innovative approaches to treatment.
How to Create a Mission Statement
Creating a mission statement requires distilling your vision and values into concrete, actionable terms. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you craft a compelling mission for your Phoenix-based private practice:
Start with the Community Need
Your mission should be grounded in the specific mental health needs of the Phoenix community. As discussed in our previous post on vision, this might involve addressing issues like the lack of accessible services, a growing demand for adolescent mental health support, or the challenge of providing culturally competent care to the area’s diverse population.
Identify Your Ideal Future State (Vision)
From the identified need, reflect on the long-term outcome you want to achieve. What change do you hope to see in your clients and the community as a result of your work? For example, your vision might be to **improve mental health outcomes by fostering better connections and accessibility** within Phoenix.
Determine the Values that Guide Your Practice
Your values will serve as the foundation for how your practice operates day-to-day. These might include principles like innovation, compassion, or collaboration. Ensure that your mission aligns with these values, so that every action your practice takes is a reflection of what truly matters to you.
Define Specific Actions (The Road Forward)
A mission is more than just a broad goal—it outlines the specific actions your practice will take to address the community needs. This might include offering sliding-scale fees to improve accessibility, creating partnerships with local organizations, or providing telehealth services to reach underserved populations.
Examples of Mission Statements
A good mission statement is clear and concise. Ideally, it should be one or two sentences long, providing enough detail to explain your purpose without overwhelming the reader. To help inspire your own mission statement, here are a few examples from other organizations and practices that address specific community needs:
Phoenix Therapists’ Hub (PTH): “Our mission is to create a more social, uplifting, and joy-filled mental health experience for therapists and their clients.”
Adolescent Mental Health Provider:“Our mission is to improve the mental health of adolescents in the Phoenix metro area by offering accessible, evidence-based treatments and collaborating with schools to promote early intervention.”
Telehealth-Focused Practice: “Our mission is to increase access to mental health care for rural communities in Arizona through innovative telehealth services that reduce barriers to treatment.”
Trauma Recovery Practice: “We empower trauma survivors in Phoenix through compassionate, trauma-informed care that fosters healing and resilience.”
Each of these examples reflects the community’s needs, while also outlining the specific actions the practice takes to address those needs. They are concise, outcome-oriented, and aligned with the values and vision of the respective practices.
Conclusion
Your mission statement is more than just words on a page—it’s the practical expression of your vision and values. By grounding your mission in the unique needs of the Phoenix, Arizona community and ensuring it aligns with the core principles of your practice, you can create a roadmap for success that not only serves your clients but also helps your practice thrive.
Additional Resources
“Does Your Business Have a Mission Statement?” by Deborah Sweeney (By the way, are you aware of the SCORE organization? It provides support for Arizona small business owners!)
“What Is the Difference Between Mission, Vision, and Values Statements?” from SHRM.org
“How to Write a Mission Statement for Your Therapy Practice,” a video from Private Practice Workshop
*The author of this blog post referenced the following text on vision and mission statements for inspiration: “Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements” by Jenette Nagy and Stephen B. Fawcett