top of page

Side Gigs for Psychiatrists

Updated: Oct 14

Over the years, we’ve seen countless requests for side hustle ideas for doctors in specific specialties in our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group. We continue our series of unique side gigs by specialty with side gigs for psychiatrists. If you aren’t in psychiatry and want to learn more about side gigs for your specialty, check out our page of side gig ideas for different specialties. If your specialty hasn’t been featured yet, follow the series on Instagram, where we’ve featured more specialties.


Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes.  While we try to ensure it is accurate and updated, we cannot guarantee it. You should do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.


Unique side gigs for psychiatrists, including clinical research, medical surveys & telemedicine


Side Gigs for Psychiatrists


Telepsychiatry


Telepsychiatry can offer flexibility for both psychiatrists and patients, providing the convenience of treatment without having to coordinate an in-person visit. There are several different opportunities available in telemedicine, including:

  • On call after hours telemedicine for a telehealth company or institution

  • Flexible part-time contracting with a telehealth company (hours required a month can vary by opportunity)

  • Adding telemedicine services to your existing private practice

  • Starting your own independent virtual private practice on the side


While there is an upfront time commitment to setting up a secure platform and establishing your own telemedicine practice (or finding an opportunity with an existing platform), this side gig features low overhead costs and allows you to work from anywhere with flexible scheduling to practice medicine on your terms while helping you serve a new patient population. Compensation can vary greatly depending on the telehealth platform, as can responsibilities and requirements. We recommend carefully vetting every opportunity you consider.


If you’re considering working with an existing platform, check how malpractice insurance is covered. If you’re interested in starting your own telemedicine side gig independently, we have a malpractice insurance solution for telemedicine available with a member perk that might be able to help.


Related PSG resources:



Clinical research


Clinical research offers psychiatrists the opportunity to add an additional income stream while contributing to advancements in mental health care by offering new treatments and therapies to patients. While clinical research is often established at academic institutions, there’s been a large push for research outside of major medical centers, such as within private practices and other independent sites. There are many opportunities for psychiatrists to get involved in clinical research, such as operating as a principal investigator (PI) or sub-investigator (sub-I) on studies ranging from pharmaceutical trials to behavioral interventions.


Physicians in private practice can establish a research site at their practice and operate as the PI. This can take some upfront effort to establish, but can offer significant additional revenue streams for your private practice, as well as provide convenience for your patients. Opportunities also exist for physicians interested in working as a PI or sub-I at an established third-party site.


Compensation varies depending on the setup and your specific role, as well as by each study, but this side gig can be highly lucrative and can offer the flexibility to scale with multiple trials.


Related PSG resources:



Expert witness work


Many legal cases require expert witnesses, and not infrequently, input from psychiatrists is sought. Their role can be multifold, ranging from weighing in on the particular case to just assessing whether someone has the mental capacity to make decisions or be involved in a trial, what state of mind a defendant was in when a crime happened and whether they had criminal intent, whether they have PTSD or other conditions that may affect the lens by which the jury sees their actions, etc.  Forensic psychiatrists provide assessment, evaluation, expert opinions, and testimony in a variety of criminal and civil court cases involving mental health factors. 


Expert witness work is always a popular side gig on our physician communities, as it allows you to use your existing expertise without a lot of additional skill sets required, and tends to be quite lucrative. In the case of psychiatry, some cases may specifically seek out those with forensic psychiatry training, although this is certainly not always needed.


Related PSG resources:



Forensic consulting and/or chart review


Building off of expert witness work, there are many other chart review and forensic consulting type opportunities available to psychiatrists. Forensic consulting or chart review work for psychiatrists can also include independent medical examinations (IMEs), disability work and fitness for duty assessments, worker’s compensation or other occupational health arenas, criminal responsibility, immigration work, insurance work, family and custodial issues, and other work for legal firms.


These opportunities vary in pay and commitment, but often offer flexibility and the ability to choose how many (or how few) cases you wish to handle. Opportunities can often be found through networking or working with specialized consulting firms.


Related PSG resources:



Paid medical surveys


Paid medical surveys are one of the most flexible side gig options for psychiatrists. These surveys, typically conducted by market research firms, allow psychiatrists to use their expertise to provide feedback on new medications and healthcare technologies, helping influence future advancements in their field. Surveys can be as short as a few minutes, and longer surveys offer the ability to complete them at your convenience, allowing you to pick up this side gig work whenever you have a few spare minutes in your schedule.


While psychiatrists may not receive as many medical survey opportunities as some other specialties, there are still a number of opportunities available, and signing up with multiple reputable companies can offer more chances to find legitimate studies with ease. Compensation varies by study and depending on the volume you’re interested in.


Related PSG resources:



Other consulting opportunities, including for businesses & employers


There are a variety of other consulting opportunities available to psychiatrists as well, including working with businesses, employers, and organizations seeking expert guidance on mental health related issues for their staff. This can include helping develop (or advising on) employee wellness programs, developing mental health company policies, helping implement programs for managing and mitigating workplace stress and burnout, and even consulting for health tech and pharmaceutical companies on product development.


Consulting is a popular side gig in our online physician community, as it offers a flexible way to leverage your clinical expertise and can often offer attractive compensation. Compensation varies from role to role, but is typically paid on an hourly or per-project basis.


Consulting side gigs can also offer networking opportunities, potentially opening the door to additional side gig opportunities in the future, such as speaking engagements and advisory board positions.


Related PSG resources:



Reviewing insurance claims through utilization management


Insurance claim review is a type of chart review work available for psychiatrists interested in leveraging their clinical expertise outside of direct patient care by assessing the medical necessity and appropriateness of mental health treatments. This work typically involves performing utilization reviews, peer-to-peer reviews, or independent medical reviews (IMRs) to evaluate whether proposed or ongoing care aligns with the insurance company’s established guidelines.


These opportunities are often found through major insurance carriers or by working with a third-party medical review company or utilization review organization. These opportunities are often available remotely and can provide a high level of flexibility. Compensation can range based on the specific role and hiring company, as well as how much work you wish to take on.


Related PSG resources:



Moonlighting or per diem work, such as psych work for the county or government


For psychiatrists who enjoy direct patient care in a clinical setting, plenty of opportunities exist to pick up additional per diem work to compliment your current schedule, including:


  • Providing evening, weekend, and holiday coverage for inpatient units and hospitals

  • Picking up telepsychiatry shifts for a telehealth company

  • Working per diem at a correctional facility

  • Completing worker’s compensation or disability evaluations

  • Working with a crisis services center

  • Working with a public health department


Compensation varies depending on the type of work, with pay typically on an hourly or per shift basis. While some of these opportunities may require more of a commitment than others and provide less flexibility in scheduling, they can offer predictable scheduling with minimal long-term commitment for psychiatrists looking to heavily supplement their clinical work.


Related PSG resources:



Addiction medicine


Addiction medicine offers psychiatrists the opportunity to apply their unique expertise in substance use disorders. Side gig opportunities can exist both clinically and outside of clinical work. Clinical opportunities exist with detox centers, residential treatment programs, outpatient medication-assisted treatment clinics, and for addiction telehealth. Other potential side gig opportunities exist with consulting, program development, and as a medical director.


Addiction medicine provides an entire field of diverse opportunities and settings, all while helping make a meaningful impact with patients.



Mental health influencer or educator


Becoming a mental health influencer allows psychiatrists to leverage their expertise to reach a broader audience through multiple avenues, depending on their interests. With mental health concerns on the rise, and with so many non-medical influencers sharing information online, psychiatrists have a huge opportunity to be a credible source for those diving into related topics.


Influencers can consider becoming active on social media, developing a YouTube channel, blogging, or starting a podcast, just to name a few! As their audience and platform grows, they can leverage their following to monetize their existing channels with paid advertisements, affiliate partnerships, brand partnerships, sponsored content, and more. They can also branch out into additional paid opportunities such as speaking engagements, publishing a book, or creating an online course.


This side gig offers a ton of flexibility, though it typically requires a huge upfront investment of time and energy before opportunities to monetize efforts arise. Earnings vary widely based on the size of the audience and the type of opportunities you’re interested in pursuing.


Related PSG resources:



Writing and publishing


Writing and publishing offer psychiatrists a rewarding way to share their knowledge and insights. Writing opportunities can range from books to blogs to articles and can include contributing to medical textbooks, developing content for educational courses, freelancing for a mental health company, writing a self-help book, or contributing a medical piece to a major media outlet.


Writing opportunities are often highly flexible, letting you write around your current obligations based on set deadlines. They can also offer professional credibility and help psychiatrists establish themselves as thought leaders in the field.


Compensation varies widely depending on the opportunity. One off articles or projects typically pay on a piece-by-piece or word count basis, while larger projects such as book deals may offer royalties based on earnings, providing an opportunity for passive income down the road. Rates can also increase as your writing portfolio grows. Psychiatrists interested in blogs can find ways to monetize their writing through platforms such as Substack.


Related PSG resources:



Coaching or hosting wellness retreats


Being a psychiatrist and coaching may seem like an obvious fit for many reasons, and many psychiatrists in our community have been interested in this, particularly with the prevalence of physician burnout. The line that has to be navigated is being careful about establishing what may seem like a doctor-patient relationship. If you go down this route, working with a lawyer to craft clear messaging, disclaimers, and forms that establish that your relationship is a coaching relationship rather than a doctor-patient relationship is essential.


Another way to approach this may be to avoid one on one relationships, but instead focus on group experiences. Hosting wellness retreats offers a unique side gig opportunity for psychiatrists interested in blending mental health education and expertise with holistic well-being practices (and can offer the opportunity to travel!). Retreats can focus on topics such as burnout recovery, emotional wellbeing, self care, and stress management. Wellness retreats offer the ability to work with and educate individuals outside of the traditional clinical setting on a deeper level, while providing the potential to generate a substantial income.


While hosting retreats takes a lot of upfront planning and coordination, you have the flexibility of choosing when and where, as well as the overall curriculum and schedule of the retreat. This side gig can be a great extension for influencers looking to connect with their audience personally while looking for ways to further monetize their following.


Related PSG resources:



Additional side hustle resources for psychiatrists


While we’ve outlined above some common side gig ideas for psychiatrists, there’s always room for creativity. If there’s something you’re passionate about and good at, look for ways to monetize it.


Dive deeper into some of the side gigs featured above, including:


Need inspiration? Join our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group and ask other psychiatrists what they’ve enjoyed as their side gig.


You can also explore the following to learn more about our:


bottom of page