This Business of Therapy

Tag: counselling practice

  • Creating a Therapy Practice

    In order to create something, whether it’s a home, a relationship, a work of art or a therapy practice, there is a process of creation. This process brings us through a number of steps from original conception to realisation. There are many ways to describe these steps, and I’m sure you’ll have your own version.…

  • Plan For A Better Year

    When we first set out to establish our practices, there are so many things we have to think about and so many decisions we have to make. It can be a bit overwhelming. However, time invested in really thinking through some of the issues involved provides great holding and support for us in the early…

  • What If The Boss Won’t Pay?

    At a recent workshop at the IAHIP offices, a group of newly and nearly qualified therapists brainstormed their associations with the word “Business.” After the course, I was reflecting further on our discussion and, in particular, on the question of cancellation fees (always a good topic for an animated discussion among therapists). I was thinking…

  • This Business of Therapy Book in Paperback and Kindle

    This book is now available to buy in either paperback or Kindle from Amazon.co.uk You don’t need to own a kindle device to read the book, just download the free kindle app for tablet, pc or smart phone. Paperback price €12.99, Kindle €8.99 This Business of Therapy: A Practical Guide to Starting, Developing and Sustaining…

  • Creating Support for Our Practices

    I have often written about the need to provide ourselves with sufficient support to start or develop a therapy practice. When I worked in the accountancy profession many years ago, I had two trainees in my team at one stage. They were as different as chalk and cheese as the saying goes, and there was…

  • Earning More Money

    Most therapists charge their clients on an hourly or sessional basis. They sit with their clients for an hour or 50 minutes, and the client pays a fee based on the time. This is a fairly typical arrangement in professions generally, although it is slowly changing. One of the drawbacks of this approach from a…

  • Dirty Nappies and Sticky Toffees

    When I was growing up, a cousin, about four or five years younger than me, asked his mother (in the hearing of several of us older kids) to chew his toffee for him because it was too hard. He never lived it down. At the time, I dismissed him as immature and childish. In recent…

  • Internal Locus of Evaluation

    In his famous book, On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers talks about the “Locus of Evaluation” (or the perceived source of values) from two perspectives, that of the client, and that of the therapist. He supports a view that the therapist’s task is to think and empathise with the client within the client’s own frame…

  • John’s Story

    I have written on many occasions on the link between our beliefs and values about money and wealth and the direct impact they have on our ability to create a financially viable therapy practice. Recently, I have been working with a client who has been exploring his struggle to earn a decent living in his…

  • Dilemmas, Obstacles and Opportunities

    Business Dilemmas Peculiar to Therapists Being a therapist is different from having other jobs. Issues arise in therapy work that would be ignored in other occupations. There can be a belief in therapy circles that these dilemmas can restrict us in seeing a therapy practice as a business. Earning a living is often seen as…