The Challenges of Working In A Rural Practice


One of the questions that comes up for counsellors and therapists is where to base their practice, and one of the options is to live and work in the countryside rather than the town or city.

IMG_1587Being one of few or perhaps the only practitioner in a rural area has its advantages, mainly that there isn’t much in the way of competition, as doctors or other referrers will have just a small handful of choices when it comes to referring clients. Often, the location can enhance the environment in which the work takes place, especially when it is in a scenic area.

However, rural practice also comes with its challenges. Top of the list might be the thin spread of population. Potential clients may have some distance to travel. While this might be an advantage on a bright summer’s evening, when the scenery makes the drive a beautiful transitional space, and a pleasure to experience, it may not be so in the dark winter months when adverse weather conditions make the going tough.

The time taken to travel may be an issue too. We live in an age of convenience, and while the inconvenience of adding a couple of hours to the time actually spent in the therapy room may be a reasonable cost in the short term, it may not be so in the longer term. An ambivalent client may find the distance just another excuse not to continue with the work, and who can blame them?

Another big factor for some clients is privacy and anonymity. Your location may enhance a client’s privacy, or it may not, depending on their point of view. In a busy town, your car parked outside a counselling centre may not be remarked upon, after all, you could be going anywhere or doing any number of things. On a quiet country road where there are no other buildings, there’s nowhere to hide.

A thorny aspect of rural living and the thin spread of population is the danger of overlapping boundaries with other therapists or supervisors, where your supervisor may be therapist to your therapist, or your therapist may be a supervisee of your supervisor. This can make networking or peer supervision a challenge. Referring-on can also be restricted for the same reason.  And it may be difficult to find specialist practitioners close by.

Yet another challenge is finding adequate, appropriate CPD within a reasonable distance and at reasonable cost. Much of the training is delivered in central locations where large populations are based.

Do these challenges outweigh the benefits of living and working in the spectacular beauty of the countryside? IMG_0965Perhaps, or perhaps not. You are really the only one who can make that call.

However, technology may offer some possible solutions for you.

Online or phone client consultations are growing in popularity. While they are not the same as face to face work, they do offer some opportunities, namely the possibility of connecting with others at some physical distance. Some practitioners opt for supervision by phone or skype, because they are unable to find the specialist support they need close to them. Adverse weather is less likely to be a problem when working remotely, and anonymity can be preserved. (See the article on online counselling here.)

Online networking may also be an option, with products such as freeconferencecall.com which allows a group of people from diverse locations to connect for the price of a local call. Country wide networks have been a successful strategy in the accountancy profession to allow practices to interact to their advantage without fear of competing.

Ongoing learning and CPD may also be available online through webcasts, audios, Youtube etc. A lot of this is available free of charge. For example, I completed my EFT practitioner training remotely with a tutor based in the USA, and my EFT client work to achieve my certification was conducted in the main over Skype.

Rural practice can be challenging, but it also has great compensations in terms of quality of life. Modern technology can be a huge asset in managing the downsides, so that you can get the best of both worlds.

If you have challenges in your practice, I’d be glad to help if I can. Please contact me to make an appointment or to avail of a free 20 minute consultation.

Save

Save