You Don’t Have to Go It Alone!


As I was putting the finishing touches to my new book “This Business of Therapy: A Practical Guide to Starting, Developing and Sustaining a Therapy Practice” I became aware of the challenge that it can be for many therapists embracing self-employment for the first time. Not that I wasn’t already aware of it, I was, but I guess it came home to me in a different way.

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Do you remember how excited you were when you first decided to train as a therapist? Do you remember that feeling of really wanting to help people in this special way? Perhaps you were thinking of people who had shared some of your own difficult experiences, or whose stories touched you, and you longed to offer them some support so that they wouldn’t have to suffer as long or as hard as you?
Do you remember the first time you had an inkling that you might be good at this work? Maybe it was a fellow trainee or a tutor who commented positively on a session you had done? Or a client who began to make progress in their journey?
And do you remember when the finish line was finally in sight, the last assignment, the last group, the last hour clocked up, and you got that magical piece of news that you were going to qualify?
Were you like me, exhausted and spent, anticipating that finally you could take a well deserved rest?

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Stock unlimited

And then the realisation landed, if I’m going to work at this, I have to go out and find clients. And in that moment, I became aware that despite four years of training and learning, none of it equipped me to earn a living at this work. I had given up my well paying pensionable job to finish my training, and I had used up all my savings in the process. It was one scary moment. Actually, it was not so much as a scary moment, but a scary time that continued for the first couple of years. By then I got the hang of being self employed again after nearly twenty years of working within an organisation, where there were an army of people to support me in doing my job.
When I set up This Business of Therapy and started working with therapists in this area, I went through a very similar journey. Again, I had the excitement that I had something to offer those who were on the same path. But again, there was a long learning curve, as I learned more about the special needs and concerns of my fellow therapists.

My message here is a simple one, it doesn’t happen by accident. Clients don’t magically turn up because I have something to to offer them, no matter how good a therapist I am. It’s not as simple as thinking, I’d like to develop my practice in this way, and the next day it’s delivered in a pretty box from DHL. I have to be part of the process, and that process takes time. But you don’t have to do it alone.

If you are starting your practice, and you’d like some support, maybe I can help. Contact me here to make an appointment or to avail of a free 20 minute consultation.

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