This Business of Therapy

Category: Personal Development

  • Counselling and Therapy: Vocation or Profession?

    During a recent conversation with a colleague, I was talking about the 2013 IACP survey of members which said that the average billable hour is charged at €44, and that one in three charges €30 or less per hour. A more recent Uncommon Practitioners survey suggested an average of €60 an hour for Irish respondents. In both…

  • Allowing In What We Want

    As we turn into the second quarter of the year, and the evenings are getting a bit longer, New Year’s seems a long time in the past, and with it, any resolutions I might have made that 2016 would be different from 2015. Do you hate New Year’s Resolutions, setting intentions, making goals or anything…

  • Changing it Up

    I’ve spoken before about getting focussed, whether it be on what you want, on a niche or target market, or on the way you see yourself in your practice. Today, I want to talk about changing things a little. Why on earth would you want to do that? I come from a big family, and…

  • Living (and working?) Intentionally

    Some time ago, I attended the funeral of a former work colleague. Throughout the ceremony and afterward, talking to others, one message was repeated, by just about everyone, that her death was premature and unfair. She was forty, and left behind a husband, two children, sisters, work colleagues and friends, by whom she will be…

  • The Importance of Intention

    “Nature abhors a vacuum” I was taught in one of my first science classes. Whether you’re talking about air rushing in to fill the empty space, or how other people’s goals and intentions can fill up the space in our lives, it’s true. Nothing gets done without there first being an intention. My big indulgence…

  • Getting to Know Your Practice

      This is the start of a new year. What better time to look at what you’d like to achieve in your practice for in the future, and what better way to focus yourself than to choose one area of your practice and take some action on that. Today, we’ll look at Knowing Your Therapy…

  • Learning To Dance

    The old patterns just keep playing don’t they? There was a missed call on my phone from IAHIP, and a message. When I saw it, what was my first thought? You’re right. “What have I done wrong?” I started a mental cataloguing of who I’d been talking to, what I’d been writing about, trying to…

  • Struggling to Earn Enough in your Practice? Check Your Income Set Point

    If you struggle to earn enough in your counselling or therapy practice, there may be many reasons for that. Some of those reasons may be external ones, such as the financial climate, or the location you practice in. However, there may also be internal factors at play. The following exercise can help to identify one…

  • Self Care at Christmas

    At a recent workshop, I was surprised to hear so many speak of the desire to step out of the frantic energy that seems to be around this time of year in the run up to Christmas. My surprise was not just that so many named it, but that I too was feeling it, and…

  • What Poetry Taught Me About Therapy Practice

    Yesterday, I went to a poetry workshop. That’s a much bigger deal than it may sound, as poetry isn’t really my thing. I just don’t get it most of the time! However, it felt right to be there, and I was curious. So there I was, no clear idea why I was there, but willing…