Why you should start before you’re ready
After finishing counselling training, several people on my course immediately signed up to the next level advanced training. I decided to take a year out to get some experience before getting more qualifications. For me, counselling (or at least my version of it) was about 2 people sitting in a room together talking, and I wanted to get some experience doing that.
So I started before I was ready, and opened my private practice before I'd worked it all out.
The modern face of therapy
What do you think of when you think of a therapist?
If I'm honest, when I think of a traditional therapist I get a image of the original therapy poster boy Freud - a tweedy older man in authority who looks, frankly, terrifying!
(Sorry Freud fans!)
Or there's the middle aged, middle class white woman who's looking for something to do now the kids have flown the nest.
Is that what the public perception of counselling is, that we are all tweedy busy-bodies looking down our noses at people and observing them?
Where to blog when you don’t have a website
You're just starting out in private practice and you’ve heard blogging is a great way to get known, start connecting with potential clients and help people.
Well, you’re right, it is!
But does this mean you need a website first?
Thankfully, no.
At some point you will definitely need a website, but it’s not something you need right at the start. You can start attracting clients without a website - and without a logo or business cards either.
So I'm going to show you where to blog when you don't have a website
Shall I get another qualification before starting in Private Practice?
You’ve passed your exams, done your placement and had your personal therapy and now you’re a fully qualified therapist - YAY!
Congratulations! You should be very proud. Time to start in private practice - exciting times!
But wait! You’re not starting in practice yet?
‘No, I think I’m going to get a more qualified qualification so I can help people in a more qualified way. And it’ll attract more clients as they’ll see how super qualified I am.'
Okay, no. We need to talk…
Advice for Therapists Starting in Private Practice
Getting started in private practice is an amazing time. You’ve worked so hard and finally you’re ready to start making an income doing what you feel passionately about - that’s kind of the holy grail of life!
But it can also feel overwhelming too - with websites, niching, social media, blogging, networking, podcasts etc, where do you even begin?
I asked some therapists what advice they’d give new therapists just starting out, and here’s what they said: