You’re a qualified counsellor. You’ve done the work. You’re good at what you do.
But your practice isn’t as full as you’d like it to be and instead of focusing on your marketing, you find yourself signing up for another CPD course.
Sound familiar?
Let’s talk about why this happens, what it’s costing you, and how to find the right balance between professional development and marketing - because learning more about therapy won’t help if no one knows you exist.
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The problem isn’t your qualifications - it’s your visibility
In counselling, there’s always more to learn. And if you're anything like most thoughtful therapists, you're committed to being the best practitioner you can be.
But here’s where things can get a bit skewed.
You want more clients.
Your caseload isn’t quite full.
You’re not getting regular enquiries.
But instead of learning how to get more therapy clients through marketing, you sign up for another training.
“If I keep getting better, the clients will come… right?”
Not quite.
It’s a mindset I see often:
“Marketing feels uncomfortable, but I love learning, so I’ll just do another qualification for now.”
Or:
“I know I should update my website… but this CPD looks really useful.”
You convince yourself it’s productive, and to be fair, it is. But it’s not solving the actual problem.
Clients don’t book in because you’ve done 14 CPD courses.
They book in because they know who you are, they understand how you can help, and they feel a connection.
Clients don’t understand your training the way you do
This part is important.
You might spend months on a brilliant qualification, but unless you translate what that means for your client, it may just look like jargon.
Most clients don’t know the difference between integrative, person-centred, or CBT.
They don’t know what “Level 5 trauma-informed care” means.
They do know how it feels to be overwhelmed, anxious, stuck, or disconnected.
So listing more qualifications on your profile or website doesn’t help them make a decision, and sometimes it can even put them off, especially if they feel they don’t “understand enough” to choose the right therapist.
Instead, your job in your marketing is to translate what your training means in a way that makes sense to the client.
If you’re trauma-informed, say that. But also explain what it means and why it matters.
For example:
“Being trauma-informed means I’ll work at your pace, with care and sensitivity. I understand how overwhelming therapy can feel, and I’m trained to help you feel safe and in control throughout.”
That’s far more meaningful to a potential client than reading, “Level 2 Certificate in Advanced Integrative Trauma Processing.”
Your qualifications are valid and important. But in your marketing, your job is to translate those into how you help and what it will feel like to work with you.
That’s what builds trust. That’s what brings enquiries. That’s what turns profile views into bookings.
That’s what helps someone choose you.
This is something I see all the time when reviewing directories through Directory Revival.
Even therapists with years of experience end up with listings that are full of brilliant training but unclear messaging. And unclear messaging doesn’t lead to bookings.
Learning is great but it won’t replace marketing
Let’s be clear: I’m not saying stop learning.
CPD is essential. Stay curious. Get better at your craft.
But if you're spending all your time learning about therapy and no time learning about marketing, your practice will stay quiet.
CPD helps you do the work well.
Marketing helps you get the work.
You need both.
So where should you start instead?
If marketing feels overwhelming or unnatural, start small.
Update your directory listing so it reflects who you are and the clients you most want to support. Not sure where to start? My Directory Revival will walk you through it step by step.
Start working on your website - especially your “About” page. Focus less on your training, and more on how you support your clients.
Write one blog a month. Just one. If the thought of writing feels like too much, Framework First gives you a low-cost, structured way to do it without starting from scratch every time.
Let people know you're available. Tell colleagues, friends, peers - you'd be surprised how many referrals come from quiet conversations.
Small actions compound. Done is better than perfect.
Quick Summary: Why more CPD isn't the answer to getting more therapy clients
- Clients choose therapists based on connection, not qualifications
- Adding more training doesn’t help if your marketing is unclear or absent
- CPD is valuable but not a replacement for visibility
- Start with one simple marketing task at a time (directory, website, blog)
- Don’t hide behind learning. Let people find you.
Next step: Grab your free therapist marketing resources
If you’re ready to make your practice more visible without having to be loud, salesy, or fake - head over to my Start Here page.
You’ll find a whole collection of free tools and resources to help you:
- Get clear on your messaging
- Write better directory listings
- Understand how to attract your ideal clients without overwhelm
Transcript of episode 224: What If Your Love of Learning Is the Thing Keeping You Stuck
If you prefer to read or want to skim through what I've talked about, here’s the full transcript below.
Today, we are talking about something that comes up all the time for counsellors. It's that feeling of, look, I just need to take one more qualification before I really feel comfortable enough to put myself out there. But is that true? Well, today we are gonna explore why more training isn't always the answer to growing your practice and what actually brings the client in.
And, how to strike a healthy balance between learning and visibility. So look, if you've been stuck in a loop of courses and CPD, but you're still not getting those inquiries, this is the episode for you.
So, hi, you are listening to the Grow Your Private Practice Show. The podcast helps therapists and counsellors to grow practice that works for you, not the other way around.
I'm Jane Travis and I'm here to help you simplify your marketing, feel more confident, sharing your message, and attract the kind of clients you love to work with, all without burning out or selling your soul in the process.
So hello, hello, hello, and welcome back and if this is your first time here, it's really great to have you on board. Welcome.
Now, let's be honest, as a counsellor, there's always more to learn and there are endless trainings. You know, endless theories. Endless client groups you could work with. It is so exciting and it's really easy to fall into the trap of thinking, right, I'm gonna work on my marketing next month. I just wanna get this course finished. Or surely, if I'm really good at what I do, the clients are just gonna find me naturally. But that next course, it's not the thing that's gonna get clients through the door.
So whilst you are training and getting more qualified, the people that need you don't even know that you exist yet. And that might sound a little bit harsh, but you know, it's true because, well, the way it usually goes is you qualify, you know, you've qualified to be a counsellor, and you are excited. You are so excited. It's kind of the curse of knowledge. And when you start learning something, you realize that there's always so much more to learn.
And the more you learn, the more you feel like you don't actually know anything. So as you look at starting putting yourself out there, you suddenly feel a little bit overwhelmed. So you turn back to what feels more safe, and that is learning. So you sign up for another course and then you sign up for another because it's so interesting, right?
It really is. But before you know it, you've got a stack of CPD certificates, but you are still struggling to get those clients, so you know what's going on. Well, here's something that we don't always recognize fully, and that is that, generally speaking, your average client doesn't really have a clue about what our qualifications mean.
And you know that's not their fault. Why would they? Why would they know what our qualifications mean? They're not therapists. You know, they're not in the world of modality comparisons or acronyms, and the thing is, they don't want to have to decode your profile. You know? They want to feel seen and safe and understood and supported.
So when we list all of our training that we've done, we are hoping to kind of prove that we're qualified, but it has the opposite effect. It can actually make people feel more confused or even a little bit daft, and that's definitely, definitely not what we want to do. So instead, your job in your marketing is to translate what it is that you do, translate what your marketing means in a way that makes sense to the client.
So for example, if you are trauma informed, say that, but explain what it means and why it matters. So for example, you might say being trauma informed means that I work at your pace with care and sensitivity. I understand how overwhelming therapy can feel, and I'm trained to help you to feel safe and in control throughout.
So can you see how that's far more meaningful to a potential client than reading like, you know, level two certificate in Advanced Integrative Trauma Processing? So your qualifications are really valid and important, but in your marketing, your job is to translate. What those qualifications actually mean into how this is gonna help the client and what it's gonna feel like to work with you.
And that's what turns profile views into bookings. Now let's just be really clear for a moment. I'm definitely not saying don't train. Of course, I'm not saying don't train. CPD is essential. And here in the UK it's required. You know, we're required to keep with our CPD. Ongoing learning is what makes us better practitioners.
But learning alone is not gonna grow your practice. So it's about finding that balance. So it's the balance between building your counselling skills and building your marketing skills so that people are gonna be able to find you because CPD helps you to do the work well. Marketing helps you to get the people in.
So it's just, it's about finding that balance. So how can you get started if marketing actually just feels really overwhelming for you? Well, the thing is, you don't need to do anything overnight. You know? The problem I see is that marketing is like everything else. It takes time to learn. It takes time to get your head around it, you know, why you're marketing what you're trying to do. It's just gonna take some time. So you can't do it all overnight, but you do just need to start, start in a gentle way that is gonna fit in with you. So here are a few different ways that you can actually just get started.
So the first one is that you could update your directory profile so it sounds more like you and connects better with your ideal clients. Now, if that feels a little bit like a headache, do not worry. I have a product that's called the Directory Revival, which gives you everything you need to make your directory. Easier and more effective. Okay, so I'll share all the details of these links in the show notes so you can go and check them out.
So the first thing is update your profile. Another thing is to work on your website content, particularly your about page and your FAQ pages. You know, use them to speak directly to the clients that you'd love to support. And if you need some help with that, I have some free resources. And one of those is your FAQ page checklist, and that's available in The Vault.
The Vault is a whole load of free resources that I have for you, and again, they'll be in the shownotes as well. Something else that I'd recommend you doing, and this is something you can definitely do, and that is to start writing one blog post a month, not a week. You know, you're not doing a blog post every week or every day, one blog post a month.
So this isn't to do with SEO. This isn't to do with being clever. This is just to help the people that you want to work with. Now if that feels a little bit daunting again, I have something here that's gonna really help you, and that's called the Framework First Blogging System. And basically it's a low cost.
It's nine pound a month, so it's a bit of a no brainer really. And every month you'll get a new ready-made, step by step monthly structure that's gonna help you to write a blog post that's gonna be helpful, and it's gonna be human, and it's not gonna have the overwhelm. So again, that's just nine pound a month.
And that's gonna really make a massive difference to you. And then the next thing is to just make sure that you let people know that you are available. You know, it's some of these things aren't rocket science, are they? Just let people know, tell your friends, you know, I'm, did you know, have I told you that I've trained now and now I'm qualified and I'm available to help people that are struggling with, you know, X and Y or whatever it is.
Or go to networking events and just let people know. You are taking on clients. So you could be sat at your hairdressers and you know, they ask you about your work and you say, oh yes, I'm seeing clients now. Yes, I help people that are dealing with this and this and this. So just let people know. The more you can let people know, obviously the more people are gonna know that you're there.
So it doesn't have to be hard. Just let people know. So let's take a look at what we've covered today. So we've looked at that instinct to just take one more qualification and, you know, learn something new. And it's often a form of self-protection, but if you're not careful, that's going to keep you stuck because your clients don't understand your list of qualifications.
So make sure that you translate what they mean into something meaningful and relatable to them. And yet more. Learning is great. It really, really is. It's interesting and it's fun and it's gonna help you to help your clients, but marketing is the thing that's gonna help people to find you. So marketing is gonna find you those clients and get you paid basically.
And there's no need to go big or be everywhere. Start small, start steady, and really focus on being findable. And like I say, if you want some more help to get started, head on over to my start here page where I've got all of my free resources, uh, free and paid resources there, whether you're stuck on marketing or visibility or your niche.
And just have a look what's there. So it's at janetravis.co.uk/start-here. All the details are in the shownotes and I'm sure that you'll find something helpful there wherever you are right now. Okay, well, that's it for today. So thank you for joining me. It's been really great having you here, and I hope that this gave you some reassurance that you don't have to know everything and it's given you a little bit of a nudge to remember that you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to know everything.
You just have to get started and you just have to start showing up. So that's it from me, Jane Travis, and I look forward to seeing you again next time. Take care. Bye-bye.
