The Business of Psychology

Do you want to help more people than you can stuck in an office? If you are a psychologist or therapist with big ideas then this is the podcast that will support you to make them real! Visit drrosie.co.uk to join the movement.Link to Crowdfunder (ends March 30th 2020!) https://natwestbackherbusiness.co.uk/thebusinessofpsychology

Fear of failure/public humiliation is the number one reason psychologists and therapists put off that big project they have been wanting to do. The good news is we can use the same skills we apply to clients to overcome this and do great things. This is the first in a series of mindset coaching episodes to get you off the starting blocks.LinksTo join the waiting list for the Do More Than Therapy membership visit https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-listTo take my quiz to find out what is holding YOU back from being creative in your work visithttps://www.drrosie.co.uk/quizRuss Harris' FREE COVID 19 resources and meditation trackshttps://www.actmindfully.com.au/free-stuff/free-audio/?fbclid=IwAR3xexTBkUaVFECL2mTcskh_ghuSvfRcaAQW3wn3A0B0fcmCWodAEKNSuB8Blog: How the fear of failure is killing your creativity as a psychologist or therapist and how to deal with itMy quiz is designed to help you figure out what is getting in the way of your creativity as a psychologist or therapist. A theme that has come out over and over again is the fear of failure. We often get stuck in our practice, knowing we want to do more but paralysed. Sometimes this is because we don't know WHAT to do, which is why the Do More Than Therapy membership, and this podcast, have practical topics like "how to publish a book" with Tim Lewis. But often, we do know what to do, we just can't seem to make ourselves do it. This is usually because we are paralysed by fear.Most of us feel this fear when we are stepping outside of our comfort zones and doing something new to us. I certainly get it when I'm recording this podcast!What is so scary about failure for psychologists and therapists?I use a lot of ACT in my work and I find it helpful to think of the fear of failure as "fusion with the outcome" of our venture. By that I mean we have started to act as though several things are true:That our thoughts are realityWe can predict the futureWhether the project succeeds or fails is entirely down to usThat success or failure of the project means something about us as a person.People who have been successful in life often get away with this style of thinking as it makes us work very hard. The problem comes when we apply it to innovative projects because failure is an essential part of the process of creating something great and in order to be resilient enough to keep going we need to see the venture as separate to our self worth.Why we need to fight the fear to be the best psychologists and therapists we can beIf we don't separate from the outcome of our venture we will be operating from a place of fear. This means our body and mind will switch off the capacities for creative problem solving, social connection, resolving conflict and resting and digesting. Basically we will be unable to do our best work.Also, if we don't get instant success (which we probably won't) we will think it is because "I am a failure". The logical behaviour if we believe this is to give up and hide from others. This is the most harmful thing that could happen to your ability to make an impact on the mental heath landscape.What needs to happen for your project to be a Success? It may be helpful to consider all of the factors that must align for your project to succeed.Your intervention (book, course, podcast etc.) has to be what someone else needs at that moment.They need to understand how it helps them.They...

Books That Make You Think - Stolen Focus - Does social media make us angry?Welcome to our first regular Books That Make You Think slot. In these special segments of the week, we are going to be talking about a book that I've come across that, in my mind, sits on the threshold between psychology, business and marketing. One thing that I'm really passionate about is helping psychologists and therapists to learn how to build effective businesses and market ourselves, while feeling like we're still serving our clients really well, and like we're doing some good in the world. And one thing that strikes me is that often when I read books, whether that's a psychology book, or a business book, or a marketing book, I'm kind of merging all of those worlds together in my head, and trying to figure out where I sit as a clinical psychologist with the stuff that I'm learning. One book that has really made me think this week is Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, and I talked about it a little bit last week, and people were really interested in some of the learning from it. So I thought that I'd do regular slots, where we can talk about books like Johann Hari's book, which raised some really interesting issues for us, as professionals, and as marketers, as well. So I hope you're gonna find this helpful as people who are in business, but who are also very interested in mental health and promoting good mental health in the world. Okay, so the point that I wanted to pick up on this week from Johann Hari's book was the fact that I found quite shocking that on social media, posts that have hate speech in them, words that generate an angry response in us, are the most engaged with and shared posts. So a post that has the words obliterate slam, hate, all of these kind of aggressive words will do much better than a post that is positive. And Johann Hari goes into some of the research behind that and it indicates that this is because it speaks to our negativity bias as humans. And it makes sense, right? We're kind of trained to look out for aggression and violence and pay lots of attention to it as a survival mechanism. It certainly fits with my understanding of how human psychology works. So I don't know why I was that surprised, but I guess I'd never really thought about it before, and it strikes me that there are some clinical implications that need thinking through if this is true on social media, and if the algorithms are going to continue to promote posts like this, that are filled with really hateful language, I think we need to think about that on behalf of our clients and think about how we might need to adapt what we do in the therapy room and in the services that we create for our client groups, in order to take that into consideration. Because it's going to have a major psychological effect on people. Of course it does. So that's the first thing I want to think about today. And the second thing I want to think about is how we take that knowledge and structure our marketing around it. Because there's a bit of a debate here about do we do what works? And we know that what works is all of this negative language and hate speech. Or do we try and do something different, go against the grain of the social media algorithms, and possibly face getting more expensive results or less good results with our social media campaigns? So those are the two things and I'll start with the clinical stuff. Because that's what struck me first when I read this chapter of the book, and I'm really interested to get your thoughts on it. I really want this to be a conversation. So please do let me know what you're thinking as I'm talking about this, especially if you...

Books That Make You Think - Stolen Focus Part 2: Nutrition and attention in our practices and marketingWelcome to this week's Books That Make You Think. It's a moment in your week where you get to pause and reflect on a new book which I have found really interesting, and it's a bit of space for us to think about the implications of new books on our practice and on our marketing efforts as well. So I hope this feels like a little bit of a moment of luxury, where you actually get to reflect on some of the information that we're bombarded with in our daily lives, because if you're anything like me, it can feel like I read a lot of stuff, and I hear a lot of stuff, but I don't actually have that much time to reflect on it. So I hope that these little segments of your week will give you a bit of thinking space and a bit of time to reflect on some of the cool new stuff that is out there. This month we are focusing on Johann Hari: Stolen Focus, and this week I wanted to talk about the chapter on nutrition and pollution, and the fact that he presents a lot of very compelling evidence that the food that we eat and the environment that we live in is having a huge impact on our ability to pay attention, which in turn has a huge impact on all aspects of our mental health; everything from depression all the way through to neuro developmental conditions that can be diagnosed like ADHD. I won't go into all of the research that he cites, but it is very compelling, and it certainly convinced me that I need to be paying a bit more attention to my client's nutrition, and knowing where to point them for that, because I'm not a nutritionist, and I'm not going to become a nutritionist. But if we know realistically that nutrition and the environment are playing a huge role in mental health and the way that our clients are able to pay attention, then surely we need to be addressing that in our work directly. So I thought, what could that look like practically? How could I include this new knowledge in my clinical practice, and how can I also incorporate it into my marketing strategy? And one of the things that I thought of was, firstly, about formulation. And I think we always say that we try and formulate in a bio psycho social way, or at least a lot of us say that, but actually I've never drilled down too much into my client’s eating habits. I don't ask my clients routinely if they come to me with, you know, birth trauma, postnatal depression, that kind of thing, I'm not saying what food are you putting in your body? And maybe I should be. So that could be an element of it, adding that stuff into our formulation. Maybe formulating, if we know that somebody lives in a very built up area where there's lots of pollution, and then incorporating that into our formulation, that that might be making it more difficult for them to do the mindfulness activities that we are setting for them, for example, and setting that expectation with people, I think it's part of a compassionate response to acknowledge that we are living in quite a toxic environment in terms of our food being very super processed, and full of chemicals that make it hard for us to pay attention, and our cars churning out chemicals, plastics churning out chemicals, which make it difficult for us to pay attention, and just having that compassion that, okay, we're going to try and learn mindfulness here, and that's got loads of benefits that you will have already talked with your client about, but you are kind of running up an escalator that's going in the opposite direction, because of the environmental stresses that are on you, and acknowledging that and making it clear that you're asking them to do something really...

Books That Make You Think - Stolen Focus Part 3: Do you have enough time for flow?Welcome to this week's Books That Make You Think. I'm still talking about Johann Hari's Stolen Focus, but his is actually our last weekly session thinking about Johann Hari's Stolen Focus.  This week, I'm particularly thinking about the chapter that he wrote on the crippling of our flow state. Flow state is something that I became aware of in my undergraduate study, and I've actually thought about a lot for myself, because I find that my ability to hyperfocus on a task and pay exclusive attention to that one thing that I'm doing is probably my superpower in running my business. And I talked a bit about that on the podcast episode About my Brain and Entrepreneurship. But what was really interesting in Johann Hari's book, is he talks about the fact that in our lives today, we have much less opportunity to experience pure flow state. And that's because in order to achieve that feeling of flow, where you're 100% focused on that one thing, and time kind of evaporates around you, you don't notice the passage of time because you're so focused, you need to be mono tasking, and that's not something that we're allowed to do very often in our society at the moment. So it's really interesting from both a clinical and a business perspective, I think, because there's a lot of evidence that if you don't experience enough flow state in your life, you never feel like you master anything, you never get that feeling of achievement and pride in something that you have completed. And we know from models like CBT, and ACT, and most clinical models, particularly for working with depression, people who are struggling with low mood, they all involve helping people to experience more mastery in their life, or to do more of the things that matter to them. And actually, if they've not got opportunity for flow states, then they're unlikely to be able to do that, or to get much satisfaction out of it when they do attempt to do that. So I think that's really important from a clinical perspective. But there's also this kind of productivity element to it as well, if you're not allowing yourself to experience flow state, how are you going to do your best work? And how are you going to get the reward that you need in order to feel motivated to continue to work on a big project like a book, or even a blog campaign, for example, if you're not allowing yourself long periods of time to immerse in that project. And I find this really interesting, because when I talk to my coaching clients, who are psychologists and therapists trying to build their businesses, often when they're feeling a bit negative, and we look at what they've done over the last week, they've done lots of little tasks on little bitty projects and they've not allowed themselves any time to really dive into a project that interests them and excites them. And I think we all recognise that feeling of feeling fragmented and stretched thin, and like we're not really doing any deep work. So I thought it'd be helpful for us to think about what we need in order to achieve flow state, so we can think about how to get more of that into our lives and the lives of our clients too.So Johann Hari uses Mihaly's definition of flow state. And his definition says that you need three things to be in place in order to achieve flow state.Firstly you need to be mono tasking. You can't achieve flow state if...

LinksPlease support the Crowdfunder for this podcast and the Do More Than Therapy community! You can find it here.Also come and join the FREE Facebook community here.You can find more blogs and podcasts at www.drrosie.co.ukYou can find Hannah on instagram @ChildhoodMindedon Facebook @HannahAbrahamsPsychologist and on her website www.hannahabrahams.comTranscript of Podcast EpisodeTragedy, Trauma and Mess: How a Psychologist Helped the Survivors of GrenfellFoundations: How and why did Hannah become a psychologist?Rosie (00:00):Today, I'm talking to Hannah Abrahams. Hannah is an educational and child psychologist who's worked beyond the therapy room in both the public and private sector, starting out as a primary school teacher before training as an ed psych in 2005. She's been involved in projects that would seriously intimidate most of us, including setting up a school and supporting the community after the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower. Not to mention setting up and building her own private practice. Welcome to the podcast, Hannah, there's so much that I want to ask you about and so much that we could talk about. So let's start at the beginning. What inspired you to leave teaching and become an ed psych?Hannah (00:38):Gosh, what a big question, and what an introduction. It actually made me really emotional listening to that. I think I always knew that I wanted to work with special needs children, and in my second year of teaching, it was really made concrete. There was a little boy that I had in my class who had been diagnosed very early on with autism. And we formed a really strong bond and a really good understanding of each other. And I think that absolutely cemented the fact that I knew that I wanted to go and work as an educational psychologist and kind of work in a more systemic way supporting staff and families and working very collaboratively. Yeah, the picture of him and my mind is so clear, but I remember coming into the class one day just going, yep, I absolutely have to follow this. So I think I had an idea from very early on.Hannah (01:35):I also did work experience when I was 16 in a school for children who were deaf, and they taught me to sign really quickly. Obviously, I was not fluent. But I think for me it's always been about communication, and interestingly, about communication with people who find it more difficult to communicate in the neuro-typical way. So I think from a really young age, I was really interested in building relationships and building bonds. And I think that ed psychs have an incredible gift of being able to do that in all sorts of different settings. So I hope that answers your first question.Rosie (a...

LinksJoin the Psychology Business School membership here.The Do More Than Therapy FREE Facebook groupRuss Harris' ACT Made SimpleMore info and useful resources at https://psychologybusinessschool.com/Blog PostDo more than therapy in your psychology private practice If you are setting up a psychology private practice you need a business plan. And it needs to have more than therapy in it… Many of us stumble into private practice as an add on to an already busy NHS (or other public health) role. It is too easy for us to just assume that all we do is rent a room and use our existing skills. Many talented clinical psychologists, therapists and counsellors are shocked to discover that they don’t make much money from their private practice. I was in that position a year ago. I had gone full time in my practice and was busy with clients. But I wasn’t making much money, didn’t have the flexibility I needed to fit around solo parenting my two children and most annoyingly I found myself with NO time to do the community psychology interventions I was passionate about. I noticed I was heading for financial, creative and emotional burnout and invested in business coaching to figure out how on earth to make it right. It was the best decision I ever made and I have put the key learning points into this blog and the psychology private practice business plan workbook (available when the Crowdfunder goes live on March 2nd!) to help make sure you don’t make the same mistakes as me. If you are just starting out you might find yourself feeling resistant or “a bit icky” about some of this stuff. Don’t worry that is part of the journey. You will feel better when you are up, running and helping lots of people. The Foundation of a Psychology Business Plan Mission: What do you want from your private psychology practice or project? All too often we set off into a venture without being intentional about what we are trying to create. However you run your practice, whether full time or part time I guarantee it is going to have you working more hours than you ever did in the NHS. The good news is many of those hours won’t feel like “work” at all if you are passionate about the purpose of your practice. So don’t skip this bit if you want to feel fulfilled rather than drained by your work! The following questions should help you figure out your personal and professional mission: What is the change you want to create in the world?What is the change you want to make in your life? Write out one or two clear mission statements that sum up the impact you want to have for other people. Then write one that puts into words what your work needs to provide for you and your family. I want to help X (insert group of people you want to help) to do X. I will use my X skills to do this. I want to create a life that allows me to live my values. The things I value most in life are x, y and z. My business will help me to have more of these in my life by x, y ,...

LinksAs this episode goes live this is your final opportunity to support the crowdfunder for this podcast and the Do More Than Therapy community. If you know we need to step out of the therapy room and start making bigger impact you belong in this community. Become a founding member and start to make the change you want to see.Feel like you've got a book in you? The Crowdfunder has you covered bag yourself an amazing self publishing workshop for just £25 here.Missed the deadline? Don't worry head to drrosie.co.uk and you can still get a place.You can buy "Brighter Futures", Lucy's amazing book here.www.theyarethefuture.co.uk.Facebook @tatfwellbeing.Instagram @tatf_drlucyTwitter @DrLucyRussell.https://learndobecome.com/Transcript of Episode:Rosie (00:00):Today I'm talking to Dr. Lucy Russell. Lucy is the clinical lead for a successful child psychology group practice in Buckinghamshire called Everlief. If you follow her online, her passion for reaching parents of school-aged children is clear, and she's done an amazing job of reaching more families with the book she co-wrote with her colleagues, Brighter Futures. Brighter Futures is a book that I'm really happy to have my hands on before my kids hit school age, and Lucy is here to tell us how she made it all happen. So Lucy, hi and welcome to the podcast.Lucy (00:31):Hi.Inspiration: What motivated Lucy to Write Her BookRosie (00:32):Can you start by telling us a little bit about what inspired you to write the book and who it's intended to help?Lucy (00:40):Well, okay, what inspired me, like you, wanting to do something more. I do face-to-face therapy, and I enjoy it, but I wanted to do something more that reached a wider audience of parents and also something a bit more preventative because parents come to me when they've hit crisis point pretty much. So I was looking to do something that helped them before they got to that stage. And also the families that come to our clinic have suggested writing a book over the years, and so finally a few of us got round to it and wrote that book.Rosie (a...

Thank you for listening and I hope you found it useful to reflect on boundaries. In my opinion the world needs our expertise at this time so I ceryainly plan to keep working but I also think it is important to work differently, protecting our boundaries and our own mental health as much as possible. Doing more than therapy has never been so important. That is why I am still shouting about the Crowdfunder which ends on Monday 30th March at 2pm.Join the movement. Commit to doing more than therapy by checking out the rewards we have on offer on Crowdfunder:https://natwestbackherbusiness.co.uk/thebusinessofpsychologyMissed the Crowdfunder? Sign up for a workshop or join the free community at:www.drrosie.co.uk

LinksDo you want more support to build a practice that does more than therapy? Come over and join the community at www.drrosie.co.ukCheck out the upcoming self publishing workshop for the Do More Than Therapy members at www.drrosie.co.ukCatherine France, insurance expert: https://www.catherinefrance.com/WriteUpp practice management software (affiliate link because I LOVE it) https://writeupp.com/default.aspx?refid=7168Zoom video conferencing software www.zoom.usBlog post: What needs to be in a psychology practice business plan:How much does setting up a psychology private practice cost?Money OutAs psychologists, therapists or counsellors we are very lucky in that it is possible for us to build what is known as a “cockroach” business. Basically this means we often don’t need much investment to start up as our skills are valuable. This also means we are less likely to run into financial trouble than a business like a hair salon that requires lots of loans at the beginning. BUT however frugal you are there are still costs associated with running a business. If you are not careful these can creep up on you and lead to a disappointing end of month.It felt quite scary for me to write this as I know that I don’t always make perfect financial decisions. However, I have learned a lot the hard way and I wanted to share that with you so here is a break down of the costs I have discovered on my private psychology practice journey.Tax. The one everyone knows about.You need to register for self assessment with HMRC. This is very easy on the direct.gov website. If you are a sole trader you just tell HMRC and away you go. Keep good records of any money you spend and save every receipt and this is incredibly easy. I fully recommend software like FreeAgent which allows you to link to your bank account, explain every transaction as you go and upload receipts. There are lots out there but FreeAgent came free with my Natwest business banking and was very easy to use. Others that I have heard good things about are Xero and Quickbooks. The advantage of these is that when it comes to submitting your tax return you can do it with the click of a button. You could also just snap a photo of any receipt and/or screenshot email receipts and save them into a google drive folder. Self assessment for a sole trader is actually incredibly easy if you have kept good records of your transactions. I am going to get an accountant on the podcast to talk about it but honestly, I am mathematically challenged and have never struggled. Ltd company accounts are another beast all together so if you are a Ltd company or social enterprise don’t try to work it out yourself, get an accountant.I am obviously not a qualified accountant and you should speak to someone qualified about your specific circumstances. As a guideline however, most people seem to agree that setting aside 25% of your earnings in a separate account specifically for tax is sensible. If you are like me you will have a lot of allowable expenses that may mean you don’t need everything you save for your tax bill but I wouldn’t try and work it out. Just keep 25% back from the beginning and enjoy the bonus if you don’t need it all.Set Up Costs for a Psychology Private PracticeProfessional website - £1000. This can be done MUCH cheaper but having a rubbish website can really undermine your credibility. Your site will also be crucial if you want...

How a Psychologist Uses Heavy Metal to Build Community and Change LivesIn this interview with Dr Kate Quinn I learn how, alongside a hectic NHS role, Kate built a community of "metal heads" who use heavy metal music to process and deal with their emotions. As a self confessed mainstream kind of girl I was fascinated by the science behind using metal music in this way. It makes total sense that music that speaks to your emotions would be more effective than generic music that is SUPPOSED to be relaxing (but just makes many of us want to visit the bathroom).Kate also tells us the HOW. How she managed to take this from an awesome idea to a movement that is helping thousands of people. It is inspiring stuff but also worth grabbing a note pad (or your phone) to take a note of some of the practical steps Kate talks us through.I hope you'll enjoy this podcast episode as much as I enjoyed recording it.Are you a psychologist or therapist who wants to make a bigger impact by getting out of the therapy room? If so come and join the Do More Than Therapy community at www.drrosie.co.ukIf you enjoyed this episode please leave a 5* review wherever you get your podcasts and share the episode on social media. You can tag me on facebook @DrRosieGilderthorp and instagram @rosiegilderthorp I make this podcast for you so your feedback shapes future episodes and keeps me going too!LinksYou can find Kate on Facebook @heavymetaltherapyInstagram @heavymetaltherapyTwitter @HeavyTherapyI also hugely recommend checking out the blog and resources at www.heavymetaltherapy.co.uk

Ever wanted to know how to write a book that people will actually READ? Got a mission to help more people in 2020 but not sure how to make that happen? Or do you have a burning writing project you just can't get DONE? This episode is full of actionable steps you can take to make your dreams of authorship come true.Book on to the Do More Than Therapy self publishing workshop with Tim on 24th April here: https://drrosie.co.uk/product/self-publishing-workshop/You can find Tim at https://stonehampress.com/Self publishing for Psychologists and TherapistsIn this episode of the podcast Tim shared with me his personal journey into self publishing. Starting out in IT, needing a career change following the loss of his wife and unleashing the creative writer inside of him WITHOUT waiting for permission. Tim's story is inspiring as it exemplifies the opportunity we have in 2020. We no longer need to know the right people or wait for someone to "take a chance on us". We can spread our messages when we feel ready to through self publishing.Tim beaks down his top tips into these key areas:Know your purpose. All psychologists and therapists need to know why they are writing a book before they start.Tim explains the advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishing and self publishing. He tells us that people use books in many ways, as business cards, reputation builders, for prestige and (often less successfully) for money. This part of the podcast is a MUST listen if you are undecided about whether to self publish or go the traditional route.Create a perfect plan for your psychology or fiction bookTim warns us not to start writing without knowing where we hope to end up. He has lived the reality of the fear of the blank page and gives us some helpful tools to consider such as Scrivener for getting a detailed plan together for the book before you write a word.Write your psychology or fiction book quicklyTim talks about his experience using National novel writing month to write his books quickly and avoid writers block. The community aspect of it sounds very appealing given how isolating writing a book can feel.Let people know about itFinally, Tim talks us through the best ways to get a book read by others including ebook marketing through Amazon, using physical book shops, google search and conferences.And there is SO much more to this interview. Tim provided a wealth of knowledge and has much more to share so if you know there is a book in you and you want to get started then book the self publishing masterclass with Tim at https://drrosie.co.uk/product/self-publishing-workshop/ The workshop is taking place live on 24th April 2020 but if you have missed that date or you can't make the time you can still access a recording and the resources.

LinksJoin the Do More Than Therapy community and find out more about the membership and upcoming masterclasses at https://drrosie.co.uk/What Needs to be in a psychology private practice business plan? Getting Money In to your Psychology Private PracticeBuild it and they will come… Sadly this is not true. You do need to market your private practice in order to get clients. Thankfully the therapy side of business is not too difficult to market if you know where to look. Interventions other than therapy (books, workshops, events etc) require more “audience building” and therefore more marketing knowledge BUT it is sooooo worth it! It is likely however, that at the start of your private practice journey most of your income will come from therapy so let’s start with how to get therapy referrals…Marketing your private practice: Referral Sources for Psychology PracticesGoogle search – SEO and paid ads. This basically means doing things that help get your website seen by the people that need your help. It is an art and one worth mastering in my opinion as referrals coming through your website tend to be the best fit for your work and they cost the least. Google actually provide pretty good advice on how to rank well in Google. It is almost like they want good content to be found! Here are the big hitters:·     Get other people to link to your website (this is why getting press coverage is worth it). It gives your website more “domain authority” which is a trustworthiness score Google uses to decide where to put you in search results.·     Use the phrases potential clients would be searching for in your headings and blog posts (in this post I am trying to rank for “psychology private practice” so it is in most of the headings. You can use tools like “Keyword Finder” and “Answer the Public” to see what people search for but common sense is pretty helpful here.·     Publish regular content like a blog·     Keep it simple! Google can’t make sense of complicated navigations so keep client experience at the forefront of your mind when creating your website and that will help it get found. I find it helps to imagine a very anxious person landing on my home page. In a hyper aroused state we aren’t good at concentrating and need things to be very clear. Build your site with that person in mind and Google rewards you.·     All the other stuff is too technical for me!Referrals from people you have worked with in the past – colleagues and previous clients (this is a great source if you are setting up in a place you have built a decent network)Social media (There is so much to say on this but in brief, I find social media is a great place for promoting messages about mental health and promoting low cost workshops and events but I don’t think it is a great place for therapy referrals. Think about where you would look for the kind of thing you are offering. I think I would google search for a therapist so I put my marketing effort for therapy clients into Google and SEO but I use FB to promote low cost items like e-books and hypnobirthing workshops.Directory sites. There are loads of options if you are promoting your therapy services. I find I get the best quality referrals from Psychology Today. Findatherapist.com also provides lots of referrals but they take 20% of every session fee. Counselling directory works for some people but I look expensive on there so don’t get much. Timewith is a platform to watch, especially if you are an online therapist as they are innovating a new search algorithm which should help those of us who work online to get found more...

Cliff let go of the constraints that hold many psychologists and therapists back right at the beginning of his career when he plunged himself into developing a school in Ukraine. Find out how he did it, what it took and how that experience shaped his career from learning disabilities to management consultancy in this episode.Cliff is a great example of a psychologist who was willing to step outside of the "normal" roles in order to make a change he saw was needed in the world.LinksFind out more about the Do More Than Therapy membership and join the FREE facebook community:https://psychologists.drrosie.co.ukcontact Cliff at cliffhawki@aol.com Setting up a school in the UkraineRosie:Today I'm speaking to Cliff Hawkins, a clinical psychologist, who over the past 35 years, has had an awe inspiring, diverse career. Just going through his CV it's clear that doing more than therapy has been central to his career from the beginning, and is so much that I think we could all learn from. So I'm just going to jump in and welcome Cliff Hawkins to the podcast. Hi Cliff.Cliff:Thank you very much. Thank you Rosie.Rosie:So thank you so much for coming on today Cliff. Over the last 35 years you've done some really cool stuff. So if you had to pick just one thing that you've done, what would you say has been the most professionally fulfilling part of your career?Cliff:To me, undoubtedly it was having the opportunity to be involved in opening Ukraine's first school for children with severe learning disabilities, shortly after Ukraine separated from the Soviet Union.Rosie:Wow, that's an amazing thing to be part of. How on earth did you get into that?Cliff:Well, I was very lucky. I was working at the Institute of Psychiatry at the time, with Professor Bill [Euele 00:01:00] and a couple of Ukrainian parents had come to England, to the Institute of Psychiatry, to seek a diagnosis for their young daughter. And I was asked to work with them clinically, and it became clear that when they went back to Ukraine, their child wouldn't be entitled to any support whatsoever, would be excluded from school.Cliff:And so Bill [Euele 00:01:26] and I thought, "Well, we need to do something to help here." So we started off by raising money, and quickly we realized that money wasn't sufficient, that what they needed was some help in setting up a school, which would effectively be a private school. And so what I did was, went to Ukraine and started giving lectures at the Institute of Psychology there, about special education in the UK.Cliff:And what I learned very quickly was that our task wasn't to replicate a British system of special education in Ukraine. That would be akin to cultural fascism. Rather, what we needed to do, was to help Ukrainian parents develop a Ukrainian system, that could draw on the rich heritage of Russian psychology, as well as the ideas that we'd learned in British psychology.Rosie:I mean, that's just amazing on so many levels. To start with, obviously I can imagine thinking "We need to raise some money for this issue." But then how did you take the next steps, when you realized that wasn't going to be adequate, how did you make the links that you needed even?Cliff:By firstly raising money to fly me out to Ukraine. This was in the context of the Soviet Union had just ended. Ukraine was in turmoil. Everyone was very optimistic about the future. However, at that particular point, the Ukrainian economy had gone into meltdown, and government systems had gone into meltdown as well.Cliff:Luckily, universities hadn't. They were starting to be very keen on inviting westerners to come over and talk about western science, and...

LinksCome and join the movement at:https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/Check out Heavy Metal Therapy here.Social Media: A Force for Good In Psychology and Essential for your private practiceWhy do we think social media and psychology don’t mix? Social media and psychology can seem to be adversaries at first glance. Many of us did not grow up with social media. We were introduced to it as adults and have probably fallen foul of its temptations to blur boundaries and cause offence as we struggled to manage the disinhibition effect and to cope with the fact we couldn’t very easily switch it off. It is therefore understandable that we imagine it is a very risky thing for our clients, especially the young ones. It is important that this does not blind us to the positive impact of social media for our clients. Over the past two years in my private practice I have changed my view on social media dramatically from one of deep suspicion to one of appreciation. Yes there are definitely pit falls associated with it. There are times when I personally find it completely draining and the data, privacy and catfishing scandals seem never ending. But it does also seem to have an almost exponential potential for good. Today I will focus on the positives rather than the risks of social media. I think the risks deserve a whole episode of their own.Unpacking the positive impact of social media: Building the community for community psychology• See the episode with Dr Kate Quinn from Heavy Metal Therapy – HMT brings people together around a shared passion or interest, we can facilitate that interest becoming a positive and productive sense of identity. • Within supportive communities we can find the strength we need to dare greatly. People who have been through hard times can often stay small in their hobbies, careers and families because of shame. Sharing experiences and gaining support from others can unlock that. I think the Mums in Business networking groups I am a member of are a good example of this. Lost of people share stories of mum guilt• If you then want to introduce something aimed at people having a hard time you have built genuine relationships and the community can build it with you. Creating what people need Building a social community helps you form genuine relationships. You then have the platform to make an impact.• You can develop the online course or book or workshop that people actually want and need. This means you don’t take as much risk, financial and work wise and you are more likely to be profitable. Online sales conversion rates are only 1-2% so in real terms if you have an email list of 100 you will most likely only sell one course or place on a workshop. Of course if you genuinely build your offer with the community you may well have a higher conversion rate. • Without a community to talk to you won’t stand a chance of making a big impact.• I learned these lessons and managed to make my hypnobirthing workshops successful in Plymouth because I spent time getting to know mums to be in groups on FB and at local events. I made an offer they wanted/could afford.Reaching more peoplePsychologists and therapists in private practice often don’t NEED social media to market their services effectively. I have an “overbooked” practice and not many of my clients come from social media. I could very easily earn good money without it. But I still care about it and this is why:• It helps you win your own clients. If you are using directory sites to win referrals you often end up paying them a huge chunk of your fee. If you rely on insurance companies or word of mouth your referral streams can dry up quickly if someone else’s situation changes. That feels precarious. • You can speak to the kind of clients...

Social entrepreneurship. Making the change you want to see with Dr Asha Patel from Innovating MindsMore episodes of the Do More Than Therapy podcasthttps://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-business-of-psychology/Find out more about The Do More Than Therapy Membershiphttps://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-listYou can find information about Asha's incredible social enterprise, Innovating Minds, here:https://www.innovatingmindscic.com/Find out more about the software they have created:https://www.innovatingmindscic.com/a-whole-school-approachSummaryDo you need a kick up the backside to follow your values and create what you can see your community needs? Listen to this interview.Asha gives an energising insight into how she built a social enterprise that now spans consultancy, clinical work and the tech industry.If you know you are getting in your own way sometimes listening to Asha talk about how she pragmatically broke her goals down into actionable steps and then grafted to make it happen will give you the belief you need to get started.

If you have ever had the feeling that your current job isn't allowing you to live your values but you don't feel sure what you can/should do about it this episode will help you get unstuck. Dr Sarah Swan shares how she navigated the practical and emotional challenges of giving up a senior NHS role to strike out into the world of private practice, business consultancy and the ACP.Join the FREE Do More Than Therapy community on Facebook and leave your email address to get the details for the online summit on 24th June!https://www.facebook.com/groups/domorethantherapygroupJoin the Do More Than Therapy Membership waiting list at:https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-listYou can find out more about Sarah and her work here:http://swanconsultancy.co.uk/organisations/businesses/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sarah-swan-91a84112a/https://www.facebook.com/swanconsultancy/Find out more about becoming a member of the ACP and the COVID-19 response to help members and non members at: https://acpuk.org.uk/

Does Fear Of Anxiety Hold You Back As A Psychologist/Therapist?Do you ever wonder why some people seem to find opportunities at every turn? Are they born lucky? Or can they see things you can't? I have noticed that anxiety is holding lots of us back as psychologists and therapists without us even realising it. Here is how ACT can help with that.Join the waiting list for the Do More Than Therapy membership at https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-listBlog Post As psychologists and therapists we are well used to helping people whose anxiety gets in the way of them living the lives they want to live. You probably also recognise that anxiety has held you back at some moments in your life too. Whether you’ve had your own therapy or just reflected on it personally most of us have key moments in life when it has become especially clear to us that we have a lot in common with our clients. There have been lots of those for me, like when my son was poorly as a newborn and I found myself experiencing panic anytime I went into the hospital for an appointment for over a year afterwards. I could barely think when talking to his consultant, let alone ask the questions I wanted to ask. At these times we know that we share the human condition with our clients.But I have noticed that many of us don’t recognise the impact our completely natural anxiety is having on our ability to help people in new ways. I’ve talked on this podcast before about how ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) and CFT (compassion focussed therapy) are my “go to” models in the therapy room and how they also help me personally too. One of the ways I have found using ACT helpful is to help me notice when I am avoiding unpleasant feelings of anxiety by staying in my comfort zone when my values are actually telling me I need to do something different. What worries me slightly is that I think I was avoiding scary things in some really subtle ways without having any idea that I was doing it. We don’t often talk about this unconscious avoidance when doing ACT with clients as there is usually a lot of conscious avoidance to deal with first but it strikes me that this is likely to be a big issue for many people who are generally doing OK in life but feel something is holding them back. Here are some of the ways I was unconsciously avoiding my natural anxiety:Never having the idea/not entertaining it – I never used to see opportunities for press coverageForgetting to follow up – I would get really exciting emails or calls from people, even the BBC once, and totally forget to respond.Procrastinating – it may surprise people who know me that this is on my list as I am not much of a procrastinator. I tend to rush things when I am scared rather than putting them off but certain things, like legally forming my CIC, I knew I wanted to do for AGES but just kept putting them to the bottom of my list because I was SCARED. Studying – Maybe this is controversial but I think many of us do extra courses on top of our core training, not because we genuinely think we need them, but because it buys us more time before we have to start offering the scary new therapy or because it alleviates our anxiety slightly to have an extra certificate. I’ve done this so many times but I recently decided it had to stop, that is one of the reasons I added the CPD planner to the psychologists business plan, as I realised I needed to be more intentional. For example, I seriously contemplated whether I needed to get a £4000 coaching qualification before I even recorded this episode for you. So great was my imposter syndrome. But when I sat down with a few books and a big note pad and mapped out which ACT principles

In this episode one of my marketing heroes, Liz Melville, tells us how to approach launching an online offer such as an online course or webinar.The scientist practitioner in me loves Liz's data driven approach to marketing. If you are looking to create a clear plan for getting your big idea in front of people this is the episode for you.If you are a psychologist or therapist with any plans to launch something online this year then you need to come along to the Do More Than Therapy online summit on Monday 22nd June.We will be talking getting your money mindset right, living your values from the start, creating captivating online workshops and fostering community on Facebook with industry experts.https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/event/Register for the summit here or simply join the group and leave your email address to receive details.LinksLiz can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lizmelvillesmJoin her free Facebook group the Launch Lab herehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/launchlabpodcast/Check out her new, "launched" programme, "Ads on Fire" and old episodes of "Ads that convert here"https://lizmelville.com

SummaryIn this episode I coach Do More Than Therapy Founding member Alice Fiorica in how best to launch her first ever webinar. We talk mindset, marketing and why getting uncomfortable by talking to family, friends and colleagues about your project is more important than Facebook ads.We examine the reality of online marketing and how reaching out to your connections is FAR more likely to fill your webinar than putting out a Facebook advert to people who don't know, like or trust you yet. We discuss how to ask your contacts to help you promote your new online services without annoying them and how to make the most of the feedback that is all around you to create something people will know they want. Do you like what you hear?Join the Do More Than Therapy membership to learn how to live your values, help more people and avoid burnout.Find out how to join and sign up for our FREE online summit at:https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/Direct link to sign up for the June 22nd online summit:https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/event/Fancy some coaching?If you are looking for 1:1 support with your project then contact me on rosie@drrosie.co.ukIf you are a Do More Than Therapy member you could access some "on air" coaching for free! LinksIf you have been thinking of integrating mindfulness into your practice but want to experience the benefits yourself first Alice's webinar is a great place to start.You can find Alice at Cross Roads Psychologywww.crossroadspsychology.co.ukYou can find Alice's helpful blog at:https://training.crossroadspsychology.co.uk/stress-blogAnd her webinar landing page at:https://training.crossroadspsychology.co.uk/stress-uncertainty-courseIn this episode I share some of the knowledge I have learned from my marketing coach, Janet Murray. I could not recommend her Build Your Online Audience programme more highly. If you want more of your business to involve helping people through social media and email it is well worth the investment.http://www.janetmurray.co.uk/?partner=45