I have been ill these last three days. (Man flu.)
Being ill as a therapist raises more issues, it seems to me, than being ill normally does! Can we allow ourselves to get ill? What is the effect on our clients when we suddenly announce that tomorrow's appointment is cancelled? What will they think? Will they even survive? (The answer is almost always Yes.) What is the balance between looking after others and looking after ourselves? Can we afford to take time off in this way?
All sorts of questions which, paradoxically, being ill allows us the time and the space to consider. So that I find that now I am back at work I am approaching my work in a subtly different way - letting go a bit more, perhaps, stepping back in a therapeutically appropriate way, noticing more, not attaching so much of myself and my needs to my clients.
For it is certainly true that if we can't look after ourselves correctly we will struggle to look after others.
Kim Richardson
the therapists' coach
01453 751457
www.therapysuccess.com
www.linkedin.com/in/therapysuccess
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Why do so many counsellors and psychotherapists omit to ask their clients for testimonials that they can use in their marketing materials?
I have been including testimonials on my website for some time now. They build up to an impressive narrative of how our practice can really benefit people. The success speaks for itself. But in addition the detail of specific complaints or issues that clients have brought can be very helpful in reassuring potential new clients of the fact that (a) others have suffered the same thing, and (b) there is a way through it.
I have read through the Ethical Framework document of BACP, our professional body, but can find no reference to testimonials. There are general references to protecting client confidentiality, and not abusing clients' trust for financial or other advantage. This is vitally important, which is why I make sure I do put clients 'on the spot' when asking for a testimonial - I make it quite clear that they should only do so if they are perfectly happy to provide one. Usually I email the client after we have ended, as asking in the final session could be seen as pressurising. I make it clear that anonymity is preserved.
Doies anyone have any comments on this issue? I'd be interested to hear your views.
Kim Richardson
the therapists' coach
01453 751457
www.therapysuccess.com
www.linkedin.com/in/therapysuccess
I have been including testimonials on my website for some time now. They build up to an impressive narrative of how our practice can really benefit people. The success speaks for itself. But in addition the detail of specific complaints or issues that clients have brought can be very helpful in reassuring potential new clients of the fact that (a) others have suffered the same thing, and (b) there is a way through it.
I have read through the Ethical Framework document of BACP, our professional body, but can find no reference to testimonials. There are general references to protecting client confidentiality, and not abusing clients' trust for financial or other advantage. This is vitally important, which is why I make sure I do put clients 'on the spot' when asking for a testimonial - I make it quite clear that they should only do so if they are perfectly happy to provide one. Usually I email the client after we have ended, as asking in the final session could be seen as pressurising. I make it clear that anonymity is preserved.
Doies anyone have any comments on this issue? I'd be interested to hear your views.
Kim Richardson
the therapists' coach
01453 751457
www.therapysuccess.com
www.linkedin.com/in/therapysuccess
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I've just made contact with the new occupant of the room above me. This took a lot of courage, as I was building myself up to confronting the worst - ie someone who would be oblivious to my concerns and inflexible about any arrangements. It has been very salutary to me to find myself 'catastrophising' at times - imagining the worst - then feeling the anxiety that inevitably attends that state of mind. I guide my clients through this kind of mental morass, pointing out the thinking errors and wondering how they can think more realistically and effectively, and yet here I am doing the same thing!
It's good to be reminded of what it's like to be fallible, vulnerable and ineffective at times, isn't it? It breaks down the barrier between 'therapist' and 'client', which is often an artificial barrier anyway.
The long and the short of it is that the occupant upstairs, called Karin, is delightful and fully open to working with the issues. That's the good news. The bad news is that she is a jeweller who uses a hammer a lot in her work, and spends the rest of the time listening to the plays on Radio 4!
To be continued ...
Kim Richardson
the therapists' coach
01453 751457
www.therapysuccess.com
www.linkedin.com/in/therapysuccess
It's good to be reminded of what it's like to be fallible, vulnerable and ineffective at times, isn't it? It breaks down the barrier between 'therapist' and 'client', which is often an artificial barrier anyway.
The long and the short of it is that the occupant upstairs, called Karin, is delightful and fully open to working with the issues. That's the good news. The bad news is that she is a jeweller who uses a hammer a lot in her work, and spends the rest of the time listening to the plays on Radio 4!
To be continued ...
Kim Richardson
the therapists' coach
01453 751457
www.therapysuccess.com
www.linkedin.com/in/therapysuccess
Monday, September 15, 2008
The rooms that we use to practise from are very important to us, aren't they? They have to be functional - fit for the purpose, accessible etc - but also places that we feel comfortable about spending lots of our time. Our clients also have to feel comfortable there, but usually that's only for an hour a week, not all week!
I have realised this in a new way in the last few days, as I have been told that someone new is moving in to the unit above me. I am in a Victorian mill building in the centre of Stroud, converted for the use of all sorts of different artisans and professionals. For the last two years I have been featherbedded by having no one above me at all - it was just used for storage. Now all that is to change - and I know there will be noise issues. (Moving the furniture out last week was horrendous!) As it's an old building the noise insulation is minimal.
I'm trying not to panic, but to see what happens, but it's unnerving all the same.
Kim
www.therapysuccess.com
I have realised this in a new way in the last few days, as I have been told that someone new is moving in to the unit above me. I am in a Victorian mill building in the centre of Stroud, converted for the use of all sorts of different artisans and professionals. For the last two years I have been featherbedded by having no one above me at all - it was just used for storage. Now all that is to change - and I know there will be noise issues. (Moving the furniture out last week was horrendous!) As it's an old building the noise insulation is minimal.
I'm trying not to panic, but to see what happens, but it's unnerving all the same.
Kim
www.therapysuccess.com
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Me - a blogger? I never thought it possible! But here it is, my first posting.
What has led me to this point? Well, two things I suppose.
First, a growing realisation of how useful the internet can be to make contact, communicate, link up. In my case it's where the professional and the personal interact - I can talk about business-related issues in a different tone to the way I would in a coaching session. And I can listen to what others say from all over the globe. I don't think I have let in the amazing nature of this communication, and its impact. It's all too easy to dismiss it as an overcomplication, an unnecessary technologicalisation (new word - won't catch on!) of the ordinary. Actually it's the chance to do the opposite - to bring the human back into our work, and widen its impact.
The second thing that has led to this point is a very moving blog that a friend has just started to share the thoughts and feelings he has while his partner goes through the diagnosis and then treatment for breast cancer. His blog is both something very human and open, but also very functional - it lets lots of people know what's going on in a simple, easy way, and allows others to add their thoughts and prayers without badgering the family over the phone. How brilliant is that! Another example of how the internet can be both human and useful at the same time.
Any thoughts about your own attitude to blogs or the internet, especialy if you are a therapist and used to face to face contact, would be of great interest to me.
Kim
What has led me to this point? Well, two things I suppose.
First, a growing realisation of how useful the internet can be to make contact, communicate, link up. In my case it's where the professional and the personal interact - I can talk about business-related issues in a different tone to the way I would in a coaching session. And I can listen to what others say from all over the globe. I don't think I have let in the amazing nature of this communication, and its impact. It's all too easy to dismiss it as an overcomplication, an unnecessary technologicalisation (new word - won't catch on!) of the ordinary. Actually it's the chance to do the opposite - to bring the human back into our work, and widen its impact.
The second thing that has led to this point is a very moving blog that a friend has just started to share the thoughts and feelings he has while his partner goes through the diagnosis and then treatment for breast cancer. His blog is both something very human and open, but also very functional - it lets lots of people know what's going on in a simple, easy way, and allows others to add their thoughts and prayers without badgering the family over the phone. How brilliant is that! Another example of how the internet can be both human and useful at the same time.
Any thoughts about your own attitude to blogs or the internet, especialy if you are a therapist and used to face to face contact, would be of great interest to me.
Kim
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