The Business of Psychology

Season 1

1. Self publishing for psychologists with Tim Lewis

   Episode 7

   Show notes

   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 Therapists

   In 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 book

   Tim 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 Scrivenerfor getting a detailed plan together for the book before you write a word.

   Write your psychology or fiction book quickly

   Tim 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 it

   Finally, 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.

   Apr 17, 2020 1 hr 12 min

2. Get money IN to your psychology private practice: Business planning part 3

   Episode 8

   Show notes

   Links

   Join 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 Practice

   Build 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 Practices

   Google 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 easily.

   Insurance companies. You can sign up to several at once through Healthcode. The big hitters seem to be AXA-PPP, Vitality and BUPA but there are others out there too. It is worth signing up for them all when you first start out but how many (if any) referrals you will get from them largely depends on who else they use in your area. It is important to be aware that they all have different caps on fees (which often change) and different payment terms. Make sure you read contracts carefully and factor in the impact of long payment terms on your cashflow. I get a lot of referrals from Nuffield Health who operate as an intermediary between insurance companies and clients in this area so it may be worth signing up with them too.

   Rehabilitation companies. If you do trauma work then rehabilitation companies are often looking for psychologists to see clients who have been involved in an accident for CBT and EMDR paid for by insurance companies. Once you are on some directory sites you will probably be contacted by some of them as they really need people with our title. Some of these set shockingly low rates and have appallingly long payment terms. Be very assertive.

   Solicitors. If you can build relationships with local solicitors they may send you the referrals above directly. They may also ask you to do medico-legal work if this is something you offer. If you like this kind of work this can be a great source of referrals as solicitors pay much higher fees (as there is no middle man and the budget is usually generous). Don’t make the mistake of charging what you would normally charge a self paying client (like I did at first). Solicitors expect to pay much more and these kind of referrals are often very labour intensive so find out what local colleagues are charging for solicitors and match that.

   Employee Assistance Programmes. I actually don’t touch these as the ones that have approached me pay horrifyingly low fees.

   Cost per client from each of these referral sources

   Facebook ads, Google ads and directory sites all cost money. It is important to list out how much each one will charge you per client and factor this in to your running costs.

   Marketing your private psychology practice: Services beyond therapy

   Validation

   I probably think your idea is amazing. But you need to know if people will pay for it. Even if you are hoping for grant funding or public funds you need to know whether you are realistically going to make any money to sustain the project before you sink lots of your time, grant funds or your own funds into getting it off the ground. If you are setting up a therapy practice you can realistically know this from your competition. Check out what people are charging and see if you can find out where they get their referrals. Competition is a good thing as it tells you there is demand for your services.

   If you are doing something new/groundbreaking it is helpful to have a look for similar projects that have aimed to serve your ideal client group and see where they succeeded and where they could have improved but then you will need to TEST. Use something super simple like Leadpages to create a landing page and get people to sign up to a mailing list if they are interested in your idea. Better still use a platform like Crowdfunder to see if people will pay for it. People will be polite and say they like your idea but if they pay for it you know you are seriously on to something. You could also set up a Facebook group and invite people to join if they are interested in your topic. While Zuckerberg could always take this away from you so it is safest to get email addresses as well a FB group can be a great place to ask your ideal clients questions about what they want and need. I virtually never make a decision in my business without asking my FB followers their opinion.

   Marketing your psychology practice makes you feel gross right?

   It shouldn’t. People need what you are offering. You have to do marketing or the people who need it will not find it. Social media marketing (paid and organic), google ranking (SEO and ads), blogging, podcasting, networking/community events, physical flyers, getting mentioned/featured in the local and national press. These are all marketing options available to you.

   Right now just figure out where you think your target clients hang out the MOST. Are they all spending hours on Facebook and Instagram or more likely to be found at local authority planning events.

   Check out the BPS and HCPC policies on marketing and advertising. They are nothing to be afraid of. If you are generally an ethical practitioner you will do this anyway. Don’t make bold claims, don’t make people feel shame and don’t comment on anything beyond your competence. My approach with all things social media is to imagine I am talking to a client when I write anything. I never post anything I wouldn’t say to a client and so I’m not too worried about the ethical side of things.

   Competition

   A quick note about competition. When I told him was setting up the “Do More Than Therapy” community and the Business of Psychology podcast my husband looked confused and asked “but aren’t you just helping your competition beat you?” He did not get it.

   My personal opinion is that there is no competition. There could be 100 clinical psychologists in your town all in private practice and I don’t think the demand would be met. My experience is that there is sadly more than enough need to go around. I set up the “Do More Than Therapy” community because I firmly believe if we all collaborate we can achieve FAR more than “treating” mental health problems.

   Check out what people are offering and what they are charging in your area. This will give you an idea of whether your fees are realistic for the location. Make a note of their websites, see what you love about what they do and what you might do differently then REACH OUT and talk. Have coffees, make friends. You will find you pass each other referrals all the time, help each other out of tight spots and you might even get together to do something amazing. I have a couple of local psychologist friends who always inspire me. Whenever we talk I come away with an awesome idea for my practice. Love your competition J

   What Needs to be in a psychology private practice business plan? Financial Planning for Your Private Psychology Practice

   These are the hard but ESSENTIAL questions. Many of us (me included) go into private practice feeling guilty that we are charging anything at all. I was totally consumed by this guilt when I first started working privately. I believe that everyone should be able to access therapy for free and politically I am pretty well against profiting from the despair of others. But I have learned the (very) hard way that if you don’t do your numbers properly you will end up stressed, burned out and resentful and you can’t help anyone in that state. In the early days I had months where despite being fully booked I only just earned enough to cover childcare. This is part of the reason I think we all need to #domorethantherapy. If all you offer is therapy you will need to charge a lot for it just to get yourself a decent wage. Especially if you work with complex cases that need thinking and reflection time (all cases in my opinion) so you can’t see people back to back all day every day.

   How much money do I need to take home each month to survive?

   Work out what you need to live the life you want to live. Don’t think you will be OK on minimum wage if realistically that is going to leave you stressed and miserable. For me this was easy, I knew that we were OK on my NHS salary so I just aimed for that plus £200 for a private pension to start with.

   How much money do I need to take home to have the lifestyle I want?

   Now think honestly about what you want for your family. Our work is hard and if you don’t feel rewarded for it you will become resentful. This is good for no one so don’t lie to yourself here. Come up with an ideal salary per month that you would like to make.

   Services

   What are you going to offer? I have learned the hard way that you definitely need something in this box that is NOT a 1:1 service (like therapy) as you will burn out really quickly if all of your income comes from therapy and you can never take a sick day. It is the opposite of the flexibility many of us need. So think creatively, could you offer workshops or group courses? Could you do some writing? Offer an online course? Many of these things will take around a year to make profitable (especially if it is an online option) but you need to start with them in mind so you make the time to make them a reality.

   Now you have figured out what you are going to offer and what you are likely to be spending on running costs you can work out what you NEED to charge.

   A: How much money do you need to bring in to cover your salary, expenses and the taxman?

   B: How many hours are you planning on working?

   C: How many of these can be “billable” / money making?

   Now divide A by C.

   For example, if I know that to give me the salary I want, put aside 25% for tax and cover my overheads I need to make £6000 a month. And I know that I have 20 “money making” hours a week (in a solely therapy practice this could look like 4 clients a day over a 5 day week) that would mean I need to earn at least £75 per hour to cover my expenses. Once you know this rate you have to be hard line about it. Any work you do for less than this is not sustainable. Of course you can do work at a lower rate if you happen to have an insurance company or solicitor paying higher rates for some of your hours.

   It is important to be realistic and consider here how many people you are comfortable with seeing back to back and how easily you will be able to fill groups/sell products in the early days.

   You might feel icky about it. In fact you probably will. But you shouldn’t. We are very good at empathising with the fact our clients who are struggling financially often suffer from the stress that brings. What makes you think you are some sort of superhero that is immune to this effect? We cannot do good work if we are stressed about money so you have a responsibility to look after yourself in this area. You may be surprised at how high your fee has to be to achieve comfort and stability.

   Your financial commitment:

   I (name)…………………… commit to looking after myself so I can best serve others and my family. My minimum hourly rate is …………… I will never work for less than this unless I have earned enough elsewhere to compensate for it.

   Apr 24, 2020 35 min

3. How "having a go" can lead to an impactful, rewarding and inspiring career as a psychologist with Cliff Hawkins

   Episode 9

   Show notes

   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.

   Links

   Find out more about the Do More Than Therapy membership and join the FREE facebook community:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk

   contact Cliff at cliffhawki@aol.com

   Setting up a school in the Ukraine

   Rosie:

   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 particularly psychology. And what I found was that there were many Ukrainian psychologists who were very keen on a non-medical approach to special education, and to special needs in general, because previously psychiatry had been the dominant model. And thankfully from our point of view, psychiatry had been completely discredited, because of psychiatrist's collusion with state sponsored detention with people in psychiatric hospitals.

   Cliff:

   So many of the parents of children I was working with, I was told those parents were simply not prepared to have their child see a psychiatrist, but because clinical psychology was virtually unknown, they didn't mind seeing a clinical psychologist, and so we were able to fill that vacuum.

   Rosie:

   Wow. What a context. At that time, how did that compare to the context you were working under in this country?

   Cliff:

   Well, it was surreal. I was working at that point in the NHS actually, with adults with learning disabilities, in a regular NHS job. Following normal NHS rules, and all the benefits and costs that that implied. And then I was working in, effectively a wild west scenario in Ukraine, where normal rule of law didn't apply. Bribery was the way to get things done. At that point, I didn't speak a word of Russian, so I was reliant on interpreters, and not always sure how far I could trust either the interpreter's ability, or their motives. And so it was a real contrast.

   Cliff:

   But what I found was that the confidence I learned from making things happen in Ukraine, then transferred to other areas of my professional, and indeed my personal life, that I thought "Well if I can achieve this, I can achieve anything."

   Rosie:

   Yeah, I bet. Because often when I speak to other psychologists in this country, and we're trying to set things up, we're trying to get things moving. The red tape is really intimidating, and sometimes you just feel like, "I just don't even understand commissioning enough to actually put forward an idea." Right? But actually you did that in a system where you didn't speak the language, you didn't have the cultural references. So I suppose we should probably stop moaning.

   Cliff:

   We found whiskey was the way to cut through the red tape. Scotch whiskey was very, very expensive on the black market, and we found that bottles of scotch whiskey miraculously enabled things to happen. So I don't know if that would work in the NHS.

   Rosie:

   I don't know. I mean, I haven't tried it. Yeah, so that sounds like an amazing experience, but certainly must've been an intimidating one. How did you feel flying out with that mission in your mind?

   Cliff:

   My first thought, the first time I flew out was, "I can't speak the language." Like most people of my generation, I knew nothing about Russia or the Soviet Union, other than cossack hats and bears. I bought myself a tape, Teach Yourself Russian, a couple of weeks before I went, and it didn't work at all. I still couldn't speak a word of Russian. So on the flight I was desperately reading Teach Yourself Russian books, and thinking, "Well, this isn't going to work."

   Cliff:

   And what I learned was that didn't matter, that my training as a clinical psychologist meant that body language was key. So often, if I was interviewing a parent of a child with a learning disability, I would often have an interpreter of sorts there. However, what I found was that by focusing on the parent, I'd pick up the odd word, and there were more similarities than differences in how that parent was talking. So over time, I found that I could learn the keywords, and that my clinical psychology training was sufficient. That I could get the message from what the parent was saying, or the grandparents. In that society, often the grandparent, or the grandmother, is the key carer, rather than the mother.

   Rosie:

   Gosh, I mean, that's really inspiring to me, particularly, because of my husband's job, we're moving to Turkey for a couple of years.

   Cliff:

   Oh right.

   Rosie:

   Yeah. And I'm not going to work clinically in Turkey. I'll still be carrying on my online practice, but I've been trying to learn the language, using the Rosetta Stone, and there's just something missing isn't there? There's no human. And I have been saying to my husband optimistically, that I feel like I'll pick it up more when I can see somebody speaking it to me. I'm very comforted by your story, because you went out there and did something amazing and ambitious. My only hope is to survive. And so if you can do that, maybe I can survive it.

   Rosie:

   So you must've had no idea really how this was going to end up when you were first going out there. How did things take shape? What was the timeline?

   Cliff:

   Things took a lot longer than we expected, because of the collapse of Ukrainian economy. So we raised quite a lot of money in the UK. People running the London Marathon, and so on. And what we did was we enabled a group of teachers and parents to open a school in a disused school building. So it was effectively a private school.

   Cliff:

   We raised the money to pay the teacher's salaries, and we paid them in US dollars, which gave us a massive advantage. So we were able to poach teachers from the state sector, who were being paid in the local money, which was becoming worthless because of hyperinflation. So a comparatively small amount of US dollars went a long, long way.

   Cliff:

   At the Institute of Psychiatry, we set up a charity specific to this project, and initially we thought we would support it for five years financially, and in terms of expertise. We didn't want this to be a British school. We wanted it to be supporting a Ukrainian school. What we found though, was that as the five years were coming to an end, the school still wasn't able to be self sufficient financially. So we carried on supporting it, and we set ourselves an absolute deadline of 10 years, and we stuck to that. So at the end of 10 years we pulled out completely.

   Cliff:

   And I'm still in contact with people in the school. I'm still friends with many of the people, and the school is still going. It's thriving, and it's a Ukrainian school. It's not a British school. And we're very pleased about that.

   Rosie:

   That's amazing, that's amazing.

   Cliff:

   Though I have no formal contact. Excuse me?

   Rosie:

   I was just saying, I'm not surprised that the timeline had to be extended a bit. But I love the fact that you were flexible with that. Flexible enough to be like, "This is still the goal. This is still what we want. But actually it needs a bit more nurture. It needs a bit more time, before we can set it free," in that way.

   Rosie:

   So for that five year period, were you out there the whole time?

   Cliff:

   No, no. I would go out typically for a couple of weeks at a time. By this stage I'd left the Institute of Psychiatry. I was working in the NHS full time. And luckily that employer was very good at giving me study leave, and I used all my annual leave of course, and would typically be there for a week or two at a time. Often taking other colleagues, professionals with me, psychologists, speech and language therapists, OTs.

   Cliff:

   And then when I was in the UK I'd be cutting lots of links. There weren't good computer links at that point. A lot of the contact had to be either by telephone, or fax. That was in the very early days of email. And so I would be project managing from the UK, and then going there to Ukraine whenever I needed to. And also as it turned out, then going to other former Soviet countries to learn from what they were doing.

   Cliff:

   Some former Soviet countries were further ahead, in terms of special education, and clearly it was going to be more useful for Ukraine to make links with, for example, Belarus and Lithuania, than it was to always be dependent on a distant country such as the UK.

   Rosie:

   Wow. I mean what really strikes me, from what you've said so far, is that you had a very, what I would call even now, progressive mindset in that, I think when I think back to that period, because this was the early nineties.

   Cliff:

   Yes. Early to mid nineties, yeah.

   Rosie:

   So in my household we didn't have a computer. Wouldn't even have thought about having a computer, in fact. I think my parents knew what they were, but that's about it. So the idea that you would do something as ambitious as starting relationships in different countries, and introducing people to each other, and setting up a network in that way. Did you have a background that put you in that mindset?

   Cliff:

   I don't think so. What we found was that the former Soviet countries were way ahead of the UK, in terms of understanding of things such as email, and the possibilities. So the first emails was I was getting, were from colleagues in former Soviet countries, not from the UK, or from the US.

   Cliff:

   And I think in the UK, because certainly people in my generation had a stereotype of Russia and the Soviet Union. That stereotype is a stereotype, and in fact the Soviet Union and Soviet countries put a lot of store by science, much more so than in the UK. A scientist is a term of respect in former Soviet countries, whereas in the UK it usually suggests someone who's a bit wacky, a bit weird.

   Rosie:

   Yes. I've noticed that actually. I did some research in the Czech Republic when I was there.

   Cliff:

   Oh yes.

   Rosie:

   And when I arrived they had a little sign for me and my colleague that said, "Welcome rockstar scientists."

   Cliff:

   Right, right, yes.

   Rosie:

   I feel that you wouldn't see that in the UK. Probably the favourite label I've ever been given.

   The kick to do something different in clinical psychology

   Cliff:

   I think what I did bring was a mistrust of working within the system. It seemed to me that to be a truly effective clinical psychologist, it was necessary to work outside the system, as well as within the system, to not be constrained, not to be a drone, if you like.

   Cliff:

   I think that many clinical psychologists are constrained, by definition, where intelligent people, to have got over the various hurdles to qualify. And then I think particularly the NHS can constrain us, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally, so that we're not making the most of our gifts.

   Rosie:

   I think that's true actually. I think I didn't particularly want to go into private practice when I did. It was life circumstances for me dictated it. But, and I thought it was just going to be terrifying, frankly, at the beginning. But what I found about a year in, is I started to find my creativity with it, and I started to really enjoy the fact that I was like, "I think we need a group. Oh, I'll do a group."

   Rosie:

   And it was like, "Oh, there's no layers of approval." I mean sure, I still do service evaluation of my own, but there's not that extra layer of scrutiny that can sometimes be a bit oppressive. But it does usually take a bit of a kick for a lot of us NHS psychologists to start thinking like that.

   Rosie:

   So where did your kick come from? Because it seems like you had it so early in your career?

   Cliff:

   I think I was lucky, in that I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a psychologist, from the age of 15. And in those days being a psychologist was most definitely a wacky idea. And I remember the school I went to was a very old fashioned traditional, boys only school. And I remember our headmaster with the boys who he thought were promising, he would have an interview with each of us.

   Cliff:

   And I remember him saying to me, "Well Hawkins, what do you want to do when you leave school?" And I said, "Well, I'm going to become a psychologist." And he just looked at me and said, "But you could have a really good career. You could be a doctor, or a lawyer." Because in those days, being a psychologist was just a bizarre concept. So because I decided so young, I didn't know there were different types of psychologists, and I didn't know who employed them.

   Cliff:

   Because I'd read some psychology books, I just thought this sounds like an interesting thing to do. And so I never really had the concept that I had to work in a particular way. I just thought, "Well, as long as I'm using psychology then that's fine."

   Cliff:

   And coming back to what you were saying, Rosie, about private practice, the work in Ukraine, of course I wasn't earning any money. In fact, over time it was costing me money, but what I gained from that was far more important. And I think for me, private practice might be about making more money, might be about making less money. It might be about making no money at all. But it does enable that freedom, that sometimes people find they don't get enough of, working for the state.

   Rosie:

   And that's another thing that I think came through in that story, was that although you weren't doing it for profit, you weren't money minded about it for your personal gain, you had to use money, to get the job done. That sustainability was a big part of how that project grew.

   Cliff:

   Yes, because I was representing a UK charity, and so we had to follow UK charity laws. Unfortunately that didn't necessarily chime well with the Ukrainian way of doing business, where I would often be looking at Ukrainian accounts and thinking, "Well where's this money gone?" Knowing full well it had gone in bribes. And thinking "Well I can't tell the UK charity, this is the money we've spent on bribes." So I was having to reconcile different ways of operating different cultures, if you like.

   Rosie:

   That sounds like a massive challenge. I mean I would ask how you overcame it, but I don't know, can you answer that?

   Cliff:

   Well I think we just put down amounts for salaries, which was true. The amount that people were paid was sometimes not the amount that they received, for various reasons. And what also had to do was to make sure that the Ukrainian people were writing the accounts, in a way that were decipherable in the UK. So we had to make the two cultures match. And luckily the charity, the UK charity trustees were very sympathetic and understandable, and understanding, and so they helped us make things work.

   Taking a new direction. What is management consultancy and how can psychologists do it well?

   Rosie:

   I mean there's just so many reasons that that project was improbable, that the success of that was unlikely. And it's just really inspiring to hear how you pushed through all of those barriers. I mean, looking at your CV, I can see that you've got qualifications in business, that those [inaudible 00:18:35] data.

   Rosie:

   So what inspired you to study? I think it was with the Open University, where I also have studied.

   Cliff:

   Right, right.

   Rosie:

   So what inspired you to study business with the OU?

   Cliff:

   Well, partly because of the work in Ukraine. I realized that I could be a project manager, and I enjoyed project management, and it seemed to be something I was reasonably competent at doing. And so a few years later I saw an advert in what was then the BPS Appointments memorandum, asking for associates to do management consultancy. And by then I was head of a psychology department in the NHS.

   Cliff:

   So I thought, "Well I'll give this a go." And it was a company called Organisation Resource Limited, and they were a company set up by clinical psychologists to work in business. And they took me on as an associate, applying clinical psychology

   May 1, 2020 39 min

4. Social media. A force for good in psychology

   Episode 10

   Show notes

   Links

   Come 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 practice

   Why 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 people

   Psychologists 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 you actually want to work with. If you have a specialism SM allows you to speak to exactly who you want to help. The clients I have who have followed my Facebook page know and actively like my approach so we can really hit the ground running. This is even more important if you want to be an online psychologist as people can choose from any of the private practice psychologist’s out there.

   • You can spread your message to a wider audience. We have things to SAY that people need to hear. If we don’t spread our way of viewing mental health as far and wide as possible we can’t sit there and complain when people still believe they have chemical imbalances in their brain. Social media can be an amazing community psychology intervention in itself and I believe it is our responsibility to use it.

   • If you want to do more than therapy you need it. Got plans to write a book? An online course? A community psychology intervention? These are the ways we can make BIG impact in the world beyond the four walls of our therapy room. NO ONE will know believe it is happening if you aren’t screaming about it on social.

   Unpacking the positive impact of social media: Inside the therapy room

   Psychology and social media also work well together in therapy. I have used social media in several ways with clients in my private practice and I am sure there are many more. You don’t have to be an “online psychologist” to use the online world in therapy.

   1. Polls. If a client is struggling with cognitive restructuring social media can give you an easy way of asking lots of people a quick question or sending out a more in depth survey. I must admit I do not do a lot of traditional CBT cognitive restructuring these days as I am more fond of the ACT approach to dealing with difficult thoughts. However, when I have a client who believes something like “I am such a freak for getting upset when that taxi driver had a go at me, I must have an anxiety disorder” I have often used social to normalise this experience by putting a poll on my personal page or in a “safe” group just asking people whether or not they would find a similar upsetting. I find this a powerful intervention for people who think normal human feelings are pathological. It is posted with no identifying information from my own page so I don’t have any worries about confidentiality. Clearly the poll only goes out to your network which can be a bit of an echo chamber. However, I find that clients do not normally worry too much about this.

   2. Identity formation. Social media gives clients the opportunity to try out new identities that they may not be ready to adopt in other ways. I have supported clients to create accounts using pseudonyms and high privacy settings that show case a particular aspect of them they feel has been neglected in “real life.” They can then see how it feels to put that type of content out to a small group of trusted people and receive feedback. We can then practice skills for dealing with any uncomfortable feelings that come up and assess how well this potential identity fits with their values. It is really important when doing this to make sure the client understands that the platform could do something unpredictable and make this information public. I always make sure a client doesn’t post anything that would cause them great distress if it was publicly known and we have several sessions around boundaries and managing the temptation to break them before we go ahead with this. I have found that most of my younger clients actually have a much more intuitive grasp of this subject than me. I find that using social media in this way has significant positive impact as it shows clients that they have the power to change how they are perceived by others and how they see themselves. A talented client of mine started a blog during this kind of experiment in therapy. We weren’t sure if she would find the potential for criticism tolerable so entered the experiment with a lot of trepidation. It has blossomed into a potential career path for her and she now considers “writer” to be part of her identity.

   3. Finding meaningful activity. In the modern world it is so much easier to support our clients to find activities that bring them true vitality. Whatever your passion there is a good chance your client can find a local Facebook group or event to attend where they can meet others who share a passion.

   4. Some “healthy” stalking. Many clients express that certain things aren’t possible for them. When we feel low we can often feel like all the doors that open for others slam in our faces. Social media allows us to find exceptions to this. I actually never do this FOR a client but I often ask them to do it for homework. Recently I had a client who had suffered a life changing injury. After six months of therapy she was still struggling to believe that she would ever live a meaningful life now she could no longer walk unaided. I set her between session work to find someone who had found meaning after injury so we could see what was different about the. She came back having found #superhumans. She still believed the Paralympians were the exception not the rule but it gave her the glimmer of hope we needed to take therapy forward. The future for psychology and social media.

   Taking the positive impact of social media further.

   There are so many other ways you could use social media as a community psychology intervention or as part of your practice as a therapist or clinical psychologist. I have no doubt that in the future we will be finding more creative ways to use avatars, closed social networks and other social technology to support our clients. The most important message is really that we don’t need to just blindly fear the impact of social media. Social media can have a positive impact and social media and psychology can mix just fine!

   Are you a psychologist or therapist in private practice or public healthcare that wants to do more than traditional therapy?

   Come join the movement of psychologists and therapists that believe we have a responsibility to step outside of the therapy room and start changing the conversation about mental health through community psychology, research and any other means we can think of!

   May 8, 2020 30 min

5. Social entrepreneurship. Making the change you want to see with Dr Asha Patel from Innovating Minds

   Episode 11

   Show notes

   Social entrepreneurship. Making the change you want to see with Dr Asha Patel from Innovating Minds

   More episodes of the Do More Than Therapy podcast

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-business-of-psychology/

   Find out more about The Do More Than Therapy Membership

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-list

   You 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-approach

   Summary

   Do 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.

   May 15, 2020 1 hr

1. Fear Of Failure Is Killing Your Creativity As A Psychologist Or Therapist. Mindset Coaching Episode

   Episode 12

   Show notes

   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.

   Links

   To join the waiting list for the Do More Than Therapy membership visit https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-list

   To take my quiz to find out what is holding YOU back from being creative in your work visit

   https://www.drrosie.co.uk/quiz

   Russ Harris' FREE COVID 19 resources and meditation tracks

   https://www.actmindfully.com.au/free-stuff/free-audio/

   Blog: How the fear of failure is killing your creativity as a psychologist or therapist and how to deal with it

   My 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 reality
   • We can predict the future
   • Whether the project succeeds or fails is entirely down to us
   • That 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 be

   If 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 need to be able to afford it.
   • They need to be able to prioritise the issue.
   • They need to believe change is possible.
   • They need to be willing to invest in themselves.
   • They need to have 15 minutes of peace to make the transaction.
   • They need to remember to click the button while the cart is open.

   How many of these things can you influence?

   There are things you can do to increase your chances of success. Getting to know your community properly as we discussed in the episode on social media, honing your writing skills or hiring someone with those skills and using testimonials can all help people.

   But you can never influence whether someone can afford what you are offering (whether that is individuals or commissioners) and whether they are able to prioritise this issue. There are a whole host of societal and family reasons behind these factors.

   You also cannot read minds. You will get things wrong and the only way of finding that out is to launch, fail and get feedback.

   My failure and why I value it

   I learned these lessons the hard way. A few years ago I launched an online course that was a flop by all measures. But I'm glad it happened. Feedback told me two things. Firstly that you need a massive audience to launch an online course, I did not have one! I've since learned that for every 100 people in your online audience (assuming they are all in need of your course) you are only likely to sell a course to one or two of them. So with an audience of 50 I was essentially stuffed.

   But I also, painfully, learned from that and some other failed ventures at the time that my topic, although incredibly clinically important, wasn't something people were willing to invest in. My course was a CFT based approach to mental health in pregnancy. I suffered a lot in my pregnancy and knew that CFT could help prevent women like me from pathologising themselves and starting motherhood feeling like a "failure". I had all of the passion you need to get something like that off the ground and the lived experience to make it relatable.

   What I did not realise is that we are not, as a society, yet able to priortise mental health in pregnancy. When I got feedback women told me that they "couldn't spend money on them when there was so much to buy for baby" (it was a very low cost course) and that "I should be grateful as we have wanted this baby for so long, I just need to snap out of it."

   Heart sinking right?

   The truth is you don't really know what people value until you ask them to part with money for it. This is true on an individual and a government level. For example I pitched to my local children's centres about providing low cost hypnobirthing workshops for "at risk" mothers as there is evidence (it is in the NICE guidance) that the principles of hypnobirthing can help prevent birth trauma and this was a stated priority in our area. They were very enthusiastic but ultimately were not willing to pay for it.

   I was devastated and I needed to use a lot of compassion and ACT to get through it but I am so glad I learned these lessons.

   Dealing with the fear of failure

   Russ Harris has some great meditations for de-fusing from thoughts that are getting in your way. I have provided the link to these above.

   Personally I use a journal to help me with this. If I am having a thought that makes it hard for me to move forward I write it down, look at it and evaluate whether it moves me forward or keeps me stuck. If it keeps me stuck I will literally close the book on it and every time it starts bothering me again I get the journal out (I have a tiny one for this) look at it and close it again. I find the phsyciality helps communicate to my mind that I created this thought myself but I know other people just do this mentally by labelling the thought and thanking the mind for it.

   If fusing with the outcome is holding you back don't suffer in silence! Come an join us in the do more than therapy community and lets support each other through it. If you have found this episode helpful please rate, review and subscribe as it will help more people to find it.

   May 22, 2020 19 min

Season 1

1. Striking out in a new direction: Dr Sarah Swan on leaving the NHS and following her values

   Episode 13

   Show notes

   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/domorethantherapygroup

   Join the Do More Than Therapy Membership waiting list at:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/membership-waiting-list

   You 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/

   May 29, 2020 54 min

2. Could unconscious anxiety be holding you back as a psychologist/therapist? Coaching episode

   Episode 14

   Show notes

   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-list

   Blog 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 coverage

   Forgetting 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 I thought would help you the most I realised I already had what I needed to give some value. In the past I would have been so scared of the feeling of vulnerability that I am getting right now I would have spent 4k of the profits from my business to try and get rid of it. That is money that could be far better spent being reinvested into low cost therapy or innovative mental health projects.

   Not Looking for mentors/partnerships – there are lots of people I have wanted to work with that I have not even reached out to because I thought they wouldn’t want to talk to me and I couldn’t stand the thought of putting myself out there like a teenage girl sitting in the school canteen on her own. So I just never did… Ironically since I have been putting myself out there with this podcast some of those people have actually contacted ME. It does frustrate me what I could have achieved if I had just allowed that anxiety to be there BUT my mind so completely could not tolerate the feeling of anxiety that I didn’t even realise I was avoiding it.

   Getting to know the people in the Do More Than Therapy community I have realised that I am not on my own with this and that many of us, if not ALL of us, struggle in the exact same way.

   So what can we do about it?

   First off we need to get better at recognising when anxiety is present for us. I have found that with my clients who are generally able to live a full life already it is the unconscious avoidance of unpleasant experiences that is a bigger issue that explicit avoidance of anxiety. In my ACT training we never talked much about this as when we are working with people who meet the threshold for clinical intervention there is usually a lot of explicit avoidance to deal with but many people, myself included, might have become quite good a dealing with the anxiety they know about but there is still this unconscious avoidance that they don’t even know if happening.

   Connection to our bodies and minds is crucial. I did an 8 week mindfulness course with Bangor University and the body scan they taught me is pretty perfect for this. For anyone who doesn’t have a “go to” mindfulness to the body exercise I will link to one I adapted for my clients in the show notes but there are loads out there from Headsapce, Calm, Insight Timer and Youtube. The basic principle is to notice each part of your body in sequence, and return your attention to it whenever it wanders. Mindful breathing exercises can also work really well for connecting us up with our bodies and minds.

   Making room for anxiety

   Once we notice that anxiety is showing up and we suspect it may be making it harder for us to live our values ACT challenges us to try and make room for it rather than distracting ourselves from it or fighting with it.

   If we can get good at making room for it then we won’t feel the need to avoid it unconsciously or consciously. Personally I have found since I started practicing acceptance regularly this has made a huge difference to my ability to notice opportunities. I think I used to be so avoidant of feeling anxious that I actually didn’t see opportunities that were staring me in the face but now I spot them a lot more easily.

   So how can we do this? I actually believe that the most powerful intervention is just having the intention to be accepting of your discomfort and to recognise the impact that living a life of avoidance has had on you. However, an exercise I use when I am struggling comes from Russ Harris’ ACT made simple.

   Russ tells us to imagine the feeling we are trying to make room for as an object inside our bodies. To imagine it in minute detail, everything about it from the texture, colour, weight, size, movement. Then once we have that firmly in our heads we can breathe in to it, imagine ourselves expanding around it, literally making room for it. I use this all the time with my clients and in my own life and usually find we start off doing it formally, almost like a meditation, but quickly transition to just bringing the image of the object to mind when we need to make space for something uncomfortable.

   I hope this helps you to send your mind the message that you are OK with a bit of discomfort because making a big impact in mental health will never be comfortable.

   Finally, I would love some feedback on how you are finding these episodes. I think that ACT is incredibly useful for coaching people who are already successful to live their values more fully, perhaps to live more “wholeheartedly” as Brene Brown puts it. I have found myself using ACT in this way with some of my insurance company clients who start therapy because they are dealing with work related stressors but by the end are basically looking for more fulfilment in life. It feels vulnerable to use ACT in a “non clinical” way but the more I think about it the more I don’t really believe in the clinical/non-clinical distinction so I’m giving it a go. I’d love to hear if you found this useful so please do send me a message either in the Do More Than Therapy group on FB or as a private message. It helps me to make this podcast what you need it to be.

   Jun 5, 2020 17 min

3. Launch Science! The science and strategy behind successfully launching an online offer with launch expert Liz Melville

   Episode 16

   Show notes

   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.

   Links

   Liz can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lizmelvillesm

   Join her free Facebook group the Launch Lab here

   https://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

   Jun 12, 2020 43 min

4. How to launch a webinar as a psychologist or therapist. On air coaching episode

   Episode 15

   Show notes

   Summary

   In 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.uk

   If you are a Do More Than Therapy member you could access some "on air" coaching for free!

   Links

   If 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 Psychology

   www.crossroadspsychology.co.uk

   You can find Alice's helpful blog at:

   https://training.crossroadspsychology.co.uk/stress-blog

   And her webinar landing page at:

   https://training.crossroadspsychology.co.uk/stress-uncertainty-course

   In 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

   Jun 19, 2020 59 min

5. Psychologists and therapists still need mindset work. Getting to know your values and dealing with your mind

   Episode 17

   Show notes

   This episode is module one of the mindset course I have created for the DMTT membership.

   You can view the slides and the rest of the course (which is a mix of pre-recorded and live modules happening through July) for FREE on a 14 day trial of the membership at https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   Don't delay as the doors to the membership close on Sunday at midnight!

   Jun 26, 2020 32 min

Season 2

1. Systematic reviews: How to do a systematic review in independent practice

   Episode 18

   Show notes

   Today I am talking with Danielle Bodicoat, an independent medical statistics and writing consultant. With 12 years experience as a researcher and lecturer and over 80 published papers to her name Danielle set up a business called simplified data and now specialises in helping health professionals and researchers with bio statistics and medical writing. She is a statistician and writer in one and loves to help people with systematic reviews and meta analysis. What a useful woman to know!

   I fully recommend that if you are thinking about doing your own evidence review do go and sign up to Danielle’s free e-course. It has some great practical tips to help you avoid common mistakes and feel more confident in the process. https://www.simplifieddata.co.uk/avoid-common-systematic-review-mistakes/

   Find Danielle on LinkedIn (@daniellebodicoat) and on Twitter (@danibodicoat).

   Her website is http://www.simplifieddata.co.uk/

   If you are interested in finding out more about the Do More Than Therapy membership or joining the FREE Facebook community come over to: https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/home

   You can follow me on facebook @DoMoreThanTherapy and instagram @rosiegilderthorp and Linked In: Rosanna Gilderthorp

   Jul 17, 2020 46 min

2. How Psychologists And Therapists Can Use An Ideal Client Avatar To Co Create And Market Their Services

   Episode 19

   Show notes

   How psychologists and therapists can use an ideal client avatar to co create and market their services

   Links

   If you would like more support with getting your business or project off the ground do come and check out the Do More Than Therapy membership for expert masterclass, our core mindset course, downloadable resources and an amazingly supportive community of likeminded people. https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/home

   You can follow me on facebook @DoMoreThanTherapy and instagram @rosiegilderthorp and Linked In: Rosanna Gilderthorp

   What is an ideal client avatar?

   Today I am going to talk about the concept of an ideal client avatar (or ICA), how it can work for you, including some adaptations I have made to the concept, how to create one and how your imposter syndrome can be a superpower when it comes to getting to know your ICAs.

   The Ideal client avatar (ICA) is something you will hear talked about A LOT in the marketing world. The principle is that marketing is way more effective if you create all of your content, your blog posts, podcasts, social media content, advertising, as if you are speaking to an individual. So in order to create marketing that really speaks to people you need to get to know that individual really really well. You need to know what they like, dislike, what they do with their time and crucially what they need and what barriers they face in getting what they need.

   This concept makes a huge amount of sense. When we imagine we are speaking to a real person we write more empathically, we are more likely to create products and services that meet their actual needs (rather than making stuff that we like) and we are more likely to put our content and our adverts in the right places for them to actually come across us.

   Why don't psychologists and therapists like iCAs?

   BUT many mental health professionals, myself included, resist the idea of the ICA for a few good reasons.

   • We often don’t WANT people to need us (so ideal sounds a little wrong)
   • The people we help can be extremely diverse (and we want to respect and welcome that)
   • We want to sound “professional” in our content

   How to adapt the ICA method for psychologists and therapists

   For all of those reasons the idea of the ICA can seem a little unsuitable for psychologists and therapists and that is certainly where I was at when I first launched my hypnobirthing workshops two years ago and I came across this idea for the first time.

   However, I found that it really is much easier to create content, write the text for your website and create offers that people actually want when you know your ICA and just talk to one person. So I decided to try and find a way of adapting it so I felt I was still serving people ethically and in the way I wanted to.

   These are the adaptations to the ICA method that I made.

   • I have at least 5 ICAs reflecting diversity as much as possible
   • I have different ICAs for each of my products and services. For example the ICAs that I have created for my self pay therapy services are different to my ICAs for my low cost therapy programme. This is essential as they are likely to respond to different messages and I am likely to find them in different places (Psychology Today vs GP referrals)
   • I create content for only one ICA at a time but make sure I spread my time between the ICAs. This works because my ICAs for one product and service will likely have a lot in common so it can be as simple as keeping the same text but having images that reflect all five of them. Sometimes different ICAs will require different messaging all together but not always and once you know them well you can adapt things quite naturally.
   • I use my skills as a psychologist to gain a deeper understanding of my ICA and in my head I think of it as co-creation not market research.

   Developing ICAs, if done the right way, will make sure you co-create with the people you are trying to serve so you can make the most positive difference to their lives.

   How to create an iCA

   I have been on trainings where they have told me I need to know what colour underpants my ICA wears. Personally I think that level of detail can be helpful if it helps you to visualise the person better so you can talk to them authentically but I ACTUALLY have conversations with my ICAs and I find that as a result, I can speak to them authentically without needing to know the colour of their underwear. So you can try to build a picture of every possible detail about your ICA y but to be honest I wouldn’t bother. I would focus on just a few key areas. I will talk you through those key areas now and then suggest some ways you can find out what you need to know.

   • What do they care about? When things are hard what is it that motivates them to keep going? What do they want to stand for in their life? It is deep stuff but you can see it in behaviour even if you can’t see it in words.
   • What do they worry about? What are the problems they are facing? What are their hopes and dreams for the future?
   • How do they talk about their values, worries, problems and hopes. What specific language do they use?
   • What do they already do to try and help themselves? What barriers do they face and what are the problems with the current solutions they have access to?
   • What media do they consume? What influences them? Is it podcasts, social media, publications, Netflix shows?
   • Where do they go? Where can you find them? Online, networking, through GPs, where do groups of people like this hang out together?

   Details like what type of mobile phone they use and what car they drive may help you to answer some of these questions and may be very relevant of you are say, considering providing free online therapy and you need to know whether your ICA is comfortable using zoom on a phone, in that case what type of phone they use would come under “what do they already do” and the barriers they may face to accessing existing solutions. So don’t get tied up in spending hours on creating levels of detail that are just fantasy. You probably don’t have time!

   How to meet your iCA

   Existing clients

   Friends/family

   Reach out on LinkedIn (free chat, be honest about why)

   Zoom calls

   Social media

   Testing (as part of your simple launch) creating small things and seeing how people respond, getting into conversations.

   Surveys

   Imposter syndrome: Your superpower for connecting with your iCA

   We are a professional group who experience HIGH levels of imposter syndrome. By that I mean we often feel uncomfortable with being seen as experts, we often think we don’t know “enough” to be worth anything to anyone and we can really struggle with taking centre stage because we feel like we will be found out.

   In my mind imposter syndrome often includes high levels of shame. Anyone who works with CFT knows that shame is the emotion that makes us want to hide ourselves from view. It makes us want to be small. It makes us terrified of criticism and the judgement of others. It is really painful and it mostly crops up when we are “daring greatly”. When we are locked in shame it is very hard to be vulnerable enough to truly engage with others, including our ICAs/the people we are trying to help.

   If we can move past our shame and open our minds to connecting with others I think this sense that “we don’t know it all” gives us a huge advantage over other professional groups when we need to do some marketing. If we tune into our imposter syndrome and notice our thoughts about it mindfully (I talk about how to do that in the mindset course in the DMTT membership) we can identify when ether really is knowledge we DON’T have and we need to go and get it from the people that do.

   The most common mistake in marketing is people assuming that they know their ICA and what they want without actually listening to them. Our raging imposter syndrome might make it uncomfortable for us to stick our necks on the line and ask for these conversations with people but it means that when we do we have the humility to actually listen.

   They key is to notice imposter syndrome, notice how gross it makes you feel and commit to take positive action that drives your mission forward. In the second and third classes of the mindset course in the membership I give you some practical strategies on how to do that so do check that out if you are already part of the membership.

   Here are some questions to ask yourself whenever you feel imposter syndrome:

   Who can I connect with who knows one of my ICAs for this project well?

   Do I know this ICA already? Can I set up a meeting with them?

   Do I feel stuck because of a barrier that also impacts on my ICA? Can I set up a conversation with them to co-create a way around it?

   Where can I go (online or in person) to observe and listen to my ICA? Write down five key words they are using to describe their lives/the problem you are trying to solve.

   We need to move past shame and into curiosity in order to get to know our ICA.

   I hope this episode has been helpful as an introduction to the concept of the ICA and how we can uniquely use it as mental health professionals not only in our marketing but to improve our work.

   It is a topic that I believe includes mindset, marketing, business and creativity which are the key areas we cover in the Do More Than Therapy membership so if you would like more support with getting your business or project off the ground do come and check out the membership for expert masterclass, our core mindset course, downloadable resources and an amazingly supportive community of likeminded people. The doors are closed at the moment but if you go to the link in the show notes you can find out more and sign up to be the first to know when I open the doors in August for just one day.

   That’s all for now, as ever I love your feedback so please do rate, review and subscribe and feel free to send me a DM on instagram @rosiegilderthorp with your comments on the show.

   Jul 24, 2020 23 min

3. Launch in 14 steps: A simple launch strategy for psychologists and therapists with a new online offer

   Episode 18

   Show notes

   Your free, 14 step guide to launching a new product or service as a psychologist or therapist:

   Are you planning on launching something new and innovative?

   Are you hoping to reach more people and build a business that lets you live your values while avoiding burnout?

   Then you need to download our cheat sheet - 14 Steps to a simple launch.

   We are sharing a foolproof process to make sure you develop your project WITH the people you want to help and then get it in front of as many of them as possible.

   Sign up to get it in your inbox now

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   Launching your first online product or service as a psychologist or therapist can be really daunting BUT you can do it! The secret is keeping it simple and making sure you have the right audience in place FIRST before you go spending lots of time and money on anything. This episode and the checklist that goes with it will help you stay on track and spend your time on the things that actually help you reach people. I also recommend using software like Trello or Asana to track all of these activities and make sure you don’t lose focus in what is usually a 6 month process.

   If you are interested in finding out more about the Do More Than Therapy membership or joining the FREE Facebook community come over to: https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/home

   You can follow me on facebook @DoMoreThanTherapy and instagram @rosiegilderthorp and Linked In: Rosanna Gilderthorp

   Jul 31, 2020 57 min

4. How to write sucessful grant applications for psychologists and therapists with Sue Hamilton-White

   Episode 19

   Show notes

   In this episode social entrepreneur, fundraiser and art therapist Sue Hamilton-White tells us the secrets of writing successful funding applications for projects that help vulnerable groups.

   Links

   Join the Do More than Therapy Membership waiting list now to get in when the doors open for just two days next week.

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   14 Steps to a simple launch

   Are you planning on launching something new and innovative?

   Are you hoping to reach more people and build a business that lets you live your values while avoiding burnout?

   Then you need to download our cheat sheet

   14 Steps to a simple launch. We are sharing a foolproof process to make sure you develop your project WITH the people you want to help and then get it in front of as many of them as possible.

   Sign up to get it in your inbox now

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   Find out more about the Do More Than Therapy membership

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/

   Know How Non-Profit

   https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/

   Untapped

   www.untapped.org.uk

   Aug 7, 2020 1 hr

5. How to find the people you want to help online. Online marketing for psychologists and therapists

   Episode 20

   Show notes

   If you are a psychologist or a therapist and you want to offer a new product or service you first need to find, and learn from the people you want to help. This is a deeper dive into the first two steps of the "how to launch in 14 simple steps" episode. You can download your checklist to keep you on track with the 14 steps here.

   First step: get to know your ideal clients

   A couple of episodes back I talked you through a strategy for making sure you get to know the people you are trying to help before you even think about designing a product or service, let alone marketing it. If you haven't listened to that one yet then go back and listen to that one here.If you are a member of the Do More Than Therapy membership there is also a short course on this strategy in the membership that walks you through developing and using your ICA.

   Once you know who you are trying to help you now need to think about where you are most likely to be able to meet them and, most importantly, have rich and meaningful conversations with them.

   Wherever you find them you need to be asking the IMPORTANT questions. These include:

   • What are you struggling with?
   • What have you already tried to do to solve it?
   • What gets in the way of your attempts to solve the problem?
   • What have you been offered that hasn't worked for you and why didn't it work?
   • What makes you want to solve this problem? What do you hope life would be like if the problem went away.

   In all your conversations make a note of the language people use and make sure you replicate that in all of your materials and marketing, even if eventually you want to move people away from some of the key words they currently use. To help with this get permission to record your conversations wherever possible. You can then use a tool like rev.com to get them transcribed so you can pick out keywords.

   Here are some suggestions for places you can go (on and offline) to try and talk to your ideal clients.

   Step two: If you are already working with your ideal client

   • Set up zoom calls, explain that you want to help more people like them and you would value their in put. You will be surprised how many people want to help and even if you only get one person saying yes to this it will be SO valuable.
   • Take them out for coffee (COVID permitting)
   • Surveys (great in conjunction with other methods, Survey monkey is a free tool you can use for this)
   • Use the feedback and testimonials you collect at the end of your work. These will tell you what mattered most to the people you worked with so you can make sure your new offer is built around that and that you mention it when you come to market your new offer.

   Step two: If they are people you don't work with

   • Ask for introductions from colleagues at work, friends and family who may know the people you are trying to help. It feels very vulnerable but you need to tell everyone you know what you are doing and ask them if they know anyone who is willing to talk to you about your plans via zoom or coffee. It is essential that they are involved in the development of your idea so don't let fear stand in your way here.
   • Only AFTER you have done the above and had some in depth conversations you can try joining relevant Facebook groups. Ask permission from the admins and offer to provide something free to the group in exchange for being allowed to be in there if needs be. this could be a free facebook live or resource. Be in the group to LISTEN and learn the struggles and language used by the people in there. Do not try and sell anything, or even offer blog posts until you are a well established member of the group and have a relationship with the admins. If in doubt always message an admin and ask for permission before posting. The relationship with the admins (who may also be your ideal clients) can be extremely valuable in itself, even if they don't let you post in their group. Search the group for conversations where you can add genuine value and comment with your best advice/support. ONLY link to your site occasionally and if it is exactly what the person needs. Again, if in doubt check with an admin before offering a free resource.
   • Use LinkedIn if your ideal clients have a particular job role. You can use the search function on LI to search people by job title which can be very powerful. For example, if I wanted to help businesses support their employees through COVID I might look for HR directors or similar on LinkedIn and message them. It is important at this point to just ask for the help you need. Mention that you are researching a new project and be genuinely open to the feedback you get. I really hate it when people try and sell me stuff on LinkedIn but it is a platform that is all about professional collaboration so people are often open to helping you, especially if you have hit on a topic they are really struggling with.
   • Networking events (online or in-person). These are, in my opinion, valuable whoever you are trying to reach. They usually involve sitting in a room or on a call with lots of other business owners and talking for two minutes about your business. Then there is usually a speaker and some free flow networking time. It is my idea of a nightmare. BUT if you go in with a laser focus on what you need to find out and who you need to talk to you will find people will hear your passion for your project and want to help. It may be that they fit your ideal client avatar themselves and you can have a conversation then and there. Or (more likely) they know someone who they can put you in touch with. Often I have left an event feeling as though I anxiously sweat through my most corporate "blouse" (what even is that?) for no reason but then I get an email or a LinkedIn message that takes my project forward in some way. If you are open to it there really are amazing opportunities when you make yourself vulnerable like that.

   Finally, and I forgot to mention this on the podcast, talk to your PEERS. One of the reasons I set up DMTT is that I believe we could and should be our own greatest champions. There is so much need out there that, in my mind, there is NO competition. We are all in it together. The reality is that if you want to launch an online course and you want it to be profitable you need to build lots of know, like and trust and a very large audience (thousands at least). That is a big ask for one person. BUT if we join together on these projects we combine all of that expertise, audiences and our individual strengths. The task becomes less daunting, and most importantly, we are much more likely to help people effectively when we work together.

   Once you have found your people and started to have meaningful conversations with them you can move on to step three of the launch checklist and think about offering them something small as a test. Read more about step 3 here.

   If collaborating with your peers sounds good, and you like the sound of helping more people, living your values and avoiding burnout you should check out the DMTT membership. We are a social enterprise designed to help you do exactly that.

   Links

   Are you planning on launching something new and innovative?

   Are you hoping to reach more people and build a business that lets you live your values while avoiding burnout?

   Then you need to download our cheat sheet - 14 Steps to a simple launch.

   We are sharing a foolproof process to make sure you develop your project WITH the people you want to help and then get it in front of as many of them as possible.

   Sign up to get it in your inbox now

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   You can follow me on facebook @DoMoreThanTherapy and instagram @rosiegilderthorp and Linked In: Rosanna Gilderthorp

   I'd love to see you in there :)

   Aug 14, 2020 27 min

6. What is a funnel and why do psychologists and therapists need one in their marketing?

   Episode 19

   Show notes

   Links

   Your guide to launching in 14 simple steps

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   The Ideal Client Avatar explained

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-business-of-psychology/ideal-client-avatar-psychologists-therapists-marketing

   Join the Do More Than Therapy Membership

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   What is a funnel and why do psychologists and therapists need one in their marketing?

   If you have decided that you want to do more than therapy in your business, and if you have ever visited a website that talks about “online marketing” it is HIGHLY likely that Facebook now targets you with lots of ads from Californian online marketing tycoons telling you how to create the perfect “funnel”.

   It would be very easy to switch off and ignore that messaging because we don’t naturally enjoy the idea of funnelling people. I know I never clicked on anything with that word in it until recently. However, now I understand it, I actually think, a little like the ideal client avatar that we looked at a few episodes back, that we need to know about funnels and how to use them.

   Essentially a "funnel" is just another way of talking about the journey someone takes from knowing nothing about you to working with you. It constitutes steps 3 through to 14 of the “14 steps to a simple launch” guide you can download. In my mind I break it down into four stages.

   1.Making people aware of you

   2. Building know, like and trust or showing them you are an expert

   3. Letting them know what you offer and how it could help them

   4. Making sure they know exactly how to get it (if they want it).

   The idea is to move people through the four stages so they feel confident to buy what you are offering if it lines up with what they need. In this episode I am going to break these down a little to give you an overview of what you are trying to achieve at each stage.

   Stage one: Making people aware of you

   You may have 7 PhDs and be an absolute professional authority in helping people diagnosed with bi-polar to lead full and rich lives. You may be the best at it and your peers may be really excited that you are making an online course. But if no one who is struggling with bi-polar knows that you are the best at it you are still not going to have anyone to sell your online course to. This is where most of us are when we start out on our journey as we often don’t have much of a public profile and we often don’t really like shouting about our expertise.

   Activities for this stage: Blog posts, valuable social media posts, podcasts, videos on social media, in person networking events, press coverage, good search engine optimisation, publishing research, writing a book or a book chapter. You can amplify all of these things using paid advertising once you know what works well. The aim is always to build your credibility and authority so that when people are struggling in a particular area your name comes up.

   Stage two: Showing the people that are now aware of you that you are an expert

   People need a lot of reassurance before they are willing to consider investing precious time or money in our products or services. This is especially true when it relates to mental health, people who are suffering feel vulnerable and are not going to want to risk taking a course that might make them feel worse. This stage is all about proving that you can help. Depending on the group you are talking to you might also want to emphasise hope for change and showcase stories of resilience and people who have come through difficult times.

   Activities for this stage: Getting people onto your email list through downloadable guides, cheat sheets etc or free webinars, value packed emails, highly valuable social media content (in your own group if possible), talking to them individually in your community and in your emails.

   Stage three: Letting them know what you offer and how it can help them

   This is where you give them clear information about what you are offering, how it can help them in specific and tangible ways. At this stage you are still inviting feedback on your offer and responding to this feedback (that never stops!) This is also a good time to show them the social proof that change is possible and that you have helped people to achieve change in the past.

   Activities for this stage: Emails and social media posts explaining what you are doing and the benefits it can bring for people, emails and social media showing social proof, events and webinars that showcase what you are offering (like a free live event that is related to your online course as this helps people understand what working with you would be like)

   Stage four: Making sure they know how to get what you are offering

   People are busy and often overwhelmed so you need to make it very easy for someone to buy what you are offering. There is plenty of evidence that people don’t read most of their emails and even if they read it, they might not be in a position to click “buy” at that moment. This stage is therefore about making sure nothing gets in the way of someone who wants to buy your product or service.

   Activities for this stage: Reminder emails, frequently asked questions posts, videos troubleshooting common problems. I hope this has been a helpful definition of the horrible marketing term “funnel”.

   It is helpful to use this alongside the launching in 14 simple steps downloadable guide link above.

   As ever please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and do let me know what you think you can find me in the Do More Than Therapy Facebook group or @rosiegilderthorp on Instagram.

   Aug 21, 2020 14 min

7. How psychologists can make an impact on government: Blending theory and practice

   Episode 21

   Show notes

   Ever wanted to know how to bring psychological thinking to the government? Susie Ballentyne is an applied psychologist who currently offers research and consultation, cognitive behavioural coaching and psychologically informed leadership development. Susie has held influential positions bringing psychological theory and practice to government decision making. The impact she has had in her career is truly inspiring. This was a fantastic podcast to record and I am sure many of you will want to contact Susie to find out more so all of her contact details are at the bottom of the page.

   If you want to join a community where you are inspired and supported to have a bigger impact then check out the Do More Than Therapy Membership.

   Here is how Susie describes herself:

   From my early years as a psychologist, I have worked with individuals and groups from Europe, to West Africa and the Middle East, as well as many in the UK, exploring the issues of leadership, identity and resilience. Initially, working with the military in high-stress environments.

   I went on to focus my post-graduate research at LSE in the Middle East, exploring the stories and experiences of local people in the aftermath of war. Understanding the human response to conflict fuelled my fascination in psychological resilience: how do people manage the challenges of life, why is it sometimes so hard, and other times we seem to ‘survive and thrive’?

   My current doctoral research at Sussex University asks a similar question, exploring stories of migration from refugees fleeing war in Syria. How do we find meaning and purpose in difficult times, how do we adapt and cope day to day?

   Over the years I have worked with a fascinating variety of people such as small-business owners, new parents, military personnel, managers and Ambassadors. Together we’ve explored identity, resilience and leadership across a range of contexts.

   Now, working with the latest empirically-based research and assessment tools, I offer support to individuals and teams, centred around psychological coaching, research, training and leadership development.

   You can find Susie in the following places:

   https://www.susieballentyne.com

   info@susieballentyne.com

   https://www.linkedin.com/in/susie-ballentyne-mbpss-7483b132/

   Links

   Your Guide To Launching In 14 Simple Steps

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   Join The Do More Than Therapy Membership

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   Aug 28, 2020 52 min

8. Five ways to get people to read your psychology blog

   Episode 26

   Show notes

   How to get more people to read your psychology blog: Beginners SEO for psychologists and therapists

   If you are a psychologist or therapist you probably know you should write a blog. But how do you get more people to read it? Here are my top 5 tips for getting your amazing content seen.

   One of the most frustrating realities of being a psychologist or therapist who needs to build an online audience is the horrible truth that no one will just magically land on your website. If you want anyone to benefit from your expertise and support you need to write content that pops up on google when they most need it.

   Write your blog for real people

   Firstly, if you have not already, you need to know your Ideal Client Avatars. Your blog posts will be easier to write and are FAR more likely to reach people if you write them for ONE specific person. If you need convincing or you haven’t fleshed out your ICAs yet then if you are a DMTT member you can take the short course on that subject inside the membership or if you aren’t a member you can listen to last month’s podcast episode on that subject. No other advice will work if you don’t know exactly who you are writing for.

   There is an art to to getting your blog (or other content) found but here are five steps you can take to get more eyes on your brilliant content.

   1. Find out what your ICA is searching for.

   You can use a tool like Answer the public to find out what searches people are making in your area of expertise. This is one of the reasons it is so important to only try and market to people with one (or a few related) specific problems. For example, if I were to type “depression” into answer the public I would find so many hits and such high search volumes that I would never be able to choose what to write and the chances of my blog post standing out against all the psychology today, NHS and other trusted sources would be very low. However, if I know my ICAs really well I could search for something only “they” will be looking for. For example, I might write a blog post for a parent searching for “how to help my thirteen year old who has ADHD and anxiety” or “what to do if my twelve year old won’t stop wetting the bed.” Those are much more specific problems that I know my ICAs might be searching for at 2 o’clock in the morning when they are worried.

   2. Use the language that people REALLY speak in your Blog title and intro.

   What would they say to their friend over coffee? What are they typing into google? This is another reason why launch in 14 steps is all about trying to actually have coffee (or a virtual one) with your ICAs so you can pick this language up. Remember you may not like the language they use but you might need to use it in order to be found.

   3. Talk about your content in different ways/repurpose for different learning styles.

   One blog post can easily become several social media posts, a podcast, a Facebook live. Think creatively, draw out key parts of the content and make it multi media.

   4. Ask questions on social media

   You can then drop the link to interested people who will boost your traffic and make sure google knows your content is good.

   5. Give a clear call to action at the end of your blog.

   Readers need somewhere to go at the end of your content, make sure you don’t leave them hanging.

   BONUS tip – give your best stuff away. Don’t hold back. Marketers that tell you to give the why but not the how are unethical (in our space) and shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion. You are trying to establish trust here. If people want to they can find EVERYTHING for free on the internet. I’ve written something like 54 ACT and CFT based blog posts for parents on my website. If someone wanted to they could print them all and use it as a self help book. They don’t do that because they are busy and because it wouldn’t give them the same experience as working with me. If you want to establish trust and authority then you need to be generous. Look at Russ Harris if you need an example. He gives away virtually everything for free and yet I still chuck my credit card at his books and courses whenever he releases anything new because I want to have it in the most accessible and easy to learn format. Often when I look at blogs written by psychologists and therapists for their websites I feel a little bit sad because they don’t really say much other than “book me”. In my opinion every blog should aim to genuinely solve a problem for someone. Google also doesn’t really recognise blogs under 1000 words (or so I have been told).

   There are lots of issues that come up for us when we are trying to write content that genuinely helps people, draws them towards our services and helps sustain our businesses so this is a topic we will revisit regularly. Please do get in touch and let me know the specific things that you get stuck on.

   Want to go deeper?

   In order to make blogging, podcasting or any content marketing work for you it is crucial to know your ICAs, have a content creation strategy, an SEO strategy and have a good way of measuring your progress.

   This is exactly why we have a masterclass on understanding your google analytics data with Vicky Jakes, website and SEO expert coming up in the DMTT membershipin October. Vicky will be talking to us about how we can tell if what we are doing is working. To learn more about the membership and how you can join click here.

   Links

   Launch in 14 steps podcast:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/episode/simple-launch-for-psychologists-and-therapists

   Launch in 14 steps download:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   The ICA podcast episode:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-business-of-psychology/ideal-client-avatar-psychologists-therapists-marketing

   Join the DMTT Membership :

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   Answer the public (to find out what people are searching for) https://answerthepublic.com/

   Uber Suggest (tool for checking search volumes) https://app.neilpatel.com/en/ubersuggest

   Sep 4, 2020 18 min

9. Integrative formulation tools for psychologists and therapists: How Journeybuilding can help us make impact

   Episode 27

   Show notes

   Ever wondered if you can really call yourself an “integrative” therapist? Jeremy Slaughter talks to us about his innovative approach to formulation, Journey Building, that helps us to truly integrate different theoretical approaches into a cogent formulation. As a member of Do More Than Therapy I have heard Jeremy talk about this before and I was keen to get him on the podcast to share his own journey from accountancy, to psychology to software and the impact he hopes his method, and the software he has designed to go with it, could have on mental wellbeing. Before we get into the episode I just wanted to mention that Jeremy is holding a webinar to get feedback on his ideas and an introduction to using the Journeybuilding doodles and metaphors on Monday 14th September at 1pm. The details of how you can join the call are in the DMTT FB group. DM me @rosiegilderthorp on Instagram if you can’t find them and I will send them over.

   You can find more from Jeremy at:

   http://www.kipapa.co.uk/

   Come over to the Do More Than Therapy facebook groupget the details for Jeremy's webinar on Monday 14th September at 1pm.

   Links

   Your Free, 14 Step Guide To Launching A New Product Or Service As A Psychologist Or Therapist:

   Are you planning on launching something new and innovative?

   Are you hoping to reach more people and build a business that lets you live your values while avoiding burnout?

   Then you need to download our cheat sheet - 14 Steps to a simple launch.

   We are sharing a foolproof process to make sure you develop your project WITH the people you want to help and then get it in front of as many of them as possible.

   Sign up to get it in your inbox now

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   Launch In 14 Steps Podcast:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/episode/simple-launch-for-psychologists-and-therapists

   Launch In 14 Steps Download:

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

   Join The DMTT Membership :

   https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/the-do-more-than-therapy-membership/

   Please do rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and as ever, DM me @rosiegilderthorp on instagram to let me know your main takeaways from this episode and what you would like to see in the next series!

   Sep 11, 2020 56 min