The F Word…
I’m going to write about something today that is often a taboo subject… Wait for it…. What is it? I hear you ask.
The answer is personal finance, that is finance with a capital F.
If you are reading this, you probably already know that it costs a lot to be a therapist or counsellor in private practice. Some of us might think ‘I’d be doing okay if it wasn’t for the tolls I have to pay to run my business.’ This includes supervision, room hire, insurance, CPD, membership of a governing body, advertising and our own counselling should we need it.
This is all very valid but I’m going to go deeper than this here. I don’t like to make sweeping statements and I hope I am not being presumptuous but it is highly likely that counsellors and therapists have experienced their fair share of traumatic experiences. The term ‘wounded healer’ comes from somewhere real.
As such, and I think that this is something that is often ignored, people (including healers) who have experienced trauma and adverse experiences have often found it difficult to thrive financially. This can be for several reasons including but not restricted to:
Poor modelling of financial management in childhood
Struggling to find the right career (in the case of counsellors we often, but not always, come to the career late, in the midst of our own healing)
Taking time out of work due to mental health issues
I’m sure there are counsellors and therapists out there who have the financial part of their life sorted and if this is the case, I salute you. I personally, on the other hand, have struggled to manage my finances over the years. It is better now that I am in a career that is right for me but my personal need to work for myself (show me an office any day of the week and I’ll run for the hills) has its’ downsides including the aforementioned costs involved and the need to put in place a personal pension and insurance should I need to take extended time off work.
The point is that if you are someone who finds finances a tricky area, I don’t think you should suffer in silence anymore. There are others who have similar feelings and whilst there is no magic wand, perhaps if we look there are things out there that can help. Perhaps if there is a dialogue this will help too.
That is why we have set up Counsellors Therapy Pot. The principal issue we’d like to address is the difficulty of needing counselling (to keep ourselves well for the job) that we might not be able to afford. We invite you to join our network of counsellors who counsel each other safely and ethically. After we’ve streamlined this aspect of the service there will be other benefits to membership (which may also help you streamline the finances of your business).
I promise I’m not just writing this to promote our service! I genuinely believe that it is important to acknowledge the reality of the situation with regards to personal finance, trauma and the demographic of people who become therapists. I think it’s amazing that so many of us get on with the job while paying the required costs and making a difference. We could be forgiven for taking an easier route. So let’s see if we can start to make things easier for ourselves.
I think we can even take this a level deeper and ask the question: what is it that you want for your clients? I don’t know about you, but I want my clients to thrive. If we want our clients to thrive then surely this includes having well-managed finances and to earn enough money to be comfortable and do some of the things that they are passionate about. If we want this for our clients, then surely, we want this for ourselves. It is important to empower ourselves whether that means educating ourselves around financial products or asking ourselves ‘is this the most cost-effective way of doing x, y or z or is there a better alternative?’
This isn’t about saying ‘woe is me’ and having a victim mentality. This is about acknowledging the reality so that we can help ourselves, whatever our financial situation. It’s also about starting a dialogue about these issues so feel free to pop any thoughts you have below the line!