Presence

Posted by: Sherry Law on August 25, 2015 5:00 am

In one of my previous posts I mentioned a phenomenon called presence, which is a potent experience capable of convincing a person that they occupy a place which they do not exist physically. This experience is difficult to describe but is the quintessential point I, and other researchers in the field of virtual reality, believe the technological and the therapeutic intersect. This post will attempt to explain how presence is achieved and how it can be therapeutic.

Presence, in terms of artistic experience, is also called immersion, explained by philosopher, Samuel Coleridge, as a “suspension of disbelief”. This experience can occur in any medium, such as a good book, or a tv show. If you can imagine a quiet evening with a book where an exciting story can make you forget that you have been turning the page for hours. This is an example of immersion. You feel as though you are a visitor to the story, or a witness to the events unfolding in your minds eye. What virtual reality (VR) accomplishes is immersion but replacing the minds eye with direct visual input. Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Is goal-setting essential for a good marketing and learning plan?

Posted by: Andrea Cashman on August 20, 2015 5:00 am

It’s important to establish goals and goal-setting in your private practice to maintain a marketing and competency plan in order to grow or maintain your practice. Without goals, it’s easy to fall within a rut or status quo and this lack of growth will affect your practice in minor or major ways. Goals allow you to achieve certain objectives to fulfil your practice vision or dreams. These visions or dreams can include building your clientele or advancing yourself through specialization or expertise in the psychotherapy field. Sit back and ask yourself – What do I see when I envision my dream practice? Then ask yourself – How can I get there? What goals do I need to make?

Examples of some goals related to competencies may include ones that centre on delivering effective client care and establishing trust in the therapeutic relationship (which may be examined in client feedback and supervision etc.,), developing more sound knowledge of medical and psychiatric illnesses (through courses and reading), developing a learning plan that includes specialization or furthering your competency level based on the client population you counsel, developing your communication skills through learning basic counselling skills (if you are a new psychotherapist), or goals centred on professionalism or referral networking. Each of these goals listed above can be broken down into specifics and tailored to meet your preferences and desired outcomes. It’s important to list your goals as either short term or long term goals and to be easy on yourself if you do not meet a deadline in time. Goals can always be altered. Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

How Do you Plan to Promote your New Private Practice?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on August 10, 2015 4:12 pm

Many colleagues in private practice have suggested to me, “Don’t spend too much time on promotions like brochures and fancy business cards because you will get the majority of your clients through word of mouth.” I believe that this is good advice, however, word of mouth must start somewhere. Here are a few of my ideas about how to promote oneself as a counsellor/therapist opening a new private practice and to set in motion word of mouth.

I think it begins with connecting with the leaders in the community. These leaders may be in churches, cultural organizations, and social service agencies. For my purposes, I plan to build relationships with doctors in neighborhood clinics, school counsellors, and community association leaders who are part of my target regions. I think that it makes sense to concentrate time and effort connecting with groups and individuals who may become regular sources of referrals.

Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Payment Options for Counsellors

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on August 2, 2015 3:30 pm

How do you plan to receive payment from your clients? Are you collecting payment yourself or will there be a receptionist doing that for you? Do you have third party payment? Will you be mobile or in one location? Will any of your counselling be online? All of these answers will help determine which option is best for you. I will share what I have learned about payment options and how I made my decisions. Two very useful online articles are listed at the bottom.

So, there seems to be four basic payment options: cash, cheque, credit, or debit. Each have benefits and disadvantages, depending on your answers from above. These are my thoughts based on my single person, mobile, face-to-face private practice.

Considering how much a counselling session can cost, cash does not seem like the best option because I am the holder of the payment and I wouldn’t want to have a lot of cash in the office. If the client is not paying the full amount, however, this could be a hassle-free way to be paid.
Cheques seem like a good option assuming they don’t bounce but the bank usually holds them for a few days before they can be accessed. Also, I don’t know how many people use cheques anymore. I wouldn’t make this the only option, but I see few disadvantages to accepting cheques.
Debit does not cost anything to accept, so in that way it is preferable to credit, although some online payment systems such as Paypal do not include debit. I like debit, although I could not find any debit options that did not also include credit.
Credit costs the counsellor money (somewhere around 2.75%), however, it is very convenient for everyone. Also, there are a number of ways to receive payment through credit: a point of sale system like the square, a mobile card processor, a credit card terminal if you are in one location, and online payment like Paypal. I like this option because the fee transfer happens right away.

My plan is to accept cheques and cash while encouraging credit or debit. For credit options, I narrowed my top two choices to the Square or Moneris because I wanted the transaction to be face to face (rather than e-transfers or Paypal). Even though Moneris has a monthly fee, I chose it over the Square for a few reasons. First, Moneris has been around longer and has a strong track record for customer service. Second, this service has a relationship with my bank (RBC) and a person in my city who has already talked to me on the phone – how often does that happen these days? , Third, I can accept debit or credit with Moneris. The Square only takes credit. If you are curious about online payment systems, you can visit the two articles I listed below; I found both very informative.

This decision about payment options is an important one to make and you would be wise to do so before opening your business bank account because there are a number of different types of accounts based on how your receive payment. I found it very helpful to speak with a business account manager at my bank in order to sort out all of these options. If anyone has opinions or insights about payment options, please leave a comment and share with our readers.

Lindzon , J. (2014, Nov. 14). Top five online payment systems for your small business. Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/cash-flow/top-five-online-payment-systems-for-your-small-business/article21553705/

Purch. (2015, June 11). Square Review: Best Mobile Credit Card Processing Solution. Business News Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8064-best-mobile-credit-card-processor.html

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Real-Time Adventures in Counselling Private Practice – Chapter Five

Posted by: Rhea Plosker on July 24, 2015 11:51 am

Finding a Therapist (or Being Found by a Client)

Invisible threads are the strongest ties.
– Friedrich Nietzsche

This blog is the fifth chapter in a series describing my mid-life career transition from engineering to a counsellor and psychotherapist working in private practice. (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4)

A few months ago, a friend asked me for help finding a therapist in a city I am unfamiliar with. I figured this would be a straightforward process, given that I am “in the know”. I started by following the instructions found in an excellent article on our own practice web site (I couldn’t resist the shameless self-promotion).

Indeed, I was quickly able to create a solid short-list of obviously qualified therapists and started to contact them. My experiences from that point reminded me how important our interactions are with prospective new clients.

Here are a few tips I’d like to pass on to others: Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

The Importance of Incorporating a Holistic Approach Into Your Practice

Posted by: Andrea Cashman on July 21, 2015 12:44 pm

I’ve always gravitated to looking at someone in their whole form so when I heard that I could utilize this to market and found my practice on this approach, I decided that that was what I wanted to do. The business name I chose was Holisitic Counselling Services and I chose this in part to reflect my values and to let clients know that I am open to viewing them as a whole person and practice in this manner.

The word holistic comes from the word “whole” and examines a person (or client) in terms of their mind body associations that also tie into their emotional and spiritual well-being. Mental Health, or health in general, depends on all these factors working together in the environment. The environment around the person can alter these factors. Your role as a psychotherapist is to not only focus on the client’s presenting problem but to see the client as a whole person and determine how the problem is affecting all aspect’s of their day to day life as well as what other positive or negative influences promote or diminish their well-being or mental health. No client wants you to focus on their issue exclusively. They also want to be seen as a person and validated as such.

Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Office Space

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on July 14, 2015 9:20 am

Looking for office space has made this experience feel a lot more real. It’s about making real decisions with significant consequences. Working out of my home is not a practical option for me and so I am going to share my newly acquired wisdom about finding office space to set up a counselling practice.

Through my gap analysis, I was able to target the part of town in which I want to open a private practice. To get a sense of my options, I sent a brief email to professionals in the counselling, chiropractic, naturopath, massage therapy, and physiotherapy fields in that part of town to introduce myself, and to inquire if they had any space to rent. Not only was I very pleased with the number of responses, but also about the useful information I gained when meeting with many of these individuals.

Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Where are the Gaps?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on July 10, 2015 8:00 am

What is in a Name?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on June 10, 2015 12:00 pm

1 Reply

If choosing between incorporation and sole proprietorship was the hard part (http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=4247), choosing a business name can be the fun and creative part. You may already have a few ideas; I didn’t and so this is the process that I followed.

First, I did an extensive google search of private practitioners in my area. Originally, I just wanted to see what names were already taken. Then I decided to create a list of all of the other private practices noting their area of expertise, area of the city, the number of counsellors on site, and their contact information. I strongly suggest you do the same because this can be the basis for your gap analysis, a referral list later on, and a contact list for rental space. I also developed some ideas for a website by looking at how everyone else did it. I’ll have more information about these ideas in later blogs, so stay tuned!

What I noticed were a few trends in business names. A number of counsellors chose names highlighting location, others chose names that conceptualized the counselling process, and some kept it simple by using their names for their business. Because I am incorporating a business of one, I decided to use my name.
Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Posted by: Andrea Cashman on June 4, 2015 9:35 am

1 Reply

My thoughts and a brief introduction on Sensorimotor Therapy for Trauma Clients

In April, I attended a workshop on Trauma and the Body – The Theory and Practice of Sensorimotor Therapy presented by Anne Westcott on behalf of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (SPI). I’m particularly interested in theories designed to implement treatment on trauma clients. This particular workshop opened a new realm of possibilities for me. I had my sights on becoming specialized in EMDR in the future but perhaps SPI’s three level certification program is another avenue to explore for me and for anyone seeking to work exclusively with trauma clients. I don’t necessarily believe that one theory is better than another; however, I do believe it is about what works for you the therapist and your clients. The Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute was founded by Pat Ogden in the 1980’s out of her interest in the correlation of client’s disconnections from their bodies/their physical patterns and their psychological issues. Before PTSD appeared in the DSM, Pat recognized that treatments in that time seemed to trigger traumatic reminders in a detrimental way. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is drawn from somatic theories, attachment theories, neuroscience, the Hakomi method and cognitive approaches. Pat Ogden quotes “most human behavior is driven by procedual memory – memory for process and function – and is reflected in habitual, automatic responses and well-learned action patterns: movements, postures, gestures, autonomic arousal patterns, and emotional and cognitive tendencies.” This SP workshop explores the processes of memory and how this information can be utilised to change procedural learning in a window of tolerance for the client with PTSD. Specific skills such as tracking and attuning the body are taught. Dysregulation is noted with trauma responses of fight, flight or freeze and how the neuroscience behind the sympathetic and parasympathetic brain structures play a role in these trauma responses. SP uses movement to move the client in a state of active mobilizing defenses into a state of triumph.
Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA