{"id":5368,"date":"2011-11-15T16:30:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T21:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccpa.scottbuckingham.ca\/blog\/?p=1433"},"modified":"2015-07-03T16:11:05","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T20:11:05","slug":"finding-a-niche-what-kind-of-counsellor-am-i-is-there-really-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/finding-a-niche-what-kind-of-counsellor-am-i-is-there-really-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Niche:  What Kind of Counsellor am I?  Is There Really a Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/asd.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1436\" title=\"asd\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/asd-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" \/><\/a>Usual disclaimer:\u00a0 These are the thoughts and opinions of the author.\u00a0 They do not necessarily reflect the whole of the counselling community or the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Career counsellors, school counsellors, marriage therapists, e-counsellors, hypnotherapists, child therapists,\u00a0 counselling online, telephone counselling, EAP counsellors, Wellness counsellors,.\u00a0 There are all kinds of therapists seeking clients and trying to make their way in the world; finding their niche, so to speak.\u00a0 The counselling process, across the board, is primarily the same.\u00a0 A decision is made to approach someone to assist with a presenting concern; the development of a helping relationship; an interchange of talking and listening to address the issues and termination of the helping relationship.\u00a0 So why all the different distinctions?\u00a0 One can explain the differences in terms of specialization.\u00a0 We \u2013 as therapists \u2013 feel drawn more toward one area than another, likely because of our own life experiences (i.e. we had a helpful experience with our own marriage, so start developing interest in helping others with theirs); whether good or bad; the recovering alcoholic becoming an addictions counsellor.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I recall hearing about research that indicates that the counselling modality mattered less to clients than the congruence, genuineness, therapeutic relationship, environment experienced in the counselling process.\u00a0 I would express even further that a primary factor in the efficacy of counselling is developing the expectation of success (I touched on building hope before, and likely will again); the placebo effect of intervention.\u00a0 So why specialize?\u00a0 If it all really doesn\u2019t matter, why specialize?\u00a0 My hunch is that we specialize in order to make ourselves unique in some way.\u00a0 Afterall, counselling, especially private practice, is still a business.\u00a0 We have to set ourselves separate from the counsellor next door.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that it is wrong, but we do have to recognize that we are, as business people, competing for clients; our bread and butter.\u00a0 The only way to do that is to develop a niche \u2013 hopefully one that draws the attention of a client base that will support our livelihood.\u00a0 We juggle pricing to attract clients, we hang our degrees and plaques on the wall, and we advertise our speciality all in hopes of attracting the \u201cright client.\u201d On the other hand, we as a breed, tend to be humble and soft spoken and express distress over people like Dr. Phil who are \u201cout there\u201d\u00a0 on t.v. (selling out?\u00a0 Playing for the ratings?)\u00a0 and can\u2019t possibly put ourselves out there that way.\u00a0 A real problem in terms of marketing.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if we don\u2019t specialize, we end up being a \u201ccatch all\u201d therapist and the response becomes; \u201cyou can\u2019t be knowledgeable in all areas.\u201d\u00a0 I, personally, struggle with a therapist that does not attach themselves to a modality \u2013 that describe themselves as eclectic in their approach.\u00a0\u00a0 Make a decision.\u00a0 It may change over time, but make a decision.\u00a0 You can only be Agnostic for so long\u2026 eventually you have to decide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I have no great reason to bring up this point other than at this moment, I am contemplating how to set up\/re-establish my own private practice in such a way as to be successful enough to make my own transition from the public service world into the private practice world.\u00a0 I\u2019m contemplating my own niche.\u00a0 How can I stand out?\u00a0 What qualities can I draw upon?\u00a0 How does a therapist decide what their niche is?\u00a0 I am a cognitive therapist.\u00a0 I incorporate a variety of approaches within that category;\u00a0 solution focused, clinical hypnosis; even less widely accepted approaches (EFT, NLP), but ultimately, my focus is on looking at thought processes and identifying and altering unresourceful, irrational and distorted thinking.\u00a0 Behavior follows thought.\u00a0 Aside from that, how do I create an identity that stands out from my other colleagues?\u00a0 More questions than an actual point\u2026 ah, the life of a blogger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Usual disclaimer:\u00a0 These are the thoughts and opinions of the author.\u00a0 They do not necessarily reflect the whole of the counselling community or the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.\u00a0 Career counsellors, school counsellors, marriage therapists, e-counsellors, hypnotherapists, child therapists,\u00a0 counselling online, telephone counselling, EAP counsellors, Wellness counsellors,.\u00a0 There are all kinds of therapists seeking clients [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001005,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-counsellingandpsychotherapyincanada"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Finding a Niche: What Kind of Counsellor am I? 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