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How to be a psychologist in the media (amongst other things) with Dr Carolyne KeenanWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. I'm really pleased to be bringing you an interview with Dr Carolyne Keenan. You might have heard Carolyne's name if you listen to BBC Radio 1. She makes a big impact with her media work. But the reason I'm really interested to talk to Carolyne is that she shows how it's possible to build a portfolio of different activities, all of which use your skills in different and exciting ways, and to find professional fulfillment through that autonomy that we can have in independent practice. I know how many psychologists and therapists tell me that they feel a bit stuck. Like they're stuck in the therapy room and they don't know how, in their independent work, to step outside of that. I think Carolyne and her journey in independent practice is a really great example of how when we have the courage to step outside, we can make a really big impact. Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links for Carolyne: Instagram: @drcarolynekeenan LinkedIn: @drcarolynekeenan Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @drrosiegilderthorp The highlightsCarolyne tells us about how her career in psychology began 01:30I ask Carolyne how she went from a quite unpleasant experience to finding a passion that let her do a doctorate 10:55Carolyne talks about how she started stepping out into private psychology 13:14We discuss the difference of opinions around charging for services and cancellation policies 16:14Carolyne talk to us about what her private practice looks like today 26:06We look at the pros and cons of media work 29:15I ask Carolyne about how she plans her social media content 36:34Carolyne tells us where to find her online 42:55 Set Up Your Practice For SuccessYou have incredible clinical expertise, but is the 'shame' of the business side holding you back? Staying stuck in a role that’s edging you toward burnout or running a side-hustle that eats your weekends isn't the only way. I’m hosting a free masterclass on Wednesday, 22nd April called 'Set Up Your Practice For Success.' I’ll be sharing my proven 3-part framework: Values, Voice, and Impact. You’ll learn how to design a practice aligned with your life, create systems for an exceptional client experience, and implement a marketing strategy that doesn’t feel 'sleazy.' Join me live for a chance to win a 1:1 strategy session! Register for free at the link below - and yes, there’s a replay for all registrants. Set Up Your Practice For Success Masterclass - Wednesday 22nd April - Book your place here.

The four financial numbers you need to understand in your practice to do your best workI want to talk about the 4 financial pillars that you need to be familiar with in your practice, because as this tax year comes to an end and the new one begins, you might be looking at your numbers and thinking how did that happen? Maybe you got a tax bill that's bigger than you were expecting. Maybe you are getting to the end of the year and realising that you didn't make as much money as you wanted to, or maybe it's more positive than that and you've got a bigger tax bill than you were expecting because you made more money than you wanted to. Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links: Sally Farrant: www.businessgrowthbynumbers.com Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @drrosiegilderthorp Set Up Your Practice For SuccessIs a financially rewarding private practice actually possible? My recent survey of former coaching clients found they were taking home between £3k and £8k a month while seeing only 5 to 20 clients a week. That is a full-time wage in far less than full-time NHS hours. I want to show you the roadmap to get there. Join my free masterclass, 'Set Up Your Practice For Success,' on Wednesday, 22nd April. We’ll tackle common mistakes and show you how to avoid the 'admin mountain' so you can focus on the work you love. Secure your spot at the link below. If the time doesn’t work for you, sign up anyway to receive the recording. Set Up Your Practice For Success Masterclass - Wednesday 22nd April - Book your place here. ShownotesRevenueRevenue is the simplest metric in your business. It’s gross income, the money that is coming in with nothing deducted. On its own it’s a vanity metric. I see lots of people sharing their revenue without being honest about the other numbers, and it troubles me, because the revenue in your business can be very high, but the other numbers in the business will change as a reaction to that revenue. It's the other numbers that give us much more crucial information about the health of the business and the lifestyle that it's actually going to give you, and the good that you're able to do for your clients. Revenue is important to know because it gives an estimate of growth and impact. If you are making a lot of revenue, it's likely you’re helping a lot of people and you can track the trajectory of that. Tracking your revenue should include tracking the specific sources of that revenue. Go into a bit of detail, looking at how many therapy sessions, online courses, and supervision sessions you are selling, and breaking it down into individual services that you offer so that you can see how much money you are making for those activities each month. This is helpful because it allows you to predict what might happen in the future if you put effort into increasing revenue in one of those areas. It’s important to know exactly where that income is coming from. If you're very busy, you might not realise that you are doing more supervision than you were last year, and that a bigger proportion of your income is now coming from that. Even if that overall revenue figure hasn't changed much, the place it's coming from might have changed, and for tax reasons it can be significant to understand that. It's up to you how many categories for different types of revenue you want to create. Go with what's useful for you to have a good understanding of your revenue. For associate practices, you might want to break it down by associate so that you know how much money each associate is making you each month. If you have a really large associate practice, that might be cumbersome and you might break it down into your therapy income and associate therapy income. What I would say is that if a service has specific expenses attached to it, then have that as its own line so that when you do your expenses, you can do some spreadsheet wizardry and make those things dependent on each other. For example, if you've got an associate practice and you know that for every £140 an associate makes you, you are going to pay out £90 to them, you can create a formula in your spreadsheet that calculates an expense line to take £90 for every £140 that is listed in the income for an associate. It’s definitely worth separating out your services, at least in that much detail. Revenue tracking and getting granular with it can help you to see which aspects of your business are really healthy and which ones might be declining or struggling. Expenses You need to consider this alongside revenue. You need to know how much money you are spending every month in order to keep your business running in the way that it needs to support your lifestyle, and you have to be honest with yourself about it. People always ask me for an estimate of how much the expenses should be for an independent practice, and I can't give one because it depends on your values, the services you are providing, what that client group needs in terms of support, and what you need in terms of support. This is why I would never share my revenue figures with you because if you saw them, you'd get a false impression, because in order to keep my business going with all the stuff that I have going on in my personal life, I have to pay for a lot of support. You can't look at somebody's revenue figure and have any idea about what their overall take home pay is going to be, because you aren't going to have a realistic impression of their expenses. Don't be impressed by those online gurus who share their revenue figures with you. I think that's irresponsible unless they're also willing to share the expenses and profit. When looking at your expenses, I recommend getting your banking app out and dumping this into a spreadsheet. If you are in Startup or Evolve and Thrive or the network, you'll have access to our Cashflow Forecast spreadsheet. You go through your banking app and literally note down all the expenses over 3 months, accurately transposing them into the spreadsheet. Then go back through the year and see if there are any big expenditures which don't go out every month that you make on an annual basis and pop those in. This is really boring, and if you have a bookkeeper, it may be that they can do this for you, but it's worth doing because once you've got that, you can categorize your expenses and have a look at what expenses are investments in either the quality of your service or in the growth of your service. I invest in stuff like practice management software because that creates a better quality service for me and for my clients, and I invest in advertising spend, and that's because I expect that will enable the business to grow. Those are both investments in quality and growth, so they go in the investment side. You may find that there are some expenses which don't easily fit into a quality or growth category. When we have those expenses we need to consider whether they are adding another kind of value or are they draining the business? Often I'll find that I've got software packages that double up. I could be using one tool to do lots of things, and actually I'm using lots of tools and paying lots of subscriptions. I would highlight that and think about reducing those. It's a really useful exercise because not only are you getting to know this number, which is really important for planning your business going forward, but you're also getting an idea of what you could cut. Things that fall into the investment category are clinical supervision, business coaching, high quality legal templates, practice management software, CPD, training that you're going to be able to use to support your clients better. You're looking for anything that sits on the periphery that you don't use often or you don't use very well, and thinking about whether it might be time to cut that. Once you've done both those exercises and you've put them into your cashflow forecast spreadsheets or a spreadsheet to track your income and expenses, then you see what the gap is between the two. TaxTax is something which can be confusing. I was told a lot when I started in business that it wasn't confusing, but I think it is confusing, especially considering it's not something that we are taught in school. So, I'll give you a really brief overview of the taxes you need to keep an eye on. You should consult an accountant to get proper advice on your tax situation. If you are in Startup or Evolve and Thrive or the network, we have a class with Mahmood Reza

Why every therapist needs to use social media to improve their SEOWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. Today I am changing my tune! I have decided to go back on some of the advice that I have given over the years about social media and the importance of it to the average private practice. I hope that this will be a really helpful episode for you if you are somebody who is feeling the social media fatigue, doesn't feel naturally like it's a good home for you, and it doesn't form a cornerstone of your marketing strategy, and you've listened to my previous podcast episode and come to the conclusion that this is not the way that you need to be winning clients. I hope this will be a useful episode for you because it still isn't, it still doesn't need to be something that takes up a lot of time in your week, and it shouldn't do if your ideal client personas are not people who are going to search for a therapist on social media, and therapy is the main thing that you are selling in your practice. If that’s the case, then I absolutely stand by my previous advice that social media is not something that should take up lots of your time, week in and week out. But I am going to caveat it slightly, and that's because I have been on some training recently about how social media is an important part of optimizing our websites and our digital presence so that we will continue to be found by people on search engines and through AI recommendations. These things are becoming really important, and it just wouldn't be right of me to not bring this to your attention if it's not something that you've been thinking about yet. Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links: The Directory Profile Template Business of Psychology Episode 111: How to create a great directory site profile Summer School Lesson 5: Directory sites Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @drrosiegilderthorp Start Up Your Psychology PracticeAre you tired of just talking about starting your practice but never quite committing? If you’re ready to stop dancing with burnout and finally go 'all in', my 90-day program, 'Start Up Your Psychology Practice,' was made for you. This is a group coaching experience designed to help you ethically replace your full-time salary in part-time hours. We handle everything: from legal compliance and GDPR to attracting your first consistent stream of self-funding clients. No more piecing it together alone. And here is the best part: sign up before the end of May to get £200 off your investment. Let’s build a practice that gives you the freedom you deserve. Apply today: Start Up Your Psychology Practice Why every therapist needs to use social media to improve their SEOThere have been big changes already, and there are more coming, to the way that search engines like Google and Yahoo and all of them really, recommend websites to people searching. They are now using AI in the way that they search our websites to try and work out who we are and to generate AI advice for people who type in questions to their search bars. You'll have seen this if you are using your smartphone to look for help. You will get a load of normal looking search results, but you'll also get an AI generated answer to your question at the top, which will cite various expert sources to give you an answer to your question. I'm sure you'll have noticed like I have, that most people are not going beyond that AI answer because it is generally quite helpful and now, certainly on mine through Google, it's telling me where it's getting its advice from, and I find it much easier to trust than I used to. I think that's the direction of travel and eventually I think we're going to end up in a world where people just ask a question verbally to their AI, whether it’s Gemini, Chat GPT, Claude, whatever they're using, and they'll just take the answer that it gives rather than bothering to look through a page of search results. So we really need to understand how we make sure that we are the expert source that these AI models are using, because if we're not, then we're going to find that traffic to our websites from search starts to decline, if it hasn't already. The good news, because I know that probably sounds a bit scary, is I actually think it's a good thing for us because now AI is so much cleverer than the previous technology that the search engines were using, it's able to piece together our digital presence from wherever we are to understand who we are and the services we offer in a much deeper and better way. We just need to do a few things to make that really easy for the AI to do, and social media is an important piece of that puzzle, because social media can give you a digital footprint which gives AI a really clear indication of who you are, who you help, and what you stand for, so that it understands better, in combination with your website, who to recommend you to when they're searching for help. So I'll talk you through a little bit about how that works and a few really simple things you can do to start helping the AI bots to understand who you are a little bit better so that you're future proofing your search engine optimization. EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and TrustworthinessThe first thing we need to understand is that search engines already look for EEAT when they're deciding who to serve up as a recommendation to somebody who's searching. That acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. These are the four things that an AI is assessing on your digital footprint before it decides whether to serve you up or to serve someone else up as an answer to a question that somebody's asking. AI search tools like Perplexity, Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude, are crawling the web to find answers to questions. And if your social media or your website has a clear niche specific keyword like 'birth trauma psychologist in Plymouth', and you've got high levels of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, then the AI is more likely to recommend you than somebody generic when a user asks for a therapist for birth trauma in Plymouth, for example. The five things we can do to improve our digital discoverability to AI and demonstrate that we have the EEAT it's looking for: The first thing is to have one bio that you use everywhere that contains a primary keyword that you want to be discoverable for. If you think of your bio as a bit like a sticky label that you might put on the front of an old fashioned filing cabinet; it needs to really clearly tell AI what it is that you have inside your cabinet, and it's really important to get that key word right. That key word might be 'birth trauma psychologist in Plymouth' (it doesn't need to be a single word, it can be a phrase), it could be 'neurodiversity specialist', it could be 'CBT therapist specialising in OCD', but it just needs to be really clear and contain the key words that you would like people searching for to get your name associated with.The second thing you need to do is make sure that the bio you've created is everywhere that you are mentioned. You'll have to create a few versions of it, but they should be as similar to each other as possible. You can have a long version of it for the about page on your website - use that same copy exactly for LinkedIn and Psychology Today. Then you'll need to create a much shorter version of it for social media, but it should have the same keywords in it and be as similar as humanly possible, so that bio that follows you around gives you a really clear digital footprint that the AI can understand. Within that bio you want to show off your experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. And if you are following my framework for crafting a good Psychology Today profile (I'll link to the freebie that I have that's going to support you to do that in the show notes of this episode, as well as the podcast episode on the Business of Psychology) you will be demonstrating the experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness that AI is looking for. So make sure that your bio covers those areas and use my framework, because I think that will help you to do that.The next thing that you need to make sure that you're discoverable in this new world is captions that are easy to understand on your social media posts for those bots that are...

Practice Reboot: The new series of Business of Psychology!Hello and welcome to the Business of Psychology. I am Dr Rosie Gilderthorp, a clinical psychologist and business coach, and we are back for another series where we're going to be diving into all the different ways that private practice can look for psychologists and therapists in 2026. I've got some fascinating interviews from psychologists that are using their skills in different ways, and therapists that are reaching people in all kinds of unique and innovative formats. We are going to be talking about engaging with the media, grassroots activism in our local communities, working with charities, and we're going to be talking about tackling the big questions of neurodiversity movement and neurodivergence in 2026. I have got some really interesting conversations ahead for you, and I really can't wait to get started with the series. This is going to be a brilliant series for you, if you are somebody that has been contemplating stepping into private practice, or if you're somebody who's been in practice for a while and is feeling like things are a little bit stale. It is a brilliant series to help you reconsider your business model and think about the exciting ways that we can bring our knowledge to help more people. So, I'm really chuffed to be bringing you this series and some of the amazing guests that I've got. But there was one thing I wanted to let you know about before the series officially kicks off next week, and that is a free masterclass that I'm running on April the 22nd. It's my Setup for Success Masterclass, where I talk you through my three part framework; values, voice, and impact, for creating a practice that allows you to replace your income ethically in fewer hours. And to create a practice that allows you to live your values. So, I just wanted to flag that up to you. The link is below, and I really hope that some of you will be able to join me there live. But if you can't come live, you can catch up on the recording. So, next week we're kicking off with two episodes. Firstly, there is a fascinating episode with Caroline Keenan on her journey as a media psychologist, amongst all kinds of other things. And there's also a slightly boring episode, but I think you're going to find it helpful, from me about tax and other financial numbers that are particularly important to understand at this time of the year when you might be closing off your tax year, maybe getting some bills that you did or didn't expect. That episode is going to be really valuable for helping you lay the foundation for the exciting work that you're going to do. I will see you next week for the next series of the Business of Psychology. Set Up Your Practice For SuccessYou have incredible clinical expertise, but is the 'shame' of the business side holding you back? Staying stuck in a role that’s edging you toward burnout or running a side-hustle that eats your weekends isn't the only way. I’m hosting a free masterclass on Wednesday, 22nd April called 'Set Up Your Practice For Success.' I’ll be sharing my proven 3-part framework: Values, Voice, and Impact. You’ll learn how to design a practice aligned with your life, create systems for an exceptional client experience, and implement a marketing strategy that doesn’t feel 'sleazy.' Join me live for a chance to win a 1:1 strategy session! Register for free at the link below - and yes, there’s a replay for all registrants. Set Up Your Practice For Success Masterclass - Book your place. Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @drrosiegilderthorp

Evolve and Thrive: Starting before you're ready - the Supervisor Platform with Natalie StottWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. Today I'm joined by clinical psychologist in independent practice, and founder of a fancy new supervision platform, Dr Natalie Stott. I'm really excited to have her here today because we’re going to talk about the journey of putting something innovative out there into the world, especially something that is designed to support independent practitioners. I think this is really important because it's very often a mindset issue that stops people from getting started with something innovative, and I know Natalie is really well placed to talk to us about those mindset issues that crop up and how we can plow through them. Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links for Natalie: Supervisor Platform: supervisorplatform.com LinkedIn: Dr Natalie Stott Mastering Therapy Podcast: masteringtherapy.com Website: www.drnataliestott.com Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist The highlightsNatalie tells us about herself and her practice 01:02I ask Natalie about the problem she saw that needed fixing, that let to creating Supervisor Platform 02:42We discuss the importance of supervision and community 06:33Natalie talks about the difficulties with advertising your services as a supervisor when you are in independent practice 11:36We discuss the importance of visibility and personal branding 20:08Natalie talks about how she pushed through the discomfort of being visible 29:25Natalie highlights the power of feedback 35:40Natalie tells us how to get in touch with her 39:17 Evolve Your Practice: The map to more income, impact and flexibilityAre you craving more flexibility in your practice?  Maybe you've built something amazing and you're proud of your business, but it's also bringing you to the brink of burnout.  Maybe you want to use your skills differently and create recurring revenue outside the therapy room.  Whether your priority is financial stability or flexibility, or both, adding recurring revenue streams into your business is essential. If you want time, freedom, more income, and to make a bigger impact for your client group, join me for a free masterclass on Monday, the 17th of November at 11:00 AM and I'll show you how I use my values, voice and impact framework to create income, impact, and flexibility in my own business, and for the hundreds of psychologists and therapists I've supported over the last five years. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up here: https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/fnr6d7si/checkout

Stop spending money on social media: The biggest mistake private practice owners are making in digital marketingHello and welcome to the Business of Psychology Podcast. This series is all about what we can do when we have that tugging feeling that our practice needs to change, but we're not quite sure what to do about it.  Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links/references: Episode 103: Why you should specialise – old gold that is still important Episode 127: What matters to our clients in private practice? Episode 128: Who are you helping? Three ways to specialise your psychology or therapy practice Episode 129: How to make sure your marketing actually works: How to use authority for psychologists and therapists Episode 152: Thinking differently about your practice: A tool to put the client first Episode 158: How to find your ideal clients in 2025: SEO for psychologists and therapists with Chris Morin Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist Evolve Your Practice: The map to more income, impact and flexibilityAre you craving more flexibility in your practice?  Maybe you've built something amazing and you're proud of your business, but it's also bringing you to the brink of burnout.  Maybe you want to use your skills differently and create recurring revenue outside the therapy room.  Whether your priority is financial stability or flexibility, or both, adding recurring revenue streams into your business is essential. If you want time, freedom, more income, and to make a bigger impact for your client group, join me for a free masterclass on Monday, the 17th of November at 11:00 AM and I'll show you how I use my values, voice and impact framework to create income, impact, and flexibility in my own business, and for the hundreds of psychologists and therapists I've supported over the last five years. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up here: https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/fnr6d7si/checkout  ShownotesStop spending money on social media: The biggest mistake private practice owners are making in digital marketing Today we're focusing on social media, because one thing I have noticed about people that come into my Evolve and Thrive program is they've often already been spending money or time trying to build a social media audience because they think it's a prerequisite for adding additional income streams into their practice. Firstly, it is not true that you always have to do social media to add new revenue streams. Even passive income doesn't always have to involve social media. But what we're focusing on today is the danger of spending loads of time or loads of money on social media before you've done the work on your marketing strategy, because I see so much waste when that happens.  First, I'm going to talk a bit about the perils, and then I'm going to give you some practical strategy advice using my Values, Voice and Impact framework that I use with all my coaching clients so that you can invest in social media safely and effectively and actually make your investment back from it.  The MistakesLet's get started by thinking about the mistakes, because honestly, my heart hurts when I meet a new client who has already outsourced their marketing or hired a new social media manager or one of those fancy, all-inclusive marketing agencies. And it's not because those are bad things to do, but they are usually bad if we do them too soon. Social media is just a way of reaching people. It's a marketing channel, just in the same way that a poster on a lamppost is a marketing channel. Except in 2025, every lamppost you pass has a thousand posters, blue-tacked over the top of each other competing for your eyeballs. You wouldn't expect the fact you had a poster on a lamppost to do anything for your marketing, would you? You'd probably think that the content of that poster was quite important. You'd probably also consider the position of the poster; whether it was on a lamppost outside a busy coffee shop or in a country lane, whether you were at the top or three sheets deep at the bottom, you'd instinctively know that all of those things were really crucial. Social media managers tend to have no idea how to tackle good quality content or positioning for mental health professionals, so they mostly post content that is so bland and uninspiring, you might as well be sticking up a blank sheet of paper in a country lane. I am afraid that you have to be fully in charge of the marketing strategy for your business. Strategy cannot be delegated. Graphic design can be delegated, copywriting can be delegated, but the strategy is all yours.   I'm going to use my values, voice and impact framework that underpins the coaching in my group programs like Startup and Evolve and Thrive to show you what you need to have in place before you go hiring help. ValuesWe start with the values. To put together a strategy, you first need to understand what you want from your business and what your clients needs from you. Here is where we do all the work on personal and professional values, picking a specialism, narrowing to a client group and really understanding what matters to that group.  I've recorded episodes before on the tools that we can use here, like the customer persona and the value proposition that can help us get that really deep understanding of the priorities of our client group. And that work can only be done by you because it's psychological work, and actually the majority of people who work in marketing are used to marketing products, which don't involve anything like the emotional investment that we are asking our clients to make, even if we're selling them a book or an online course. And so we need to be using our skills as mental health professionals to really get under the skin and understand our clients in the way that most marketing professionals aren't used to doing.  I do find peer discussions very helpful here though, so do use your colleagues, but more importantly, as I talk about in all the episodes around customer personas and value propositions, get out and talk to your actual client group and test ideas out with them.  Voice The second stage is about voice, because what content you should post is also determined by your expertise. Everything you produce should be aiming to build your authority with your client group. You should be proud of the body of work that you put out there into the world on social media. It needs to carry your authentic voice, and most importantly, you need to be spreading the messages that your client group need to hear from you, specifically.  If you've done your values work well, you'll have a good idea of the things that your ideal client group desperately want to hear about, and you'll know the language that they use too. Pick three to five of those things that align with your expertise and make those your content pillars - the things that you always talk about online. I always suggest writing out about five to ten stories that illustrate that you really understand those things, that you understand the struggles that your clients face related to those topics, and you can link them directly to the things that they want to hear you talking about. For example, if you think that they want advice from you about burnout, write out some compelling stories that show you really understand burnout; either stories from your personal life, anonymised client stories, it could be anything, but stories are so much more compelling than how-tos or advice lists. So making sure you've got some of those in your back pocket that you can repurpose over and over again for various posts on social media is really helpful. ImpactThe final stage is impact. In order to make your marketing

The most valuable lesson from Evolve and Thrive: The real reason psychologists and therapists burnout and procrastinateHello and welcome to another episode of The Business of Psychology podcast. Today you've just got me, it's a solo show and it's going to be a short and sweet one. Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist Evolve Your Practice: The map to more income, impact and flexibilityAre you craving more flexibility in your practice?  Maybe you've built something amazing and you're proud of your business, but it's also bringing you to the brink of burnout.  Maybe you want to use your skills differently and create recurring revenue outside the therapy room.  Whether your priority is financial stability or flexibility, or both, adding recurring revenue streams into your business is essential. If you want time, freedom, more income, and to make a bigger impact for your client group, join me for a free masterclass on Monday, the 17th of November at 11:00 AM and I'll show you how I use my values, voice and impact framework to create income, impact, and flexibility in my own business, and for the hundreds of psychologists and therapists I've supported over the last five years. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up here: https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/fnr6d7si/checkout  ShownotesThe most valuable lesson from Evolve and Thrive: The real reason psychologists and therapists burnout and procrastinateI wanted to talk about something which has been really troubling me for the past few months, maybe even longer. It's the most valuable lesson that I've learned from my group coaching program, Evolve and Thrive, which is a coaching program designed for people ready to take the next step in their practice. Maybe they've already built something successful and they're ready to move beyond the therapy room or start bringing in different income sources. These are all people that I respect hugely. There is not a single person in Evolve and Thrive that I'm not slightly intimidated by because of their amazing careers and the expertise that they're bringing for their clients. But there has been something really striking that is holding most of the people in Evolve and Thrive back, and what we've spent most of our time on together as a group. I wanted to bring it into the light because I've noticed that almost everybody thinks that they're alone with this, and if you're struggling, you are absolutely not alone with this. I want to start by saying that all the knowledge that we need to be successful in business is already out there. This was not the case when I started this podcast back in 2020, but it very much is the case now. You've got AI at your fingertips to search the web for you. You've got YouTube, podcasts, good old-fashioned books, any question you have, you can find the answer to all of them. And psychologists and therapists are always intelligent people who can find the things that they need if they're looking for them. Despite this, I keep hearing the same things over and over again, the things which are getting people stuck are burnout and a tendency to overwork even when they can feel that that burnout is close, and paralysis or procrastination, often both. I've been coaching other mental health professionals for over five years now, and I've realised that although it kicks in at different moments, for different people, there are two things that hold people back in growing their practices, there are two things that lead to that procrastination pattern and that continuous dance on the edge of burnout, and neither of those is being bad at tech. Sometimes it's that their bodies and minds have acclimatised to a punishing and relentless workload, so a more relaxed working week, the thing they often tell me that they want more than anything, actually it doesn't feel safe, so they avoid it by breaking boundaries, saying yes when they know it should be a no, or never making the time to think about changing their practice. Or maybe they've absorbed stories and identities that they'd have to give up if they created a more comfortable working life for themselves. That ‘suffering public servant’ narrative, the ‘selfless helping professional’, even the ‘on the brink of burnout professional’, they're all identities that we worked hard to wear and giving them up can feel like a rejection of the more positive aspects of those identities. You know, I remember thinking to myself, if I'm not burning out in the NHS, maybe I don't get to feel like the selfless helping professional anymore. Maybe that makes me a selfish helping professional and that doesn't feel comfortable and it's something I wrestled with a lot and continue to; you know, this is not something that you work through once and get to the other side of, and for many of us, that leads to paralysis that looks a lot like procrastination. Because you're torn in two different directions, so staying uncomfortably on the fence instead is safer than pulling yourself apart.  For others, it leads to undercharging and often that very real financial fear. When you are riding that rollercoaster of never quite feeling secure financially in your practice, maybe on a good month, it's great, but then the next month is a bit slower and suddenly you are panicking again. That fear then leads to the breaking boundaries, saying yes to everything, ironically, avoiding and never looking at the numbers in the business, or you know, never allowing yourself the luxury of looking for new ways of doing things, or reviewing your financial plan. And so instead, you're maintaining this constant state of near burnout, which is kind of what you got used to.  There are other stories too that stop people from building the lives that they want to live. Things like, ‘I'm too old’, or ‘I'm not the kind of person who…’, ‘I'm not confident enough’, ‘I'm not good enough with tech’, ‘I hate marketing’. All of these stories just shut down the things that we think are possible for ourselves. And what I love about coaching is that once these patterns and stories are brought to light, my clients are all really well equipped to tackle them and to support each other as they move through the discomfort of making those changes. It is such a pleasure to work with psychologists and therapists because as a group, we are just as susceptible as anyone else to blind spots and avoidance, but it is absolutely awesome to get to work with people who already have amazing skills and full up toolkits to make that change once they've recognised it and decided to make it. Something I have noticed though, which again is maybe a bit unique to mental health professionals, is that the stories that stick with us, the trickiest ones to move past, are the ones that we've absorbed from our professional culture. The ones that lead to that dreaded peer fear that comes up in at least 80% of my coaching conversations. What are other people, other professionals, usually going to think if we try something new? Am I going to be labelled as money grabbing or a sellout? And the fact is, I can't reassure people that they're never going to face judgment from other psychologists and therapists. Instead, we have to get into our compassionate selves and think about what that judgment and our reaction to it does and does not mean.  Together we think about whether the feelings we have about it might be useful because sometimes they are, they can encourage us to seek peer debate over some ethical concerns we have. And you know, I think that peer debate is the only way to resolve ethical concerns when we're working at the frontier and we're trying out new things where there's not an obvious precedent for us to follow. But we also think about what that judgment is most likely to mean in the context it was given. And often when we do that, we recognise that there are many factors well outside of our new product or our new service, or even ourselves, that might have led somebody to make those judgemental comments that they've made. It's so much easier to accept and move through the anxiety that inevitably comes up around judgment from our peers when we can look at it in its full context and think about its true meaning. I hope that gives you some food for thought. If you feel like it's time to make a change in your business, but something keeps holding you back, maybe you've been blaming yourself for continuously burning out, or maybe you've had advice before and are beating yourself up all the time because you haven't felt able to take it. Maybe you've called yourself names like procrastinator, or got frustrated over your paralysis. I just want you to know that it's not unusual, it's not about your knowledge, it's not about your skills, it's not about who you are as a person. It's that you are working through something that is really difficult and that many of us have to work through, over and over and over again, and it's part of the vulnerability of being in business and you deserve support with...

Fulfilment through writing together on Substack with Clare VenusWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. This week I'm joined by Clare Venus, who is a wonderful creator over on Substack, and who also teaches other people how to Substack well. I'm really excited to bring you this chat, because in it we talk about why you might want to choose Substack, and why it might be a good home for psychologists and therapists who are looking to bring a bit more nuance than social media platforms generally allow. We also dive into Clare's personal journey with Substack, what attracted her to it, and how it allows her to use her creativity in a way that she might have been struggling to do in other places, which I think a lot of us can relate to. Finally, we also talk about the business side, and how Substack can fit into the business and the practice that you’re running, which I think is a really important consideration when we're thinking about embarking on any new social media platform or marketing strategy. Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Substack Links for Clare: @clairevenus Creatively Conscious Sparkle on Substack Subscribe to Sparkle on Substack - Listener 30% Discount Link Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist The highlightsClare tells us a little bit about how she ended up on Substack and why she chose it 01:50I ask Clare about the ways that she’s seen psychologists and therapists using the platform 09:12Clare ​​walks us through the various bits of Substack and also how their like payment system works 16:07We talk about the different opportunities Substack provides us with 23:31We discuss membership models and structures 30:17I summarise the models you can have on Substack 33:50 Clare talks about SEO with Substack and other tips for setting up 36:03I ask Clare what is the first best step to take for a psychologist or therapist who thinks Substack could be a good place for them 39:24Claire give us her Substack links 42:14 Evolve Your Practice: The map to more income, impact and flexibilityAre you craving more flexibility in your practice?  Maybe you've built something amazing and you're proud of your business, but it's also bringing you to the brink of burnout.  Maybe you want to use your skills differently and create recurring revenue outside the therapy room.  Whether your priority is financial stability or flexibility, or both, adding recurring revenue streams into your business is essential. If you want time, freedom, more income, and to make a bigger impact for your client group, join me for a free masterclass on Monday, the 17th of November at 11:00 AM and I'll show you how I use my values, voice and impact framework to create income, impact, and flexibility in my own business, and for the hundreds of psychologists and therapists I've supported over the last five years. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up here: https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/fnr6d7si/checkout

The most critical feedback from our retreat and what we've learned about running events with Dr Claire PlumblyWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. I'm really pleased to be here today with friend of the podcast, Dr Claire Plumley. Claire's been on the podcast a few times now, sometimes talking about her experience of working in burnout and writing an amazing book about it. Sometimes we've been talking about the cool and exciting stuff that Claire does in her practice, like EMDR intensives and working with people online. But today we are getting together to talk about our joint venture, a retreat that we ran for the first time last year and we're running again in 2026, because so many of you tell me that you've got a real craving for in-person connection. Getting people together in a room feels like something amazing that we can do to enhance wellbeing, but in-person events feel really different, especially when we've been working predominantly in the online space since 2020. Claire and I thought it might be helpful for us to let you in behind the scenes of what it was like running a retreat and the learnings that we've taken from a super successful one last year, and how are we going to make this year even better based on those. Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links: 2026 Psychologists Business Retreat Get in touch here. Links for Claire: LinkedIn: Dr Claire Plumbly Facebook: @drclaireplumbly Instagram: @drclaireplumbly TikTok: @drclaireplumbly Website: www.plum-psychology.com Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist The highlightsWe talk about our reasons for wanting to run a retreat 01:26We discuss the different skills we brought together, and liaising with the right venue 06:56We look at how we got the right mix of people 13:08We discuss costing an event 16:35We talk about marketing something with this much logistical planning 19:55We look at what will be different for 2026 25:22Claire gives her advice to anyone thinking about planning their own event 35:10I tell you how to find out about the 2026 retreat 37:11 Evolve and Thrive Mastermind Have you been listening to this and feeling like the time has come for you to make a change in your practice? Maybe you are ready to grow with passive or semi passive income. Maybe you are ready to gain more time freedom, have that flexibility you always dreamed of, or expand your impact. If any of that sounds like you, you might be a really good fit for my Evolve and Thrive Mastermind. Our next cohort is starting in January 2026, and it's a small group, six-month coaching experience. The early bird rate finishes mid-December, so if any of that sounds good to you, make sure you check out the details over at psychologybusinessschool.com and book your free call with me now to secure the best price.

Carving out an unknown specialism: Sports and Exercise Psychology with Paula WatsonWelcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. I'm really pleased to be welcoming my guest today, Dr Paula Watson, who is an applied sports and exercise psychologist specialising in health behavior change relating to eating, exercise, and weight. Paula spent 18 years in academia including working at Liverpool John Moores University as a reader in exercise and health psychology, before dedicating herself fully to her private practice, Made Up To Move. The concept of an exercise psychologist in private practice is one that might feel quite new, and I know that exercise psychologists qualifying now often feel unsure about how to introduce a less known about psychological service to the market. Paula's story is one that's all about forging a new path, embracing the unknown, and defining her own value when the public didn't even know that she existed. We're going to explore today how she built her practice when the public wasn't even aware of what exercise psychology was, and there's so much that we can all learn about really solid business and marketing skills from Paula's journey.  Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links: Episode 41: How to set your fees in your psychology private practice with “pricing queen” Sally Farrant Links for Paula: Website: madeuptomove.co.uk YouTube: www.youtube.com/@DrPaulaWatson LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paula-watson-weight-loss-therapy Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist The highlightsPaula tells us what drew her to sports and exercise psychology 01:34Paula talks about her academic career 06:59We discuss imposter syndrome 14:30Paula tells us about her decision to move from academia to the applied space 20:10I ask Paula about choosing private practice versus a job 24:35Paula tells us what a week in her practice looks like 36:14I ask Paula about her YouTube channel 45:20Paula speaks about the learning curves and mindset shifts required when setting up in private practice 51:06Paula tells us how we can connect with her 56:38 Evolve Your Practice: The map to more income, impact and flexibilityAre you craving more flexibility in your practice?  Maybe you've built something amazing and you're proud of your business, but it's also bringing you to the brink of burnout.  Maybe you want to use your skills differently and create recurring revenue outside the therapy room.  Whether your priority is financial stability or flexibility, or both, adding recurring revenue streams into your business is essential. If you want time, freedom, more income, and to make a bigger impact for your client group, join me for a free masterclass on Monday, the 17th of November at 11:00 AM and I'll show you how I use my values, voice and impact framework to create income, impact, and flexibility in my own business, and for the hundreds of psychologists and therapists I've supported over the last five years. I'd love to see you there. You can sign up here: https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/fnr6d7si/checkout

Is it time for you to evolve and thrive?Welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. This episode is all about that stuck on the fence feeling that I think is so familiar to so many of us. That feeling when you know that something needs to change, but you are not sure whether now is the right time to make that change. Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist Evolve and Thrive Mastermind Have you been listening to this and feeling like the time has come for you to make a change in your practice? Maybe you are ready to grow with passive or semi passive income. Maybe you are ready to gain more time freedom, have that flexibility you always dreamed of, or expand your impact. If any of that sounds like you, you might be a really good fit for my Evolve and Thrive Mastermind. Our next cohort is starting in January 2026, and it's a small group, six-month coaching experience. The early bird rate finishes mid-December, so if any of that sounds good to you, make sure you check out the details over at psychologybusinessschool.com and book your free call with me now to secure the best price. ShownotesIs it time for you to evolve and thrive?Hello and welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. This episode is all about that stuck on the fence feeling that I think is so familiar to so many of us. That feeling when you know that something needs to change, but you are not sure whether now is the right time to make that change. I just want to acknowledge that often this happens when my clients are really successful; when they've built exactly what they set out to build, but now something about it just isn't feeling fulfilling or they're struggling with the day-to-day running of their practice, feeling burned out, maybe feeling like they're doing fine, but sort of spinning their wheels in time, and that's how it was for me. On the surface, I had built a really successful private practice. From the outside looking in, people would've seen fully booked, always busy attracting people to my specialism, tick, tick, tick, it all looks great. But in reality, I was really struggling to keep going with that pace of clients because it wasn't giving me the flexibility that I needed in my life, but also it wasn't really allowing me to use my skills as a psychologist in the diverse and interesting ways that I had been able to in my public sector roles. So for a number of reasons, I arrived at this point of feeling like I needed to make a change, but I sat on that fence for quite a while, and it can be quite an uncomfortable place. I've noticed that as I've been doing the calls for our next Evolve and Thrive cohort, which is really exciting, that a lot of people are sitting on that fence. And because the economy is in a challenging place, and I don't think that we're in a really optimistic frame of mind as a generation at the moment, often we might be sitting in that place for a bit longer, really agonising over when's the right time to jump off and do something a bit differently. So I wanted to record an episode to help you think that through. And it's not going to be, “you should always go for it, now is definitely the right time to make a change in your practice”, because actually one of the things that's really important to me as a business coach is that you are respectful of the season of life that you are in, and that you make decisions based on wherever possible, data, good information about the return on the investment that you're going to get. And I don't just mean investment in terms of money, I mean investment in terms of time, your creativity and your emotional wellbeing as well. So, I hope this episode is going to help you. If you are thinking that now might be a good time for you to step into something new, maybe create a new project, something outside the therapy room, or maybe expand and bring on associates, my aim with this episode is to help you think through whether now is the right moment to jump in with both feet and really go for it, or if actually you might be in a season that means that those things are all here for you, they're all going to happen, but they need to happen a little bit later. So I hope you're going to find this useful. I also hope that this episode will demonstrate to you that that evolution is possible, even if it's not the thing for you right now, I think there's a bit of pessimism out there sometimes that maybe we will miss the boat, that they are one to many offers, online courses, that kind of thing are only really available to people that built their audiences back when it was easier, like in 2016 for example, but actually that's not true. I am supporting day in, day out, I'm supporting psychologists and therapists who are doing it right now in this tricky climate and making it work. So I also hope that this episode is going to give you a little bit of that hopeful optimism that I have the privilege of sitting alongside in my coaching practice regularly. Signs that you might be ready to evolve your practiceThere are some signs that you might be ready to evolve your practice that are worth paying attention to. I got these from my existing participants in Evolve and Thrive.  The first sign is that you start craving one to many. You start craving more scale and more variety in your work. Maybe you are fully booked or well established, but you really miss using the other parts of your brain that one-to-one therapy doesn't always utilise. And this is how Dr Grace Lee-Brindle, who is currently in Evolve and Thrive described it to me. She noted that after leaving the NHS, she missed other parts of her work. She was well established with one-to-one clients, she's got a brilliant specialism, but she felt like she was ready to branch out and use other skills. So I think that's really important. Dr Kelly Young also shared something on this theme. She said that she wanted to move from a one-to-one, to a one-to-many model to increase the revenue in her practice, but also to make more impact for more people while working fewer hours. So, I guess the takeaway from that is if you resonate with those things, if you feel itchy to use your skills in a different way and you're wanting to make more impact with more people, then that could be a sign that you are ready for that recurring income strategy, and to develop a business model that takes you outside the therapy room. Another theme that came up as a sign that you might be ready to make that change in your practice was a feeling that Dr Melita Ash, another one of our evolve and thrivers, put really well, I thought it was a really nice analogy. She said she felt like she was running fast, but standing still. I guess this is about the issue of sustainability, it's that feeling like I have, that you are working incredibly hard, but the business isn't really growing in a way that gives you any more time, flexibility or financial security. So it can feel a bit like you are running on a treadmill. Melita described it as like running fast, not getting anywhere, constantly working hard and feeling really stuck. And she felt like she needed to come on a program that would give her a structure towards getting unstuck because it can be such a difficult place to be when you are running that fast, that you're exhausted and sometimes unable to think outside of that fast pace of work that you're doing every day. That's something that Dr Victoria Wallace talked about too. She really prioritised sustainability and looking to avoid those boom and bust cycles we can often get into when we are relying on just one-to-one therapy and that referral rollercoaster in private practice. I guess what this tells us is that if taking regular time off or flexibility for family is really important to you, and the business model you have at the moment isn't delivering that, then you really need a plan. Putting more effort into the model you already have is not going to take you somewhere different or more sustainable than where you are right now. So if where you are right now doesn't feel sustainable, if you feel like you're heading for burnout, you have to make a change. Sometimes what I hear from people is that they're sort of waiting to feel better before they make a change. But actually, if we formulate for ourselves in the exact same way that we would for a client, that's like waiting to stop feeling depressed before you go out for a walk. Sometimes we have to put the cart before the horse and get out, make the change that's going to allow us to feel better. So I think that's a really important point. If you're already on the road to burnout, hop off now. Do something different now before you get fully in the pit of it. So sign number three that the current Evolve and Thrivers talked about was feeling like you kind of get stuck in contemplation mode. So maybe you have ideas, but procrastination, peer fear, or imposter syndrome stop you actually executing them. A lot of people talk about this as like shiny object syndrome, like the magpies or butterflies flitting from one

What's going wrong with social media? Welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. I have been wanting to make a podcast for a while about the reasons that I've stepped back a little bit in my use of social media and the changes that I've made and that I've encouraged my clients in my coaching programs to make in the way that we view it and the way that we use it. Because I'm aware that for a lot of us at the moment, social media feels like a very heavy place. There's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of negativity, and if we're not mindful about how we are using it, it can take a really big emotional toll. I feel like because we talk on this podcast about the advantages of using social media to market, to reach your people who need you in your practice, it's also important to talk about how to manage our wellbeing as we do that, and also how to make sure we're putting content out there that feels aligned with our values and that feels professionally fulfilling, because in some ways I feel the platforms drag us away from those values.  Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist Evolve and Thrive Mastermind Have you been listening to this and feeling like the time has come for you to make a change in your practice? Maybe you are ready to grow with passive or semi passive income. Maybe you are ready to gain more time freedom, have that flexibility you always dreamed of, or expand your impact. If any of that sounds like you, you might be a really good fit for my Evolve and Thrive Mastermind. Our next cohort is starting in January 2026, and it's a small group, six-month coaching experience. The early bird rate finishes mid-December, so if any of that sounds good to you, make sure you check out the details over at psychologybusinessschool.com and book your free call with me now to secure the best price. ShownotesIs there a helpful way for psychologists and therapists to use social media in 2026?The thing that I'm going to talk about the most in this episode is being mindful of the priorities of social media companies and developing an awareness that they're not neutral tools. They have business models that are designed to sell attention by amplifying the things which people can't resist, which are usually negativity and anger. That can be really detrimental to our own wellbeing, and if we're not careful, it can be detrimental to our client groups too. I’m also going to talk about the positivity and the nuance in that; it is not all bad, there's a lot of good that we can still do with social media, but only if we are mindful of its inherent design flaws and the pitfalls that I see a lot of us falling into. What we’re seeing on social mediaLet's start by talking about what a lot of us are seeing on social media. When I go to networking events and I meet up with my coaching clients, a lot of us are witnessing stuff on social media that's really upsetting. And I don't mean the stuff from unregulated people giving bad advice and misinformation. That's been going on as long as there has been social media and it's bad, but I'm not seeing more of it than I saw five years ago. I'm seeing about the same number of unqualified people telling me things that they have no business to tell me. But what I am seeing more of, maybe just because I'm spending more time looking than I was previously, but I feel like it is an upwards trend, are discussions or debates on social media, particularly LinkedIn and Facebook, between professionals who are properly qualified that turn into like skirmishes. Often these are on topics which are highly emotive for many of us. The ones which get served up to me all the time, because my children have additional needs, are usually around topics like neurodiversity, neuro affirmative practice, and causes and cures for autism, in particular. Those are all topics which I do know a fair amount about. Since my children started to struggle and I went through the diagnostic process, I think I've probably read more on those topics than I have on anything else in my entire life. I keep really up to date with the evidence base, and I have read most of the seminal texts that I've been able to get my hands on in those areas. And the thing that I have taken away from all of that reading and research is that it is really nuanced and complicated and nobody is really right. There's a lot that I like and that I think has a good grounding in evidence in neuro affirmative practice. Certainly, the positive impact on identity formation and the value of neuro affirmative therapy and coaching for people, I see that and I like it, and I recognise it, and I think it can't be ignored, and it shouldn't be ignored. But it's also true that a lot of the people putting out their views about neuro affirmation and the principles of neurodiversity, are spreading misinformation about the way that the brain works and about how solid the evidence base is for brain-based differences between particularly autistic and ADHD brains and neurotypical brains. And I don't like that. I don't like the kind of division that's created between neurotypicals and neurodivergence, because I don't think that is evidence-based, and I don't think that will help people in the end. But having said that, it's also not true to say that the evidence shows no brain-based differences. I've seen some really invalidating stuff on there where people who, like me, are a little bit sceptical about building identity around one particular label, have then taken it to the point where they're saying that people shouldn't be using these labels at all, that we are massively over diagnosed and that these labels are not helpful. And that's not true either. I mean, my children would not be okay without their labels. People need them to get what they need in a society that we have built around labelling people. And so the idea that people are wrong for finding those useful, or that clinicians are wrong for using labels in the system that we operate in is also bizarre. I suppose the reason that I've gone on this sidebar slightly is that this is a difficult and nuanced point. Nobody is really wrong, nobody is really right, and yet what I see on social media is really vitriolic, a lot of sound bites to grab attention, and no space given for this kind of both/and position, which is a painful one to hold. It isn't much fun being a parent of children that need a lot of additional support to be sitting here, bum on the fence, a spiky fence, being like, okay, I see the good, I see the bad, on balance we’re going to go with the labels because they're going to do more good than harm, but I can't fully commit myself to the idea of building a whole identity around any label. It feels uncomfortable. It feels like I don't have a home. But the reality is, when I talk to people in person, and I meet a lot of people that I've seen online in person, most people are falling where I am. Most people are really nuanced about it, a bit torn apart by it. They've read the same evidence that I have, and come to the same conclusion that actually we're in this really tricky grey space, but nobody is representing that online, even if it's what they think really. I think that's because the platforms encourage us to speak in a way that we wouldn't speak professionally if we were in a room together. Complex topics get reduced to these short, extreme, and often un-evidenced claims, like no brain-based differences, or CBT is harmful to people with autism. Those are the kind of statements which work really well on social media because they get an argument going and they get rewarded, and so we post more of them. But I actually think they're really doing a lot of harm, not just between professionals. I often really cringe when I see it happening on social media. I might start to feel a bit disillusioned with clinical psychology as a profession, or I might feel a bit shamed or upset if somebody's having a go at something that I've said. It can be difficult for us as professionals, but imagine what it is like if you’re a family going through the most difficult thing you've ever experienced, and then you go onto LinkedIn and you see a load of people who are supposed to be the people giving you advice and guidance, fighting each other. I can't stand it. I can't stand to think about what that experience must be like for people in their most vulnerable moments. And it's not just happening around neurodiversity, that's just the one I know more about. But I also see it happening a lot around gender identity, for example. I think sometimes when we're posting, we need to be mindful of the vulnerable people who might see it. Maybe they're not the person the post is intended for, maybe it's intended for a professional audience, but it's got your name, it's got your professional title. You are representing a clinical psychologist, or a CBT therapist, or a counsellor to the people that read it. So, if you are getting into a skirmish and having cross words with other professionals on there, that is really confusing to the...

What happened when I stopped seeing clients for therapy? How to evolve a business in adversity Welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. Today is a bit of a different episode for me because I wanted to be honest with you about some decisions that I've made recently that are really personal, but that resonate a lot with decisions that I help some of my coaching clients to make, because it's rare that we go into private practice without some complicating factors happening in our lives. Full show notes for this episode are available at The Business of Psychology Episode Links: Episode 19: How psychologists and therapists can use an ideal client avatar to co create and market their services Episode 103: Why you should specialise – old gold that is still important Episode 128: Who are you helping? Three ways to specialise your psychology or therapy practice Episode 152: Thinking differently about your practice: A tool to put the client first Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist Evolve and Thrive Mastermind Have you been listening to this and feeling like the time has come for you to make a change in your practice? Maybe you are ready to grow with passive or semi passive income. Maybe you are ready to gain more time freedom, have that flexibility you always dreamed of, or expand your impact. If any of that sounds like you, you might be a really good fit for my Evolve and Thrive Mastermind. Our next cohort is starting in January 2026, and it's a small group, six-month coaching experience. The early bird rate finishes mid-December, so if any of that sounds good to you, make sure you check out the details over at psychologybusinessschool.com and book your free call with me now to secure the best price. ShownotesWhat happened when I stopped seeing clients for therapy? How to evolve a business in adversityI've spoken a bit here, and a lot more on my substack, about how I originally went into independent practice really because my children have additional needs. I wasn't aware of that at the time; all I knew was that nursery didn't work and that we didn't have other childcare options available to us. But looking back, nursery didn't work for the same reasons that school is very challenging now. And that was the beginning of me having to learn to evolve and adapt and be a clinical psychologist in a different way, and that's been very much the purpose of my business and what I love to help other people do too. So it felt only right that I should share with you about some of the recent evolutions that have had to be made in my business, my thinking behind it and the kind of strategy that I use every time I have to make a big change in my business. Because it has happened so often that I have developed a bit of a framework for thinking about it and helping my clients through it when it happens to them too. So, I thought it might be useful to share what's happened, but also my framework for thinking through and strategizing my way through those difficult moments that often lead to a change or an evolution in the business.  Firstly, I want to acknowledge that there's a lot that I love about independent practice, and I am so grateful that I have this profession that enabled me to set up independently when the NHS wasn't going to work anymore. But it's a paradox because I also felt extremely sad about leaving the NHS. It was 2018, I was very young, I didn't feel anywhere near experienced enough to go into independent practice at that time. So, to an extent, my first journey into independent practice involved a big evolution of identity in and of itself, and I guess that's a context for many of us. Many of us feel a big wrench when we leave the NHS or when we even start to think about potentially leaving our public sector roles. So, I guess independent practice starts from that place for me, and for me it's always held this kind of paradox of opportunity and excitement alongside sadness and loss. I know that that's the case for very many of us in independent practice, and I suppose what I hope is that what I'm going to share today helps me and you, if you find yourself in this kind of situation, to use an actionable framework to find the opportunities and the excitement, even when maybe you wouldn't have chosen the situation that you find yourself in. What's been going on in my businessI'll let you behind the curtain a little bit in what's been going on over the past few years in my business, the harder bits perhaps. As I mentioned, I have children with additional needs and sometimes it's difficult to get those needs met by anybody other than me. I think if you've navigated the SEND system in the UK, then you'll know exactly what I mean by that. A few years ago, my children really couldn't cope with school, so suddenly I found myself needing to go back into the role of being the primary carer all of the time, and there was no space for my independent practice. It was very sudden, I hadn't anticipated that my children would struggle to that extent, that they couldn't be in the school environment. I'd never in my life met anybody that had a child that didn't go to school. I knew it happened for teenagers, I did not know that it could happen for five- and six-year-olds, but it really did. And in fact, it was a problem that lasted for more than a year as we tried to find flexibility and find ways of making school accessible and suitable for them. I should say that compared to a lot of families, we were very lucky. We’re in a lovely school with an amazing SENCO and a really compassionate and strong head teacher who have been flexible in ways that I do not think are normal in mainstream primary schools. They've bent over backwards to support us and that is not the story that I hear from a great many families that I work with. So, just to check my privilege on that one, I know how lucky we've been. But it still took a really long time to help the children recover and to find the adaptations that we could make to make some sort of school more accessible to them. We did get there, but it took all of me to do it. And so in a real hurry, and I'm not proud of how I handled it, because I don't think that I handled it in an optimal way whatsoever, I had to close down my clinical practice. It wasn't the first time it had happened, it happened to many of us in COVID as well, but it felt much more rushed, much more traumatic than that, because I went from expecting that I would be seeing my clients for years to come. I was really excited about the premises that I had, really excited about establishing a service in my local area, and all of that just ended really abruptly when I had this realisation that I'd had to cancel more clients than I'd seen in a week. And I can't overstate how painful it is to know that you're not being the psychologist or therapist that your clients need. As soon as I had that realisation, I knew the only ethical thing to do was complete closure and to hand people over in the best way that I could to other professionals in the area. But it was brutally painful and I still feel waves of trauma thinking about it and talking about it, so that's all I'm going to say about that. It was forced, it was hurried, it was crisis driven, it was not what anyone would hope for.  So the practice stayed closed for probably at least 18 months, if not two years, while I just focused on recovering my children. I kept Psychology Business School going, because although there were parts of me that thought let's just retreat from professional life entirely, financially I didn't really have that option, or it would've been extremely difficult for us if I had chosen to do that. But I think more for me, I needed to feel that connection to my profession and to my colleagues and hopefully as anyone who's done coaching with me will know, I really enjoy immersing myself in somebody else's practice and somebody else's struggles, and solving the problems that come up in other people's businesses was the kind of relief from the rest of my life that I needed, and it also meant that I didn't lose contact with the mission that we have as mental health professionals and my professional values. So it was important for me to keep that going during that really difficult period, even though it was also extremely difficult, and I would find myself snatching hours of work at...

Is it time to Evolve? Welcome to the new series of Business of Psychology! It's Autumn, so it must be time for a new series of the Business of Psychology. I'm really pleased to be back behind the mic, and this time I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on the changes that are happening in mental health and the inspiring stories of psychologists and therapists finding fulfilment in new and exciting ways. We start the series talking about software development with the amazing Natalie Stott, who you might know from her podcast, Mastering Therapy. Over the series, we'll be looking at writing, social media, and unpacking the stuff that often keeps us stuck, in independent practice. I really hope that this series will be the springboard you need if you've been wanting to evolve your practice into something new that meets your needs and lets you live your personal and professional values, maybe in a slightly different way. So I'll see you right here in your podcast feed next Friday for the new series of the Business of Psychology podcast. Links for Rosie: Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist

Set Up For Success 1: 3 things your imposter syndrome tells you to do that you should ignore Want to know a dirty secret? The thing most psychologists and therapists in independent practice fear the most isn’t bankruptcy, being sued or letting their clients down. It’s each other. “Peer Fear” is a term many of my coaching clients have used to describe the paralysing terror of snide comments and condescending tone that we become so used to in our professional forums.  There is so much insecurity among professionals and so much “competition” in the journey to become one that we have all witnessed some horrific “put downs” from supposedly trained reflective and ethical practitioners. Comments designed to keep people small and discourage any diversity of thought. This reality is what stops so many people from taking the leap into independent practice, even when they know they can do amazing things if they are allowed to use their entrepreneurial spirit to do some good in the world. The good news? I found the antidote and I’m here to give it out freely.  We are the cure if we choose to be.  Let’s build each other up. Like each other's posts, recommend each other to friends, be a cheerleader for other professionals we see doing their best to make a difference out there.  We don’t have to all agree on the best way to make change but if you are properly qualified and using your knowledge to help others I am absolutely glad that you are doing it. There is a mountain to climb if we want to improve the horrifying state of mental health and I’m grateful for every psychologist and therapist I see strapping on their climbing boots. This is the WHY behind by coaching practice, Psychology Business School. I feel I do more good for the world as a whole, empowering other psychologists and therapists than I could in my own practice. I also get to create an outstanding network of entrepreneurial, innovative professionals who inspire me in every session.  Over the summer, I am dedicating this space to helping those who might be sitting on the fence of independent practice, desperately wanting or needing the flexibility that it brings but feeling too anxious or ashamed to risk taking the leap. Each week I will be here with a simple step you can take forward, sometimes a bit of thinking, sometimes a bit of doing. I hope if you choose to join me here each week you will find the shame lifting and the excitement at what is possible begin to take its place.  Your first task is simply to identify what your imposter syndrome/shame is telling you that needs to be let go of. I will tell you what mine told me back in 2018 when I started up: It would be better to create a practice website that didn’t have my name or face anywhere on it (shame likes us to hide).I should avoid networking (because I would obviously be found out there)Other professionals were my competition (100% peer fear) All of these stories harmed my practice in its first year.  Take a notebook, journal, Remarkable or your phone notes and just take a minute to reflect on whether there are any similar stories lurking in the back of your mind. I promise you it is these, not your relationship with tech, money or business planning that will sabotage your new practice. Ready to turn your private practice dream into a reality?Join my free masterclass, "Set Up Your Practice for Success”, on September 8th. I'll share my 3-part framework to help you create a practice that is professionally fulfilling and financially secure, giving you the flexibility you crave without the burnout. https://psychologybusinessschool.mykajabi.com/offers/avzEAAiw/checkout Links for Rosie:Substack: substack.com/@drrosie Rosie on Instagram: @rosiegilderthorp @thepregnancypsychologist