Therapist to CEO - bonus episode (using social media)

This is a 'Discussion Episode' of the #TherapistsConnect Podcast. We asked a panel of therapists and mental health practitioners to take over the podcast and discuss a particular topic. In this bonus episode, the guests discuss being a therapist on social media.

The podcast host is a previous guest - Kim Evans (see the August 2022 episode to hear more about Kim!). Kim is a Person-Centred Psychotherapist, Research Supervisor and Coach. Her company Kaemotherapy training and consultancy helps therapists to explore race in their therapeutic work and better support a racially diverse range of clients.

Ngozi Cadmus is our second-panel member. Ngozi is a Mental Health and Leadership Expert, and Business Strategist.
 
Vaness Boachie is our third panellist and is the Founder of Inside Out Wellbeing. A not-for-profit social enterprise committed to helping people improve their mental health and well-being.

All the panellists were open to being contacted via any of the usual ways (see their social media links below). 

 Kim Evans
Facebook and Instagram - @kaemotherapy
Or email admin@kaemotherapy.com to find out more!
P.s. You can drop her an email if you'd like to join her free Facebook community of Game Changers.

Ngozi Cadmus
Website: www.ngozicadmus.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngozicadmus/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wellnetreprene1
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngozi-cadmus-54986b247/
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ngozicadmus

Vanessa Boachie - Psychological Therapist & Founder of Inside Out (Well-being)
Website: https://www.insideoutwellbeing.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nessabanks_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nessabanks_
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-boachie-07578548/

#TherapistsConnect is a platform for connecting therapists.
Website: www.Therapists-Connect.com
Twitter: @Therapists_C
Instagram: @TherapistsConnect
Facebook: @TherConnect

Origins of #TherapistsConnect

Transcript

Opening: 0:01

This episode of Therapists Connect podcast is sponsored by webhealer. The number one website provider for private practice therapists. Serving the community for 20 years Webhealer offers a non technical and fully supported online platform, helping therapists use the internet to grow their practice. Whether you need a website, a booking system, or even a secure email address for your practice, Webhealer can help. Contact Webhealer today via www.webhealer.net and use the coupon Therapists Connect for 100 pounds off then 'do it for me' service Welcome to the Therapist Connect Podcast, a podcast for therapists by therapists.

Kim Evans: 0:54

Hello, and welcome to Therapist Connect. This is a discussion episode. I'm Kim Evans, person centered psychotherapist, Visibility Coach and research supervisor. I'll be interviewing two therapists who are excited to share the ins and outs of running a mental health business alongside their psychotherapy practice. Hi, both, it's lovely to have you today. So I will start with Vanessa, can you tell me who you are and what you do.

Vanessa Boachie: 1:27

So my name is Vanessa and I am a cognitive behavioral therapist. And I am also the founder and director of the organisation 'Inside out wellbeing'. So in terms of, I guess, all about myself, I'm all about mental health, all about well being. And I guess that comes across through my own practice as a therapist, and also with my social enterprise. I'm very passionate about mental health education in particular. I believe that mental health education, psychoeducation can essentially change lives. And I've, I've seen it for myself, and also again, within my practice and within the business as well. So I guess 'Inside out wellbeing' is all about providing that mental health education across the community, with young people, doing so in creative ways.

Kim Evans: 2:22

Oh, brilliant. I love it. So you're working with day to day people in what you do. And it sounds like your make, doing an amazing work. And just pause on what you're doing, because we will go into your business in a bit more depth. But thank you for that wonderful introduction Vanessa. So we have Ngozi as well on the line. So hi, hon, can you tell us who you are and what you do?

Ngozi Cadmus: 2:46

Hi, Kim. Hi, Vanessa. My name is Ngozi Cadmus. And I am a psychotherapist and social worker. My specialise in mental health and leadership coaching. I run a multicultural counseling service called 'Frontline therapist' and also a coaching and consulting company to help women essentially level up in their leadership.

Kim Evans: 3:12

Lovely. Wow, sounds like you've got a lot on your plate but it sounds all wonderful. Thank you so much for that. We spoke a little bit on social media, and I did actually have a question on that. Because, you know, in our training, there's not much information given on social media. I think there's even kind of messages about you know, don't put yourself too much out there because, you know, you want to be more of a blank canvas or you know, don't have too much information of your personal life going out to your clients. There is a bit of a tension there, because obviously you need to market yourself within business, you need to be on social media and all those kinds of things. What, what would you say on that, I guess in terms of the people are thinking, you know, how does it work as a therapist and as a business owner when it comes to social media?

Vanessa Boachie: 4:01

I like that question. So I have personally, Oh ok (pop psychology)...explain that a little bit more for us I have got a love / hate relationship with social media. Just in the sense where, of course, you know, when we look at social media itself, it can be very, very helpful, and it has definitely - 100% you know - I'd be lying if I said it didn't help me with my business. It has helped with my business in terms of marketing, in terms of getting bookings, to do workshops, to do events, panel discussions, just reaching new audiences, being able to, you know, have other companies, other businesses who are on social media, see what we're doing, and then also contact us as well. So in terms of visibility, social media is fantastic in terms of being a point of contact. It's fantastic. On the other end, it's also a whole heap of work. And I remember when I initially started Inside Out, I was doing all of the social media stuff by myself. And it was quite intensive. Of course, now we've come to understand that social media itself is a full time job. For, I guess, if you're trying to, you know, post consistently, get message across, messages across consistently, and promote your business. So it's something that has been really, really helpful for us at Inside Out as well, as we now have a particular team who are basically doing social media. And because of that, I don't even look at the Inside Out social media account, because it's all being done. And it's all running itself. Yeah, nothing that itself allows, alleviates a bit of stress, as well, like I spoke about earlier on, where as a CEO, as a director, you're wearing multiple different hats. It allows me to take off that social media hat and just hand it over to the team to do it. So you guys can be - they've got the brief - you guys go ahead and do what you need to do.(Yeah). For business wise, that's, that's how I'm currently handling it. When it comes to, I guess, my own personal page and my own branding, I think, for me, personally, I feel like it's important to get that balance. For people to know that I'm a human being, I always want to be that person who is relatable for the people that want to work with me. And being someone you know, being a black, Ghanaian young female, grew up in East London in the hood, that sort of vibe. I do want people who have had similar experiences to me to be able to come and do, come and speak at this event, would you be able to come and do this, that etc. So I think being a point of contact is good. And I feel like I'm able to get that Just in terms of, it's hard, it's hard, because there's balance. Of course, I'm not as consistent as I would like to be. But still, I think we've with the time that I have, doing what I can with that, yeah, I'm able to get the message across. One of the things that I am finding a little bit cringe-worthy on social media is what I would describe as pop psychology. certain things that people might post in regards to mental health and psychology, that will be really over simplistic. (Ok, Yeah). And it's, you know, for example, I don't know, three, three ways or three ways to identify that, you know, you're you experienced childhood trauma, and there'll be literally just three things there. So someone might look at it and think, oh, my gosh, you know, I've got something seriously wrong with me, because I'm ticking all of these boxes. And that's where it starts to get a bit difficult, and that's why I sort of label it as pop psychology, where it's like, the clickbait stuff that, you know, it's gonna catch people's eye and they're going to want to click on there and, you know, yeah... it just might not bring the right message across sometimes. However, I also understand that on social media, you know, you've got limited characters that you can use. Nowadays, reels are maybe, you know, one minute to, you know, 30 seconds, 20 seconds, we're trying to get a really short message across. So I think, I think it's important to be mindful if you're posting that type of content. Especially with people that, you know, are seeing things like that, for the first time, it might be a bit scary for them to see, you know, some of those those things. But all in all, I guess, being able to get that balance and posting ethical content, because yeah,

Kim Evans: 10:21

Yeah, definitely, because I don't think, you know, Instagram doesn't have the skills to vet, you know, things that are going out there. So like you said, there's so much different information going out there. And so I think it is good that there are qualified people like ourselves that if we do post, at least people can get the right information. And also just for people to check on people's profiles - do they say that they're qualified, those kinds of things. Because I do know that some people do let them know you know; 'I'm just into psychology, but I'm not a qualified counselor or psychotherapist', those kinds of things. So, yeah, no brilliant and fab that you've got a team that's always helpful, isn't it? In terms, social media - ah brilliant. Thank you so much for that Vanessa. And Ngozii, have you got any thoughts? What's your relationship like with social media?

Ngozi Cadmus: 11:09

I guess similarly, but I'm gonna lean towards finding mediums that you know, work for you. But yeah, I guess similarly with social media and I say, the middle millennials, and the millennials start from 1980 to 1990 something.. So I'm born in the 90's, 1991, so essentially just right in the middle, where we saw the evolution of AOL, MySpace - if anyone remembers high five! Anyone remembers high 5! (Yeah, yeah). MySpace, all of that.. I remember the days where you had to say I'm meeting you at 7 and you had to meet, as the only you had was that 20p for the phone box.. and it only lasted one minute, and you were like I'm in Elephant and Castle, and that's all you had. So I feel like, because I grew up in that day, I appreciate the online space and the offline space. And I went through a lot of my difficulties with social media in the early years, early 2007 with Facebook. I remember feeling like very low and depressed, watching other people have fun and thinking, Oh, my God, you know, I'm just sitting at home. So I guess with the advent of Instagram, and Tiktok, I don't really have a lot of those feelings. I literally my personal consumption of it is watching cute babies and dancing. That is what I watch. But as a business owner, I just find it very frustrating because I don't really care for social media that much. As you were talking about more short form content like Tiktok and Instagram because social media is wider than that - you've got podcasting, you've got YouTube, you've got other types of social media, that might be more akin to, you know, most people's tastes. But in terms of the short form content, which is really short attention span, you've got to do things to catch people's attention. You know what, I've come to a point where that's just not me. So I've got my team that manages that. And what I've decided is, you know, I've started my own podcast on YouTube, because I am better give me space and time to speak..., tell me to say something profound, in 30 seconds, or something profound in one minute, because I will start to stutter. But give me some space, give me even 5-10 minutes within that you can cut, you know, points from that, and put that out as a reel for 30 seconds. So it's kind of getting to a place where I'm okay with not going down the route of what everybody's doing. I cannot. I've done it. I do it. I do those dancing, because I do like to dance. But authentically it's not me. I don't sit there and think, oh I've got to post for social media. I'm just getting on with life. Oh, I've got the post some of my story. And I think it's okay with that. I think it's finding the right mediums for you. Well, what I teach my clients, in their, in their strategy is finding two short form, two short form, mediums that maybe Instagram and Tiktok. And then long term short term, longer term mediums like podcasting, and YouTube and then combining that and essentially repurposing your content. So anything you create for podcasting, and YouTube (yeah) you just repurpose that for Instagram and Tiktok, rather than creating content for each, because then you're gonna have content fatigue, which is a real that's a real thing, whereas if you can create one content for one medium, and then repurpose that for all the other mediums, it reduces your content fatigue, right, and you're leaning, you're tapping into what you're more comfortable with. Like you can see that we all like to talk so we're probably more comfortable with space to speak, which might be podcasting and YouTube in order to have a format. The majority of us are not probably as comfortable giving us one minute reels. And doing a jig and a dance and saying five ways to overcome depression, or five ways to overcome that. There's not more, there's more than five ways, there's probably like a gazillion ways to overcome...

Kim Evans: 14:47

yeah.

Ngozi Cadmus: 14:48

So as you said, the issue of Instagram and Tiktok is you get pop culture. You get pop culture therapists, people that are literally I don't know, they read a book and they just say what they feel... There's nothing wrong with that to a degree, but they feel so inspired, and they want to now start telling people how to overcome difficulties when we've been doing this for 5, 6, 7 years and, and the people that have the knowledge - because I know there's listeners right now that are like, Oh my God, I've, I've been a therapist for 5, 10, 15 years, I just can't seem to connect, you're just not gonna connect. Let me just say this real, really and truly, is there are some people that are just talented at basically connecting with people, they haven't got as much substance. That's just really what it is - they haven't got substance, but they really are able to utilise social media. Social media, short form, social media is for people with a short attention span, they just want to see something quick. They don't want to know the 50 ways they only want to know the 3 ways to overcome. So then what I would advise people is that there's so many others, blogging, podcasting, there are ways that you can articulate yourself in a way where you can really share your knowledge. Yes might take longer. Yes, it might mean that a lot of people will not watch it because they prefer the short term, but you will develop your own community and value you, your knowledge that wants to hear from you. They don't want to hear the three quick ways, they want to hear no, there's more than three ways. There's, there's there's a number of ways. And I think it's just important to say, to encourage people that you don't have to do what everybody's doing. I think what we did, people weren't doing, people weren't using social media... is something that I know, a lot of mental health services weren't doing. They weren't using social media. When I started off my, my Frontline Therapists, I believed that the way I was gonna get clients was from the clinical commissioning group, and some GP's because that's what, that's what I understood that - as a social worker. That's where I referred people to. And I got rejected, I got told I'm so sorry, we can't support you. So I had to go to social media. That was the only was I could get, you know, get the clients and then people, I started to see people, you know, mental health services now jump on social media. And I'm like, you know what, I'm a bit tired of Instagram, and Tik Tok, I want to now share what I've got to say without feeling rushed. Without feeling I've got to be so profound in like a short space of time. And then we go into podcasting. And I'm hoping, really encouraging that there needs to be more therapists, especially from the UK guys - that are listening - get onto podcasts, because there's so much misinformation out there. And we are so we're so trained, and we're so talented, we need our voices out there to correct things to help breakdown complex questions and topics, not in simple ways, in a way that is effective for for and digestible for our audience. So I just, just a bit of a flip and say that, yeah, social media is a love and hate relationship, I have that as well. But find the mediums that work best for your, work best for the message you want to get out. If Instagram and TikTok isn't the best way, and it isn't for many people, there are so many others, Twitch, I can't begin to describe there are so many platforms that you can utilise, and find your audience on there that will value you, you can build a loyal community that really want to work with you and listen to your expertise and knowledge

Kim Evans: 18:10

Brilliant, wow.(yeah, 100%). Speaking of expertise, and knowledge, we've got loads of that here together with everything that's been shared. Thank you so much. Just so you know, by the time this comes out, my 'Bulletproof Brand Bootcamp' will be available, so do get in touch. So, it's just an eight week program that will help you see clients literally by the end of the eight weeks. So we talk about everything that we've been discussing today. And just to remind people, it's really about quality over quantity. And once you've got your niche, that specific group, specific groups that you are targeting, it just makes things so much easier. And you're not having to post every day and do the most because you know exactly who you are targeting, and you're putting out quality stuff. So just empowering people to have confidence, put yourself out there because you know, social media can be a bit scary, but it is a good medium to reach your target audience or the clients that you're working with. And nowadays, people do want to get to know you, like Vanessa was saying, you put yourself out there a bit more, don't you, because people will actually want to get to know you a little bit as a person when it comes to therapy. But I think bottom line is, I agree so much with both of you and what's been said, do what works for you with the time and energy that you have. Because there are so many mediums that help you to do things in different ways. And yeah, we can jump on social media and be like, Oh, everyone's doing it like this. That seems like the popular way. But yeah, do what works for you. And if you are wanting to crack social media and marketing do get in touch with me. I'm happy to offer any advice that I can. Ladies, it has been an absolute pleasure. I like, I've loved this discussion so much. And you know, we might have another opportunity hopefully to do this. I have one one final question. It's a quick one. We don't have a name for this podcast yet, dun dun dun. But there has been, obviously a theme around being a therapist and being a business owner. Is there anything kind of short, snappy relevant that comes to mind? What you got? (I've got one...Ngozi) Ok wait, let's ask Vanessa first...

Vanessa Boachie: 20:23

Gosh, no. Ngozi, please go first, because I haven't got one yet,

Ngozi Cadmus: 20:25

yeah. Well, maybe'Practitioner to CEO'?

Kim Evans: 20:32

I was gonna say that.. well you said, from Therapist to CEO when you were talking about, and I wrote that down.. that sounds beautiful. I like that. Yeah. It really encapsulates

Ngozi Cadmus: 20:44

Exactly, exactly...I think it captures all our experiences, because essentially, we've all been practitioners. And now we're, we're both we're practitioners at heart, but we're also CEO's in our minds because we run a service. And we have people that are under us, and which obviously comes with responsibilities. So I think Practitioner to CEO is such a good title. And again, it encourages people that, you know, we didn't just end up as a CEO, we went through the journey, and we're all practitioners still, or still see clients, whether it's in private practice, or, you know, working for someone, but we run a business, right? And we're effecting change in the marketplace. And we're supporting people that look like us, that don't look like us, we're supporting people to be all they've been called to be. So you know, if anybody, especially women of faith, that feel that they are called to something greater than themselves, and they really want to monetise their healing girls... Have a look about myself as well - Ngozi Cadmus on all social media platforms, they can look up my podcast, my YouTube, and I'm there to support you become all that you've been destined to be.

Kim Evans: 21:53

Brilliant.

Vanessa Boachie: 21:55

Love that

Kim Evans: 21:55

and then add Vanessa as well about what you're doing?

Vanessa Boachie: 21:58

Sure, sure. So I guess, at the moment Inside Out, we're working across universities, we're working across corporate organisations and within the community as well to provide workshops, training, all about mental health. So we cover lots of different topics from impostor syndrome, to bringing your authentic self to work, or to look at, you know, the general topics around, you know, introduction into depression, anxiety, things like that. And we also create bespoke workshops as well. So if anyone is interested in that, interested in that, then please feel free to follow us on social media. So we are@insideoutwellbeing_. We've also got our website, www.insideoutwellbeing.org. Yeah, if you're interested in any of those services, workshops, support groups, training, then please feel free to message me. If you're looking for, asking for general advice around, you know, starting a business or social enterprise, then please feel free to follow my personal page, which is@nessabanks_

Kim Evans: 23:13

Wonderful, thank you so much. And everyone's details will be accessible, you know, at the bottom of the podcast so people be able to get those details again. But thank you both for your time. It's been wonderful to speak to you both and I hope to be in touch with you. Thank you. It's okay. You're welcome. Anytime, thank you have a good day.

Opening: 23:36

Thank you for listening to the Therapists Connect Podcast. Go to www.therapists-connect.com for more discussions and debates. This episode of Therapists Connect podcast is sponsored by webhealer the number one website provider for private practice therapists. Serving the community for 20 years, webhealer offers a non technical and fully supported online platform, helping therapits use the internet to grow their practice. Whether you need a website, a booking system, or even a secure email address for your practice, webhealer can help. Contact webhealer today via www.webhealer.net and use the coupon Therapists Connect for 100 pounds off then 'do it for me' service.