Private Practice in a Pandemic!

The #TherapistsConnect podcast returns.

In this first episode, Dr Peter Blundell & Caz Binstead discuss the upcoming Private Practice event in collaboration with Online Events.

More details and ticket purchases can be found here - Private Practice 2021: Surviving and Thriving in Uncertain Times Tickets, Sat 6 Nov 2021 at 09:00 | Eventbrite

#TherapistsConnect is a platform for connecting therapists.
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Origins of #TherapistsConnect

Transcript

Opening: 0:01

Welcome to the Therapists Connect podcast, a podcast for therapists by therapists.

Peter Blundell: 0:10

Okay, Hello everybody and welcome to series three of the Therapists Connect podcast. My name is Dr. Peter Blundell and I'm here with our Therapists Connect co-lead Caz Binstead.

Caz Binstead: 0:22

Hello, everyone. Hello. Good to be back here again on a Therapists Connect podcast, which is kind of your baby Peter. Yeah, welast had a chat, must have been well, it was almost over a year ago I suppose.

Peter Blundell: 0:40

Yeah, it was the start of the first series of the podcast and yeah well I was interviewing you wasn't I about your life and your work as a therapist, which seems like such a long time ago now. So much has happened with Therapists Connect since then. It's quite unbelievable really.

Caz Binstead: 0:57

Absolutely, with Therapists Connect, with life in general, just a lot going on, but I mean, yeah, Therapists Connect over that time has, yeah, just obviously, really, really grown and I suppose it's taken you and I a little bit, it's been a bit of a surprise for us, for us both, and of course, at that time I had come on board and Trainee Talk was our first project, Therapists Connect first project. So that was my kind of main focus at that point and, yeah, yeah, it's nice to nice to be here with a community of, I think we've got, we've got over 9000 followers now on Twitter, and about 4,500 on Instagram, which is great and worldwide as well.

Peter Blundell: 1:46

Absolutely amazing. We've got a fantastic group of volunteers now who help us kind of man the social media accounts and it's yeah, it's just kind of gone from strength to strength. I suppose we could tell people a little bit why we've decided to record this particular podcast at this at this particular time. So we have coming up on the (get the dates right), the 6th and the 7th of November, we've got a private practice event coming up on the 6th and the 7th of November, which is a worldwide event and this is an idea that Caz came up with actually quite a while ago, and it's just just coming to fruition now and so we thought we'd do a little discussion today about that event, and talk a little bit about where that idea came from and what we're trying to achieve with it just so people could get a bit of a sense of what that's going to be like.

Caz Binstead: 2:42

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's really, really great to have those dates in coming up quite soon and yeah, we are hosting this with our friends at Online Events as well. Which is good, because it's nice to have maybe a bit more solid technology. People who know me know technology is not really my thing. I like I like talking on screen, but I like to just rock up and not have to worry about that stuff.

Peter Blundell: 3:14

Well you say that, but I'm the one that's been missing in action at some of our some of our online events because technology, this end so I think you might have done better than me actually.

Caz Binstead: 3:27

Yeah, so this event actually feels really, really important and the reason why we wanted to do it, and I felt so strongly about, was I well, I'm a private practitioner, we both are, but I guess that's my like main focus and I'm running a full private practice and I have been for many, many years. So I've had first hand experience of what it's been like really being immersed in the world of private practice during this pandemic time and also being someone who really works in this area. I guess I know a lot about this area in terms of I've, in the past, run workshops on setting up private practice. I have done a lot of work at the BACP being instrumental in the creation of the BACP Private Practice Toolkit and also within my role as Therapists Connect co-lead. Yeah, yeah, just hearing from private practitioners about what this, I guess, what this time has been like for people and about the, you know, the unique sector that we are actually, you know, just I guess paying a little bit of attention to that. So yes, so the title of the conference (well we saying conference but its not really a conference), it's an it's an event, it's a two day event.

Peter Blundell: 5:21

I think it's because it's two days. I think that's why we keep referring to the word conference, but it actually is more, and we'll talk about this a bit more, maybe, but it more is a selection of different events over the two days, all around private practice.

Caz Binstead: 5:39

Yeah, that's right, that's right. It's really probably going to be much more of, I don't know if experiential is the right word, but interactive, it's like, it's very much well, those of you know, Therapists Connect we're very much about on the ground therapists, you know. Less interested in kind of, you know, people saying how it is or how it theoretically is, and all of that. We're very, very interested in hearing from people, you know, their experiences, and whether that's people working in private practice, or people who kind of work with others to develop or maintain their private practices. So this event is called Private Practice 2021 surviving and thriving in uncertain times. Okay, so the title gives a little bit of a clue really there as to what we're going to be focusing on, because we are all human beings and we have all had to deal with all the difficulties of the pandemic over this period and we have been continuing to work as therapists, a lot of us and continuing just, day by day, just carrying on, you know, and I think that private practice holds a lot of the mental health crisis. Certainly, in my view, mental health crisis, before the pandemic, there's going to be, I think, an absolute peak in that we're already seeing it in private practice. A lot of people's practices are full, there's a lot of referrals that are coming through. There were figures released around the last week around the impact on young people as well. So and, you know, again, this is not really something a space for debating around mental health provision, or, you know, jobs for therapists but I think that I'll say two things that I really believe to be true and that I've spoken about a lot in my career, which is, you know, there's not the jobs out there in our profession, paid jobs, for therapists, and a lot of that is because there's not money that's put into mental health and so a lot of people end up going into private practice and private practice is really seeing that, you know, people clearly need mental health services, because otherwise our practices wouldn't be being overrun. So in short, we have been holding a lot. and course, you know, we sit with clients, and sometimes when we're sitting with clients, we might know, they might say something, we might know, oh, I've got experienced that, or whatever, but they don't know that we do. Whereas in this situation as well, we've had to adapt because everyone is just it's just one of those things in the room, that that both people in the room have also been experiencing a pandemic, and all the kind of intricacies that come off that as well. So, yeah, I think I've probably just rambled there. But it's there's a lot basically,

Peter Blundell: 9:26

But I think what you were talking about there Caz is kind of some of the rationale and the reasoning why we thought something well, I say we actually it was your idea, to do this event over the two days and like with all the Therapists Connect events, I mean, obviously the clue is in our name. We want to bring as many kind of therapists together from lots of different backgrounds and perspectives to try and discuss how people have managed to survive in their private practice over the pandemic and beyond and also what people are doing to help their practices thrive, and I think, really appreciate the amount of work that Caz has put into this conference, who really bring together as many different kinds of therapists as possible to contribute to those events and I think it depends whether we've got the lineup announced that at this point when the podcast comes out, but we've got a very, very diverse range of therapists who have agreed to contribute and bring some of their experiences from all different parts of the world, to talk about what it's been like to work in private practice, and the tips and guidance maybe that people can give, that we might be able to share with each other.

Caz Binstead: 10:45

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's been really great and you know, it really shows actually, I think, what a community can produce, maybe when we all come together, you know, to just actually just go, well I mean, certainly in the Therapists Connect community, a huge proportion of the community will be private practitioners and, of course, one of our missions at Therapists Connect is to try to help reduce the isolation for people in private practice that was there any way but again, may have been heightened during lockdown periods and stuff like that. So yeah, for people to, you know, we're so grateful for people within the community who share our vision, and, you know, kind of step forward and say, yeah you know what, I'm going to be part of this. I'm really, really looking forward to hearing from some people. We're gonna have all kinds of different discussions and as Peter has already said there, so many diverse range of people hearing from so many people, and of course, we also want to hear from you guys, any attendees, you know, we want people to feel like they can, they can have a say, they can, you know, to have a space to reflect on their own experiences. There will certainly be the, the use of the chat box. We will hopefully have some people popping up on screen, if people want to. and we've also got a couple of spaces for everyone who's actually watching. kind of I don't know, you might call them like, networking, I suppose. I'm not a huge fan of that word because it brings up connotations for some people about what that actually means but I think it's very much about just being able to say here I am, I'm a private practitioner, this is how I found things or this is, you know, this is my practice, this is how I work, this is what I work with, and just being able to meet with other people, in however you are as a person. We're all different as people, I think that's one of the great things I like that about when we think about referrals in private practice. When I meet a person, I don't want everyone to be like cardboard cutout kind of kind of therapists, and I work with this, and I work with that and it just to be about that. I want to meet a person and say, oh, that person who came across like this, so there's real like, I don't know, I like that kind of authenticity in practice.

Peter Blundell: 13:35

I think it's really difficult. I mean, we've spoken about this a lot in all the different broadcasts and writing that we've done, that actually being in private practice, I suppose wherever you are in the world actually can be a really lonely experience. If you're not connected to other other therapists, then it can be quite lonely and where do you have those discussions? I think then during the pandemic, as well, where all of a sudden, all therapists were working from home, and they decided to work online, it added that extra element of isolation for people. So I think those spaces and, hopefully, if people have been to any of our other events or support groups, or book groups or other workshops that we've done, they'll know that what we try and create is a safe space for people to kind of talk about what is meaningful for them and I think, particularly bringing therapists together around private practice, I think we could really offer a really nice space for people to kind of share those experiences and get tips and advice and think about how different people have done different things and I know the Therapists Connect community is so generous anyway, I think on social media, I think people will be able to share those tips and those things in those spaces. I think the other thing I just wanted to mention was we've had had quite a few students, when we announced we were doing this event, we had quite a few students commenting saying, oh, I'll attend this in future years once I'm qualified and I've, you know, I've been in practice, but we just as with all of the Therapists Connect events, we encourage any students. If you're interested, come along, you know, and hear how people are working in private practice, even if you're not ready to set up in private practice yet. It's really nice just to hear other people's experiences and to hear what is possible and what you can potentially do, if you want to set up in private practice. Just go back to Caz's point, there is a very diverse range of people in private practice, you know, there are therapist working in lots of different ways. So it might be it might be nice as a student to hear some of those experiences and see what might be possible as a private practitioner.

Caz Binstead: 15:53

Yeah absolutely. Really, I mean, yeah, I want to pick up on two points, actually, that you're saying there Pete. That first point about students, please do. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we love working with students anyway and yeah, a lot of my interests in private practice have been kind of trying to encourage students who are thinking about going into private practice to prepare. You know, this is a big part of it. So you know, often when you're studying courses differ on this but there's often not a lot of.. they often don't go too much into depth on working in private practice and it is a very niche area actually. Some courses don't pick up on it at all. So I know that a lot of the work I've been involved in has been trying to close that gap a little bit to help support people a bit better who are thinking about going into private practice but you know, this could be part of preparation if you really are thinking about it. So yeah, absolutely do come along and I think the other thing that you said there Pete about isolation and when started to talk to people about potentially taking part in some of these discussions, I felt relieved. I was kind of like and here I am you know, I'm co lead of a very large community, therapy community and yet I could still feel that real sense of isolation actually because I was sitting down talking with some people and even some friends who I know but we were just kind of saying we'll see what's been the experiences the pandemic and stuff like that. Yeah, it just felt lik, oh that resonates and that resonates and oh it's not only been me who's felt that. I just came away thinking oh goodness that's invaluable. If I was feeling that I really really hope that this is going to be of some use to people. We've got a variety of different events as Peter was saying there so yeah, it's two days which is a long time, but you know, it's pay what you can so could be great value. We hope that people do kind of stay around and try and do as much of it as they can but also there is obviously the option to dip in and out depending on your your schedule and we know obviously people have been locked in for a long time so I'm sure people want to get out and about on weekends but you know, yeah, have a look see what you might want to come along to and if you can come for the whole two days. but you know, I think just that being as a group together it that that might really be something actually. We'll have a couple of kind of keynote speakers. One of which is me talking about some of my work and obviously just about the conference itself and we're gonna have a couple of interviews as well. So there's a real range actually of things that are going on.

Peter Blundell: 19:13

We've got some quite a few debates haven't we and panel discussions and we've also got a section on integrating research into private practice as well. So as Caz said, I mean, we've covered pretty much every type of possible event that you could have I think around private practice and we also know that everyone takes on information and stuff in different ways. So we kind of wanted to kind of have that variety really so people could experience different things throughout the day and listen to different voices really. So we're really excited. Yeah, and it's hopefully it will all go swimmingly.

Caz Binstead: 19:55

Yeah, definitely. Well, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah and I hope that it can just be I guess, as much of a, we talk about safe spaces here at Therapists Connect. Now, something that we are discussing a lot, you know, how do you get safe spaces? Can anything ever be entirely safe, all of that kind of thing. But we certainly have an intention to try to create safe spaces. So, so yeah, within all the discussions and all the facilitation that we're doing on this two day event, we hope that people can feel safe, can feel part of a community and yeah, just come along. Really, I guess it's a chance to really embody, just be completely be with yourself and yeah, reflect, process, what has this time been like, for me? I was just gonna say also, it's called surviving and thriving and we have had to carry on, we run businesses, as private practitioners, we run businesses, so there's all of that stuff but then there's also I need to maintain my business and or, and this is something we will be touching on, new private practitioners who started during the pandemic time. So interested in all of that as well.

Peter Blundell: 21:21

There's a lot of topics to cover and I think just talking about the idea of processing things, and I think being able to do that in a community or sharing it with other people think, well, it's important for me, and something I valued as part of the Therapists Connect Community. So we are hoping that we're going to bring all of that sense of community to this particular event. Just if people are interested, and they want to book on, if you're on Twitter, it's our currently pinned tweet. So you can go on there and the link is attached to that but we'll also put the Eventbrite link in the links to this podcast as well. So people can go there, or you can look on our website and the link to book will be on there as well.

Caz Binstead: 22:05

Okay, well, it's always lovely chatting, Peter. And yeah, yeah.

Peter Blundell: 22:12

Thanks Caz. I'm looking forward to hearing your keynote at the event.

Caz Binstead: 22:17

Yeah, I had better start writing it . Yeah, really look forward to seeing people. Yeah, thank you all the best.

Peter Blundell: 22:25

Thanks very much, everyone, and I'll see you soon.

closing: 22:28

Thank you for listening to the therapist Connect podcast. Go to www.therapists-connect.com for more discussions and debates.