A career as a mental health provider can be gratifying, helping others realize their potential, assisting them with their difficulties, and providing much-needed support.
But it can also be frustrating.
The difficulties that pop up every day can really add up if we’re not on top of it.
So, if you’ve let too much pile-up, or want to prevent it from happening in the first place, you’re in the right place.
Here are 7 things remote therapists can do to help make the day-to-day easier, making a long, healthy career much more likely!
Remember It’s a Business
Working with people that are struggling can’t help but rub off on us.
We’re in this business because we care about people.
But, to keep us in balance, we have to remember this is a business.
Sure, it’s a business about helping real, live people with incredibly salient things – but it is a business.
It can feel a bit like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. Cold business owner, empathic service provider. But it can help.
Be warm, genuine, and empathic whenever you’re sitting across from someone. But when you’re not providing direct care or communication with a patient, try only to view it as a business.
This can help with burnout, but it’s also key for our next tip.
Learn to Run a Business
Great, you’re going to keep a healthy distance and treat your career as a business first.
Do you know how to do that?
Most specialists are specialists in just one field. That’s what it takes to be a specialist.
But you don’t have that luxury if you want a long, healthy career—especially one with a private practice.
To find success both in the length of your career and in the quality, you need to become an expert business manager.
Your client? You!
When you invest in yourself as both a provider and a manager, you’ll find yourself better prepared for the long trek of a healthy career.
Network with Other Providers
Networking with other providers can support you and your business in two ways.
First, it can lead you to have a healthier business. Not every client you meet will be the right fit for you. Or you for them.
You can directly refer clients to the proper fit when you have a healthy network of other providers. And other providers can do that for you!
The second way a network can help a business is through support.
Ask any therapist with ten years of experience or more, and they’ll give you a list of 100 things they wish they knew before starting.
A healthy network of therapists can collectively pour into each other, creating a network of support that makes each much more resilient and prepared.
Work on Soft Skills
Educating yourself and refining your skills as a business owner are just a few of the keys you’ll need on your journey.
But your soft skills are incredibly important, too.
Soft skills help with every aspect of business, both taking care of clients and running the business.
Most therapists would say they have excellent soft skills naturally. And that’s probably true. But that’s MORE of a reason to improve those skills than ignore them.
Hunt and Farm
Hunting and Farming are two very different ways to find clients, but both are necessary for the long run.
Hunting is when you, as a business, go out and try to find a client. If you send someone an email letting them know about the services you offer and how you can help them, that’s hunting.
Hunting is great when you’re actively starving (for customers).
Farming is just as important. If hunting is a lot of direct action over a short period of time, farming would be indirect action over a longer period.
Farming is when you write up an interesting blog piece for your website with valuable information.
Then you put that blog on your social media accounts and LinkedIn.
Every time you do something like that, you’re planting a seed. A potential client might see that first post, read it, and then give you a follow.
Each new post is another tiny seed of trust and interest. But, those seeds grow.
In time, your crops are ready, and all those tiny seeds are now enough food to feed you for months and months.
Continue Your Professional Development
Job satisfaction is a necessary ingredient for making a healthy career.
When mental health providers invest in themselves and their professional development, they’re much more likely to feel a greater sense of satisfaction.
Professional development isn’t something that just happens; you need to pursue it actively.
When you make professional development a core part of your business, you give yourself lots of options for growth and opportunities.
Practice Self-Care
Self-care is a practice. We need to commit to it if it’s going to work.
As a therapist, you’re left with an imprint after seeing every client.
It may just be a little bit, barely enough to notice, but it piles up.
Having a self-care practice in place is vital for a long career!
Self-care is different for everyone, but most therapists have the same problem with it: they think it’s selfish.
It can be hard to make space for yourself and do little things that add up when you think you’re being selfish every time you do it.
Hey. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Self-care is how you fill yourself back up so you can keep pouring into your clients.
You can find some self-care tips for therapists right here!
The little things can make all the difference.
If you want a long, healthy career as a remote therapist, then you need to make sure those little things don’t pile up into something much bigger.
If you think this might be too much work or that you’re better off letting someone else handle it, we can help!
We take care of the business side of things – like finding clients, vetting, and billing – so you can focus on doing what you do best – offering your unique skills and value as a provider to those that are in dire need of it.
