I'm glad to say that being fully self employed is working well for me. Had a few new clients start which is always a great thing. Even in this economic down turn.
I wonder what the future hold for me? Everything ticking along nicely now.... I have started to ask myself a big question.... Will I be a counsellor for the rest of my life? At this point of writing I would say no. I think there are other areas of life that I can take my skills and experience. That may well be into a business area and work for someone again.
I also have plans to stop working altogether by the time I am 50. I hope to have build my business up to a point where I just manage it and someone else does the work. Don't want to be listening to people's problems for ever. I want to be able to get the counselling work and then contract it out. Cant see why that wouldn't work. That's the plan anyway.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Business moving forward
Well things are moving on and the risk off resigning from my PAYE counselling job is paying off.
I am now a self employed....Counsellor. Its amazing to see what can happen when I am given the power and control over my future.
I guess its like being in a bad relationship with my last job, going in to work, it was easy I don't have to work to hard, its convenient and to be honest it was a bit boring! I have been in relationships like that before.
So now with a fresh start and with me having control over my future and my business will only grow by as much as I put in to it.
I have produced new business cards, leaflets and a brand new web site www.covecounselling.co.uk (it should be up and running in the next 24 hours) which was produced by little fish design who have done an amazing job.
I am now a self employed....Counsellor. Its amazing to see what can happen when I am given the power and control over my future.
I guess its like being in a bad relationship with my last job, going in to work, it was easy I don't have to work to hard, its convenient and to be honest it was a bit boring! I have been in relationships like that before.
So now with a fresh start and with me having control over my future and my business will only grow by as much as I put in to it.
I have produced new business cards, leaflets and a brand new web site www.covecounselling.co.uk (it should be up and running in the next 24 hours) which was produced by little fish design who have done an amazing job.
I have had meetings with 2 organizations and I am going to be doing work for both of them on a self employed bases, so thats a great start. I need to write to the local EAP's to get more work.
I move to my new house on Friday with its own separate office which I will be working from so really looking forward to the future!
I have my enthusiasm back! so bring it on!
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Another interview completed
I had a meeting with an EAP today to work for them as self employed. They seemed to have a great team and seem really well organised offering support on the front line. By this I mean taking calls and referral to external agencies for further support.
My job would be to take calls and offer emotional support if needed and to asses the risk of that client.
There is no expectations of me to see loads of calls, I would just deal with one call and follow it right through including admin to completion. There is a busy button on the phone that you can push which allows you to take a break between calls if you need one.
There are people available to support me if I take a difficult call and they wouldn't expect me to take another until I am ready. They offer training to 4 times a year. All sounds great.
The interview was really easy for me after 9 years of experience of counselling and it all felt very comfortable.
If I get invited to a second interview there is a role play on the phone to do, that will be fun...lol. I have done telephone work before but not for an EAP.
so lets see what happen next!
My job would be to take calls and offer emotional support if needed and to asses the risk of that client.
There is no expectations of me to see loads of calls, I would just deal with one call and follow it right through including admin to completion. There is a busy button on the phone that you can push which allows you to take a break between calls if you need one.
There are people available to support me if I take a difficult call and they wouldn't expect me to take another until I am ready. They offer training to 4 times a year. All sounds great.
The interview was really easy for me after 9 years of experience of counselling and it all felt very comfortable.
If I get invited to a second interview there is a role play on the phone to do, that will be fun...lol. I have done telephone work before but not for an EAP.
so lets see what happen next!
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Supervision costs!
I know of a counsellor/ supervision how has is offering 60 minute supervision session for £20.00.
So what is the reason for me blogging about it then? well it pisses me off…. then I go to a place of its up to them if they want to charge that. I also go to a place of self value and self believe of the supervisor.
I am worth every penny as a counsellor and a supervisor, I'm not worried that my supervisees will all leave and head off to them for supervision, yet again their choice though.
So what pisses me off about it? I know for me there is a bigger picture, and that picture is about volunteering in the counselling world. Counsellors are expected to volunteer and offer themselves for free. This would not happen if I was a plumber, builder or carpenter you serve your time and get paid, then you get a job and get paid easy.
I will one day build my practice into a service that offers counselling work and everyone will get paid for what they do.
So what is the reason for me blogging about it then? well it pisses me off…. then I go to a place of its up to them if they want to charge that. I also go to a place of self value and self believe of the supervisor.
I am worth every penny as a counsellor and a supervisor, I'm not worried that my supervisees will all leave and head off to them for supervision, yet again their choice though.
So what pisses me off about it? I know for me there is a bigger picture, and that picture is about volunteering in the counselling world. Counsellors are expected to volunteer and offer themselves for free. This would not happen if I was a plumber, builder or carpenter you serve your time and get paid, then you get a job and get paid easy.
I will one day build my practice into a service that offers counselling work and everyone will get paid for what they do.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
It's all change at cove counselling
Things are changing for me. I am now going to just concentrate on my private practice 'cove counselling'
I have resigned from my University counsellor role, as I feel this has been holding me back some what. I want to spend more time working for me and regain the power back.
What I mean by that is while i have been working at the uni there are certain things that I do not agree with and I don't have the power to change them. I am sick to the back teeth of being told there is no money for this no money for that the university is about 5 years behind other universities when it comes to online counselling and text messaging. They do however waste time and to much effort on group work and workshops which in my experience at the uni has never been that successful. In the past we have worked hard booking rooms writing the content for the workshops which takes valuable time away from an already busy day. And 2 people turn up for the workshop.
So now I have put all my moan and grones to bed now! And left. I had been there 8 years, in the past couple of years things changed for the worse, to much other work and not enough client time. When I join the uni in 2002 the counsellors only saw clients in their day. Just before I left I have a shed load of other work to do and see clients. I'm a counsellor not an administrator or a promotion person.
So what next for me? Well I am moving house in about 3 to 4 weeks. It's a risk and worth it. The house has a separate office for me to work in so that's a bonus. Now I need to promote myself which I will be good at, I'm not to bad at networking. I also have a meeting tomorrow with an organisation to do some work for them and the pertential of some other work in the pipeline. That all came about by making a couple of phone calls. So I'm up and running. Well I have been running cove counselling for the past couple of years with a couple of clients and supervisees and now it's time to make it bigger.
So I hope to blog from time to time to update my progress. The only way is up and that it is all controlled by me now! So bring it on.
I have resigned from my University counsellor role, as I feel this has been holding me back some what. I want to spend more time working for me and regain the power back.
What I mean by that is while i have been working at the uni there are certain things that I do not agree with and I don't have the power to change them. I am sick to the back teeth of being told there is no money for this no money for that the university is about 5 years behind other universities when it comes to online counselling and text messaging. They do however waste time and to much effort on group work and workshops which in my experience at the uni has never been that successful. In the past we have worked hard booking rooms writing the content for the workshops which takes valuable time away from an already busy day. And 2 people turn up for the workshop.
So now I have put all my moan and grones to bed now! And left. I had been there 8 years, in the past couple of years things changed for the worse, to much other work and not enough client time. When I join the uni in 2002 the counsellors only saw clients in their day. Just before I left I have a shed load of other work to do and see clients. I'm a counsellor not an administrator or a promotion person.
So what next for me? Well I am moving house in about 3 to 4 weeks. It's a risk and worth it. The house has a separate office for me to work in so that's a bonus. Now I need to promote myself which I will be good at, I'm not to bad at networking. I also have a meeting tomorrow with an organisation to do some work for them and the pertential of some other work in the pipeline. That all came about by making a couple of phone calls. So I'm up and running. Well I have been running cove counselling for the past couple of years with a couple of clients and supervisees and now it's time to make it bigger.
So I hope to blog from time to time to update my progress. The only way is up and that it is all controlled by me now! So bring it on.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Dyslexia
Dyslexia.
I want to right something about this learning difficulty I have. As it is really starting to standout to me now. I work as a counsellor in a university and have done for the past 8 years. I am a fantastic counsellor! Well a few people have told me that....lol
Now my dyslexia has not been a problem in the past I can cope in my own funny little ways. I will blog about them later. My job has now changed so much my writing and reading sills are in the spot light.
When I joined the university I saw 4 clients a day and wrote up my notes which to be honest were never that great.... I understood them, and that's about it not much work invalid in my day to day role.
Now it's a lot different I take the lead in certain areas of the counselling service, I update the uni counselling service web pages, which is a bit of a trauma for me as my spelling isn't good and my grammar not much better. So I find that part of the job a challenge. Another job that I have to do for the service is publicity and promotion, again this involves posters promoting the service leaflets etc something else that is not easy for me. I am also surrounded by other counsellors that can just bang out the academic work liken reports and research without thinking about it. So I feel that I lack in that area too. My manager is very impressive, with the amount of work that they do, I think there is some expectations of me to be able to do the same.
The People that I work with and my manager are aware of my dyslexia and they sort of understand but I have had some comments that I am lazy.... This is something I use to hear at school a lot from my teachers, I'm not lazy I just find writing, reading and spelling hard so it takes me longer to finish one piece of work before I move on to the next.
Time to stop typing now. As I need to read through this a few times before I publish it to my blog. Things just take me a little longer.
I want to right something about this learning difficulty I have. As it is really starting to standout to me now. I work as a counsellor in a university and have done for the past 8 years. I am a fantastic counsellor! Well a few people have told me that....lol
Now my dyslexia has not been a problem in the past I can cope in my own funny little ways. I will blog about them later. My job has now changed so much my writing and reading sills are in the spot light.
When I joined the university I saw 4 clients a day and wrote up my notes which to be honest were never that great.... I understood them, and that's about it not much work invalid in my day to day role.
Now it's a lot different I take the lead in certain areas of the counselling service, I update the uni counselling service web pages, which is a bit of a trauma for me as my spelling isn't good and my grammar not much better. So I find that part of the job a challenge. Another job that I have to do for the service is publicity and promotion, again this involves posters promoting the service leaflets etc something else that is not easy for me. I am also surrounded by other counsellors that can just bang out the academic work liken reports and research without thinking about it. So I feel that I lack in that area too. My manager is very impressive, with the amount of work that they do, I think there is some expectations of me to be able to do the same.
The People that I work with and my manager are aware of my dyslexia and they sort of understand but I have had some comments that I am lazy.... This is something I use to hear at school a lot from my teachers, I'm not lazy I just find writing, reading and spelling hard so it takes me longer to finish one piece of work before I move on to the next.
Time to stop typing now. As I need to read through this a few times before I publish it to my blog. Things just take me a little longer.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Lots happening to me.
Yahoo, I can believe I remembered my password. I have been writing a another blog and forgot to update this one.
I am just starting my 9th year as a counsellor. So what I would like to do over the next few weeks is have a bit of a review
Of my work. Starting with the first client I saw and how it was and work through the years to the present, which to say the least is very interesting right now. There is lots going on in my counselling world right now which I will write about it when everything is finished.
There is also other things going on in my own life too, had a baby in April, well not me my wife called Ethan, the baby not my wife....! So that has been a challenge at times and fun.
I am also in the process of moving house to a new house with it's own separate office so I can concentrate on my private practise more. Really looking forward to getting stuck into net working and building my portfolio of clients. Hope the move should happens in the next few weeks, so we can be in before Christmas.
Don't know if I have blogged about it before? And again I want to blog about it, is the fact that I am dyslexic This learning difficulty impacts me everyday in my role as a counsellor and supervision. Not so much when working in the moment with the client but writing notes and reports can be difficult. Even writing this blog can take sometime. It looks fine to me when I read back over it but sometimes to others that's not the case. So I hope you can read this with an open mind to my dyslexia and fill in some of the gaps there may be. Ok real life is calling time to go back to the world of bottles and nappies.
I am just starting my 9th year as a counsellor. So what I would like to do over the next few weeks is have a bit of a review
Of my work. Starting with the first client I saw and how it was and work through the years to the present, which to say the least is very interesting right now. There is lots going on in my counselling world right now which I will write about it when everything is finished.
There is also other things going on in my own life too, had a baby in April, well not me my wife called Ethan, the baby not my wife....! So that has been a challenge at times and fun.
I am also in the process of moving house to a new house with it's own separate office so I can concentrate on my private practise more. Really looking forward to getting stuck into net working and building my portfolio of clients. Hope the move should happens in the next few weeks, so we can be in before Christmas.
Don't know if I have blogged about it before? And again I want to blog about it, is the fact that I am dyslexic This learning difficulty impacts me everyday in my role as a counsellor and supervision. Not so much when working in the moment with the client but writing notes and reports can be difficult. Even writing this blog can take sometime. It looks fine to me when I read back over it but sometimes to others that's not the case. So I hope you can read this with an open mind to my dyslexia and fill in some of the gaps there may be. Ok real life is calling time to go back to the world of bottles and nappies.
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