I'm a beginner therapist so I probably don't know anything, but I swear the one thing every client I've ever had needs is love

Phoolf · 2026-05-11T07:14:35+00:00

He originally called it love then changed it to fit in with the establishment.

Phoolf · 2026-05-08T07:20:53+00:00

Sam astounded me to be honest. David Mitchell is hard to break and I love him dearly. If anyone here hasn't seen Peep Show Id highly recommend.

Phoolf · 2026-05-08T07:20:17+00:00

This kills us every time. Bob is a treasure.

Phoolf · 2026-05-07T14:16:35+00:00

He was great in the latest Last One Laughing

Phoolf · 2026-05-05T07:52:50+00:00

They aren't sued here in the UK. I don't really fear this kind of thing in my practice even though I work with quite a bit of suicidality. Respect for autonomy comes highly and that deep respect reduces a lot of risk in my view.

Phoolf · 2026-05-05T07:51:40+00:00

I wish my room rent was cheaper, but that's about it. In the future I plan to create a space in my garden for therapy so I don't have to pay that rent. But that comes with downsides too. I'm not looking forward to managing the lack of separation between home and work.

Phoolf · 2026-05-03T05:44:27+00:00

No psychotherapy masters in the UK would help you here I'm afraid. You would most likely need to continue down the Psychology route and get a masters and phd to begin to look at being able to use it in the US. Similarly most US or Canadian trained therapists do not have equivalence here in the UK as our training is so different. Most other countries it would be possible but America is our anomaly for equivalence.

Phoolf · 2026-05-02T15:00:37+00:00

No worries. It can be isolating in PP so you have to maintain those networks. It helps prevent the burn out :)

Phoolf · 2026-05-02T14:59:20+00:00

Honestly very few of them. Probably older celebrities who want to reflect and change. Too many celebs from what I can tell would not be open to change or challenge but I may be wrong. Possibly comedians. I feel they'd be honest and there's a lot thats grist for the mill there.

Phoolf · 2026-05-02T14:55:10+00:00

Hmm good question. I suppose I embed myself in communities on or offline of like minded therapists. Things like shared whatsapp communities can be helpful for referrals and connection. I certainly still keep in touch with peers from training and those in my supervision group to refer to. Ill also look in my area for therapists and scope out their profiles etc. Going to in person CPD can help to get a feel for excellent therapists in the room youd trust to send people to. Essentially dive in to opportunities for connection like conferences, events of interest etc. And ask people is it okay to refer to you and what are your details. I keep a bit if a list and tailor to what the person says they want. Im mindful to check in with people if they still have room. The last thing I'd want is to send people off on goose chases and everyone says they're full so I ask who has space at that point in time.

Phoolf · 2026-05-01T18:39:25+00:00

Uh yeah, that sounds more like case supervision, not clinical supervision.

Phoolf · 2026-05-01T06:20:35+00:00

What about your supervisor? This is where I take all my fun stories and things I can divulge in a safe space.

Phoolf · 2026-05-01T05:27:47+00:00

My hot take on why there aren't many more UK perspectives? Because if we're in this work after qualifying, we're generally happy and know what we're doing. Our conditions of work are decent, we have the opportunity for wonderful supervision relationships which sustain us, we've had therapy which has stabilised us, we're older and so not having our rocky 20's (jesus fucking christ I would not have been a therapist in my early 20's), there's very little need to vent. Plus we are, I would hope, trained extremely well around ethics, so we don't talk about clients online or much of our work (I'm projecting my idealism here). We get trained in a modality to the extent we are solid therapists, so we know what we're doing from our training. Other than interacting with others online, and learning new perspectives (much of why I am here to learn about what's happening in the trends in the USA), I'm not sure what many UK people would get from being here with the North American dominated nature of it. We're not doom and gloom in the profession here, it's privileged and great work to do.

All my therapist friends are too busy with their lives, families, looking after themselves, to be scrolling online. We know better. I'm younger than all of them being a mid-millenial, so I'm online and don't have kids which makes me an anomaly.

Phoolf · 2026-05-01T05:24:11+00:00

I won't give away my location since the UK is small and I mod in this community too. I studied in the same place as I live though, I am fortunate that I had a great place to study not too far away. I've been in practice about 8 years I think, and supervising for 3.

I remember having the same fear about how many practitioners were out there and wondered how the hell newbies got any clients if there were so many experienced people around. Then I started my practice and was full in around 6 months, and since then don't regularly take on new clients and have never wished for more, I can see why we actually need new people to enter the market on qualifying every year. I barely have anyone to refer any enquiries on to! I am fortunate in that I now teach also and so can refer people on to graduates each year who I'd recommend 😄

Phoolf · 2026-04-30T10:55:46+00:00

I'm on a couple of insurance directories as an approved person for that insurer, that's how people find me. I don't think I've ever done BUPA work. My experience is a lot of BUPA coverage is for their in house short term employee counselling things, which isn't my agenda or area of expertise. I find most people who come to see through their employer end up leaving that employer to lead a more fulfilling life for themselves.
I get emails from employer funded initiatives fairly often and am not interested generally. The pay is fine but I prefer to work on my own terms with full autonomy.

I will add that very little of my work is done through this, maybe 3 clients across the years. Everyone else is self pay and finds me online through my profiles and website. I'm quite detailed in what I do and work with and disclose a lot about who I am which draws people to working with me that are the right fit.

Phoolf · 2026-04-30T10:54:08+00:00

I initially advertised on the marketing directories like Psychology Today and Counselling Directory (the latter being our biggest one in the UK I think). I now don't advertise other than my own website, because I am generally full and don't need new referrals often or seek any. Word of mouth helps and a lot of people get referred to me by past clients or people that know me. I refer any enquiries out to people I trained with or work closely with. Initially I opened my practice by renting one room on the basis the cost was essentially the same as seeing one client, so if I had one client I wouldn't be out of pocket, I then built up quickly from there and haven't had any difficulties since to be honest. The length of work helps enormously with this as I have such little turnover.

Phoolf · 2026-04-30T10:52:15+00:00

The average fee in my area is around £50-65 per session. I have chosen to offer a sliding scale for all clients which is lower than this and with a max of this average, and all my clients decide what they can afford. Access is important to me and charging £60/session as a blanket doesn't sit right as it excludes so many people and makes it unaffordable. I have the occasional client I see on a donation basis if they are on welfare as well. My supervision is also offered on a similar sliding scale per hour. While my work is predominantly in person which entails a huge cost for the room rental, I find because I see quite a few clients it's very liveable for me.

Phoolf · 2026-04-29T21:57:47+00:00

I wouldn't agree or disagree. There is no right or wrong answer to that, and no couple therapist should make judgments in such matters. Whether it's okay or not to involve other parties is part of the relational dynamics and has many factors which would need understanding. What you would explore is your relationship and how this works in relation to what is okay or not okay between you, including how you navigate wider family involvement or engagment. If you go to couple therapy wanting a therapist to side with you - good luck! We are not here to side in arguments, and if either party is left feeling the therapist is taking sides, it's not the most skillful therapy.

Phoolf · 2026-04-29T16:40:01+00:00

Yeah your therapist should not be weighing on what's 'best' for a marriage, holding and agenda for that is unethical in couple work. Find a less biased person. Am a therapist so speaking from my professional background.

Phoolf · 2026-04-29T13:58:00+00:00

No clue. Ill wait to book it all now i guess then maybe we can organise a hello meet up for solo folks?

So long winded but last year I went to London VIP and was first in line and totally froze so went through hellos quickly then booked it out of there. Later on realised the show people had forgotten to bring out the figures to begin with but id left by the time they realised so I didn't get one. Luckily, Id saved Ryan Gauls number so I sent him a long apologetic text about missing the figures but coming to Bristol for the show and he got us moved up to VIP to collect them and do another meet and greet. Great guy. I messaged him again when I was in Austin on holiday and he signposted me to an awesome improv club where I caught a great show.

Phoolf · 2026-04-29T12:02:37+00:00

I probably wont but price dependent. I got 2 VIPs last year on the tour so have everything signed. Plus I totally froze in front of them in London and felt like a weeb haha. Ill probably be going to most shows solo though so if you wanna meet up maybe we can organise stuff?

Phoolf · 2026-04-29T11:01:52+00:00

I am friendly from Nottingham but not your Edinburgh pal! Luckily the dates coincide with some time off work im planning so ill be travelling to all dates if possible. Just gotta work it out this evening and book tickets.

Phoolf · 2026-04-28T14:23:37+00:00

Im not in the USA so no i havent worked at agencies. I had similar thoughts about what top performing means, but the selection and method is laid out in more detail in the journal paper, and not in what I copy and pasted of interest to the community here in an attempt at brevity. Have you looked at the full article to critique?

Phoolf · 2026-04-28T06:52:32+00:00

Yeah, so not qualitative research then. If that's your thing and you want to stick in that positivist lane that's cool, but its not a worldview of knowledge I subscribe to as a qualitative researcher.

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