235 – Making a Counselling Business Plan

Introjected Values – Carl Jung’s Theories on Ego and Self

In Episode 235 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, your hosts Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly are back with this week’s three topics:

• Firstly in ‘Theory in Practice’, we look at introjected values.
• Then in ‘Practice Partner’, Rory and Ken discuss making a counselling business plan.
• And lastly in ‘Practice Matters’, Rory speaks with Dr. Jessica Bockler about Carl Gustav Jung’s theories on ego and self.

Introjected Values [starts at 02:40 mins]

We start today with Rory and Ken discussing introjected values, and how these may present themselves in the therapy room.

The key points of this discussion include:

• Introjected values are views we adopt from our caregivers and society.
• Some people struggle when they find themselves having a view through their own experience that opposes these values.
• Introjected views are unseen to the person who holds the value – to them, it is a ‘truth’.
• In therapy, you have to treat disarming these ‘truths’ carefully.
• A sign of introjected values may be that the client recognises that their beliefs are different from the values they know.
• When people ‘find themselves’ this is an example of recognising and stepping away from these introjected values in order to find your own.
• It is important to remember that these introjected values don’t exist solely within the client, they exist within us too.

Making a Counselling Business Plan [starts at 21:01 mins]

In a discussion that will be continued in next week’s podcast, Rory and Ken list a few things that you might want to think about when making a business plan for your counselling service.

The main aspects of this discussion include:

• A business plan is a layout of what your business will look like – complete with your motivations for starting your own private practice.
• Consider things like whereyour sessions will take place – will they take place in your home? Online? Will you rent a space or go to the clients’ house? What considerations are necessary due to this choice?
• Think about the cost of set up and what you might need e.g. comfy seating, stable internet, a work email, lockable filing cabinet, a clock, tissues, you may even consider a card reader.
• Consider accessibility to clients who may use a wheelchair or have other mobility issues.
• Part of making a counselling business plan is thinking about how you will advertise your business.
• Take into account costs to yourself (such as possible travel costs) when deciding how much you’ll charge.
• When making a counselling business plan, consider too whether you’ll set up as a sole trader or a limited company – research the differences and decide which is a better fit for you.

Carl Jung’s Theories on Ego and Self [starts at 40:47 mins]

In this week’s ‘Practice Matters’, Rory speaks with Dr. Jessica Bockler about the theories of Carl Gustav Jung including the collective unconscious and archetypes.

The key points of this discussion include:

• The collective unconscious is something primal and that we are unaware of.
• We embody archetypes that can be seen throughout history in art and literature – things like heroes, sages, rebels etc.
• When working with archetypes you will encounter what is called the shadow – this is a place where all the traits we’ve been told are bad about ourselves are kept e.g. maybe a young boy has been consistently told that boys don’t cry, and this will create an adult man who holds back from showing such emotion.
• We are able to see qualities in other people that we don’t like within ourselves (projection) – it takes looking within and taking ownership over these traits to fully explore this.
• Carl Gustav Jung also looked at dreams vs active imagination. He decided that dreams where the conscious mind is not in charge is good for free flowing engagement with deeper materials, but it is active imagination that is a more powerful route to engage with unconscious contents – you have more control to frame and challenge the ego.
• By beginning to write down your dreams your recall will improve, and you may begin to spot themes.

Links and Resources

Counselling Skills Academy

Advanced Certificate in Counselling Supervision

Basic Counselling Skills: A Student Guide

Counsellor CPD

Counselling Study Resource

Counselling Theory in Practice: A Student Guide

Counselling Tutor Shop

Facebook group

Website

Online and Telephone Counselling: A Practitioner’s Guide

Online and Telephone Counselling Course