09 Dec How A Therapist Can Help Your Business
7 Ways a Therapist Can Help Your Business
Are you curious as to how a therapsit can help your business? Business coach, management consultant, accountant…these are all traditional places to turn to if one is looking for help running or growing a business. However, a therapist might be is an alternative and perhaps even more powerful source of support. Here are seven reasons why.
Life Issues
Business owners are not immune from all the usual issues that come up in life – divorce, bereavement, relationship issues, anxiety and depression – but unlike many employed people, they often don’t have a team who can cover them, and do exactly what they do. They have to keep on going. This can have huge repercussions not only on their mental health, but also on the business. Stressed out business owners can make bad business decisions.
Dealing with difficult business relationships
Learning to manage staff can be a new skill for many entrepreneurs growing a business. As an employer, we can’t just fire someone if they remind us of the way our Dad used to criticise every idea we had, or we always find ourselves rubbing up against them in the wrong way. Indeed, these are perfect opportunities for self-development, and this is where a therapist can guide you through, helping you notice your own triggers and behaviours, and improving the way you communicate with others around you.
Stopping People Pleasing
Gardner comments that she has worked with many confident and able small business owners who crumble when it comes to saying “no” to clients. They regularly allow scope creep, and end up feeling resentful and exhausted, all because they are trapped in people pleasing behaviours. A psychotherapist can help you unpick these, and, more importantly, support you as you practice new and more assertive one.
Money Issues
A lack of confidence around money is common amongst many business owners, and this can show up as undervaluing themselves and their work, charging less than they should, feeling uncomfortable stating fees, and reluctant to chase what’s owed to them. Money work can help clients feel confident of their value, and practise new and more powerful behaviour and communication around money.
Dealing with Stress
Business can be hugely enjoyable, but it’s also hard. It can be intense during period of pitching or high growth, and humans are equipped to deal with that. However, if high levels of stress go on for too long, it can result in anxiety, sleep issues, problems with relaxing and switching off, physical issues like headaches, high blood pressure, digestive upsets and skin rashes, not to mention burnout. A good therapist can help you create a menu of tools and ways that you can deal with your stress.
Trauma
Many of us have buried trauma that can cause high levels of anxiety, phobias, OCD, or depression. They can also interfere with business too, dominating behaviours, and stopping us from thinking clearly. Psychotherapist Paula Gardner of Scarlet Thinking uses a technique called Rewind that is gentle, effective and often only needs 2-3 sessions to help dissipate the feelings of trauma, helping clients move forward. Trauma isn’t only the big events, but even things like badly handled redundancy in the past, or a relationship that seeped away at our confidence, can leave their mark.
Helping you with risk and decision making
We all have different attitudes to risk, and are often stuck in a rut with how we make decisions. However, many small business owners can find themselves held back by a fear of risk. Some wariness is good, but for those finding that it is impacting business growth, therapy can help them look at why, and support them in making changes.
Business Psychologist and psychotherapist Paula Gardner works with employers, business owners, and entrepreneurs. She supports them with handling issues that may be impacting their business, as well as adopting new behaviours to help them grow their business. With employee wellbeing so well recognised and catered for, Gardner is an advocate for employer wellbeing – supporting the one who supports everyone else. She offers in person and online therapy, coaching, and one day business owner retreats in Folkestone, Kent. Email Paula here, or book a call with Paula here.
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