Five Tips to Help You Write One Book a Year

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As an author having just submitted my sixth book to a publisher, I’m being asked the question of “what’s your process?” What makes it possible to write and launch one book a year, as I’ve done since 2019? Although there is no ‘one way’ to do it, I have learned a couple things that work for me and could work for others too!

Tip 1: Identify the gift your book gives others

Most of us start with a book idea. Perhaps it came to you at 4am or while talking to a close colleague. Maybe you realized from your client work that you have a message to share with a broader audience. Similar to a TEDx talk, asking yourself “what is the message worth spreading” can help you get clear on why you want to write this book in the first place. Identifying your gift also reinforces the bigger vision and audience of your book, which comes in handy as you decide to either self-publish or pitch your work to a publishing company.

As an example, let’s take a look at the ideas behind my books over the years:

1)    The Empowerment Model of Clinical Supervision (2019)-- introduced a new model of clinical supervision for mental health leaders.

2)    Perfectioneur: From Workaholic to Well-Balanced (2020) (English, Spanish, and Workbook)--offered 22 concrete tools to support driven professionals who struggle with self-care or burnout.

3)    Helpers with Hashimoto’s (2021)--explored an idea that professional helpers are more suspetible to thyroid conditions due to compassion fatigue, trauma, chronic stress, and the desire to help others at the risk of their own health.

4)    Estrangement Energy (2022, coming soon)—identified a clinical gap in representation of adult women who make the difficult choice to estrange from their mothers.

Tip 2: Create a book outline

I know, I know, this is reminiscent of high school English class where we groaned at the extra work of an outline. However, an outline helps you organize themes or concepts you want to highlight within your book by making them into chapters, allowing an easier flow to your writing. An outline serves as a roadmap to your writing process while taking readers on a journey with a cohesive beginning, middle and end.

Tip 3: Set a time to write, preferably daily

This can feel daunting but necessary. As a new mom in 2022, I knew if I didn’t carve out the time (after putting baby to bed) the book wouldn’t be written within the deadline that was set. Think about a 1-2 hour chunk of time at most. I gave myself weekend nights off to rest my brain, but felt it was important to at least revisit what I last wrote or complete a few sentences every night to keep a sense of momentum. Consider designating a place to write in order to condition your body to recognize that being in that space means it’s time to focus and get to work!

Tip 4: Embrace strategies for writer’s block

When feeling stuck in your writing, consider any of the following strategies:

1)    Revisit what you wrote and revise as desired. Sometimes just re-reading a section gives you a new idea or helps flush out a concept that previously had you feeling stuck.

2)    Brainstorm with a family member, friend or colleague to see what they’d want to know about your topic. This is immensely helpful in adding more content to your book or outline.

3)    Read other books on the subject to generate ideas and/or formulate possible new perspectives regarding their content. You may have a different spin or perspective to offer in your own book that is revealed by reading what others have to say.

4)    Pace as you brainstorm. The movement helps get creative juices flowing.

5)    Sleep on it and take notes if you wake up with a new idea, allowing yourself to capture the idea before resuming your sleep cycle.

Tip 5: Talk about your book

Just the act of talking about what you are writing can hold you accountable to getting the book done because sharing it with others keeps it fresh in your mind. Not only can talking about it keep you emotionally invested in your writing, it can help you identify a list of folks who want to know when the book is published because they’re excited to read it!

So there you have it! Five tips that have worked for me as a published author who averages one new book a year. Additionally, check out my on-demand self-paced course Professional & Published, which takes you through the process of writing, publishing, and marketing your first book. I hope these tips can help you on your journey to becoming a published author!

Seven Tips for Professionals Presenting at Conferences

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It’s almost conference season again! Perhaps you are pushing yourself to get out of your comfort zone with public speaking. Maybe you feel passionate about an idea you want to share with colleagues. Are you feeling ready to be seen as a subject expert in your field? Speaking at conferences can serve as a lead magnet for opportunities to provide additional consultation, invitations to present at other conferences and trainings, or result in requests to collaborate, such as writing a book or creating a paid training course. Therefore it is seen as a lucrative next step in your career if you are ready for it!

So what do you need to know to make a quality conference presentation? As someone who has completed dozens of professional speaking opportunities and presentations over the past six years, here are some tips to share that will leave you feeling invigorated at the end of your talk and will inspire people to connect with you after!

#1 Have Clear Learning Objectives

In order to get your talk or training topic approved by a conference, you’ll need to have clear learning objectives. What will people gain from your talk? What can they walk away with and implement right away? What is the gift you are giving that makes your talk worthwhile to attend? Conference organizers are looking for talks of value to their target audience and want something that stands out.

#2 Take Your Audience on a Journey

A quality talk is about taking audience members on a journey. The best talks are full of story, charisma, energy, and fun anecdotes that participants will remember long after the talk is finished. What are the key points you are trying to make and what’s the golden threat that ties them all together in a seamless fashion? Does it feel like there’s a beginning, middle, and end to your talk? Is there imagery that audience members can embrace?

#3 Limit your Slides

I know, I know, slides help us feel like we are prepared and giving tons of quality content to our audience. Yet we know that slides can be overwhelming and distracting if there is too much to them. The current advice of public speaking experts is to limit your slides to 23 words or less. And to limit the amount of slides overall. Better yet, use images rather than words to prompt you to remember what you wanted to talk about. It will keep people focused on what you say rather than reading slide after slide.

#4 Embrace Acronyms

In addition to stories, folks love acronyms or clever ways to remember your content. What can you offer that is unique to your topic? Not only will this have audience members recalling your ideas and sharing it easily with others, the creative content you develop becomes your intellectual property to copyright and use in social media, workbooks, and more!

#4 Pick a Power Pose

Your talk has been accepted and you are getting ready to go out there and engage your audience. Pick a power pose to ground yourself and boost your confidence. In my experience, not only does this help you drop into your body instead of your head where all your anxiety lives, it helps you regain deeper belly breath. Being able to breathe deeply helps you sound confident and project your voice to audience members at the back of the room with ease.

#5 Find the Happy Person

It’s all too easy to focus on the grumpy person in the room at your talk and attempt to win them over. How can you miss them, they are frowning, have their arms crossed, or look bored in your presence. Don’t fall into this trap! Instead, find the happy, enthusiastic person in the room and continue to talk to them with enthusiasm. The happy person is the one smiling, nodding in agreement, and seems interested in what you have to say. By focusing on them, you will keep your positive energy up, rather than having it be depleted by the skeptical folks in the room.

#6 End with a Call to Action

As your talk begins to wrap up, be sure to end on an empowering note by encouraging your audience members to do something meaningful with the information you just presented. Perhaps your call to action is to have them share what they learned with one colleague. Or to try this new skill with a client this week. Or to download your handout so they have all the resources they need handy. By ending with a call to action, your talk ends on a high note, rather than the typical Q&A that can deflate your energy and cause people to want to leave early.

#7 Start and End on Time

A true indicator of a prepared professional is to respect the time and space you’ve been allotted by conference organizers. To start or end late is a sign of disrespect to audience members who may need the break between presentations, or could negatively impact the professional who comes after you who needs to set up for their talk in the space. Time your talk accordingly for questions while holding a boundary of ending on time. Folks who have additional questions will most likely approach you after to keep the conversation going if need be.

So there you have it! Seven tips to get you started on your professional conference journey! If you find yourself wanting additional support when crafting your talk, consider a professional consultation with a public speaking coach or colleague who has demonstrated success in these spaces. I am happy to be a resource to you for this purpose. If you are ready to craft an impactful, energizing conference presentation, I invite you to schedule a professional consultation with me here.

Cathartic Response to Anxiety Overload

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How familiar are you with your body’s response to anxiety? Perhaps you already know the symptoms of how your body shows you that you’re feeling anxious. Symptoms like elevated heart rate, sweaty palms, flushed face, clammy skin, muscle tension, tension headaches, shallow breathing, uncontrolled worry, rumination, and more. Mild anxiety can serve as a motivator to ease our discomfort by spurring us into action. But what about when it becomes unbearable? An anxiety attack. An 8 our of 10 on the discomfort scale?  As humans, we can only sustain this level of discomfort for so long. Our bodies want to express or expel the discomfort to get back to our baseline of functioning, most easily accessed through cathartic release. Let’s take a look at some predictable choices the body has for cathartic release to return to baseline.

1.     Crying. Although clients may feel apologetic or uncomfortable with their own tears, it’s not uncommon for them to report feeling better or at least more neutral after a really good cry. This cathartic release is a common option their body chooses when feeling high levels of anxiety, with or without their consent. As therapists, we can support them in identifying safe spaces for crying if they feel uncomfortable with the expression or have a childhood chalked full of messages saying they shouldn’t cry. Therapeutically, crying can be a healthy outlet for anxiety.

2.     Screaming. Have you heard of scream therapy? Children have been encouraged to scream to regulate their little bodies. Adults may embrace this outlet on rollercoasters or a well-insulated car or soft pillow. As another expression of expelling strong emotions, it can be effective under the right conditions.

3.     Orgasm. Underrated yet effective! This is a more challenging cathartic release because of the blocks to libido and sexual arousal that can occur in states of high anxiety, especially in women. Yet the benefits of orgasm have been documented, including relaxation, more youthful appearance, and of course, stress relief!

4.     Comfort in Food. Have you noticed times where you are feeling stressed or anxious and crave comfort food? This is the body’s response to elevated cortisol levels, also known as stress hormones. When cortisol levels spike, we crave fatty or sugary foods. Seeking foods we enjoy can also be an emotional response to stress, such as seeking dopamine, the “feel good” hormone to feel happier or using food to fill the void of needs that remain unmet.

5.     Exercise/Movement. This is a cathartic release that is often found low on our coping list because of the assumption that we need to go to a gym to exercise. However, exercise is all about movement which increases oxygen intake and blood flow, both of which help us feel less anxious. Imagine being able to trick your brain from recognizing an elevated heart rate as an anxiety attack to an elevated heart rate due to movement or exercise? Not only does working our muscles give us some relief, the pleasant sensation of tired muscles or a loose, jelly-like feeling to our limbs after intentional exercise can be an enjoyable sensation after the discomfort of anxiety. Movement also serves to increase our breath, which can be a strategic response to anxiety which tends to make our breathing shallow and strained at our lungs instead of deep, restorative breaths at our belly.

Now that you’ve explored five possible cathartic release options to strong emotions including anxiety, which are you most likely to choose? Is there one outlet you’ve forgotten that deserves some experimentation to see how it works for you? As you can imagine, not all of these cathartic release tools are options depending on being in the community versus being at home. Yet in the therapy space, these outlets are seen as tools that can serve as homework to try, gathering data on what works best for your body in response to elevated anxiety you want to shift.

Some Workaholism Wins in Motherhood

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Let me be clear, workaholism is not the goal. In fact, workaholism was the reason for my professional burnout in 2016-2018 and very nearly a second round in 2020 in response to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Yet as I continue to reflect on how things have changed for me as a new mom with a now five month old, I find myself grateful for some of things that workaholism has taught me. Although stressful, painful and bad for my health, in some ways I feel workaholism prepared me for the challenges of being a mom! Here’s what I mean:

1)    Waking at 3am: Whether I found myself wide awake at 3am with a new creative, entrepreneurial idea or waking up at 3am to feed the baby, I’ve found that it hasn’t been nearly as painful to be awake at this early hour. It’s almost like my creative wakings were a rehearsal for the important job of handling odd hours as a mom.

2)    Embracing Flexibility: As a Type-A person, flexibility isn’t always my strong suit. But being an entrepreneur has taught me to be flexible, changing up routines and pivoting to add projects and ideas to keep my brain engaged. This same flexibility is something I had to call upon as a new mom who was learning her daughter’s wants and needs. Planned a lunch but the baby tells me it’s time to go home? I go! Wanted to watch a movie and got interrupted? We try again another time. Hoping to get some work done but she wakes early from her nap. We pivot! Flexibility is a must in motherhood.

3)    Setting up Systems: Workaholism for many is about fitting in lots of work projects and thinking about work 24/7. Although I don’t recommend this level of hustle for anyone, the constant mental energy directed towards my business led me to discover systems and tools to keep things running smoothly. Why does this matter? When on maternity leave, this allowed me the privilege of taking quality time with my baby and still having my business running, mostly without me. Without systems in place, this would have been a lot more stressful to manage on minimal hours of sleep.

On the flip side, what has motherhood taught me about workaholism?

4)    Downtime is Good: Taking time to rest, cuddle my baby, and take a nap are all good for creativity. It’s important to be bored and let our minds wander once in awhile. I felt my creativity coming back on maternity leave about halfway through and attribute it to downtime where the baby was sleeping on me and there was no work I wanted to do or could do. Enter new ideas and goals for the future!

5)    Work-Life Balance is Better: We all strive for work-life balance but how do we know if we’ve achieved it? I’ve been pleasantly surprised at my shift from working all the time to working enough to meet my business needs and nothing more. This allows me to have quality time with my baby while not adding too much financial stress. I couldn’t do this for myself in my burnout, but it’s been easy to do when thinking about how much I want to be there for my daughter.

6)    It’s a Different Flavor: Don’t get me wrong, like most moms, I don’t get the luxury of sitting around and doing nothing in working less hours with clients. The demanding work hours are still present, just a different flavor. It’s a flavor composed of meeting an infant’s needs and attempting to still get other functioning things done like laundry and emails. I’ve added to my stress plate in some ways, and taken away from it in others. It’s a balancing act that’s constantly evolving as my daughter grows.

Can you relate? Just a few musings on workaholism and motherhood. Although I don’t wish workaholism on anyone, I have found gratitude in my experience, including being thankful for the things it has taught me at this stage in my life. What has workaholism taught you? You too may find yourself pleasantly surprised at the unexpected gifts it reveals!

Stopping the Steamroll

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We’ve all been there. Talking down to ourselves, allowing our inner critic to drive, or letting imposter syndrome win. I felt all that and more as my baby cried for an agonizing sixty minutes. I’d gone through the new parent checklist. Hungry? No. Wet? Nope. Tired? Not really. Too hot? Maybe? It was another 6pm witching hour and I felt helpless as she cried. A helplessness that was made worse by my inability to fix things when I usually feel somewhat capable.

Motherhood is different. Thankfully my daughter tired herself out and reset her little body through a nap in the soothing vibrations of her bouncy chair (thank goodness). The sudden absence of scream-crying allowed me to reset too, which had me wondering if the same strategies I’ve used with driven professionals could help me reset after a challenging time with an infant.

Such as how do we stop the steamroll? I originally described stopping the steamroll related to productivity, workaholism, and desires for control in my book Perfectioneur: From Workaholic to Well-Balanced. I highlighted how driven professionals may steamroll over internal and external warning signs of poor work-life balance and burnout or even steamroll over others for a sense of control. But what about when the steamroll happens in our own heads? The negative thought spiral that says we’re stupid, horrible, or not good enough? I knew I needed to revisit my strategies to stop the steamroll after the difficult evening with my 2-month-old. Let’s look at “the Four R’s” together.

Strategy #1: Rest

I found myself sitting in the quiet after her witching hour. I could have distracted myself with food, chores, or my phone. But instead I allowed myself to take a few breaths and just notice what my body and mind were doing. My body was trying to bring my shoulders down from around my ears. My mind was trying to find an explanation for why my daughter struggled this evening. For you, rest may be sitting still, gentle walking, or intentional stretching in a quiet place. After so much stimulation, I welcomed the cool and quiet of my room to finally rest as my baby slept. Bringing the body to rest allows us to start the reset process.

Strategy #2: Reframe

The more I talk with other parents, the more I realize I’m not alone in having a baby who fusses sometimes. To have the witching hour confirmed as something other parents experience was immensely affirming. Now that we were out of the most current witching hour episode, I knew I wanted to reframe the situation to avoid setting up camp with my inner critic. After all, she’s pretty harsh. So instead of allowing my critic to repeat how inept of a parent I am, I reframed the situation as another learning experience. Statements like, ‘I’m still learning about my daughter, she’ll 11 weeks old. I can do this. She’s safe, I’m safe.’  What reframes do you need in the face of stress?

Strategy #3: Reinforce

Once I reframed the situation, I wanted to put energy towards the more positive statements. I wanted to reinforce the good over the bad. Reinforcing can happen through bilateral tapping or mindful walking. It could be sharing your experience with others and practicing the reframe out loud. I found myself turning to fellow mothers who understand the difficulties of a baby’s witching hour and shared my reframes with them. Not only did this help me feel connected, the reinforcement allowed me to access gratitude and self-compassion in a tough situation.

Strategy #4: Restore

The last piece of the stopping the steamroll puzzle is to restore. To get back to square one. What energizes, invigorates, and restores you? In my motherhood example, restoring meant bonding with my daughter and engaging in pleasant activities to remove the spotlight on challenging moments. It meant cuddling and walks together in the sunshine. It meant finding reasons to laugh instead of cry. It meant making new memories and getting some sleep.

Whatever your stressor, know that steamrolling doesn’t have to be your first response. We can stop the steamroll and quiet our inner critics together. The four R’s helped me find more laughs than tears in motherhood. The same could apply to other stressors in your life. It’s not perfect, but I’m right there alongside you! We are doing our best and that’s enough.

Dear Workaholic Mothers

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I see you. Motherhood is a different flavor of workaholism. It caught me by surprise. It’s a workaholism where society normalizes sleep deprivation, never having time to yourself, constantly being touched, and being overwhelmed by tasks. It’s made lighter by saying you are successful if you get to brush your teeth and take a shower each day. Knowing these things, I did my best to prepare for a significant change, however the lived experience of motherhood has brought some new perspective.

Perspective that came to me in a flood of tears. I was attempting to watch a movie with my spouse on a Sunday together when my mood tanked. As a therapist, of course I wanted to know why. As I sat with the heavy emotions, I recognized the feelings as familiar to my worst workaholic days. The feelings–and the thoughts that went with them–were all themed around not having enough time. Not enough time as a mother, time with my spouse, time to create as an entrepreneur, time to relax, and the list goes on. I found myself back in neuroticism about tracking time. When did my daughter last eat? What time do we need to get ready for bed? Do I have time for a nap? Can I find time for that phone call? What time will her witching hour start? Can I run that last errand before she loses it? 

Having to track time as a mom has triggered the unpleasant, familiar feeling of scarcity. Time scarcity. Which is wrapped up in a workaholism response for me and other driven individuals. Now the tears make sense! If I believe I have no time, would I feel forced to forgo quality time to work? Skip a much needed nap to create? Cram in a task out of a sense of urgency? Fixate on all the things I haven’t done in the day? This was new territory for me as someone who embraces structure in her day-to-day life, including nine wonderful hours of sleep a night and carving out time for writing and creativity each week. Alas, a baby doesn’t subscribe to that schedule. 

Luckily, I have a loving spouse who wishes to remain an involved parent and partner. So we started talking about the tears and what they represented, allowing me to gain even further clarity on how workaholic women can make motherhood work for them rather than our knee-jerk reaction to cram it all in.

Motherhood can be manageable if:

• You aren’t isolated – The isolation of being alone with your child all day, every day is intimidating at first. Can isolation make postpartum anxiety and depression worse? Yes. How can you get out a couple times a week, like sitting outside, a walk around the neighborhood, or a drive where your baby can sleep?

• You have help – Becoming a mom has given me an additional dose of respect for single parents. This job is hard! I’m grateful to have a support system that includes my spouse and family who love to spend time with my daughter. Who is in your support network? Embrace times where baby can be held or watched by others to allow moments of productivity, creating a welcomed mood boost for workaholics.

• You focus on routines instead of schedules – Babies are constantly changing which means they don’t stick to a schedule, no matter how hard a workaholic mom tries. I, myself have learned to embrace routine over schedule. The routine might be to change a diaper, bathe my baby, and then feed my baby, but the timing of that is really dependent on her needs rather than the time on the clock each day.

• You try to be flexible – This is a big ask for workaholics as we want to control everything! So flexibility might be being gentle with yourself when you’re running late, have to reschedule plans, or need to cancel a meeting for a nap that keeps you functioning.

• You know your limits – Yes, even workaholics have limits. We want to cram it all in, even in motherhood. So what are your warning signs that you’ve overdone it? Do you find yourself more irritable? Clumsy? Fatigued? Take these cues into account as you plan your weeks so you can adjust accordingly.

• You watch for the witching hour – Did you know your baby has a witching hour? I didn’t until I experienced it several days in a row at 6PM. After a day of stimulation where everything is new to your baby, they may just decide they’ve had enough at the end of the day. And by enough, I mean they lose it including crying, screaming, and being inconsolable at times. This is extremely tough when you too are tired and fatigued at the end of the day. To feel more prepared, I’ve announced to friends and family that we have to be home by 6PM from any event or gathering, at least for now. You too can set limits on socializing to be home for those routines that regulate your baby during the witching hour, such as limited sounds, smells and the dark and quiet of their room.

As a new mom, I know this is just the beginning of what I can only imagine is a steep learning curve. Yet I hope these thoughts will help other workaholics (or recovering workaholics) embrace motherhood from a place of wonder and curiosity. It’s an opportunity to stretch out of our comfort zones for the better. As driven individuals we can frame it as a challenge that helps us move into better work-life balance, if not for ourselves, then for our children. 

Challenge accepted.

Satisfactory Self-Disclosure

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For many in mental health, self-disclosure is a point of disagreement. Do we self-disclose? Does self-disclosure make it more about us than our clients? Can it get us in trouble? I know my graduate program in counseling urged caution about self-disclosing for a variety of reasons, which were again reinforced by my first job in juvenile corrections. Messages were shared like, protect yourself! Listen, don’t talk! Disclosing could invalidate a client’s experience! Don’t do it! And so on.

Therefore it took me several years to see the value of self-disclosure in connecting with clients at a deeper level in their therapeutic work. For example, watching the disclosure help them relax, knowing they weren’t alone. Seeing them take a deep breath to know it isn’t just them. Having clients report they feel seen in receiving reassurance or validation. Witnessing these meaningful shifts, I can now admit I’m a fan of self-disclosure, within reason of course. There’s a time and place for self-disclosure that feels satisfactory to both us as providers and to our clients. Let’s take a look at some of the suggested structure of self-disclosure and how it can be beneficial in client work.

#1 Keep It Short

Keeping self-disclosure condensed to one or two sentences keeps us from oversharing.

Example: “Yes, I’ve experienced anxiety too.”

#2 Focus on Your Client

By holding the focus on your client, you avoid making the session feel more about you than them.

Example: “I’m curious, with my sharing of having experienced depression before, what does that mean to you and the work we can do together?”

#3 Identify the Purpose of Self-Disclosure

Before you decide to disclose, slow down to ask yourself what the purpose of the disclosure is. Is it to build rapport? Provider reassurance? Validate or normalize? These are worthwhile reasons to self-disclose, as opposed to feeling like we have an agenda, a point to prove, or we are oversharing with no therapeutic direction to go.

Example: “In working with other clients with social anxiety, they found being able to talk about it brought them some comfort. How is it for you?”

#4 Check in

Once you’ve self-disclosed, check in on how it landed for the client. Notice any shifts in their face or body language that would indicate their current level of comfort. Recognize if they shift to caregiving you or keeping the focus on your experience instead of their own. Ask them outright if the self-disclosure was okay with them.

It’s also important to see how the self-disclosure landed for you. Did it feel natural? Worthwhile? Did you find yourself worrying that you shared too much? Perhaps you recognize that you self-disclose with this client more than others in liking them or seeing them more like a friend. These are important elements to notice and track through supervision and consultation to maintain a healthy therapeutic relationship.

Self-disclosure can enrich your therapeutic work when embraced and applied thoughtfully. It can help a client open up, build trust, or show up more authentically in session. It can also isolate or discount a client’s experience when used too liberally or when it comes out in a way that minimizes their experience. Therefore I hope these tips can help you identify the sweet spot for self-disclosure in your own work, embracing it when it feels right and holding boundaries to keep the focus on your client and their growth as the top priority in therapy.

Setting Up Services: Supervision versus Consultation

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When thinking about services you want to offer in your business, it’s not unusual to explore offering both consultation and supervision as part of your mental health leadership. In fact, it’s a common question I get when supporting fellow supervisors and leaders who are building their brands as professionals. So let’s take a look at the opportunities and differences between consultation and supervision as you consider offering these valuable services in your work with others.

Clinical Supervision can be defined as a licensed mental health professional supervising an unlicensed or candidate mental health professional in their therapeutic work as they pursue licensure. Some things to note:

·      Supervision must be scheduled regularly per your licensing board

·      Supervision requires contract of expectations for both supervisor and supervisee

·      Supervision comes with liability for the licensed professional taking on an unlicensed professional until they achieve their own licensure

Professional Consultation can be defined as a written and/or verbal agreement to provide insight, suggestions, and resources to a colleague who is paying for your expertise. Some things to note:

·      Consultation can be scheduled as a one-and-done or as needed basis

·      Instead of a contract, there is a written agreement about the parameters of consultation including fees, duration, and specialities the consultant can speak to.

·      Consultation, as a professional service, has reduced liability similar to paying for a product. The consumer—in this case a colleague—agrees to a fee for your knowledge and expertise to support their goals.

So how can this look different when a fellow mental health professional outreaches you?

Consultation requests may sound like:

·      Can I pick your brain about building a group private practice?

·      Can I schedule consultation with you on a client’s OCD presentation and next steps?

·      Can we find a time to talk about suicide prevention resources in Colorado?

·      I’d like to staff a case with a recent DV incident, how do I schedule with you?

Supervision requests may sound like:

·      I’m seeking a supervisor who specializes in EMDR and Play Therapy

·      I’m looking for a supervisor who can support my clinical work outside of my agency that offers admin supervision only

·      I’m searching for a LAC supervisor to sign off on my hours

·      I’ve recently graduated and am seeking a supervisor as a I start private practice

Although an evaluation of appropriateness of supervision vs. consultation is encouraged at every outreach, knowing the context of what you can offer is a valuable first step when receiving an inquiry from your community. I hope this brief exploration of the differences in what you offer under each umbrella can help you in setting up your services with confidence!

Six Tips for Your TEDx

Khara completed her first TEDx Talk The Burden of Busyness with TEDxCherryCreekWomen December 4th 2021.

So you are interested in applying for a TEDx talk? I know it was a professional goal for myself over these past few years and man has it been a journey! Check out this video conversation I have with two close colleagues about WHY we’ve decided to apply to a TEDx talk. Want to know more of my TEDx story? Check out the before and after blogs from my talk with TEDxCherryCreekWomen!

If you know a TEDx is for you and you have an idea worth spreading, here are some valuable tips I learned along the way.

Tip #1 Know Which TEDx Talks are Accepting Applications

Did you know there’s a whole directory available for upcoming TEDx talks? You can sort by location, month, and by type of TEDx (virtual or in person) in order to apply to several talks per month if you like!

Tip #2 Customize Your Content to the TEDx Theme

TEDx talks are independently organized of TED and get to select their own themes each year. Check out each TEDx website to learn more about their theme in order to craft you application in ways that compliment that theme. For example, if their theme is innovation, how is your idea supportive of innovation in order to be considered a viable candidate for their stage?

Tip #3 Follow the Application Rules

This one may feel silly to have to emphasize but if the TEDx you are applying to has certain rules about the length of your application such as word limits or 30 seconds for a video submission, follow these! If you don’t, you may be automatically eliminated from the pool of applicants for not following instructions.

Tip #4 Have a Hook

Once you receive your exciting news of acceptance, it’s time to start crafting your talk! With the average TEDx talk being between 8 and 12 minutes, this can feel especially challenging. Having a hook starts your talk off on the right foot by engaging your audience. Examples of hooks could be a statistic, a question for the audience, or a rhetorical question that gets them thinking and relating to you from the beginning.

Tip #5 Craft a Call to Action

As your talk comes together, be sure to have a call to action at the end. What is the one thing you want your audience to do after your talk? Do you want them to do a task? Share what they learned with others? Try something at home? A call to action keeps the inspiration and motivation flowing for your audience long after you leave the stage!

Tip #6 Candy Land over Memorization

What does Candy Land have to do with TEDx? It was the way I was taught to craft a talk without memorization. Imagine you are taking your audience on a journey. There are colored squares that represent transitions or emphasis of certain points within your talk while allowing it to flow. This visualization feels different to me than memorization that would keep a talk feeling robotic. I know this idea may push you out of your comfort zone for many reasons but this may be the best advice I was given to show up authentically on stage!

So there you have it! Six tips for your TEDx! I hope they help you on your journey to a life changing moment on stage!

Check out Khara’s TEDx talk The Burden of Buysness

What You Need to Know When Offering CEs to Counselors

I want to offer Continued Education Credits (CEs) to mental health counselors. What are my options?

It’s a question I’ve received more often lately by Colorado professionals. I’ll preface my answer by sharing that each State and designation (LPC, PsyD, LCSW, etc.) is different. Please do the research for your state and designation or consider credentialing at the National level. When approached with this inquiry by the community, I ask the following questions to better understand their goals:

Why Offer CEs as a Professional?

Perhaps you have the goal of creating secondary income streams. Maybe you feel passionately about the content you’ve created. Whatever the reason, CEs allow professionals to enhance their leadership and public speaking skills, not to mention open doors to new opportunities, including paid speaking gigs, podcast interviews to enhance exposure to your brand and services, program partnerships, and project collaboration!

What is Your Content Area?

The first thing to consider is your content. Is your training content specific to mental health competencies like group work, clinical supervision, or a theory or modality? If so, you may be eligible to apply for a national CE provider designation.

If your content is more closely connected to business aspects such as marketing, private practice growth, and secondary income streams, these areas are still valuable to share with the community, but cannot be branded as CE opportunities due to them not meeting the traditional definition of continued education credits.

Do You Want to Offer In-Person or Online Events?

This is a logistics question that will help narrow down your application options. Some organizations are only approved to do live or in-person events. Others have permission to offer webinars and on-demand content. Consider what is most important to you. Do you like the feeling of being in front of others speaking? Would you rather develop an on-demand course people can take at their own pace? Take some time to consider the possibilities before answering the remaining questions below.

What is Your Mental Health Background?

It’s easiest to apply to offer CEs through your own professional affiliation, such as through NBCC (counselors), NASW (social workers), APA (psychologists), NAADAC (addiction professionals), etc. Visit their website to learn more about their application process.

Who is Your Audience?

Is your hope to serve fellow mental health professionals in your state? Or reach further? In Colorado, CEs can be developed for counseling professionals statewide with the following structure in mind:

A. A sign-in sheet recording participants in attendance

B. Provide a certificate of attendance/participation that outlines the following:

            I. Title of Event

II. Contact information for the Faciliator including Name, Credentials, Address, and Phone

            III. Duration of the event in CEs, with one CE equal to one contact hour

            IV. Identifying if the event was live (in-person) or virtual

In other words, Colorado is pretty easy for folks to offer CEs. Other states may not embrace this same structure in having their own rules and parameters of what can be branded as CEs, so be careful to confirm what’s allowed based on where your audience is located. This also becomes important in marketing your course or content accurately.

What’s Your Timeline?

Many people are motivated to develop and launch a CE opportunity in a matter of weeks. That may be possible for Colorado, but for offering CEs in other states and/or at a national level, be prepared for the process to take six months to a year!

For example, to become an Approved Continued Education Provider (ACEP) through the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC)—which means offering CEs for counselors nationwide—the application requires several examples of the workshop or training already being offered, with sign-up sheets and evaluations from participants submitted with your application. This means that for many, test driving your content with a local audience to get the feedback you need to apply is necessary.

What if You Don’t Have the Time or Bandwidth for this Process but Still Want to Offer CEs?

Consider partnering with an established CE provider who has permission to develop coursework with partners in the community. This usually means bigger organizations like community mental health agencies, treatment centers, mental health hospitals, conferences, and training centers.

I’d like to personally give a shout out to the following organizations that provided a professional platform for my workshops before I became an ACEP Provider, who made the process easy to reach fellow clinicians around quality content:

A. Harmony Foundation, Inc.

B. Sandstone Care

C. Continued.com

D. Highlands Behavioral Health

Organizations are always looking for additional speakers or presenters to offer new CE content. By researching organizations in your area that offer CEs, you can pitch your idea to them and work to get on their CE event schedule.

So there you have it! Although there may be some lingering questions about offering CEs, these elements are worth reflecting upon when identifying your ideal path for trainings or workshops offered to the mental health professional community at large. I encourage you to continue to track the requirements in your state and designation for ongoing changes and prepare for the long haul when starting the application process. I can assure you it will be worth the effort if you feel passionately about your content being connected to more professionals!