Imposter Syndrome for Therapists - Why You Still Doubt Yourself
Have you ever wondered whether you're actually as good at what you do as your clients seem to think you are?
Imposter syndrome can affect more than how you feel about your work. It can also influence the decisions you make about your therapy business.
Perhaps you've been a therapist for years. You've trained, gained experience and helped plenty of people, yet there's still a little voice saying:
“Who am I to call myself an expert?”
Or you see another therapist confidently talking about their work online and immediately wonder whether they know far more than you do.
If that sounds familiar, you may be experiencing imposter syndrome and imposter syndrome for therapists doesn't just affect how we feel about ourselves. It can quietly affect the way we run our businesses too.
Prefer to watch?
In this week's video, I talk about why therapists can experience imposter syndrome and how we can start trusting our own knowledge and experience a little more.
Why do experienced therapists still doubt themselves?
Therapists tend to care deeply about doing a good job. We work with real people, and we take that responsibility seriously., but that can sometimes leave us focusing on what we don't know rather than everything we do.
The more experienced we become, the more aware we can actually become of how much there still is to learn, and that's when the doubts can creep in.
You might think you need another qualification before you're ready.
You might worry that another therapist knows more than you.
Or you might dismiss years of experience because it now feels ordinary to you.
Imposter syndrome for therapists - how it can affect your therapy business
Self-doubt can show up in all sorts of business decisions.
You might:
keep your prices too low because you don't feel justified charging more
avoid talking about your expertise
endlessly edit social media posts because you're worried about getting something wrong
hide behind your business instead of allowing potential clients to get to know you
take yet another course because you think one more qualification will finally make you feel ready
The problem is that confidence doesn't necessarily arrive when you gain another certificate, sometimes we need to start recognising the expertise we already have.
You probably know more than you think
When you've been doing something for a long time, it's very easy to underestimate your own knowledge.
Think about the questions clients ask you that you can answer without much thought.
Think about the things you notice during an appointment because you've seen them many times before.
Think about the lovely feedback you've received or the people you've helped over the years.
What feels obvious to you isn't necessarily obvious to your clients.
Your expertise isn't just the qualifications you've collected. It's everything you've learned through actually doing the work.
Confidence can be quiet
Confidence doesn't mean you suddenly have to become louder, more outgoing or start proclaiming yourself to be the world's leading expert.
You don't have to become someone else to run a successful therapy business.
Sometimes confidence is simply being able to say:
“I know I'm good at what I do.”
You can still have things to learn, you can still occasionally doubt yourself, and you can still be very good at your job.
Take one small step
Instead of waiting until you magically feel completely confident, ask yourself:
What would I do differently this week if I trusted myself just a little bit more?
Perhaps you'd publish the post you've been worrying about.
Maybe you'd talk more confidently about your service.
Perhaps you'd stop apologising for your prices.
Choose one small step and take it, because confidence often doesn't come before we do something, it grows because we did it.
Is your inner critic getting rather noisy?
I've created a Quiet Your Inner Critic workbook to help you recognise some of those unhelpful thoughts and start looking at them differently.
I'm Sue Jaycock, The Holistic Growth Coach. I help holistic, complementary and wellbeing therapists build practical, sustainable businesses that work for them.
If you would like help making your marketing clearer and finding a way to promote your business that feels natural to you, you can book a free half-hour chat with me. We can talk about what is happening in your business and begin identifying the adjustments that could make it feel clearer, calmer and more sustainable.
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