What is the formula for success, where does professional burnout come from, and how much does high-quality psychotherapeutic assistance cost?
In my 20 years of work in this field, I have seen many different ways for my colleagues to develop. I often asked myself the question — where do the hopes that many of us give at the beginning go? Why are the glowing eyes of beginners not always replaced by the confident look of a super pro, and often just go out? A capacious term is in the air — professional burnout. It can happen to anyone. With a teacher, with a journalist, but with anyone. But how does this happen to people of our profession, because our working tool is our soul! It is with the soul that we treat the souls of patients, and the instrument must be in working order! Not to mention all the extensive knowledge and techniques in our arsenal — just to maintain mental health and tone! And if any specialist who is professionally burnt out does not work so inspired and effortlessly, then a burnt out psychotherapist simply has nothing to do in the profession, I think. To the doctor, he healed himself, as it is said in the Gospel!
It is best, of course, not to go to such extremes. Well, if you already notice its symptoms, you urgently need to reconsider the fundamental professional truths. For example, the formula for the success of quality psychotherapeutic care.
As you know, this is the desire of the patient, multiplied by the time and payment for the work of a psychotherapist. It would never occur to anyone to argue with the fact that if the patient does not want you to help him, then there is nothing to try. The unwillingness of the patient is the first contraindication to psychotherapeutic assistance. Everyone understands that the patient must allocate a sufficient amount of time to work with you and in the future independently (according to your recommendations). And with the fact that your work costs money — you will not argue either. But just in many cases, this is the answer. Money — yes. But what? How much does your help cost? How much is customer trust worth? Is he serious about your method, your recommendations? How much is your personal comfort worth, your opportunity to study new approaches and methods, travel, meet colleagues, communicate at the level of scientific communities?
Many answer — there is an average market value. Yes, but what is the place in this market — your professionalism and your level of assistance?
I thought about it a lot, discussed it with colleagues, with clients. And now I am ready to share with you my own vision.
Yes, I believe that money is one of the causes of «extinct eyes». Namely, that you don’t get enough of them for your work. This money is not enough for you. You do not have the opportunity to adequately grow professionally. And you don’t get adequate returns from your work. First, your work is underestimated. Secondly, there are no big results. Because patients, even on a subconscious level, do not take you seriously enough, and your help, and all your recipes for overcoming the crisis, they devalue your work for themselves. In my opinion, a person must pay money that is significant to him in order to achieve a real high-quality result. Only then will he work out this amount himself, invest in work, in your joint work with him on his problem. Only then will the result be valuable to him.
The only adequate measure of your value as a specialist is your experience. Its quantity (how many years you have been in the profession) and quality (what have you achieved as a professional, what are your results in working with clients). Of course, the higher the experience, the higher should be the payment for your work of your professional time.
We all once were starting. We willingly invested to the maximum in each client. We tried to decompose his problem into atoms, to understand it thoroughly. We sympathized with the patient, empathized with him (although we were taught that we should not worry). And our eyes burned — remember? And clients came to us with nervous breakdowns, with stress, with neuroses. with acute cases. They were waiting for us to help them — and we helped. Because we had knowledge, and although there were still few skills, they were more than compensated by young energy. And we didn’t expect to be paid a lot. And we were grateful when the client laid out the amount more than we expected. We were beginners – and our help, of course, cost below the average market value. And it’s not about the money at this stage. We have been gaining experience, approaches, professional connections and a client base! We learned to build relationships with the client, work with him. It was a school. Three to five years of work in this mode, big, deep work — and a beginner becomes a professional.
Five years — this is the level. Of course, if all this time you gave all the best. If you constantly developed, if each client became a new horizon for you — and you reached it. And it has already become a common thing — every time to open new horizons and reach them in a short time, so that new and new ones open … You already have a trained eye, professional acumen. You can already tell the client in a few capacious phrases what and how he should change in his life. You have your own style, you have your own clients – many of them are with you from the very beginning. They have become more successful and solvent with your help — and now they pay you much more. Above the average market value of the work of a psychotherapist. After all, you are a professional.
But you don’t stop there. Quantity turns into quality, and in 10 years you already have your own niche in the market, and you are one of the best in this niche. There are author’s methods, unique, effective. You are ready to share your experience with colleagues. Many at this stage go to teach, give lectures, open their own methodological centers. And customers are ready to lay out huge amounts, significantly exceeding the notorious average market value. Why? Because a super professional can not only calm the client and relieve stress. His mission is to teach a person to consciously manage his own destiny. Change your life for the better. Attract the most positive events into it. To recover from addictions and all forms of lack of freedom and become a completely harmonious, self-sufficient, healthy person. To be wealthy both in personal life and in society, without exaggeration to take fate into your own hands.
I have never seen professional burnout among those who have consistently gone through these stages of growth. But I saw, unfortunately, how encyclopedically educated people with decades of practice behind them cannot help the patient. Why? Because they don’t have energy. And accordingly — there are no desired results. Desired by both the client and the specialist himself, of course. Why is there no energy? Because there is no growth. Growth is not only measured by the amount of knowledge. It is measured by the level of results achieved. Why is there no growth? Yes, because the cost of consulting an experienced doctor is equal to the amount that is not a pity to drop on the road. How much will the patient appreciate his help? Yes, at the level of consciousness, he will certainly accept everything with gratitude. But we know, colleagues, what will guide his actions further. He will listen, try — it will not work right away — he will go to another doctor, to a third … And everywhere there will be such a result. That is, none. But if he paid a significant amount for him for a consultation, he would be imbued with the need to complete the work begun. And I would get results. So it turns out, dear colleagues, that by mercifully underestimating the cost of our consultations, we are doing a disservice to the client! He will throw his market average of 3 USD on the road more than once, but he will not get the result. Then he will be disappointed in the possibilities of psychotherapy. And if he still has enough desire to solve his problem, he will go to a super professional, pay him a lot of money — and then the ice will break. Because there is experience, knowledge, desire, and energy. All this is multiplied by the motivation of the patient himself, that is, full compliance with the formula for success.