Sustainability Through Connection and Overcoming Professional Isolation
Samantha Crapnell is the founder of Training for Counsellors Ltd and practitioner-facilitator of professional qualifications and continuing professional development events to support the training and ongoing development of counsellors and clinical supervisors.
Counselling is built on connection. Still, many practitioners experience profound professional isolation, which can lead to depression, burnout, and stagnation. Conversations with private practitioners suggest an intensification of these concerns. The question is, how do we sustain ourselves through connection, and what are the barriers?
Professional isolation
The lack of professional connection, collaboration, and development is referred to as professional isolation.[1] The effects of professional isolation include loneliness, risks to personal and professional well-being, and reduced confidence, which can then impact client work (if those feelings begin to leak into the therapeutic space). Over time, isolation can contribute to depression, anxiety, and burnout.
In a 2015 research paper, Holliman and Muro explore the types of practitioners at risk of a persistent lack of contact with other professionals in the same field. The three types are:
The Open and Aware
The Open and Unaware
The Resistance
Having reviewed the characteristics of The Open and Aware counsellor, my first instinct is to rename this group as ‘Always Open but Aware’, always open to another client, driving for a full, even overfilled, caseload at the expense of connection with peers. This ‘type’ is aware of their choices, unlike the second type, The Open and Unaware, who Holliman and Muro say are lacking in self-awareness, failing to recognize their overcommitment in one area at the expense of the other. Both types, though, are at risk of isolation that could lead to eventual burnout. Whether they are aware that this is to the detriment of the client is not stated.
The Resistance counsellors are portrayed quite negatively by Holliman & Muro, who state that avoidance of professional connection is underpinned by a drive for grandeur or a sign of being beaten by one's own impostor. Ouch!
“I don’t need community, I have clinical supervision.”
This is a phrase I have heard several times. Professional communities can exist in many forms. By community, I mean a group of people with common ties, a sense of belonging, social interaction, shared identity and cultural similarity, mutual support, and continuity through times of change. What I have learned from being a community-seeker and a community-builder is that it’s different from clinical supervision.
Clinical supervision is the place where therapists reflect on their practice and sustainability as practitioners. While the clinical supervisor is part of the professional community, it can be unhelpful to think that our clinical supervisor can give us everything we need.
What clinical supervision does offer as part of the community function:
Monthly clinical supervision (mandatory in the UK) demonstrates the cultural similarity between the therapist and the wider community.
The cultural similarity is recently clarified by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), which devised a competency framework for supervisors and provides guidance for supervisees.
Clinical supervision provides the platform for continuity through change and times of insecurity.
What clinical supervision may not provide:
Access to broader perspectives beyond the boundaries of your supervisor’s reach.
True equality of relationship because your supervisor has gatekeeping functions to fulfill.
Social interaction because the boundaries of the supervisory agreement remove the social aspect.
Shared language, knowledge sharing, signposts to continuous professional development opportunities, ethical and professional benchmarking, networking, trusted referrals, and professional friendship are other properties that a professional community offers.
Finding community
Given the value of being part of a professional community, why are so many counsellors finding it hard to be part of one? In my experience, from speaking with therapists in peer meetings and clinical supervisions, there are several barriers:
Finding and then being invited into, a group. Many are closed so they are manageable in size, organized, and have clear lines of responsibility. This also means they are difficult to access.
Finding a group that feels safe enough to be vulnerable in. I have heard many tales of therapists attending a group once, vowing not to return because, “It didn't feel safe, you know?”
Finding a group with the same aims. There are many types of communities in the counselling world relational encounter groups, development groups, clinically focused groups, modality-focused groups, networking groups, and probably others. Of course, with parameters for inclusion, there is implied exclusion, and for a therapist who just wants to connect, these group labels can be off-putting.
I find it interesting that while we speak of clients who are ‘hard to reach’ (ugh! Horrible phrase), there is a parallel within the profession. Fellow counsellors can be incredibly hard to access in the community, too. Questions that might help if you’re trying to join a professional peer community include:
“What does community mean to me?”
“What do I want the group to be about?” Research, clinical practice, networking, and personal development, all of the above?
“Do I want to be with people I already know or build new connections?”
“Do I want to be part of a group that is formally or informally facilitated?”
“What else do I want?”
As a community-seeker, I came to realize that I need to be a member of different groups where I could access different types of connections. Chatting it through with your clinical supervisor can be helpful, and they might be able to signpost you to groups they are aware of.
A plea, though, is for mindfulness of reciprocity. Why? It’s surprising how many therapists have told me they want to be part of a peer group or community, only to follow up by saying they want to put in minimal effort. I get that. I really do. Professional life is busy enough. But I would argue that we know better because we understand that relationships are reciprocal and co-created. Community membership, and all the positives it rewards, requires at least a little contribution toward its success, just like every other meaningful relationship.
What if the community you want to be a part of doesn’t exist?
It was the recognition of the calls for community where peers could meet in person that we were very conscious of when we began to build Training for Counsellors Limited. Creating a space that was about more than training delivery, where practitioners could feel like part of a community, was and still is, held in a Field of Dreams thought, “Build it, and they might come.”
If you are interested in establishing a community for others in your professional community, here are questions to consider:
What will be the community’s intention?
What would the commonality be between the members?
Who would not be a good fit for membership in this community group?
Will the community group be open (changing participants/members) or closed (members by invitation only, or once established, the community is fixed)?
Will it be online or in person? (If in person, where?)
How often?
Will there be a cost?
And so on.
In conclusion, the community can alleviate the symptoms of professional isolation for counsellors in private practice through connection with people with common ties, professional and cultural similarity, mutuality, reciprocity, and continuity through times of change. While being part of a community isn’t important for everyone, if you are a private practitioner who wants to be part of a community, maybe something in this article has resonated enough to ignite a drive to seek out a connection that will support you in being a sustainable practitioner.
Whether you are in the early stages of private practice or if it is time to take a review, you may enjoy our online courses, A Counsellor’s Guide to Building an Ethical Private Practice (UK) is an online programme which, tailoring the European Entrepreneurial competences for private practice counsellors includes ethical considerations and practical guidance for setting up and sustaining yourself in private practice. Meanwhile, Vision Board Your Private Practice is a creative alternative to business planning. Coupon code for Brainz Readers – BRAINZ.
Read more from Samantha Crapnell
Samantha Crapnell, Training Facilitator, Counsellor, Supervisor
Samantha Crapnell is a training provider and also in practice as a counsellor, clinical supervisor, and executive coach. Training for Counsellors Ltd was created so that counsellors can access alternative routes into and develop within the counselling profession through inclusive education and continuing professional development. Specialisms include anti-oppressive humanistic practices working with children, adolescents, and adults, neurodivergence, and solopreneurship.
References:
[1] Kutoane, M., Bryslewicz, P., Scott, T. (2020) Interventions for managing professional isolation among health professionals in low resource environments.
[2] Holliman & Muro (2015) Professional Isolation and the Counselor.
