Yes! You can make a living as a therapist

Health practitioners and therapists make an important contribution to people's wellness and lives. Most therapists however are most focused on their client's outcomes more than their own. And the reality is, therapists won't succeed in supporting themselves unless they make their practice sustainable. This article gives advice on how to make your business practice sustainable in terms of income, your health and a work-life balance so you can continue to do what you love.

In the free eBook by Leisa Millar and James Ketub Golding, "The Therapist's Portable Paradise – Cultivating bliss and success in your therapy business practice", they outline 10 Actions to Use Self-Enquiry in life and therapy business practice. These Actions are:

1 Enjoy your work and have fun

2 Create sustainability in your therapy work

3 Practise what you preach

4 Keep a beginner’s mind

5 Care for yourself

6 Develop a network of support practitioners and mentors

7 See each client as a teacher

8 Express your passion as a service

9 Take inspired action, without demands

10 Know yourself to deepen your practice

Action 2 "Create sustainability in your therapy work" is discussed in this article.

To make a living as a therapist, you need to see yourself as running a sustainable therapy practice in terms of your finances, health and work-life balance. You then need to take appropriate action to create this outcome. Having an understanding of business practices and working through your blocks around money or seeking help from a life/business coach or mentor is an important step on a therapist's path.

Sandy Braiuka, BodyTalk practitioner, naturopath and massage therapist reiterates this point when she says: "If you can't earn enough money to live comfortably, then your days as a practitioner will be numbered because your work will not be financially viable or sustainable. Getting a coach to help me look at some of the (self-limiting) belief systems I had around money was one of the most valuable things I did in practice...".

If you are getting started as a therapist or have been practising for some time, it is important to set the foundations for establishing sustainability. For those who are starting out, Leisa Millar and James Golding have also written an article, "Getting Started as a Therapist", which contains some easy and practical ideas which you may find useful.

The first step towards making your therapy business sustainable is to be clear about where you want your therapy work to head by setting goals and knowing your core values (i.e. the meaningful motivation for achieving your goal). This clarifies what is important to you and where you need to focus your time, money, resources, further training, advertising and attention. It also highlights where there are gaps between where you are now and where you want to be. You then become less scattered in your decision-making and feel less overwhelmed or distracted by needing to do and learn everything. To guide you in setting goals, Leisa Millar and James Golding have also written a supplementary article about how to set effective goals based on values.

Although creating sustainability in your therapy work involves considering and planning your future, it is important to be focused on the present moment during your day-to-day activities. Giving full attention to what you are doing in each moment helps to improve the effectiveness of your daily actions and decision-making. As a result, you stay on track to achieve your goals and create a sustainable therapy practice.

James Ketub Golding and Leisa Millar are both holistic therapists and authors, who blend their deep passion for spirituality, health and humanity in their work.

This article is extracted from the free eBook The Therapist's Portable Paradise - Cultivating bliss and success in your therapy business practice. To download and read this free eBook go to: http://www.thewayofthenaturaltherapist.com