STP 173 | The Couch Trap: Locked to One Location
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[00:00:05] James Marland: the couch has become the only place where therapists and people who deliver services know how to create value.
[00:00:12] ~That's, ~that's the trap. Your value does not come from your couch. The value comes from you. Your knowledge goes everywhere with you. Your education goes everywhere with you. Your experience goes everywhere with you. But your-- but in the current model, your business doesn't. Your business stays where the couch is.
[00:00:33] Think about that again. The business stays wherever the couch is. Before we jump into today's episode, I wanna let you know about a workshop I'm hosting on July 31st. If you've been following this series, then you already know that the three traps we've been talking about are the clock trap, the calendar trap, and now the couch trap. They all point to the same problem.[00:01:00]
[00:01:00] Your expertise has become trapped inside a service delivery model that only creates value when you're working, when you have an opening, and when somebody is right there in your office. It doesn't have to stay that way. that's exactly why I created Launch a Workshop in 30 Days.
[00:01:20] This workshop isn't just about building a presentation or learning more information. It's a working session where you take your knowledge about what you already know and you share with every week or every day with your clients, and you turn it into something that can create value for you beyond the hour, beyond the chair, and beyond your calendar.
[00:01:42] If you're ready to explore making an impact beyond your therapy office, I ask you to join us for this workshop. You'll find all the details and registration information in the show notes. Now let's talk about the third trap, the couch trap
[00:02:02] Welcome back. Over the last couple episodes, we've been exploring the three hidden constraints built into the traditional therapy service delivery model. In episode one sixty-seven, we talked about the clock trap.
[00:02:16] The clock trap is the idea that many therapists build a business that only creates income when they're working. ~Then ther- then episode one seventy--~ then in episode one seventy, we explored the calendar trap. That's how being fully booked can take ownership of your future. ~Today, we're finishing up the trap series w-with what I wanna call the third trap.~
[00:02:35] Today, we're finishing up the series with what I believe is the third trap, the couch trap. before I go any further, I wanna make something really clear. This isn't an episode talking about how therapy is broken, how therapists are broken, and how it's a bad service delivery model. It's not. In fact, ~I've,~ I've benefited from therapists.
[00:02:58] I know many people who have benefited [00:03:00] from therapists. Real healing happens in the therapy room every day. It's very needed, very important. In that room, people get to tell the truth. They get to gain insight. They get to work through their grief, their depression, their anxiety, their relationships. Lives change in the therapy room.
[00:03:21] The couch, the therapy couch matters. This isn't an episode about replacing therapy ~or, ~or changing your whole business model. But it is taking a closer look at how the therapy services are delivered. For example, years ago, I worked at a children's day hospital program, and during the school year, we were s-super busy, extremely busy.
[00:03:46] We had a long waiting list, months-long waiting list sometimes. The programs were full. ~The, the, ~the business was, ~uh,~ bringing in lots of income. We were helping a lot of people. The referrals kept coming in. [00:04:00] Everything looked great during that period of time. But then when the summer arrived, everything just dried up.
[00:04:07] Almost overnight, the waiting list disappeared, referrals stopped coming in. ~Um, the, the, ~the services were still there. ~The, ~the therapists were there, the support staff was there, ~the,~ the building was there. The rent had to be paid, the utilities had to be paid. ~Uh, ~all of the expenses of staying opened stayed the same, but because there were fewer people showing up, it was difficult to maintain ~the, ~the same ~Um, ~just the same operating structure.
[00:04:33] Now, did the need for mental health services disappear just because it was the summer? No. ~Like, ~families were still struggling. Children were still struggling. The therapists with their wonderful, ~uh,~ help and wisdom was still there. The only thing that changed was this: the service model depended on people showing up.
[00:04:55] They depended on people being in the couch, ~you know, as, ~as I'm phrasing it here. [00:05:00] If they didn't show up, they couldn't get help. We were still there. We were still paying the money to keep the lights on and to pay the staff. But if they weren't there, they couldn't get, they couldn't get the help. And really ~that, ~that problem stayed with me for many years.
[00:05:17] Like h- I called it like the accordion problem. ~You couldn't, ~you couldn't shrink and grow the program depending on the season of the year, ~uh,~ or it was very difficult. You had to like lay off staff or send them to other places, but ~that, ~that's a whole nother problem. maybe at the time I thought maybe it was a referral problem.
[00:05:34] Maybe it was, ~uh, you know, ~getting-- If the, during the school year, the referral sources were ~the, ~the s- the school therapists and the school systems, we'd need to develop other referral systems. Maybe it was marketing. Maybe we needed different relationships with different providers. But as I continue to think about this issue and the problem, I think the issue was just much deeper.
[00:05:58] The ability to help [00:06:00] people depended on a perfect alignment of the right people being in the right place at the right time. ~Um, ~and then there's some other rights. With the right insurance, with the right transportation, just all those things. All these things had to line up for services to, to be delivered.
[00:06:19] And if the people were available, like the therapists were available, but the clients didn't show, then, ~um,~ the whole business model deteriorated. And maybe you felt that in your own career where ~you, ~you feel like ~if, ~if somebody isn't in that chair, if you're not filling up those schedules, then you're not...
[00:06:39] You have this pressure in you like something is wrong with you, like there's something wrong with you. But ~I, ~I don't think there's something wrong with you. I just think it's ~the, ~the service model delivery. The delivery of services traps you into believing that the only way you have value, the only way that you can create income at all, is just [00:07:00] if there's somebody sitting on that couch in front of you.
[00:07:03] And I, I just call that the couch trap. So what exactly is the couch trap? ~Let me tell you, uh...~ Let me start by telling you ~what it, ~what it isn't. The c- the couch isn't the problem. In fact, I stated that in the beginning. The couch represents the best work that you do. for many therapists, that is their main way that they add value The issue is when that's the only model of adding value.
[00:07:27] There's a huge limitation when you have to have all those things that we talked about before, ~the,~ the client, ~the,~ the location, ~uh,~ you have to be there, the insurance, the time of day. All those things have to line up for any value to be transmitted with the client getting value from your wisdom and you getting, ~uh,~ compensated for your wisdom.
[00:07:49] The problem is the service model of delivery Because whether you work in a hospital, a community agency, your own office, we've all [00:08:00] inherited the same basic service model. Somebody needs help, they schedule an appointment. They schedule the appointment, they come to the office. They come to the office, we help them.
[00:08:09] They leave, they get the value, ~we,~ we get paid. There's really nothing wrong with that model, and it's helped millions of people for, ~you know, uh, ~for many years, decades and decades. But it's built on ~the assumption, ~the assumption is the only place that we can create value and receive value is where we physically have the couch.
[00:08:26] It's physically locked down to one place. ~Just, ~just think about this for a second. If you leave for vacation and your couch doesn't come with you, your business slows down. If you're sick, you're not seeing-- you don't go to your office, your business slows down. That's where the couch is. If you move to another part of the state or probably to a different state or another part of a country or another country, your business doesn't move with you.
[00:08:59] It's actually [00:09:00] locked down, relatively locked down to where your couch is. You can't move that with you. ~You, ~you have to start over. Why? Because the service model, ~the,~ the delivery of the service model is tied to that location. ~That's, ~that's the trap. It's tied to where your couch is. ~It's, ~it's not because the couch is bad, it's not because you're not doing work, but the cou- the couch has become the only place where therapists and people who deliver services know how to create value.
[00:09:31] ~That's, ~that's the trap. Your value does not come from your couch. The value comes from you. Your knowledge goes everywhere with you. Your education goes everywhere with you. Your experience goes everywhere with you. But your-- but in the current model, your business doesn't. Your business stays where the couch is.
[00:09:52] Think about that again. The business stays wherever the couch is.
[00:09:57] ~You see, ~I don't want people to get less therapy, to get [00:10:00] less help, to get less support. I'm actually fighting for people to get more support, more help, and reduce the barriers of receiving the wisdom that therapists and coaches and people in the h- the helping services can provide
[00:10:16] one of the main things that limits us is just the physical location, having to be in the same place at the same time. Does every time we give value to somebody, does that have to be when they're sitting in the couch in front of us? I don't think so. Therapy does belong in the therapy room.
[00:10:36] There does... There is a place for people to receive that benefit in the couch, But do all of the, but does all of the help that you can give require somebody sitting in front of you on your couch? Or could some of the way you begin helping people even before the first appointment or support them through some of the sessions [00:11:00] or reinforce what you've, they've, you've learned or ~they've, ~they've learned from you during the sessions, could that happen in a different place besides the couch?
[00:11:10] ~That's, ~that's the question the couch trap is forcing us to answer. Does all your value come from sitting in s- sitting in the same room as somebody? And once I started asking that question, I began to notice there are therapists out there, there are people in the helping services, there are coaches who are v- who have already figured out another way.
[00:11:35] I've seen people break this pattern of developing their services in a different model. One, and once you start paying attention to this, ~you're,~ you're not gonna be able to unsee it.
[00:11:46] One experience in particular has stayed with me, ~uh,~ when I attended a training on suicide prevention. Now, I'd been working in the field for 15 years probably by this point, and I was at a training [00:12:00] where the room was filled with therapists, first contact workers, schedulers. ~Um, ~I worked in the access center, which we admitted people to inpatient, and I was like the f- I got the call, ~the,~ the calls for people looking for services for inpatient.
[00:12:12] And so anyways, we were talking about suicide prevention, and the presenter presented their contact, and they were prepared, they knew their material, and they had clearly spent time organizing what they wanted to teach. But what struck me wasn't how amazing ~they were, ~they were. ~Uh, ~I- it was something that I looked around the room and I sat there listening, and I remember looking at the other therapists in the room, and I'm like, "There are probably 20, 30 other people in this room who could teach this, who could probably stand up and give the same presentation just as good as better or better."
[00:12:54] And the only difference was the other person had practiced and spent a little bit of time putting their [00:13:00] material together. There wasn't something magical about them. They weren't an awesome presenter. They had just stepped up and started presenting at some point. And I realized that there were many people in this room that could do this.
[00:13:15] Now, they couldn't do it probably the same day, and they would need to practice, and they would need to organize their thoughts. But with a little bit of coaching, a little bit of polishing, a little bit of, ~um,~ staging and steps, and a willingness to just step out of their comfort zone, they could absolutely do it.
[00:13:32] And something just clicked. ~The difference, ~the difference wasn't the presenter knew something that nobody else knew, and that they had some secret sauce or special talent or ability. It wasn't ~the, ~the speech gods gave them this speech gift. It was that they had... They took action. They decided that they were gonna start presenting on this topic, and they knew a lot about it, and they did it.
[00:13:57] And once they had taken the action [00:14:00] to do it, they did something different with their wisdom and experience. Instead of helping one person or one client in a one-on-one like, "Hey, I'm gonna teach you how to recognize suicide symptoms and do prevention, the presenter wasn't helping just one person, they were helping an entire room full of professionals, and those professionals were taking notes, asking questions, and learning together.
[00:14:25] I got to believe that in that room, there was probably 100 people. There were probably 80 different topics that those therapists could start teaching on with just a little bit of encouragement, with a little bit of push, with a little bit of framework. They could take their knowledge and not do something new, but do what they were already good at and already an expert at, and just deliver it in a different model
[00:14:50] it got me to ponder how many therapists ~have, ~have knowledge just as valuable that people really need to have, that people are [00:15:00] hurting for, but it never leaves the one-on-one therapy room. It never leaves the room with the couch. And it doesn't leave because these therapists aren't capable, and they aren't a master at their craft.
[00:15:12] It's just they haven't thought about the different model of service delivery. They've been taught one model that keeps them locked to the couch, And that's all they know. And I started noticing ~the, ~the simple things that therapists teach every day that to them seems mundane and rote that many people have no idea how to do.
[00:15:37] They explain anxiety. They explain the effect of trauma. They explain communication skills. They do grounding techniques. They understand-- ~They, ~they help their clients understand how their mind works The things that are, quote-unquote, easy for therapists and just assume knowledge are actually amazing insights for the general [00:16:00] population. And I'm a dreamer, and it got me dreaming. What if therapists who are already experts in these things could start reaching people with their information even if they never walked into the therapy office.
[00:16:17] There's such a great need for therapists and great therapy teaching, Maybe the value therapists create doesn't have to stop at the couch
[00:16:27] Maybe the couch is where therapy happens, but it doesn't have to be the only place where the amazing knowledge our therapists have create values. And that idea stayed with me for years. ~And I didn't, I didn't really do anything with that idea. I thought that, um... No, I gotta reduce that. Um, ~then one day, while ~scrolling, ~scrolling through Facebook, I saw something that kind of brought all these ideas together. After that training, a couple years later, I was scrolling through Facebook, and I came across a post by a therapist that I followed.
[00:16:55] ~It, ~it wasn't an advertisement. It wasn't trying to sell anything. It was just a [00:17:00] therapist sharing their thoughts about a topic that she cared deeply about. And as I read it, I found myself just stopping and thinking, "Oh, this is really good. That's a great point. I never thought about it that way. Oh, this is very helpful."
[00:17:15] ~Like, ~it was just an insightful way, and it went on and on for several paragraphs. Now, it wasn't long. It wasn't complicated. It was just a therapist sharing her ideas about what she knew and putting it into words that could help other people. And then ~I, ~I had one of those moments ~where, ~where something clicked, and I remember ~if, if, ~if a therapist can write a post like this that is super helpful, just kinda off the cuff, it felt like it was kinda off the cuff, but super helpful, and just a knowledge dump and a, ~and,~ and a helpful opinion dump, what could happen if somebody like her intentionally built an idea and built a program on it?
[00:17:56] ~What if, ~what if that idea became a workshop or a webinar [00:18:00] or a guide, a handout, or a pamphlet that somebody could download? Or maybe even an online course or coaching program. I started thinking about service delivery, and man, this is just another way to help people, not instead of therapy, not replacing therapy, but alongside therapy, alongside the support that's already done.
[00:18:24] The therapist, this therapist, with her Facebook post, was creating value for other people without anybody sitting in front of the couch, and that's what made me realize something, that most therapists don't struggle because they don't have enough knowledge. They struggle with the business model because they don't recognize how much knowledge they already share.
[00:18:48] ~No, I don't like that. Geez!~
[00:18:48] ~When I thought about her Facebook post, it made me think maybe, maybe the business model could be added to where~
[00:18:48] ~Where your art...~ After reading the Facebook post and thinking about the value it added and how it looked effortless to me on how she created it and the value it did, maybe [00:19:00] many therapists need to recognize it's not that they need to create something new, ~it's,~ it's a new model of delivering something that's already there
[00:19:08] I'm not suggesting that every therapist should go out and create online courses or webinars or workshops right now. That's not the point. ~I, ~I actually do believe that most therapists have a course or workshop in them, but beside-- that's besides the point. That's not what I'm asking you to do right now.
[00:19:29] If you s-start asking the question, "Is there another way to deliver the value that I have, that I tell people every day, that I ha- I give handouts every day, I share the same process every day, people get great results from that?" Is there a different way to deliver that service where you're not trapped by the couch, where you're not trapped by the,~ the, ~the assumption that the only time I can get paid for or get value from helping somebody is [00:20:00] when they are in front of me one-on-one in a couch?
[00:20:04] Start small. Maybe this is what I, this is what I recommend. Like that one therapist who shared their opinion on a topic that was very helpful, why don't you write a Facebook post or a LinkedIn post or do a, if you're comfortable, do a YouTube video?
[00:20:19] Share one idea, one observation, one misconception, one tip, something that, "I wish people would understand this about relationships. I wish people would understand this about trauma." Make that into a post, make it into a small video, and pay attention. Do people comment? Do people post? Do people ask questions?
[00:20:41] Do they share it with somebody else? Do they tell you that it helped? Because one simple post can create value, and ~you've, ~you've put your ideas out into the world, and you're testing to see if there's a response. You might just have discovered that ~something, ~something much, much bigger [00:21:00] and a different way to deliver your services As we wrap up this series on the traps of the therapist service model delivery, ~uh,~ I hope you've noticed, ~uh,~ a pattern.
[00:21:12] The clock trap wasn't really about the clock. The calendar trap really wasn't about the calendar. In today's episode, ~the,~ the couch trap really wasn't about the couch. These traps are all pointing to something much bigger. They're exposing the unwritten rules of many, how many therapists practice operate for their business model. The first business rule says, "My business creates value ~when I'm, ~when I'm working, when I'm on the clock." The second rule says, "My business creates value only when I have an opening, and it takes my future."
[00:21:44] And the third business rule is, "My business creates value only where the speci-- my couch is, where my location is. I'm locked down to my location." Now, those aren't bad rules, and they have supported the [00:22:00] therapy, ~the,~ the delivery of therapy services for decades. They've helped them build many successful practices.
[00:22:05] They help many people. People have received excellent care. The traditional therapy service delivery model works, and it's helpful. That's not what I'm talking about. But is it the only service delivery model available? It's not. The one-on-one model is not the only way that you can add value to your com-community and receive value yourself, and that's really my point throughout the services.
[00:22:32] There, there isn't a problem with therapy and the therapy delivery model. ~The, the s- the, ~the s- the problems are the limitations of the service delivery model, the traps that they provide. You don't have to stop doing therapy. You don't have to stop seeing clients, but-- and you don't have to choose between helping people and building something different.
[00:22:52] I'm simply giving you permission to ask a new question. Is there a part of what I already know that could create value [00:23:00] beyond the couch? Maybe that's a worksheet. Maybe it's a guide. Maybe it's a workshop. Maybe it's a webinar. Maybe someday it's an online co-course or coaching program. Maybe it's just a simple Facebook post with an opinion about something that you care deeply about.
[00:23:17] I want you to think about starting small. This week, ~the,~ the challenge for you to put your mission in motion is to write one thoughtful Facebook post or LinkedIn post. Share one idea, something that you believe deeply in, something everyth- everybody should know this about trauma, everybody should know this about anxiety, everybody should know this about relationships.
[00:23:39] Or pick an- another starter, but that's just something easy to do. Pick a misconception. What's one misconception about trauma? What's one thing you wish everybody understood? Write that one piece of advice, and then pay attention. See if people respond, if they ask questions, if they tell you it helped. [00:24:00] If you get some reaction, don't ignore it, because you could have just discovered the bi- the something that is so much bigger, just another way to develop and deliver your help.
[00:24:11] And if you're, ~uh,~ looking for help figuring out what your nest- next big thing could be, I'd love to invite you to join me on July 31st for my upcoming workshop. We'll work through how to identify the knowledge that you already have, organize it into resources that generally help people, and begin thinking differently about how your experience can create value beyond the therapy room.
[00:24:35] It's gonna teach you on how to take your idea, one simple idea, and turn it into ~a, ~a half-day workshop, and you'll be able to charge people for that. For now, just write your Facebook post and see if you get some response, and then you might... that might be the idea you bring to the workshop. Anyways, you'll find those resources in the registration link in the show notes.
[00:24:56] And if this episode is the first one that you've listened about the three [00:25:00] traps, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to episode one sixty-seven and one seventy. Those are the other two traps. Together, they'll explore what I believe are the three hidden constraints, the three hidden expectations that are built into the traditional therapy service delivery model: the clock trap, the calendar trap, and the couch trap.
[00:25:20] Thank you for spending time with me today. Until next time, keep doing the important work. Real healing happens in the therapy room. And if you're looking for different ways to deliver your therapy services, I encourage you to put out some of those ideas so that you can continue to keep putting your mission in motion.
[00:25:41] We'll see you next time.
[00:25:46] Before we wrap up today, let me leave you with one final thought. If today's episode helped you recognize the clock trap, the calendar trap, or the couch trap in your own practice, don't let this just become [00:26:00] another interesting idea. I ask you to take one step, take some action. If you're ready to begin creating value beyond the therapy room, beyond those traps, I want to invite you to join me for my Launch a Workshop in Thirty Days workshop.
[00:26:14] It's gonna be on July 31st. It's specifically designed to help therapists who wanna take their already-- whatever they're already teaching, what they're already good at, and turn it into a workshop that can help more people without having to build an on-- full online course and without having to add more spaces in your calendar You'll find all the details in the registration link in the show notes. If you're facing other business bottlenecks, I recommend you check out scalingtherapistservices.com. Remember, you don't have to build and scale your business all yourself. I encourage you to visit scalingtherapistservices.com. You'll find professionals like Humor Speaks, RevKey, The Practice Co-Lab, Arc Integrated, TheraSaaS CRM, Guest Compliance Consulting, Private [00:27:00] Practice Elevation, Freedom Business Solutions, Bosco, Profit Comes First, River Street Studios, Wealth and Worth Within, TherapyFlow, and of course, Course Creation Studio.
[00:27:10] These are businesses that have taken their ideas, put them into action, and now they're helping other therapists and other providers break through their business bottlenecks. And thank you for the pro sponsors for sponsoring the show. To learn more about these services and providers, visit scalingtherapistservices.com so that they can help you put your mission in motion
