295 - Choice-Led Outdoor Therapy for Children Enhancing Your First Contact with Counselling Clients - Challenges of Compulsory Placement Supervision In Episode 295 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, your hosts Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly are back with this week's three topics: Firstly in 'Ethical, Sustainable Practice', we look at crafting meaningful connections and enhancing that first contact with potential clients. Then in 'Practice Matters', Rory speaks with Kate Beckwith about how she uses the outdoors, animals, and art to provide children and young people with a unique therapeutic experience. And lastly in 'Student Services', Rory and Ken look at the challenges of being asked to have compulsory placement supervision with a certain supervisor. Enhancing Your First Contact with Counselling Clients [starts at 03:25 mins] This segment of the Counselling Tutor Podcast is sponsored byWebHealer.net WebHealer are the go-to provider of websites for private practitioners in the UK. Established over 20 years, WebHealer offers a non-technical and fully supported service to help therapists grow their private practice. Just one customer from your website each year pays for their service. Go to WebHealer.net and use coupon CT100 for £100 off their "Do it for me" service. Visit WebHealer.net Your first contact with a client is one of the most important moments in the therapeutic relationship. In this section, Rory and Ken take us through why this interaction is so important, and how you can make it count: A person is taking a big step by reaching out, it's important they're not discouraged from getting the help that they need. Look at your online presence and make sure all your contact details are up to date. Admin - keep on top of your emails and voicemails, section out a part of your day that you can dedicate to this. Have a personalised answerphone message - show empathy, name your practice so they know they've reached the right place, ask them to say when will be convenient for you to call back, and give a time period that you'll get back to them by. Avoid counselling jargon in your answerphone message or auto responder. Look at things from the client's perspective, how can we be personal to the person who is reaching out to us? Don't overwhelm anyone with information at first contact. Consider offering a free 'get to know' session. Invite any questions that they might have. Be careful that a client doesn't offer too much of their presentation over the phone. Don't make any early assumptions about a client and what they're bringing. Theory to Practice is sponsored byCounselling Skills Academy Learn counselling techniques by seeing counselling skills used in real sessions by qualified therapists.Real sessions - real-life presentations - real skills. Click Here for More Information Choice-Led Outdoor Therapy for Kids and Young People [starts at 36:55 mins] In this week's 'Practice Matters', Rory speaks with Kate Beckwith about her work with the outdoors, animals, and art to make counselling a unique experience for children and young people. The key points of this discussion on outdoor therapy for kids include: Kate has 2.5 acres of land that she uses for her practice with various animals such as goats, pigs, chickens, and guinea pigs. Practicing outside can allow you to observe a client in a comfortable, relaxed, and facilitating environment. Children find the experience exciting. Outdoor therapy for kids offer them choice and a sense of freedom. You can notice how the client feels internally from their external behaviour and interactions with their surroundings. Helps to speed up the therapeutic relationship. It's important to find suitable insurance and licenses if you plan on having animals. Put boundaries in place and take extra considerations when it comes to safety and risk assessment. The client is going to need to be wearing sensible clothing.