2cent Tuesday

I’ve been noticeably silent on my private practice blog–if anyone were paying attention.  But that’s the point, no one seems to be.  Which is what inspires this post.  I have spent more time pondering if I should spend anymore time marketing my practice on social media/the Internet.  I have heard equally that it’s the only way to build a practice and, alternatively, that technology isn’t ever going to account for more than 5% of your clients.  While I still have no idea which position is more accurate, I am realizing (sometimes I take the long way around the barn) that there is a serious limit to what I am willing to do online.

My guess is that there are people who are so adept at social media that their private practice does indeed depend upon it.  And I know for sure that there are clinicians out there that don’t even have a website and have no need for one.

What know for sure is that people shouldn’t be choosing counselors/therapists based on web impressions.  And yet a lot of people do.  But there is simply no possible way of replacing face to face engagement.  I think people should treat therapists, for lack of a less crude term, like dates–decide whether or not to meet in person through the web, but don’t decide to get in bed that way.  Or in the chair, on the couch.  Meet your prospective mental health practitioner–and if a counselor doesn’t want to give you a free consultation for at least 15 minutes, consider whether that rigidity speaks for itself.

That’s my 2 cents.