Before You See Your First Client
Weekly tips on working with your first clients, taken from Howard Rosenthal's book Before You See Your First Client: 55 Things Counselors, Therapists and Human Service Workers Need to Know.
Be Enthusiastic if You Want to Be a Better Workshop Presenter
I had completed a two-day mental health workshop for elementary and secondary school personnel. As I was packing up my materials to leave the building a woman, who appeared to be in her early sixties, approached me. "Dr. Rosenthal," she said, "I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed your presentation. In fact, I must say candidly that you gave the best speech I've heard in over 25 years of this field."
Was I pleased? Of course, I was ecstatic. Who wouldn't want to hear praise like that from a highly experienced teacher who came across so sincere? "What was it that you liked so much?" I asked. Was it my statistics? Was she impressed with my theoretical notions or rigorous therapeutic recommendations? "Oh, heck no," she replied, "I could have learned that stuff from any text book. It was your enthusiasm that was so striking. I believe I lost mine years ago and you rekindled it in just two days."
On another occasion I gave a lecture at a local college and a professor liked it so much she offered me a teaching job. When I asked her what caught her fancy she noted that I came into the room like a tornado. "You were just so enthusiastic," she added. Just for the record, I took the teaching job.
On another occasion my zeal landed me a free trip to Las Vegas to give a keynote speech for an international organization. Enthusiastic lectures and workshops can open professional doors for you, in terms of building your reputation and your practice (or that of your agency), and help those who reap the benefits of your wisdom. Remember that it's not what you say, but the way you say it that often makes all the difference in the world.
Want all 55 tips in an easily referenced book?
Before You See Your First Client: 55 Things Counselors, Therapists and Human Service Workers Need to Know
Before You See Your First Client begins where courses, workshops, training seminars, and textbooks leave off, providing a candid behind-the-scenes look at the fields of therapy, counseling and human services.
In a reader-friendly and accessible style, Dr. Howard Rosenthal offers his readers 55 useful and practical ideas for the implementation, improvement, and expansion of one's mental health practice.
Based on the author's own personal experiences, the book is written in an intimate and personal style to which inexperienced and beginning therapists can easily relate.
