First Newsletter
Dear Colleagues and Friends of Therapists Café,
Thank you for signing up to our newsletter and for all the messages and emails I have received. I am delighted that our initiative meets with such positive resonance. Apologies also if I have not managed to respond to everyone – if you have not heard back, please do email again!
Our first newsletter will give some background story to our project and focus on the next steps.
Open Meeting: What would you like? ONLINE open meeting for anyone interested in this project, on Sunday, 23rd of November, 1pm. Zoom link open meeting
Cafes and Salons – The Heart of our Project start with why – was ist der Mehrwert
What? The Cafés will be at the heart of our project – small, in-person gatherings for therapists to meet at relational depth, support each other and network for new projects.
Why? Because, usually, when we meet, the primary task is about supporting someone else – the client in peer supervision or an organisation in roles and functions we inhabit – or about acquiring new skill at CPD events. This can make us feel lonely and drained.
Aim: the Cafés’ aim is to create a space that is just for us – for our feelings, our process, and our inspiration – with colleagues who share the same frame of reference, so they understand our process.
Inspiration: came from the monthly practitioner process meeting Stephen Gyllenhaal, Sigrid Stjernswaerd (On the TC Team), me, and a few others started during the pandemic and have kept going since. From intellectual Salon meetings I’ve enjoyed where people from all walks of life meet for interesting discussions (e.g. Spiral Dynamics Integral Live ). And from Death Café (www.deathcafe.com) – a truly inspired project facilitating meetings for strangers to discuss the subject of death (Moment that changed me ). All of these are set up not for profit, and without agenda, or trying to sell anything to people – creating a container that witnesses but does not want, which is rare and precious in our capitalist society. Subversive, even.
Vision: My vision is a lively little Salon-culture of closed meetings for therapists only, creative, authentic, light-hearted but not pretentious, in many different permutations, in flux- with different people attending every time.
So far, the resonance has been astounding – we had 180 people sign up to this newsletter in less than a month, I received over 50 emails with inquiries, and the Café on the 28th is nearly booked out (20 spaces).
Action: please join us on the upcoming Cafes, to help the vision take shape.
Next meeting: 28th of November, 6-9pm, near Bond St tube – if you’ve received a booking email, please confirm your space, as there is currently a waiting list.
Further proposed dates: Sunday, 14th of December, TBC
Sunday, 12th of January TBC
Friday, 17th of January TBC
Business Skills Course – ONLINE Salon Project for bigger group was ist der Mehrwert, warum
What? The business skills course is an online, UK-wide/international Salon with teaching elements. The concept is solid practical skill + creativity + critical thinking + mutual support/collaboration.
Why? Because our training focused solely on clinical skill, and not at all about thinking of what we do as a ‘product’. No market analysis, product development, targeted placement, managerial skills for service management, or the know-how to set up and run a charity or non-profit organisation. Yet, what we do is unique – it cannot be approached with the same neoliberal, capitalist principles as conventional marketing or business training – as our product is deeply personal, philosophical and ethical.
Aim: To set up a dedicated, open-source, recurring series of events equipping us with the above skills, specific to our profession – and creating a community for ongoing growth.
Inspiration: came from the government-funded Barclays/Eagle labs funding readiness program which I attended for another idea a few years ago (Barclays Eagle Labs ). My idea turned out to be rubbish, but apparently that doesn’t matter – as I learned on the course, most ideas are rubbish initially! It’s about allowing yourself to think in that direction and then learning how to develop the thought – as a process on its own.
Another inspiration is Phoenix-Rises (On the TC Team), who has been running her own charity, Voide of the Child, for 17 years, and will speak on the course.
Vision: a collaborative series of workshops that grows into a bigger community where we can find partners to do bolder projects – collaboration beats competition.
1st Session Marketing for Therapists , 5th of December, 9.30am – 11am ONLINE , with a brilliant presenter, Silvia Del Corso, who runs her own successful marketing agency specialising in marketing for health professionals.
Action: please join us if this subject is of interest – we need colleagues’ input to shape the course. Price contributes to running of this project – IT, legal, accounting, ca 500 subscriptions.
Next Newsletter: in the next newsletter, I will talk about the political elements of our vision – Stephen Gyllenhaal’s documentary, Uncharitable– The Berlin Hub for Regenerative Business – BHRB Linkedin and how to find ethical investors Karma Capital.
I will also explain Therapists Café’s business structure and the reasons behind it.
Inspiration from Colleagues Responding to this Project:
Many people have emailed me with comments and ideas. Here a few:
Union for Counsellors and Psychotherapists – Union for Counsellors and Psychotherapists – we do have a Union, who knew! Already signed up with the London Branch.
Josephine Speyer, UKCP psychotherapist and supervisor, organises monthly walks for therapists on Hampstead Heath, regular Salons and a writing group – contact Josefine for more information josefine@josefinespeyer.com
Jenny Nemko – not a therapist but facilitating the brilliant initiative Talk Matters – Jews and Arabs talk together – umbrella initiative for Jewish/Arab collaboration, including business ventures like 50:50 Start-ups. https://talkmatters.info/ – please follow their socials to spread awareness of their campaign
Reading Therapies Group – where I am on the committee – has been organising monthly good-quality, low-cost CPD for therapists for 40 years
Second Newsletter
Dear Colleagues and Friends of Therapists Café,
Thank you for signing up to our newsletter and for all the messages and emails I am receiving. I am delighted that our initiative meets with such positive feedback. It’s a bit anxiety-provoking for me, as, congruent with my personal process, I spent more time planning for people not liking the project, rather than them doing so – so, now I am anxious to bring across what I am trying to do instead of sounding like this.
Our second newsletter will tell of the first meetings we’ve had and give more detail on the thinking behind the ‘business skills course’.
Open Meeting: What would you like?
This is an ONLINE open feedback meeting for anyone interested in this project to learn more, this Sunday, 14th of December, 1pm. Zoom link open meeting
Cafes and Salons – The Heart of our Project
First Psychodynamic practitioners Café/Salon on the 28th of November – great success – pictures below.
Our Café/Salon for psychodynamic/-analytic practitioners on the 28th of November was a great success, pictures below. It was, as I had hoped, an inspiring crowd of 12 clinicians – some with decades-long experience, some newly qualified, culturally diverse and with different training backgrounds, but all bonding over the shared experience of being a psychodynamic psychotherapist in a busy and sometimes hostile financial/occupational environment.
We held a more formal ‘reflective space’ for 1.15 hours, giving everyone space to talk, hearing colleagues share their feelings about the isolation of the profession, the challenging process of training which requires us to take everything inside apart and re-build it from scratch, the impact this has on our personal relationships, the challenges of establishing a practice, and the excitement but also anxiety about considering (and tolerating) different points of views and ways to practice. Interestingly, several colleagues agreed that sharing our feelings in a space like this is a relief but can also feel anxiety-provoking – being seen can be both, a desire and a fear.
Afterwards we had plenty of time for informal chat, networking, exchanging ideas about practice, making connections for collaboration and referrals, all enjoyed with a truly amazing cake from the Luminary Bakery
The plan will now be to hold this meeting monthly.
The next date will be Friday, 17th of January 2026, 6-9pm, near Bond Street Tube.
Action: If you’d like to join, please email therapists.cafe@protonmail.com to book a space.
Please include your professional body registration number in the email.
Business Skills for Therapists Course – ONLINE UK-wide Salon Project – first event
First event of the ‘Business Skills for Therapists Course’ – Marketing for Therapists in private practice – positive feedback
The Business Skills for Therapists Course is an online, UK-wide/international Salon with teaching elements. It emerged from the recognition that we need ‘industry specific’ training for this, as our ‘product’ is deeply personal, philosophical and ethical and cannot be approached with the same neo-liberal, capitalist principles as conventional business. One might say we need ‘business skills from a depressive position’, rather than a narcissistic one.
We held the first of these sessions on ‘Marketing for Therapists in Private Practice’, specifically focusing on SEO, with a presentation by Silvia Del Corso, owner of Pink SEO, award winning marketing agency in London. It consisted of a detailed presentation followed by Q&A and tips of what could be put into practice at different marketing budget levels. Colleagues’ feedback was that this was very useful and there is further need for mutual support.
The next event in this series will be in January 2026, date tbc, and will focus on Service Management in the Mental Health Sector – what you need to know and which steps to take to become a service manager. Training will be given by Marta Banet, Head of Psychological Services at Riverside UK, and Kelly McMinn, former Head of Mental Health Strategy at One Housing Group, now training on Tavistock MA in Organisational Leadership.
This event will be open to booking in January once the date is confirmed.
Action: we are staring a monthly ONLINE ‘Business Skills for Therapists Peer Support Group’ where we will share experiences and tips and collaborate on projects. This will be open to anyone who has attended at least one business skills workshop.
Next Date: Sunday, 25th of January 2-3.30pm – if you attended the Marketing Skills Workshop and would like to join this group, please be in touch.
Business Skills for Therapists Course – Background Philosophy
The background-thinking for the Business Skills Course started when I (briefly) studied economics before changing to psychology – I was interested in why we are creating our systems in the current form, and not more responsibly, ethically and empathically. My then professor directed me to Joseph Stiglitz who later wrote The Price of Inequality, and I currently follow Karma Capital, the Berlin Hub for Regenerative Business and Global Society for Good Leadership.
Following the question of WHY, from the direction of our field more specifically, then, I became interested in theories of adult ego-development, for example Prof Robert Kegan, Jane Loevinger, her scholar, Susanne Cook-Greuter, and Lawrence Kohlberg for (related) stages of moral reasoning . They describe adult ego-development in stages of increasing complexity, accounting for an individual’s capacity (or lack of) of self-reflection and internal and external agency – for example, to what extent someone can perceive and tolerate themselves as separate from a group, capable of critical thinking and independent action. Another very helpful psychological model here is Michael Commons’ Model of Hierarchical Complexity (MHC) which assesses the complexity of reasoning we are capable of – how many systems can we hold in mind at the same time, contrast and compare, and do we have the capacity – or audacity? – to try and create something new?
A good example of this creativity, and audacity, is Dan Palotta’s work in transforming charity fundraising in the US, detailed in his book ‘Uncharitable’, made into the Uncharitable Documentary by Stephen Gyllenhaal (on the Therapists Café team).
It’s a brilliant movie about MHC stage 14 systems-change thinking – and the emotional processes involved in having to challenge unconsciously held thought systems and group loyalties on a large scale – in this case, according to Dan, Puritan America. In a parallel thread, it movingly describes Dan’s journey as a gay entrepreneur in the US 80s and 90s, the AIDS epidemic, challenging stereotypes, confronting fears, suffering tragedy and loss, but continuously rising again and daring something new, also in his personal life. Such as gay marriage and parenting of triplets via surrogacy.
It’s worth watching.
In summary – I believe the question of how to develop and use internal and external agency to create different systems is deeply pertinent to our field – as we are experts in this thinking but rarely use this expertise to contribute to political/societal/economic discourse and practice on a larger scale. Yet, we should.
Action: the Business Skills Course’s aim is to create a community of colleagues who want to think in this direction, discuss ideas, collaborate on projects, and generally embolden us to speak up and work towards change for something better. Join us if you’re interested.
NB: it will also be a means to fund this project – and to keep Café prices accessible. Your participation supports us.
Therapists Café Business Structure
The above-mentioned thinking led me to choose the business structure for our project as a Company Ltd by Guarantee – this means, by law, our project cannot externalise profit to shareholders or directors, and it cannot be sold – if we close, all potential savings have to be donated to a charity with similar purposes.
Why not a Company Ltd? – because this one does not have the above safeguards – many enterprises start out with good intentions, but then change direction and become profit-driven, or, once successful, will be sold to a less ethical owner. I want to show our community-based intentions by making sure the above is lawfully impossible – so all the weird projections of what secondary, exploitative thoughts I may have with this project can be kept to a minimum, hopefully.
Why not a Community Interest Company (CIC)? – because these are narrower in scope and, once established, tied to their specific mission, allowing less room for innovation and change – which would defeat the purpose of this project and limit us too much, I believe.
Why not offer everything for free? Because we can’t, unfortunately. Things cost things, there’s no such thing as for free – somebody pays somewhere. If things are offered ‘for free’, either you as the user are the product, or something else wants to be sold further down the line, or someone else carries the cost (‘externalised cost’), e.g. the community or the environment. This project is about dreaming – but not about getting stuck in magical thinking but growing up and making the dreams a reality.
Inspiration from Colleagues Responding to this Project:
Many people have emailed me with comments and ideas. Here a few:
International Attachment Network (IAN) – organisation for the promotion of attachment theory in therapeutic practice, research, politics and business
Megan Cornish with her brilliant, US-based initiative, The Fit Check – ‘A place to say what no-one’s saying out loud’ – ‘glass-door with community support’ for Therapists. Please follow her on LinkedIn and sign up to her initiative – please include your UK registration body and number to make it easier for her to navigate our systems.
Jenny Nemko – not a therapist but facilitating the brilliant initiative Talk Matters – Jews and Arabs talk together – umbrella initiative for Jewish/Arab collaboration, including business ventures like 50:50 Start-ups. https://talkmatters.info/ – please follow their socials to spread awareness of their campaign
Reading Therapies Group – where I am on the committee – has been organising monthly good-quality, very low-cost CPD for therapists for 40 years