Chapter Four
Finding Your Voice as a Counsellor
Part of Building a Counselling Practice: The Journey Beyond the Classroom
When I first started writing for my website, I sounded exactly like a counsellor.
Or at least, what I thought a counsellor was supposed to sound like.
Professional.
Carefully balanced.
Warm.
Ethically worded.
Entirely forgettable.
There wasn't anything wrong with what I'd written.
The problem was that it could have belonged to almost anyone.
The more websites I read, the more I noticed we were often using the same language.
Safe space.
Compassionate.
Non-judgemental.
Tailored to your individual needs.
Again, all true.
But if everybody says the same thing, how does anyone decide who feels right?
Eventually I stopped trying to write like a therapist.
Instead, I started writing like me.
I wrote about football.
Music.
Grief.
Fatherhood.
Loneliness.
The conversations that stayed with me after the therapy room had emptied.
Some articles were inspired by songs.
Others by conversations with clients.
Others simply by questions that refused to leave me alone.
Something unexpected happened.
People began contacting me to say they felt as though they already knew me before we met.
Not because I'd shared my life story.
But because my writing sounded like the person who greeted them at the beginning of the first session.
That taught me something I hadn't expected.
Your voice isn't something you create.
It's something you stop hiding.
For a long time I'd worried that writing differently might seem unprofessional.
Instead, it became one of the reasons people connected with the practice.
Ironically, I don't think I found my voice.
I simply stopped borrowing everyone else's.
Looking back, I think that's true of private practice itself.
People aren't looking for the perfect therapist.
They're looking for someone who feels real.
Someone whose words sound like they belong to a real person rather than a brochure.
That's much harder than it sounds.
Because sooner or later another voice appears.
That question became impossible to ignore.
Because once you've found your voice, another question quietly follows.
Do I really belong here?
And it led me straight into the next chapter.
Continue the Journey
← Chapter Three: Finding My Niche as a Counsellor
Chapter Five → What Happens When They Find Me Out?
Perhaps One Day...
These chapters began as reflections whilst building Me In Time Counselling & Psychotherapy.
The more I write, the more they feel like chapters of a book that hasn't quite realised it's a book yet.
Get in Touch
Have you found your own voice, or are you still trying to write the way you think a counsellor should sound?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.