The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The mum guilt. I wouldn’t say I have overcome it, but it has definitely been working against my ability to make my business grow. Having children with additional needs that require extra support and a higher mental load means that I have to really work hard at looking after myself in the chaos – after all, I can’t be a good therapist or a good parent if I am constantly overwhelmed and dysregulated. I have had to overcome the impact of a second maternity leave after finally building a reputation and client stream – having to pause everything for months and hope I could build it back up again (a scary time!). I had to overcome anxiety around money and sitting with an unpredictable income.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The best thing about running my own business is being in control and making allowances to be the person at home for school assemblies and pick ups and anything else I want to do. Also, the reward of seeing my hard work pay off and the freedom to grow in ways that I am excited about – not being limited to a specific role.
The cons are the financial insecurity and having so much work to do around actual work/client hours. It is remembering to make time to pay my associates and myself and being ‘on’ constantly, which makes being fully present at home hard, because the work is all down to me. It is the fear of one client being able to ruin a reputation and having to make and maintain boundaries with clients and payments that I can control – and having the money discussions with someone that I know has financial difficulties and is coming to me for help. I also find it much harder to take a day off because my brain instantly calculates how much money I could have made that day and then the cost of doing something fun for the day – so my days off feel too expensive.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I wrote a children’s book that helps primary school-aged children to understand and respond to scary thoughts. I made this for my son (with his collaboration) and so I need to finally start advertising this more and making it more available.
I also have a product in development for new parents – designed to be a way to look after their mental health in those first few months after having a baby.
I also just launched a new service to make therapeutic advice and support more accessible to new parents. I have found that a lot of new parents find it hard to prioritise their mental health and they may not have the time, money or mental capacity to do regular therapy sessions. I have therefore launched an ‘ask a therapist’ service on my website where they can come and send me a large email about what they need advice and support around, and I will send them a voicenote or email back with tailored guidance and support advice in it.
I am going to be building my presence as a source of information and support for both of my specialist areas to advocate for better information and support for those who need it most. I am hoping to be a strong voice in the area of mental health for new parents, and will be creating resources to share things that will help them.
Visit the Reimagine Therapy website to find out more. You can also connect with Jess on Facebook and on Instagram @jess_the_therapy_mum and @jess_helps_your_ocd.
