Counsellors: How to Research Your Blog Post (Without Getting Stuck)

You know what you want to say in your blog. You've supported so many clients through this again and again, you might have even experienced this yourself, but you sit down to write and somehow two hours later, all you've got to show for it are 17 open tabs, and you haven't even started writing. Now if all that sounds painfully familiar, then this episode is for you.

It's your permission slip to stop researching and to start writing using what you already know.

Hi, and welcome to the Grow Your Private Practice Show, where we take the mental load outta blogging and help you to write with ease, confidence, and using your own voice. Because your clients don't need perfect.

What they need is you. I'm Jane Travis, and without further ado, let's get started.

So hello, hello, hello and welcome back and if this is your first visit, you, my friend, are very, very welcome. Now, let's start with a moment that I think you possibly know all too well. So you sit down to write a blog. Maybe it's about something that you talk about with clients.

All the time. Let's say for example, that it's something like how anxiety can affect your sleep. You know, this is maybe something you've supported umpteen clients through. You've probably experienced it yourself. You know how it shows up and you know what's going to help. But before you start typing, you think to yourself, well.

Well, I better just double check a few things first, and then before you know it, it's two hours later, you've got 12 tabs open and a bunch of conflicting articles that are leaving you feeling confused and somehow still no blog post. And look, if that sounds familiar, I want you to know that you are not alone far from it, and more importantly, you are not doing anything wrong.

This is what I call the research trap, and it's one of the most common ways that counselors get stuck when they're trying to blog. Now, the reason this happens isn't anything to do with laziness, and it's nothing to do with lack of motivation, and it's nothing to do with a lack of knowledge either.

It's usually to do with fear. So it's the fear of getting something wrong. It's a fear of not sounding professional. It's a fear that somebody might question you, and it's a fear that you are not enough of an expert to talk about this subject. And of course, of course. Where would we be without imposter syndrome that rolls in whispering to you?

Who are you to write this? So instead of writing, you start to seek some proof. You start looking for a little bit of backup, so you try to make yourself feel ready enough. But look, the thing I want to sort of get over here is that, put yourself in the shoes of your clients. What is it that they want when they're looking at a blog?

They're not reading your blog with a red pen in their hand. They're not going through it marking it and thinking, well, that's not right, and that's not right. And they're not really particularly interested in the latest research. Not, you know, most people aren't, anyway. No.

What they're looking for is something very different, what they're looking for. Connection. They're looking for someone who gets it. They're looking for someone who sounds like a real human being and they're looking for somebody who might be able to just share a few different ways of looking at something or a couple of tips that might help you. And that brings me to probably the most important part of this whole episode, and that is a reminder about what blogging actually is.

Now, blogging isn't about proving yourself. You are already a professional. That's just a fact. You don't have to keep proving yourself. A blog is not an academic paper, it's not a research project. What a blog is, it's a written conversation, so when somebody finds your blog, they're not hoping for the latest statistics.

They don't want to be lectured, and they're not gonna be impressed by, you know, sharing lots and lots of stats. What they really want from that blog is to feel less alone. They want to feel seen, they want to feel understood, and maybe. Even just for a moment, they want to feel a little bit more hopeful, and that's where your power is.

You writing like a human being, talking to another human, that's powerful and that's what's going to build trust between you and the reader. And remember, the reader could go on to be your next. Your next client, and that's what makes somebody feel safe enough to keep reading and to reach out to you. It's not to do with perfect grammar.

It's not about academic references. It's just your presence, your care that's going to show through the words that you use. So you don't need to sound like an expert because you are an expert. You just need to sound real. Because when you write from your own lived experience, from your own empathy, from your own desire to help somebody, that person is gonna think, oh wow, this person, this person really gets me.

And that's the moment that matters the most. And no amount of research is gonna replace that. So what do you do instead? Well, this is what I would recommend. It's a simple, low stress way to approach blogging without getting stuck in the research spiral. So the first thing I'd do, you know, step one is.

Just to write your post. So it might be that you just, you know, write a really rough copy of your post. Just let everything that's inside of your head come out, like vomit all of your words onto the page as it were, using all of the stuff that you already know. And I promise you, you already know enough to write this blog.

And secondly, I would say, right, once you've made some sense of that, I want you to reread it, you know? Have a think to yourself, does this actually need something extra? Is this enough? Would there be another, example I could use or another section that might actually help this blog along? So, set number three.

Step three, if this blog post does feel a little bit thin, see if you can fill the gap with a personal example. So something that's happened to you, obviously. I know all about like personal disclosure and I've got loads of blogs about that, so I'll put some links into that. So you can go and listen to those.

But if you've thought about what you are happy talking about, share something, put a personal example that you feel comfortable sharing with, or you can share a client's story. Now, obviously I know that you are not just going to share a client's story as is. You are gonna share it ethically.

You're gonna make sure that nobody, including the client would even know that it was about them. Or it might be that you want to share a simple reflection from your experience. And then step four and only then. Add a relevant quote. If you want to add a stat, if that's going to help what you know, help the writing or add a resource.

You know, it might be that, be that you share a TED Talk or a book that you think is going to help, but only share it if it's genuinely gonna add value to that blog post. And that way the research then becomes a finishing touch. It's not the main event. Now if you do need to do some research, you know, you might still want to double check something and that's totally okay.

But try setting yourself some boundaries so that you don't have those like two hour research rabbit holes. So the first thing I would say is. Pop a timer on. You can do that really easy. Just you, most people have a phone these days, don't they? Just pop the timer on, give yourself 10 minutes maximum.

That's literally all you need. And then stick to one or two trusted resources. So a TED Talk, that's good. It might be that there's a podcast that you listen to. There's maybe a book. All sorts of different things and ask yourself, would my client care about this detail, or am I just trying to prove myself for putting this here?

And remember, research doesn't always mean statistics. So like I say, it could be a TED Talk that you know and love. It could be a book quote or a book that you want to recommend. It could be a podcast that you've heard, or it might be something that you've learned in training that's really stuck with you.

And often those kind of details can land more deeply with readers than data could ever land. So I just want to remind you, really, this is what I want you to remember, especially on the days that self-doubt creeps in. You already know enough. In fact, you probably know more than enough. Most of the clients I know are constantly adding to their knowledge.

We just can't seem to help it, even if you are newly qualified. Even if you are just starting out, you've got your training there. You've probably read lots of books, you've probably done loads of learning. It's just what counselors do. And don't forget, you've got your own personal life. You know your lived life.

You've experienced challenges, you've had relationships, you've had setbacks, and you've had growth, and you've had. Healing all of that matters. All of it shapes you and shapes your empathy. And when you combine all of that with your professional training, you have got everything that you need to write a blog that's going to truly connect.

Because at the end of the day, your clients aren't searching for the most factually correct blog on the internet. They're searching for you, your warmth, your insights, and your words. So look, let them hear it so that's it. It's quite a short podcast today. So let's just quickly run through the takeaways. So we've looked at the urge to over research and how it's rooted in fear not fact, and we've looked at how your blog is a conversation, not a lecture. It's just a written conversation. And we've looked at how it's important for you to write like a human, because that's what readers are going to connect with, and I really recommend that you just write first, get what's in your head out, down onto the paper or onto the screen or however you write it.

Write first just from the knowledge that you have, and then at the end. If you need to, you can add extras then. And remember, please remember, you don't need to prove yourself. You just need to show up and look, if you want blogging to feel easier and more doable without hours of second guessing, then check out my new framework first blogging method. It's a low cost monthly membership that's been made specifically for counselors. Each month you'll get a simple counselor specific blog framework that guides you step by step from blank page to finished post, so writing becomes faster. Clearer and a whole lot less overwhelming. So take a look if that kind of structure would be helpful, you'll find it at janetravis.co.uk/framework-first, or in the show notes that go with this podcast, so you don't need to have more tabs open. You don't need to sound more like somebody else. No, definitely not. But you do need to trust what you already know and to let your own voice do the talking. So write the blog, say what's in your heart, and know that someone out there needs to hear it. And if this has landed with you, go ahead and follow this podcast. That way you'll always have a little encouragement waiting in your queue when you need it most.

So thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.