Stop Playing Small in Private Practice

Camille McDaniel (00:06.019)
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode.

I am really glad that you’re here today and really excited overall because this evening starts the Faith Healing and Transformation Virtual Summit. So you know, I’m really excited about that because we have some awesome information. I just love to be able to empower other Christian mental health professionals. So, you know, as you wind down, the weeks start winding down and then the days start winding down, you start kind of getting really excited. So that’s happening this evening.

It’s not too late to join us. So please, if any of our topics resonate with you and you want to come and hear good sound information from awesome, wonderful Christian-led professionals, then yeah, come on, come along, come one, come all. But yeah, that’s got me super excited. And then I also get to speak for a lunch and learn to some of the graduate students over at Richmond University, as well as maybe some of their alumni.

I just have like a lot of things are going to be happening today when this episode airs and I’m just like really excited about it. So, you know, I’ve been reflecting on a lot of things this past week or two. And so this episode is actually super timely because we’re going to be talking about playing small, you know, and honestly, there’s too many Christian counselors who I feel like, you know, they are, they’re dimming their light.

because they’re afraid. You know, they’re afraid of a lot of things. They know that they’re being called to do things that maybe they’ve never done before, step out and reach out to people that they’ve never reached out to before, and they’re just maybe afraid of standing out. They’re afraid of being criticized or maybe feeling like they are being too much or assuming that other people might think that they are doing too much. But let me just tell you that’s…

Camille McDaniel (02:08.066)
that right there just feeling, you know, feeling afraid that you might be criticized or that you’re going to be coming on a little too strong and feeling like, you know, you’re probably doing too much. Other people are going to see you as being too much. And maybe for some of you, people have told you that you are doing too much because they don’t see the vision and they don’t have the same calling on their life that you have on yours. But again,

You want to be careful because that is one of the enemy’s oldest tricks. If he can take you to a place mentally of thinking that you need to just pipe down, you need to just calm down, you need to step back, he’ll do it because he can’t take away your gifts and talents. Those weren’t given to you by the Lord. He can’t take away the calling that you have on your life.

and how you’re supposed to use those gifts and talents and the impact you’re supposed to have. He can’t do any of that. He knows it and you know it too. But what he can do is try to convince you to hide. He can convince you to step back or he can convince you of a lot of different things that kind of cause you to close yourself off, keep your gifts and talents to yourself. So today I want to…

I wanna talk to you about how to stop playing small and why your light matters and how you can really shine it boldly in your practice, being ethical and being professional, but also being unapologetic in it, right? And I think we can stand firmly being unapologetic if we are being ethical and we are being professional. So with that, let’s like…

go right on into one of the first points that I wanna make about playing small, basically. And what we know is that playing small shows up in a lot of different ways. It shows up when we say to ourselves, I’m gonna like, you know, integrate faith in my practice when I get more experience. Now, that initially sounds…

Camille McDaniel (04:21.708)
very ethical, very professional. Why would you rush into something when you have no training on that, when you don’t know how to do it, right? But this is the thing that we tell ourselves when we are really just buying time because we’re afraid. So it’s not like we’re saying I’m going to integrate faith when I get more experience and now I’m actively looking for trainings and I’m talking to people in consultation. It’s no, no, no.

This is when you tell yourself that but then you take pretty much no other steps after that and you know half a year goes by, a year goes by and before you know it you really never did get around to it. You might even tell yourself well I don’t want to offend anyone so I’ll just leave my beliefs out of that. Now let me stop here real quick and say I was just encouraged by the topic for today

by things that I have seen from other professionals, heard from other professionals and or experienced myself. So this is no judgment, I’m not coming down hard. We are all in it together trying to do our best for the kingdom, for our families, for our communities. So with that established, let me go right into the next thing that sometimes is said and that is

Like I said, I don’t want to offend anyone, right? So I’m just going to leave my beliefs out of it. And that is like telling the Lord directly, I’m just going to leave you out of it. You who gave me the ability to get this far in my profession. You who gave me the gifts and talents that I use so well now to help your children heal and flourish. You who gives me the referrals.

who allows things to line up in a way that I could not have orchestrated on my own. Yes, you. I need you to wait in the parking lot, to wait in the waiting room. I need you just to stand back because this might offend the person that I’m seeing. And when I say it that way, does that feel comfortable to you? Does that feel like something that your heart feels toward the father?

Camille McDaniel (06:42.99)
probably does not align, right? So what we need to do is not run from that, but we need to find out how do we do it ethically and professionally instead of giving ourselves reason to not do it at all. And another thing that we also tell ourselves is that I’m just not as knowledgeable as other people in this, you know, I don’t know that I’d really be able to do it as effectively as this person or as smoothly as that person. I’m

think it’d probably be better if I just kind of stay silent. Don’t don’t try to take that on. Okay, so if any of these sound familiar, or if any of those things you have maybe said feeling like it was allowing you to be ethical, it was allowing you to be humble, just know it’s not, right? Instead, we know what that really is. It’s fear.

And it’s all fear just dressed up as like wisdom or ethics or humility. But none of that is being humble. None of that is really being wise. Honestly, wisdom is obedience. And sometimes obedience looks like stepping forward when there is no one else stepping forward. And that’s scary.

Especially if that is not your natural personality. You know, here you are with these ideas or here you are with something specifically that the Lord has assigned for you to do and he has placed on your heart exactly what he wants you to do and how he may want you to do it. And you’re like, my goodness, can you also get somebody? Is there someone else? I don’t, are you sure? Did I really hear?

what I thought I heard, right? And so, and so instead of us stepping forward boldly, we find ourselves taking steps back and kind of shrinking back. And that is exactly what the enemy wants for you to do. Again, like I said earlier, the enemy already knows that he can’t destroy your practice. He can’t destroy and take away.

Camille McDaniel (09:04.129)
the calling or the gifts that have already been given to you by the Lord, because he can’t take anything from you that the Lord gave to you. He knows that and you know that, but he definitely will play on those fears. He absolutely will help you to come up with more and more reasons why you should not do whatever it is that you are being led to do by the Lord. And that’s just really how he keeps

Christian professionals from walking in their full calling. And we wanna kind of put a stop to that in our own lives. And if this is something that applies to someone that you know, then we wanna shoot this podcast over to them so that they might be able to be encouraged and be informed as well. So in the book of Matthew in chapter five, verse 14,

The word says that you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. What does that mean? Well, exactly what we hear. So if you are the light of a world and you’re sitting up high on a hill, you’re going to be seen. And I know that that is the problem for some. That was a problem for me too. You’re not alone.

Because if you are the light, you’re being a light, and you are sitting on a hill, first of all, you’re sitting for everyone to see. You are sitting apart from several people because you’re on the hill. Everyone doesn’t fit on the hill. There are some people who are scattered and they’re not on the hill. So you are front and center, visible, and set apart. And that is downright uncomfortable for a lot of people. But you’re not alone.

And I know that you know that, right? But I’m saying it because I want you to really envision you’re not alone. You have the Father and all of heaven cheering you on to actually go forward in boldness. And if you could see it with your naked eye, you’d be able to register it in your soul, in your very being that I’m not doing this alone. I know when I look around, I might feel like I’m alone.

Camille McDaniel (11:28.396)
I know when I look around, I may not see everyone doing what I’m doing. I may not always see everyone speaking out like I’m speaking out. I might not have the same assignment that someone else has. So I’m like navigating this territory and it’s new and I don’t know what I’m doing all the way. And I kind of know what I’m doing part of the way. And I really don’t want to fail. But you’re not alone. And your light is not meant to be hidden.

And in counseling, know, being a light and being set apart and kind of going forth boldly does not mean that you’re going to be unethical. It doesn’t mean that you start pushing your beliefs on clients. Pushing your beliefs on clients is unethical, but that’s not what you’re going to be doing. It just means that you’re going to be showing up as

the regular professional identity that you have specializing in faith-based counseling practices aligned with the Christian worldview, and you’re going to be helping all of those people who want that. And I’ll tell you something, I’ve looked at the statistics. There are several statistics that tell us that there is a large portion of the population who identifies as Christian.

Now, there are many different denominations that people might align with, but just overall, that means that there are quite a few people who would be open to what you are offering when you are offering faith-based counseling. It is not like you’re in this area the only person. No, there are actually a lot of people, and some of them don’t even know.

that it is possible to have counseling be integrated with their faith. Ask me how I know. I know because I’ve encountered clients who didn’t know that that was even a thing. All right, so again, you’re just gonna be showing up, not pushing your beliefs on anybody, but as a trained professional who also carries the light of Christ and knows how to integrate that into mental health.

Camille McDaniel (13:51.256)
counseling practices. Okay and there are a lot of places where you can continue to train, get additional information. There are people who would love to support you along the way. You know you can always reach out here, business consultation, there are free resources, there are a variety of different scaled resources for you to get what you need and by the way

The training that we’re doing this evening in the summit that’s going to be for the next three days is going to be with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It’ll be recorded and be available after the summit is all done if you would like to actually purchase one of those segments or more for training purposes. So there are a lot of places where you can get the support. It’s just about taking that first step, right?

just about taking that first step. Here’s the thing, fear speaks loud. Like fear speaks loud and it is a nag. So we want to acknowledge that part because we know that the kingdom of darkness, that the enemy will use fear at any point in time in order to accomplish its goals and its goals for you.

And so what does fear even sound like for some of us? Well, I’ll tell you, here’s a couple of ways that fear will show up. Fear will tell you, you know, if I practice by integrating my faith, I might lose a lot of clients. People won’t want to see me anymore. They’ll just think that I’m going to be discriminating against people. So I better not do that because I don’t want to lose clients and I don’t want to be viewed as being discriminatory.

it might cause you to compare yourself. Again, fear. So maybe you’re comparing instead of, you know, just the fear based that you might be like canceled or get in trouble or lose clients. But instead, how about maybe even comparing yourself like, well, I need to be a certain level of counselor before I can ever counsel integrating my faith. And it’s like, okay. Well,

Camille McDaniel (16:09.794)
What level of counselor were you when you actually first started counseling? And did you not get training along the way and supports, clinical supervision, consultation? No, I think you did, right? So you already have the foundation. Now you’re adding to the foundation that you have and you are going to be open to additional training and consultation or supervision.

along the way. Sometimes fear causes us to overthink. You know, we’ll start thinking, what if I get it wrong? What if I cross the line and I’m unethical? And we just stop there. We just stop with the worry. We never even keep on going to solution. That’s not good. So what if you do get it wrong? Well, what do you do currently if you get it wrong?

in your practice as a mental health professional now? And what will you do in order to mitigate the possibilities of crossing the line? Because crossing the line is really more of an ethical thing. So would you not then be very aware of the ethical codes that you are aligned with? Would you not be very aware of what it means to honor somebody’s faith in a session without

going too far, making sure that it’s still client centered about that. you just kind of keep on going and overthinking. And then before you know it, you’re silent. You are shrinking back again and you are working, hiding your gifts and talents instead of being the light that you’re called to be. So what does it look like to actually shine?

What does it look like to confidently be that light, right? In your private practice. So it looks like maybe writing an intake form that makes your worldview a little bit more clear. I would probably say maybe even before the intake form, how about writing website content that makes it a little bit more clear of your worldview and how your worldview is integrated into the mental health care that you provide.

Camille McDaniel (18:35.564)
What about making sure that you also put this not just on your website, but on any directories that you have to happen to be a part of? How about that? So you can make it known that you offer Christian counseling services. So people who are seeking out professionals who happen to be Christians will know that you can help them and in the ways they are looking to be helped. How about

praying over it. It’ll look like praying over it. So it’ll look like praying over your week. It’ll look like praying over your plans, praying over where to get training. It will look like the whole thing will be instruction from the Father. And then you will make sure that your written content on any directories and websites align.

And then you can even go a step further with that by making sure that any intake forms just, you know, properly inform people. So it looks like creating space in your planning for the Holy Spirit to move without shame, without apology, getting wisdom, getting consultation or supervision and getting training because

your clients aren’t necessarily, especially for those who come with a desire for their faith to be integrated, they’re not coming just for strategies. They’re coming for strategies that are aligned with their base, the baseline of their life moral compass. They want their strategies to be aligned with that faith-based moral compass.

that they walk around with. Why? Because that is really what shapes a lot of their thinking, a lot of their behavior, and they would like to be able to integrate strategies that can fit with the structure they already have internally, at least the healthy parts. So, this is why, this is why we move forward and even if we are, we’re not really confident quite yet. Even if we,

Camille McDaniel (21:00.012)
are feeling a little nervous and fear is coming up to speak to us. This is why we move forward boldly, you know, and create awesome things. I know that you have ideas. I know that some of you are wildly creative and you have a number of things that are coming up in your spirit for you to do. Now, you have to make sure that you use discernment because…

Again, every idea that comes up sometimes, some of that can be you. We just want to make sure we are looking for the godly direction. Where are the god ideas that are coming up in you for you to do that kind of give you a little bit of nervousness because you’re like, goodness, I don’t know how that’s going to go. I’ve never done that before. That’s all right. Jumping out and following the Lord can create some awesome things.

It helped me create Christ in private practice. It’s why I am going to be speaking this evening along with wonderful other people in the Faith, Healing and Transformation Virtual Summit. You know, there’s some of us who really love the challenge. We’ll jump right on in there, but there’s some of us who that’s just not our natural bent, right? That’s not our natural personality. So you want to get ready. You want to…

make sure that you’re not playing small. Because playing small, when the Lord has asked you to do something boldly, playing small then doesn’t really honor what he is asking you to do. It doesn’t. It’s not being obedient. And we do want to do that, right? We just sometimes need some help along the way, some encouragement along the way. We need prayer along the way. Because sometimes it does get hard to stand alone.

It gets hard sometimes to be set apart, but there is community and you really aren’t alone. And you’re not alone in the heavenlies and you’re not alone on the earth. So we want for you, I want for you, I say we as like the community of Christ in private practice, for you to not play small, but for you to shine your light in this season.

Camille McDaniel (23:21.178)
and for whatever the reason is that he has laid on your heart. So if you have been dimming your light out of fear or comparison, then I want you to hear me today. Shine away, shine on not to show off but to show up.

And with that, I pray for you that every professional who is listening today, I pray that fear and being timid would have no place in what you are going to do for the kingdom. I pray that it would be replaced with boldness and with wisdom and with clarity.

I pray that your voice is heard by all who need to hear your voice and that both you and they will be blessed by it.

in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Until we meet again, thank you so much for joining me this episode. I hope to see you at the summit starting this evening, but even if I don’t, I’m just glad that you are here for the journey when you can, how you can. Bye bye.