Ethical Marketing Strategies for Christian Counselors

Camille McDaniel, LPC (00:00)

Welcome back to another episode of Christ in Private Practice. We are still running our summer skills lab, and this is a episode, another episode that’s part of that. We are going to keep on going until we reach episode 100. And so today, what we’re going to be talking about is client attraction, ethical marketing strategies for clinicians.

And so we are going to be taking a look at how we can you know, we’re promote our practice, promote our offerings, but also make sure that we are staying ethical within our code of ethics while we are doing so. If you happen to already be in your practice, if you happen to be considering private practice, if you happen to be planning for a practice, then

This can be beneficial and it’s not brand new, but I have not talked about this in probably a year or more, actually, over a year. So I’m bringing it back and going to share a little bit more information. So let’s go ahead and get started. We are going to be talking about, you know, ethical marketing strategies that can help our clients to find us and create.

some compelling, you know, online presence that just kind of reflects our faith as well, our worldview, our values, and how those integrate into the services that we provide. And just apply some ethical marketing techniques to this episode that are going to ideally resonate with you, but most importantly, resonate with those clients that you are seeking to have.

come your way. And we’ll start with what in the world is ethical marketing? Because we know what marketing is, right? And I think we have an idea of what it is to be ethical in our marketing. But you know, the world of marketing a a practice and essentially letting people know what we do for a living, how we can help them with what we do.

all of that has to still pass the you know pass the test with regards to our code of ethics so the marketing cannot be exaggerated like many industries do you know they kind of show you all the shiniest parts and and they actually have individuals who are stylists for whether it’s food or whether it’s an item like a car or like a home where they have staging.

It is unethical for us to do those things. So ethical marketing is going to be honest and respectful as we prepare to kind of share the services, the offerings, the supports that we offer in our practices. So it’s not going to misrepresent what someone can receive when they come to receive services from us, support, clinical care.

But however you want to phrase that, it we’re not gonna overpromise anything, and we’re not going to use tactics like many other industries are allowed to do, where might be some manipulation of information. Well, we’re we don’t want to do that because that would actually be unethical. We want to make sure that as we

move through this we kind of keep in mind who is our target audience and for for many of us we are currently providing clinical care that also integrates a Christian value system Christian faith base into the counseling care that we provide

And there are some of us who may not quite be doing that, but we are feeling a calling by the Lord to move in that direction, to be more integrative and to include him in more aspects of the care that we are providing to those he sends our way. And sometimes people can kind of worry, like, you know, well, if I do market my my practice as a

Practice that also integrates Christian values, worldview, knows how to professionally and ethically integrate the Christian faith into the treatment modalities. Won’t I exclude people? Won’t I maybe cause people to actually leave my practice or not call in the first place? Well, you know what? Let’s take a look at some research.

Now this research is actually going to be from a a 2023 and 2024 Pew Research Study. And so in that research study, they took a look between the years, like it was like July 2023 all the way through March 2024, they took a survey of about

Almost 40,000 adults about their religious affiliation, and about 62% of those surveyed identified as Christians. Now we know that, and the study didn’t get into all of the very nuances of that, because we know that you ask somebody what it means to them to be a Christian.

And you may get one response. You can ask someone else what it means to them to be a Christian. You may actually get a response that does not align with the first response. So I don’t know what type of Christian they happen to be meaning when they said that they identified in that way. But what we do know is that 60% of

Almost forty thousand. Actually, the number was I’m sorry, the number and I have the number right here. The number is actually thirty-six thousand nine hundred and eight adults were surveyed about religious affili affiliation. Sixty-two percent of those individuals identified as Christians, and so

Right there, if we just take a pause, and I’m going to give you even more numbers. And the last one is really large as far as the number of people that were included in the study. But right there, it tells you, hey, there are individuals who are who are identifying as Christians. Now it doesn’t tell us that everybody necessarily wants their faith integrated into their counseling experience.

Sometimes they do not, but they are identifying as Christians and therefore would not necessarily be shocked if they see that hey there’s mental health professionals available who actually know how to integrate my particular identified faith if I desire to have that explicitly.

integrated into my counseling experience. In 2023, Gallup poll actually took a survey. The poll was called How Religious Are Americans? And that poll asked over 12,000 adults about religious preference. And the poll found that 68% of Americans identified with a Christian religion.

And then the Public Religion Research Institute or PRRI did a 2020 census of American religion and it was based on interviews with more than half a million respondents. And more than half a million responses were collected between the years of 2013 up to 2020.

And in that, that showed that 70% at that time of Americans identified as Christian. So when you find yourself a little nervous and thinking that, I don’t really know if there’s going to be anyone who actually can relate. I don’t really know if that’s gonna resonate with anybody. I would say that out of all of those individuals,

It’s gotta resonate somewhere. So, you know, those are pretty significant numbers. And I wanted to make sure to share the actual institutes that did the research, did the polling, did the questionnaires. And if you have you know, a desire to look that up, you absolutely can. So you wanna ask yourself, what holds you back?

If it happens to be maybe just that you’re like, I don’t know. I just I just don’t know that I ever really thought about that because my faith is private and I never thought about bringing my faith into every aspect of my life. For some people, just like in the past episode that I did, talking about difficult work environments, some people live in states where it’s actually just not as welcoming of integrating.

Christian faith into their treatment modalities, into their counseling experiences. And sometimes there are individuals who may just have not prepared for it, but they’re in the process of it. So there’s just a lot of a lot of different reasons why someone may not currently be considering it. But if you happen to be one of the people who was just wondering if there would even be a target market for it.

Or anyone who would really resonate or understand where you were coming from, I would think that what I just kind of quoted here, it’s not bad. It’s really not bad. So it’s not anything to tell you, like, goodness, yeah, you’d be out here with absolutely nobody understanding where you were coming from. That’s actually not true at all. But let’s take a look at.

Some of what our ethical codes actually say when it comes to advertising ourselves, you know, and the c the services that we offer. So the American Counseling Association, and we’ll kind of look at a couple of codes of ethics, but the American Counseling Association actually talks about advertising in their codes of ethics and

That’s going to be in section C of their code of ethics. C.3.A talks about accurate advertising. And it says when advertising or otherwise representing services to the public that counselors identify their credentials in an accurate manner. That’s not false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent. And it also has something about

Testimonials for again the ACA. And that’s in section C dot three dot B. And it says that counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from current clients, former clients, or any other persons who may be vulnerable to undue influence, and that counselors discuss with clients the implications of

and obtain permission for the use of any testimonial. I found that one to be a little bit interesting because you’re not so supposed to solicit any testimonials from current clients or former clients or anybody who might be in a vulnerable position. But it then also said counselors discuss with clients the implications of this and get permission. So

I’m not really sure how you would do both without actually talking to your client about it, which if you’re talking to them, that can really kind of imply that you are trying to let them know that you would like their testimonial. I guess one of the ways that you could do it in a way so that it’s a not solicitation is just to let them know we thank you so much. And if ever in the future you decide that you want to let other people know about your experience here.

You know, we definitely allow you all to do that, but if you want for us to maybe post it somewhere, then we would definitely need your permission for that. And I say it that way because sometimes you may have clients who will literally totally unsolicited. and this is maybe also where the ethical code was going at, but totally unsolicited, they will say

You know, thank you so much for everything you’ve done. If ever you want to use me as an example, if ever you want to let people know, you know, that I said you’re great, you absolutely can. I give you full permission. I’ve actually had over the years a couple of times where people have said, well, you can use me as an example, or you can you can put I know that, you know, testimonials are a thing. You can say that I said it. I it’s totally fine.

And that would then be an open door to kind of talk to them about the implications of actually giving a testimonial or having their name listed. And if they totally seem to understand that and again, it wasn’t solicited by you, then you want to just make sure that you get their permission for that and have it in writing. You also, I would say, want to take a step further and document that it was a not solicited. You want to document

how the conversation came along, what the client said when they were offering for you to just use any of what they are just telling you in conversation as a testimonial. You know, you want to make sure that you properly document so that there are no questions about whether or not you took the right steps when it comes to actually following your codes of ethics. Another one is you know regarding products.

That people may have and and kind of like training advertisements. And it says, again, in the code of ethics, the ACA code of ethics, that counselors who develop products are related to the profession or whether they conduct workshops or conduct training events, they ensure that the advertisements concerning the products or the events are accurate and disclose adequate information for consumers to make an informed

decision. So again, that goes back to what we talked about, you know, just being honest, being open, not misleading, not overpromising anything, you know, but being very straightforward and clear so that others can make an informed decision about whether or not this is going to be for them. I know that again, like I said, we’re going to go over a few different codes of ethics.

And kind of talk through hmm, what do other people say as it relates to ethical frameworks for advertising? the NASW, the National Association for Social Workers, definitely has in their code of ethics as well, they actually have a couple of sections, but you’ll find it in their code of ethics section four, and they kind of talk about ethical responsibilities when it comes to again, marketing, advertising.

And theirs is talking about making sure that you’re not misrepresenting yourself. They also have one as it relates to solicitations. and here’s the thing. So every code of ethics pretty much has a lot of overlap. A lot of overlap. There might be some codes of ethics that are not as detailed about certain things.

versus other codes of ethics. So I think like social work has a little extra. They’ll talk about solicitations, they talk about testimonials, they talk about like they have a whole section about misrepresenting yourself. I mean, they even go as far as talking about misrepresenting not just yourself personally, but wherever you work, making sure that you’re misrepresentat or excuse me, making sure that

you are being truthful in whatever you happen to share so that you’re not misrepresenting yourself, the profession, the organization you may work for. Like it’s just it’s going far and wide, you know, making sure that anything that you happen to be presenting is not going to impact any of the people that are connected to you in negative ways, in harmful ways.

As it relates to solicitations, just so that we can kind of get an idea of what the different codes say, it says that social workers should not engage in solicitation of testimonials or endorsements. And that includes the solicitation of consent to use a client’s prior statement. Again, like I said, sometimes a client may say, my goodness, you know, thank you so much for all the help, or thank you so much for what you’ve done for my family or my child or whomever.

you know, I this has been a wonderful experience. You can feel free to use that anywhere you want to. I think that, you know, this has been truly helpful. Well, the NASW Code of Ethics is saying that you cannot use clients’ prior statement as a testimonial endorsement. So from current clients or from other people, because their particular circumstances are vulnerable to and they are.

kind of open to undue influence. So it’s taking into account the relationship and they’re saying it it doesn’t matter. And you can’t even ask for consent to use a statement just by being a current client or or even someone else. I don’t see in this code where it talks to being a former client and how that works. But as far as current clients go,

Then no, not even with permission. You can’t even ask for permission because they are in a or considered to be in a vulnerable place where they can be influenced still by the relationship that they have with you. And that’s fair enough because I don’t know that we ever can really determine that someone is really okay. Yes, you have the person’s word, but

You still don’t know if you have that person’s word because they would feel uncomfortable having not maybe completed their counseling time with you saying no. It’s like if I tell them I don’t want them to use what I just said, but then I have to come back and see them, you know, and I still have to work with them or I don’t want to risk, you know, them being kind of upset or feeling some kind of way.

And I don’t want to have to then start all over looking for a new therapist. So there’s a lot that can run in our clients’ minds that we may actually not know about. They may not tell us that their thoughts are even going that deep. So we want to just be mindful of that. Yeah. Okay. Let’s see about the next one. Okay, so let’s see what the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.

has to say about advertising. So it talks again, our codes of ethics kind of overlap. And that’s really nice because it kind of says like, you know, the codes of ethics kind of support each other across disciplines. But yeah, marriage and family therapists as well. They are to engage in appropriate informational activities. And that includes anything that allows the public or referral sources

or others to choose professional services based on informed consent. Yeah. They, you know, they want you to make sure that you are being very transparent about what can be offered and and how how you are trained and your credentials and all of that. It talks about accurate professional representation. And so

properly representing your competencies, your education training. I just mentioned that. And then talks about promotional material in that code of ethics as well. Marriage and family therapists are to ensure that advertisements and publications in any media are true, accurate, and in accordance with whatever applicable laws, you know, you have going on, whether it’s in your state or anywhere else, you need to abide by them.

I did notice though that I did not see anything about testimonials for the Marriage and Family Therapist Code of Ethics. And so if anybody has any information on that, I’m totally open to it. I just didn’t see it in their codes of ethics, but it would be nice to see if maybe that’s something that actually is there in a different way or or some other information that has come out from AAMFT on that.

So as you can see, there’s again, there is a big, there’s a big push from all of the disciplines saying that you need to advertise in a way that is very transparent, in a way that is going to properly inform individuals of what they’re going to get, who they’re going to get it from, what the training is that the person has behind them and the credentials that they have behind them. So, you know, they want it to be really clear. I’ll tell you someone else who actually does have in their code of ethics.

information on testimonials and that’s the American Psychological Association or APA. It says that in their section on testimonials, which is in section five, psychologists are not to solicit testimonials from current therapy clients or patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence. So again you hear about this

Being vulnerable and undue influence because of the nature of the relationship between mental health professional and client. So something to think about. Yeah, you know, like, all right, well, then how do we exactly get our, you know, our name out there? And there definitely are ways. Now, I will say, if your client totally on their own accord.

They go out and they write something on, you know, a Facebook rating or if they happen to do a Google rating or anything like that, and you never ask them to do a thing, well, then the ethical code is not talking about that. You are totally free and clear. You did not solicit it, you did not ask for it. you you know, you are probably none the wiser, you know, in most cases, unless you’re getting alerts on it. So

Or you’re checking up on it. So so there you go, as it relates to that. You don’t have to worry about that.

We can get really clear, I think, or clearer on what it means to have transparent marketing, ethical marketing. And I think it would be great to talk a little bit about the way that we phrase things when we are trying to promote our practices and the services that we offer within our practice. And so

A couple of ideas like surrounding that is that sometimes we really don’t mean to state things in a way that’s misleading. Well it we can just slide into that position sometimes. And so let’s take a look at what’s an example of ethical versus unethical even phrasing of services. So a very ethical way,

would be to just basically state what you do. Like I help develop coping skills to manage anxiety, to manage stress in high-income earners, you know, or high-income female earners working in a corporate setting. You can get as specific and as detailed as you need to, just depending on your training, your niche, right? But just a very plain example would be I help clients develop coping strategies to manage anxiety.

Yeah, okay. That’s very straightforward, right? kind of kind of plain, right? You know, but very straightforward. It’s not manipulative, it’s not coercing anybody, it’s not misrepresenting anything. And but let’s look at an example where that might actually not be okay to say an example where it is unethical and an unethical statement.

Would be like saying, I can help you completely eliminate your anxiety forever.

We can’t make those types of promises, right? We can’t we we cannot. So we cannot phrase anything in a way of giving guarantees. we cannot phrase anything in a way that would mislead somebody about the outcomes that they can expect from the treatment that you are providing. Now, you may say this is an evidence based treatment.

That has research from whatever year to whatever year and has shown to be effective in fifty percent, sixty percent, seventy percent of individuals experiencing XYZ symptoms. That would not be a

an an unethical statement because you are leaving room for people to know that only 50% or 60% or how whatever percent of people found it to be effective. I would say to not even call into question though that type of statement, I would have something to say about well, what happened to the other percent of people that it didn’t work for.

You know, and so that might be something that you want to stay away from all together, right? You just don’t want to make any type of claim that would assert like, hey, if you come see me, I have the way this way of treating individuals, and it’s more than likely you are going to find healing. you just want to be clear about what you do offer.

You don’t have to make any kind of exaggerated promises. So another one. Let’s take a look at this one. Something that’s very ethical. Very ethical and on point would be saying, are you feeling overwhelmed by stress? Well, learn how to build resilience and find peace. Okay, right? Nothing wrong with that. Asking a question.

To verify whether or not you’re the right target audience. And if that person is thinking to themselves, well, yeah, I’m definitely overwhelmed by stress, then they may then want to see what else you have to say. And then you talk about what they can receive from you. It’s not a guarantee, but it is saying, Well, come and I’ll essentially I will teach you ways.

To build your resilience and ways to find peace. Nothing wrong with that. Ethical. That’s ethical. Now, what would it look like if it was unethical? Well, here’s here’s the example for that, right? are you tired of being a failure? Maybe, well, not maybe. are you tired of being a failure?

My program will change your life. Now, truth be told, I mean, the question itself is a little harsh, right? Are you tired of being a failure? I would probably not use that term, right? But either way, you move on and you say, My program will change your life. And you don’t want to make that promise. That is actually a statement that.

insinuates that it’s going to change your life for the better. But we can’t make those promises. Maybe it doesn’t change your life for the better. So we don’t want to we don’t want to make those promises. And we will keep ourselves out of trouble if we don’t make those promises. Because then what happens when you happen to find somebody and it doesn’t work out for them?

Then they’re like, Well, you promised and you said it’ll change my life. And sometimes people will even add what they thought, even if you weren’t advertising it. They’re like, You said you would change my life and help me get better. It’s like, What? I never said that. But you did promise that the program will change their life. And they didn’t assume that meant either better or worse. They assumed better.

When we are talking about ethical decision making, when we are talking about being transparent and essentially knowing what to say that’s ethical, what to say that’s not ethical, that’s where we want to look at some of the models that have already been developed to help us stay ethical as we are determining how we want to move forward in advertising and in marketing. So

We have we have rests for component model, and that decision-making model includes sensitivity, judgment, motivation, and character. And then we have the ACA model, which goes from identifying to consult codes, then evaluate, then decide, and then document.

When we are talking about ethical decision-making models that can be used when we are marketing and advertising. All right. Okay. So let’s take an example. We’ll say this is this is gonna be example number one, and that’s going to be quoting a former client on in on your Instagram. All right. So

your social media essentially, but we’ll just say it it’s Instagram. Okay. So the scenario is that you have a former client who emails you after termination and they say, you know, you helped me so much. I finally feel hopeful again. And I’ll tell everyone to call you and schedule an appointment. And let’s say that you want to actually use this quote.

On some kind of you know advertising marketing flyer or some type of post that you put online and in your social media somewhere, right? So let’s walk through the decision-making model using both models that I just talked about. We’re going to use rests for component model. We’re going to also use the ACA model. All right, so in using rests.

Four component model, then the first component being sensitivity means that you’re gonna recognize that even though the client is not with you anymore, they’re not an active client, but sharing their words could affect their privacy or it could even imply guarantees. And we want to stay away from that both.

possibly causing their identity to be exposed in some way or putting them out there in some way. And also being careful that in putting out what they said, it’s not giving impressions or or false impressions or any kind of guarantees. Let’s move on to the next component. The next component is judgment. So you check your code of ethics, you’re doing your due diligence and

You’re using because well let me stop. You check your code of ethics because you’re doing your due diligence. And if it happens to be that your code of ethics doesn’t mention anything like with the AAMFT, then you want to err on the side of caution. And if your code of ethics says that you should not reach out to anybody, not pass, not present, you know, no one.

Then you probably again are in that boat where you’re not going to be able to do anything with that because that’s not something that you can facilitate. But if your former client decided that they wanted to go online themselves, they absolutely could do that without a problem. So for the judgment part, you’re going to check your code of ethics, which you already did, and you’re going to use client compliments.

Even post- termination and remember it’s going to require caution or clarity depending on your discipline, depending on your license. So for some, if it’s not really stated and you’re like, Well, my code of ethics doesn’t say anything about me not doing it, but I’ll do it and I won’t put the person’s full name on there. Okay. Now, if the other if the person themselves put their full name out there, that is on them.

But if you have a code of ethics that doesn’t really say you can’t, then you want to make sure you’re taking extra steps to protect the privacy, even though you’re not seeing the individual right now. Just take a look at what’s going to be you know, the the path that’s going to cause you to be in the best position ethically and professionally. Okay. The next thing that is on

On here, as far as a component is motivation. You value your you know your professional integrity, and you want to make sure that you continue to value your professional integrity more than you value like the likes, the shares, the hearts, and all of that kind of stuff that you can get on social media. the the number of times it might be.

You know, that you get new followers because of it. You just want to value your integrity over all of that and make sure that the message that you are going to share, it aligns with your reputation and what you want to put out there, what you want to be known for. So you you want to check your motivation for actually putting this up there. Is this something that you wholeheartedly feel like, my goodness.

These words could really inspire someone else, could really help someone else, could really like allow someone almost kind of like a a lighthouse. You know, this can kind of draw people into a safe place. I’m not doing it so it can go viral. I’m not doing it so that I can amass a ton of followers. I’m not I’m not doing it, you know, for any self-serving reasons that that might put a person, the the former client.

in the limelight for their name to be spread multiple times over and over again that could potentially cause some kind of conflict for them. So you want to just see like, okay, what is it that’s really driving me here? Yeah. And then the last component for the rest’s four component model is going to be character. And you choose to write again, assuming your code of ethics says that it’s okay.

You can write a post, but maybe you kind of rewrite the post without like quoting the client exactly so that you’re not putting the client out there, just depending on how you might be using that information as you advertise and as you market. And then that allows you to maintain your value system even within your marketing and your advertising efforts. Yeah.

Now let’s take a look at the ACA model for decision making. So here’s the problem. You want to share a testimonial, but let’s say it may violate your ethical codes. All right. So then what are we going to do? We are going to do a code review. All right. We are going to make sure that.

We avoid using testimonials in a way that will exploit or mislead. We do not solicit testimonials from current clients. We are going to be mindful that the main priority is the client’s care and anonymity. And we are going to be mindful of soliciting. So this model just really takes a look at.

review going straight to the code of ethics first and foremost and making an appropriate decision to protect the client if you are free to move forward and use the testimonial. Because after that, so after you identify the issue, the issue is that and I want to be clear on this so I’m not skipping over and making it confusing, but the ACA model of decision making

Number one, you’re gonna identify the problem. The pop problem again is that you want to share the testimonial, but it might violate your ethical codes. Number two, you’re going to review the code of ethics depending on your license. And you’ll see what it has to say. We’ve gone over what the code of ethics actually has to say. And then number three, you’re gonna consult, speak with one of your colleagues, determine the risk. Is this a little too risky?

Should I not do it? Or should I rewrite it? Should I just only use like initials or should I not do any of that? Just use quotation marks. Go ahead and check with somebody else that is trusted and you know, and in your field, in your discipline. And then number four, you’re gonna look at options. So use it with written permission or use it with some type of disclosure.

Or rewrite it and don’t actually use it word for word, keep it anonymous. You know, you’re gonna look at all of the ways that you can actually get this done if you decide to do it. Okay, or you might decide after all of that, you won’t use it at all. You might decide, there could be some consequences that come from this.

After you’ve kind of looked at all of your angles, after you’ve consulted, you’re like, this could still run me into murky water. I don’t, I don’t know if I wanna I wanna take the chance. You might decide, nope, this I’m I’m free and clear to move forward. This is not going to actually cause me any problems at all. All right. And then number five, you’re gonna act on your decision and you’re going to document.

So let’s say you actually do make the post, but then you are going to log your ethical reasoning in your consult and your consultation content in your documentation. Why? Because if your professionalism is ever called into question, it will show that you did not really just make this decision on a whim. That you didn’t just make this decision.

Quickly because you were trying to go for the likes and you’re trying to go for the shares, but that you actually took proper professional steps to ensure that you were doing all things right and in order according to your license and the code of ethics that go along with your license. Okay. So hopefully that kind of that’s like straightforward. It might even cause people to now start looking at their codes of ethics, be like, okay, what’s going on?

I know that sometimes codes get updated. So it’s always great for us to maybe dive into our codes of ethics, look at what it says. there is a lot of overlap between the different codes of ethics, but there are still some little nuances, right? You know, here and there. And we want to be sure of what our particular code says. All right. So let’s look at some ethical marketing when when it comes to

Christian faith and branding. So branding is what communicates your values, your mission, all of that, your tone. It’s kind of like the personality or the character traits of your business. What does your business stand for? If your business was a person, what would it be known for? What kind of values would people, you know, be familiar with?

with regards to this business that is being personified right now, right? So what would they know this business for? What kind of tone does this business use when it speaks to people? what kind of values does this business have? What’s the mission and the drive behind this business? Right. So that is what branding is really about. It goes way beyond just

you know, the the artistic designs that represent your business, it actually goes to the heart and the foundation and the the characteristics that follow your business. So faith-based branding is going to be again, it’s it’s gonna be not mis it’s not gonna be misleading, it’s gonna be very transparent, and it’s going to integrate faith. Yeah. Right.

And we’re going to continue to remember that in all the things we do, when we are branding our faith based practices or our faith infused practices, we are going to do every single step as if we were doing it right to the Lord Himself, as if we are going to have a meeting with Him at the end of the day, and He is going to want us to take account or give account, excuse me.

for everything we decided to do, how we decided to do it, and and see what he thinks. So we want to keep that in mind and that goes to the scripture. do all things as if you are doing it unto the Lord, right? Okay.

And this is where sometimes a great question comes up for many people. They’re like, again, well, what happens if people feel like they are not welcome? Like, you know, I again I don’t want to turn people away. I don’t want people to feel like they can’t come. Well, you can have people come, you can have all the people come, you know, including

individuals does not mean that you have to hide your faith. It means that clients just need to know what they’re going to get when they come to you. They just need to know what to expect. There are many individuals who will come to you who won’t have your same faith. They won’t have your same race. They won’t have your same gender. They won’t have your same culture. They still want to come.

Because based on how you have written the the areas of expertise, your areas of training, your licensing and how you fully understand. Cause honestly, it’s not really, they don’t so much care about the the license is not always at the top. They many people may look at that though. they want to know, you know, what your training is and things, but they really want to know that you get them, you understand them.

You understand their discomfort. You understand their distress. You’ve you’ve at least worked with it, right? They want to know that they’re not wasting their time. So it won’t always be a turnoff for everyone. And remember, I the reason why I went down the whole gender and race and culture is because you do not have to worry that your faith is going to be this huge mountain between you and clients.

Remember, and I know I’ve said this in like past times, it’s been a while, so let’s let’s refresh ourselves with this. You will not be the right person for some people because you’re the wrong gender. And you will not be the right person for some people because you’re the wrong culture, you’re the wrong race, you’re the wrong faith. There are so many different reasons why. You don’t have to highlight just your faith. It’s not just your faith that is causing people to say, I’m not sure. Okay? So

Don’t worry. There are some individuals who feel like, you know, as a woman, I really just would like to go to another woman. There’s some who are like, as a man, I really just want to go to another man. There’s some who are like, you know, I feel like I would I would like somebody who has my same culture because, you know, I’m like, let’s say Caribbean, and although I my grandma is West Indian, but other than that, but still, but like, you know, I want someone because there are some nuances.

in the culture and I would like for I would like for myself to have an experience where I don’t have to explain all the nuances but it’s a higher likelihood that somebody will have understood because they are also from this particular culture. And I’ve heard that said with like Caribbean or it may be another culture, might be a faith and all of that. And so people are just really trying to find an experience where they maybe don’t have to be

a teacher. They can just kind of come. And although I I want to say that in some ways we all are going to teach others, you know, when we are getting services from other people. But there are some who just may feel like I don’t want to have to start from ground zero and like build up the the person who’s providing me with counseling care with all the information needed.

To understand me and the nuances of my culture. I want for somebody to come with some working understanding and working knowledge so that I don’t feel like I have to focus on teaching them so that they can then help me. Fair enough. Fair enough, right? Okay. But again, with all that said, I just don’t want it to be where it’s like faith becomes this big thing that we feel might be a hindrance because there are just so many

different things that even us as providers, when we’re going to find our help, however, whether it’s mental health, whether it’s physical health, whether it’s dental health, whether it’s whatever, we all have preferences. And and so do our clients. All right. So including your faith doesn’t mean that you are excluding anybody, but it does mean that you are going to be transparent about how that is integrated into the care.

What does that mean if somebody doesn’t necessarily want that explicitly integrated into the care? How is that handled? So you provide clarity. This is going to be when you are branding yourself, you are or branding your practice, you are providing clarity as we talked about with regards to the vision and the tone and the values. But also, this is also going to be translated all on your website.

your directories, whenever you happen to be, you know, putting things out there on social media for your business. You’re gonna have all of that be very clear and all labeled out. Let’s let’s go over an example, an example of what some like website language could be when we are marketing our faith based practices. So you might have

On your website, it says something like, Our counseling is guided by a Christian worldview. And for some clients, this means faith is woven into the session through scripture that’s integrated into the theoretical orientation or methods of treatment that are used in the counseling session. For others, faith remains the foundation of the approach they want us to take, but they don’t want it.

actually said explicitly you as the client set the pace for how things flow in your session okay that’s just an example right you can work with that but you see how it’s integrating it and it’s also allowing people to know it’s not something that’s forced now for clinicians who are called to build a business a practice where

All of the services will explicitly involve their Christian faith that is integrated into all of the counseling treatment supports and modalities. Then your language on websites, on directories, and social media is going to reflect that. It’s going to be a part of how you are branded, right? Okay.

Hopefully this gives you something to think about, right? Because when we’re talking about marketing and advertising, we know that there’s something ethical we have to be aware of, right? But it’s actually woven into our code of ethics for many of us. For many of us. And so I would encourage you to start taking a look at what that looks like to be ethical even in the way that you market and advertise.

Whether it be online, whether it be in the community, whether it be, you know, in other spaces like organizations of higher learning or nonprofit places where you might be doing trainings, workshops, all of that. so hopefully this gives you a lot to think about as you are moving forward, as we are actually going to be in not too long. I know people don’t want me to say it, but.

Not too long and we are kind of knocking on the door of the fourth quarter of this year where you can really start planning what am I going to do for next year? Matter of fact, if you are really wanting to plan, I would say you should be planning now because do you really want to be planning during the holidays? Do you really? I don’t think you do. Do you? Well, maybe you do. So either way, our time has come to an end.

For this episode, join me next week for another episode where we will continue to learn to grow together. Thank you so much for everyone who has shared these episodes with others. I appreciate it greatly. I have gotten some really good feedback. Please continue to share, continue to give me feedback. I really appreciate it. Until we meet again, God bless you.