Career change update: my new life as a homeschool psychologist.

[Rivka]

(Moderators: On another thread, I was asked for an update. I'm not trying to use the forums for advertising. Please let me know if I've crossed a line and need to edit any of this.)

 

On another thread, Unsinkable and a couple of other people asked how my new career is going. I left my job as a clinical psychology researcher at a university last July, got my license, and opened a part-time private practice focused on homeschooling families at the end of August. I practice out of the Baltimore Homeschool Community Center, so on the one hand, I see clients in a vacant classroom and have to work around the homeschool center's schedule, but on the other hand, I work in an environment that supports the entire homeschooling family, has plenty of space for my clients' siblings to play, and allows me to bring my kids to work. There's no question that my relationship with BHCC has been vital to getting this career off the ground.

 

Things that have been great:

 

I love the work. I love the work so much. I am so happy and satisfied with the work I'm doing. I really like the puzzle-like challenge of figuring out why a kid struggles with learning, piecing together test results and direct observations and parents' concerns to make a hypothesis and then devising tests of that hypothesis and carrying them out. I love working with kids and families. I love to make people feel understood. I love helping them understand what's going on.

 

I am doing more therapy than I expected to, and enjoying it so much. I was kind of intimidated about working with teens, because there are soooo many people out there who think they're good with teens, but aren't. I don't think I know all the teen answers, but I am really enjoying working with them.

 

I love the kinds of teaching I'm doing - very practical, informal, and interactive. It took me a while to modify my style from what was right for academia to what's right for the general public, but I think I've made those adjustments now. I give a lot of free talks (Learning Disabilities 101 for Homeschoolers; ADHD: The Science and the Day-to-Day Reality; Preparing Your Alternative Learner for College; Is Your Homeschooler Gifted and Does That Matter) and I've started developing and offering longer, more involved, fee-based parent workshops. Teaching workshops is so much fun it probably shouldn't be allowed.

 

I had a vendor table at a homeschooling conference, and that was a great experience. I haven't booked any business from it (yet - hopefully that will change) but I learned a lot about how to present myself, made some good contacts, and got the word out about my practice. Also it was fun.

 

I love not putting in 25+ hours a week in an office. I have more time for the fun parts of homeschooling, like building connections with other families and doing field trips and special events.

 

Things that have been challenges:

 

Marketing is really hard for me. Marketing consistently is even harder for me. I hate feeling like I'm pestering people. I don't have any background in business skills. I have some friends who have provided good mentorship, but this is still what I struggle with most.

 

After an initial burst of getting all the work I could handle right after I opened in the fall, I had a long dry period in the winter. I think there were a couple of things that played into that, including natural rhythms of the year (if you were going to get your kid evaluated, would you do it in December? No, you would not) but also my ineptness at marketing. Things are starting to pick up now in the spring, but I have kind of had to have iron courage and faith in my practice idea. I've also been working at broadening what I have to offer (for example, the fee-based workshops).

 

The homeschooling community around here is more compartmentalized than I realized. There isn't anything like a statewide mailing list that everyone reads, or a statewide conference that everyone attends. So I'm having to work to access hundreds of tiny pockets of people. Almost everyone I make contact with is glad to know my services are out there, but it's been harder than I expected to get the word out. Much harder.

 

The thing about being self-employed (one of the things) is no paid sick leave. In February I fell on the ice and got a pretty bad concussion that put me out of commission for two weeks. No paid appointments, no outreach, no marketing, no practice development. Then in April I had surgery for early-stage cervical cancer and I am just barely getting back on my feet three weeks later. No paid appointments, no outreach, no marketing, no practice development. It's scary.

 

I never realized how much of an introvert I am until I didn't have a quiet office I could go to for long stretches of time, several days a week. When I don't get much alone time, I get really tense and cranky. When business is good, that's no problem - I can hire a babysitter for an afternoon a week, or something. When business is bad, like it was for most of the winter, I don't feel like I can hire a babysitter. That's a struggle.

 

 

On balance? I made the best decision I've ever made. I just hope we can afford for me to keep working on this until the practice really takes off.

[sassenach]

Really great update (mostly- sorry about all if the medical stuff)! What a leap of faith. Hang in there!

[FO4UR]

That sounds like a great help to your community.  I am sure you will find yourself with more work than you can handle as word gets out.  (Invest a bit in someone to help with the marketing, especially this summer as people are pondering school choices.) 

[Guest submarines]

Thank you for the update!  I had noticed your siggy, and was curious how things were going.

[shukriyya]

I love your enthusiasm and positivity, it's very inspiring. All the best to you, Rivka!

[Cinder]

Thanks so much for giving such a detailed update. Sounds like a very positive transition for you. I hope you're able to make good progress on the marketing end too.

[Truscifi]

It sounds like a wonderful experience (other than the medical stuff). I agree with pp about hiring someone to help with marketing at least for a little while.

[Ethel Mertz]

Your new venture sounds wonderful! Good for you for having the courage to think outside the box! Do you have a FaceBook page for your practice? If you don't, it might be worth thinking about.

 

ETA I just saw the link to your website!

[Carrie12345]

So excited for you! That's exactly what I would want to do. You know, if I could squeeze getting undergraduate and graduate degrees in before I'm 100, lol.

 

A few of us up here are trying to get something like the BHCC going. I found them online and have been stalking them for a couple of months. :coolgleamA:

[Ravin]

That sounds great! Kudos for the courage to strike out on your own in practice. That's something I don't think I'll have the wherewithal to do when I start my law career. I desperately want a steady, consistent paycheck.

 

Also I think you're providing a great and much-needed service. One of the reservations I have about relying on the evaluation done by a PhD student at our local university this year is that she didn't seem to grok the educational environment DD has been in since K (homeschooling, one-on-one tailored instruction), and seemed to downplay parent assessment of what was going on a great deal based on her own observations and feedback from the teachers at the ungraded public-run enrichment program DD attends one to two days a week.

 

We're relying on that evaluation in placing DD in 6th grade next year in a B&M school, rather than holding her back a year grade-level-wise for that transition. I'd feel better about it if the evaluation had clearly taken into account the different learning environments.

[Liz CA]

Congratulations! Sounds like you are in the right spot. Marketing would also be a challenge for me. I can relate to this part, however, I suspect in this case word of mouth will bring you a lot of clients, perhaps even outside of the homeschooling environment.