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products, physical or digital—books, CDs, audio recordings, e-books, and e-courses--which are created once and then sold either online or offline. Even though the products may be physical (CDs, audio-tapes), the real power of the Multiple Streams model comes from using the Internet to sell and deliver them. Using this model does four things at once: it meets consumer demand for instant gratification; it allows therapists to help people who don’t want or can’t afford therapy; it allows therapists to help people far beyond the reach of their local community—anywhere there is a computer connection, in fact; and, it offers dependable, additional income for therapists. When implementing this model, some therapists will choose to reduce the number of one-to-one hours and limit their in-person time to some high-end in-person workshops or retreats. Others will choose to stop all clinical work and spend more time creating and selling products or providing speaking and consulting services. The beauty of this model is that it can be adapted to the desires and personality of each provider.
easy for an independent practitioner to create a downloadable written or audio product and effectively compete with the big companies quickly and inexpensively. You don’t have to start big—in fact, one of the charms of this approach is that it does not require a huge commitment of time and money. First of all, before you do anything else, identify a niche—the specific clients, group, issues, areas of therapy, or specialty that interests and excites you the most. Let’s say you love working with kids and are particularly concerned about school bullying—something you emphasize at your website (you do have a website, don’t you?). Or perhaps you enjoy helping couples who are trying to have a baby; they might be interested in some information you have about the process. Many therapists I know are successfully working with and marketing
Getting Started But will this work? Can clinicians compete in the perhaps over-saturated self-help market and make a good living? After all, people have been publishing self-help literature for decades. How does one try and break into that market? You don’t do it by trying to get your idea published or produced by a big company— few are likely to take on the projects of an unknown psychotherapist. Not to worry. Technology has made it very T I L T MAGAZ I N E J ULY 2 0 1 1
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