Now I have a very busy schedule and am trying to “clean up” a second day off for myself in order to get a “normal human five-day week.” But this was not always the case. In 2017, after the 2nd, I received the 1st non-working disability group, irreversible changes in bones and tissues after radiation therapy made themselves felt. And, although I could continue to work on a contract basis, serious health problems became a signal that, after all, I needed to quit my hired job in a commercial structure, where I headed the personnel training and development department. Conducted live and remote sales training, interviews and personnel assessments. I liked the work, but I hated the commute because it took about 3 hours a day round trip (15 hours a week and 60 hours a month!!!) and took the most physical strength. So I finally allowed my dream to come true - after a long break, to resume private practice! Only, having, even such extensive experience in the profession as I have, opening a private practice is very difficult. You have to start somewhere, and this is something , whatever one may say, but advertising is not loved by many. Having thought about what is better to choose - social networks or this site, where I already had a profile, I leaned in favor of b.17. The calculation was simple and it looked like this: There are, of course, more people on social networks, but not all of them want to find a psychologist. Many people offer something themselves or just scroll through the feed. The audience here is much warmer, the site is more focused not on videos, which I don’t like to shoot, but on articles, and I’ve always loved writing. Even at work, simply, without any benefit for herself, she ran a column in a corporate circulation. So, I chose this site and slowly started writing. First, my Rescuer instinct awoke and I began to share my experience of surviving inoperable cancer, wanting to attract people for whom this topic is relevant. And, of course, I attracted them and began to work with them...for free. Many of these people were much healthier than me and, simply, were at risk or were simply afraid of getting cancer. Others had the opportunity to be treated in expensive clinics, while in order to continue helping them, I worked part-time as a realtor! Of course, paid clients of other categories also came, but there were more of these free ones, exactly until I made a decision, which was hard for me. I declared my decision here: Why am I stopping free consultations? And only after this decision I exhaled and began to attract other categories of clients. PS I will tell you about the intricacies, mistakes and findings of this experiment next time. © Family psychologist Natalia Filimonova, 2020. All rights reservedPositive stories from my practice and cases from the lives of acquaintances and friends A selection of techniques and exercises: Exercises for all occasions For colleagues: A real start to psychological practice on the site b.17 For those who want to get an excellent tool for work and happy life: Basics of constellation methods in Skype counseling