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42 | Having your own practitioner
Do you have your own practitioner? In this episode, I share some thoughts on why I recommend having someone else on your team who does similar work to your own. It can feel quite vulnerable, and at the same time there's so much to gain when you do this.
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Transcript
Camille (00:00)
Well, hi there. Welcome to in the clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and registered herbalist, and in this podcast, I share little tips and tidbits that might be interesting or helpful for other practitioners.
Camille (00:21)
Well, hello. As a reminder, I am doing Creativity and Visibility Challenge, which means that you will be hearing more podcast episodes than normal for me over the coming several weeks or months today. I have a question for you, which is, do you have your own practitioner who does something similar to what you do? A lot of us are going to answer no to that, and there's a couple of good reasons there you might think, oh, well, I spent all this time and money training to do what I do, and I don't want to pay somebody else to do what I'm already supposed to know how to do myself. And I would really encourage you to rethink that.
Camille (01:02)
There's a couple of reasons for why I think you should have your own practitioner. Number one is that it's really hard to be objective about your own health or that of your own children or partner anybody who's really close to you. It's incredibly challenging to do that yourself, even though you think you should know it all. I have worked with more practitioners than I can count who come in and they're like, well, I tried this for two weeks, and then I took that on top of it and they sort of throw everything at it and let's just see how it sticks approach. Which is fine if you're learning and you're trying to experiment on yourself and see what happens.
Camille (01:43)
But if you are really trying to support yourself through a specific health condition or really want to have the best care that you can have, don't treat yourself like you're some sort of experimental subject. You need somebody who can look at the big picture and help you sort through everything so you're not just taking anything you've ever heard of that may possibly help with whatever it is that you have, but you've got somebody who can really look at the big picture and who can really say, oh, how about this, this and this. This is what I'm seeing. I've had more times than I can count as well where I have personally forgotten about entirely obvious things that I could be doing, sometimes to the extent that would be taking herbs in general. But other times there are major things that I've missed because I'm just too wrapped up in my day to day and the way that I do things and overwhelmed.
Camille (02:41)
And there are times, especially when you are really not doing well, that you can't remember what it is that you should be doing. You don't have the energy, the perspective, or whatever needs to be in place. You just don't have it in order to be able to give yourself the best care. Another reason that I think you should have your own practitioner is because you deserve that. When you have another practitioner, you have a team, it's not just you.
Camille (03:13)
And I think that's something that's really hard for people to understand. There's a certain amount of vulnerability in that, but it is a way of connecting and that connection with another person on that level where you are asking for help and they are partnering with you to give you that help and support. There's something very healing about that particular component. So it's not just about whatever the herbs, the supplements, this, that or the other. It's not about what should I do, it's also about the relationship.
Camille (03:46)
And that is something that of course we have relationship with ourselves. But sometimes as part of the healing process, those relationships that you have are incredibly important. So give yourself that permission to be vulnerable and to lean on somebody else when you need help. It does not mean that you're not a good practitioner or that you didn't learn what you were supposed to learn in school or anything like that. I think we all understand, or if you choose a good practitioner, they will understand that you cannot always be objective about your own case.
Camille (04:24)
So part of the role of the practitioner is to be there and to have that kind of moral emotional type of support to help you navigate and to help you see things that you can't see on your own. So let yourself have that, understand that that's an important part of the healing process. And if you don't, if you are like no, I know enough, I don't want to be in that vulnerable position or et cetera, why are you expecting other people to put themselves in that vulnerable position and come see you? I really want you to think about that. If you're not willing to go and work with other people, other practitioners in the same way, I think that you might uncover some assumptions and beliefs that need to be worked on a little bit in order to facilitate the best type of work that you can do as a practitioner as well.
Camille (05:18)
The last reason I will share with you is that by putting yourself in this position of being the client instead of the practitioner, you can learn so much about the way you want to run your own practice. One of the most valuable things that I've ever done is to come into a client practitioner relationship in the client role with the idea or the intent to really think about what is working for me as the client. And what I want to emulate and what maybe isn't the best option for me right now, or what I don't want to bring into my own practice. Sometimes you will be working with practitioner and you will be like wow, this is a really amazing way to do this. I really loved the way they asked this question, or I liked the timing of their visits, or I liked the way they have this kind of program set up.
Camille (06:06)
Or sometimes you'll be like, wow, this didn't really work for me. I did not like feeling I didn't like the way that I showed up, or I didn't like the way that I felt. In this particular situation, you'll notice whether certain practitioners are approaching their work in a place of partnership or whether there is that sort of I'm the expert, you're the newbie, and that's, again, something to think about. Where are you thinking about yourself when you are in the practitioner role versus in the client role? And how does that reflect on the work that you do with your own clients?
Camille (06:39)
So I think you'll learn a ton from thinking about these interactions and what you want to bring in to your own work. Okay, so there's a couple of reasons to have your own practitioner. I know it's hard. It's hard to make the time. It's hard to think about the money.
Camille (07:01)
It's hard to think about the vulnerability and to follow through on the plans and all of this kind of stuff. And these are the same struggles that your own clients are going to have. So I want you to get the help that you need and the support that you need. And maybe that's just going in once or twice a year for a tune up. Maybe you just want to have an extra pair of eyes.
Camille (07:20)
There's nothing going on, but you just want to be in that position and have that community of support available when you need it. Or maybe you're really working with somebody more seriously one on one to see where you could get when you've got other people that you can rely on and trust and work with, as opposed to just trying to do it all yourself. All right, so I hope this is helpful. I'd love to hear from you. If you have any revelations that you've had from working with somebody as a client or any questions or suggestions that you have on this topic, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Camille (07:56)
And otherwise I'll be back really soon for another episode. All right, take care.
Well, hi there. Welcome to in the clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and registered herbalist, and in this podcast, I share little tips and tidbits that might be interesting or helpful for other practitioners.
Camille (00:21)
Well, hello. As a reminder, I am doing Creativity and Visibility Challenge, which means that you will be hearing more podcast episodes than normal for me over the coming several weeks or months today. I have a question for you, which is, do you have your own practitioner who does something similar to what you do? A lot of us are going to answer no to that, and there's a couple of good reasons there you might think, oh, well, I spent all this time and money training to do what I do, and I don't want to pay somebody else to do what I'm already supposed to know how to do myself. And I would really encourage you to rethink that.
Camille (01:02)
There's a couple of reasons for why I think you should have your own practitioner. Number one is that it's really hard to be objective about your own health or that of your own children or partner anybody who's really close to you. It's incredibly challenging to do that yourself, even though you think you should know it all. I have worked with more practitioners than I can count who come in and they're like, well, I tried this for two weeks, and then I took that on top of it and they sort of throw everything at it and let's just see how it sticks approach. Which is fine if you're learning and you're trying to experiment on yourself and see what happens.
Camille (01:43)
But if you are really trying to support yourself through a specific health condition or really want to have the best care that you can have, don't treat yourself like you're some sort of experimental subject. You need somebody who can look at the big picture and help you sort through everything so you're not just taking anything you've ever heard of that may possibly help with whatever it is that you have, but you've got somebody who can really look at the big picture and who can really say, oh, how about this, this and this. This is what I'm seeing. I've had more times than I can count as well where I have personally forgotten about entirely obvious things that I could be doing, sometimes to the extent that would be taking herbs in general. But other times there are major things that I've missed because I'm just too wrapped up in my day to day and the way that I do things and overwhelmed.
Camille (02:41)
And there are times, especially when you are really not doing well, that you can't remember what it is that you should be doing. You don't have the energy, the perspective, or whatever needs to be in place. You just don't have it in order to be able to give yourself the best care. Another reason that I think you should have your own practitioner is because you deserve that. When you have another practitioner, you have a team, it's not just you.
Camille (03:13)
And I think that's something that's really hard for people to understand. There's a certain amount of vulnerability in that, but it is a way of connecting and that connection with another person on that level where you are asking for help and they are partnering with you to give you that help and support. There's something very healing about that particular component. So it's not just about whatever the herbs, the supplements, this, that or the other. It's not about what should I do, it's also about the relationship.
Camille (03:46)
And that is something that of course we have relationship with ourselves. But sometimes as part of the healing process, those relationships that you have are incredibly important. So give yourself that permission to be vulnerable and to lean on somebody else when you need help. It does not mean that you're not a good practitioner or that you didn't learn what you were supposed to learn in school or anything like that. I think we all understand, or if you choose a good practitioner, they will understand that you cannot always be objective about your own case.
Camille (04:24)
So part of the role of the practitioner is to be there and to have that kind of moral emotional type of support to help you navigate and to help you see things that you can't see on your own. So let yourself have that, understand that that's an important part of the healing process. And if you don't, if you are like no, I know enough, I don't want to be in that vulnerable position or et cetera, why are you expecting other people to put themselves in that vulnerable position and come see you? I really want you to think about that. If you're not willing to go and work with other people, other practitioners in the same way, I think that you might uncover some assumptions and beliefs that need to be worked on a little bit in order to facilitate the best type of work that you can do as a practitioner as well.
Camille (05:18)
The last reason I will share with you is that by putting yourself in this position of being the client instead of the practitioner, you can learn so much about the way you want to run your own practice. One of the most valuable things that I've ever done is to come into a client practitioner relationship in the client role with the idea or the intent to really think about what is working for me as the client. And what I want to emulate and what maybe isn't the best option for me right now, or what I don't want to bring into my own practice. Sometimes you will be working with practitioner and you will be like wow, this is a really amazing way to do this. I really loved the way they asked this question, or I liked the timing of their visits, or I liked the way they have this kind of program set up.
Camille (06:06)
Or sometimes you'll be like, wow, this didn't really work for me. I did not like feeling I didn't like the way that I showed up, or I didn't like the way that I felt. In this particular situation, you'll notice whether certain practitioners are approaching their work in a place of partnership or whether there is that sort of I'm the expert, you're the newbie, and that's, again, something to think about. Where are you thinking about yourself when you are in the practitioner role versus in the client role? And how does that reflect on the work that you do with your own clients?
Camille (06:39)
So I think you'll learn a ton from thinking about these interactions and what you want to bring in to your own work. Okay, so there's a couple of reasons to have your own practitioner. I know it's hard. It's hard to make the time. It's hard to think about the money.
Camille (07:01)
It's hard to think about the vulnerability and to follow through on the plans and all of this kind of stuff. And these are the same struggles that your own clients are going to have. So I want you to get the help that you need and the support that you need. And maybe that's just going in once or twice a year for a tune up. Maybe you just want to have an extra pair of eyes.
Camille (07:20)
There's nothing going on, but you just want to be in that position and have that community of support available when you need it. Or maybe you're really working with somebody more seriously one on one to see where you could get when you've got other people that you can rely on and trust and work with, as opposed to just trying to do it all yourself. All right, so I hope this is helpful. I'd love to hear from you. If you have any revelations that you've had from working with somebody as a client or any questions or suggestions that you have on this topic, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Camille (07:56)
And otherwise I'll be back really soon for another episode. All right, take care.
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