We’ve all heard the story of Chicken Little. It starts like this: One day Chicken Little was walking through the woods when – KERPLUNCK – an acorn fell on her head. “Oh my goodness!” said Chicken Little. “The sky is falling! I must go tell the king!” There are many versions of the ending. Here is a common one: After that day, Chicken Little always carried an umbrella with her when she walked in the woods. The umbrella was a present from the king. And if -- KERPLUNK -- an acorn fell, Chicken Little didn’t mind a bit. In fact, she didn’t notice it at all.

Practicing psychologists face many challenges and opportunities today. As a group, we approach those challenges on a continuum anywhere from “The sky is falling – we have to fight or flee” to “put up the umbrella and we notice nothing”. How do we maintain the optimism, passion, and positive energy we need to grow our practices and be present and thriving with our clients while also recognizing and dealing with the negative forces that impact our profession? This is the challenge we cannot ignore. If we tip too much to one side, we perceive psychology practice as doomed and we react by blindly fighting the perceived enemy or fleeing the profession. If we tip too much to the other side, we insulate ourselves and ignore problems that we have the ability to change.

The sky IS falling!

Oh no! Incomes are dropping. Paperwork is insurmountable. People can’t afford mental health services. People can’t access mental health services. Will the HIPAA/electronic requirements ever end? There’s constant scope of practice battles, people saying to practice like this, practice like that. Does it ever stop? No, there’s a large sky up there and it is falling piece by piece. Survival isn’t possible unless we fortify ourselves for a long battle or get out of psychology!

The sky IS NOT falling!

Everything is just fine. Maybe my income is lower, but that’s okay, I don’t need so much stuff anyway. There is paperwork, but it’s not so bad, I just need to be more efficient. I’m a helper, so it’s normal for me to reduce my fee if people can’t afford services. It’s part of my job and makes me feel good. Not too worried about scope of practice issues either. Things change all the time and there’s nothing I can do about it. Survival is possible if we keep our heads low and mind our own business.

Sometimes things fall from the sky and sometimes things don’t!

How do we enjoy our practices, enjoy our lives, and remain aware of the forces that could negatively impact the practice of psychology? How do we immerse ourselves in the problems enough to find solutions without losing our passion for the work that we do? I think the answer lies in our ability to remain optimistic and creative in building our practices while becoming a team player with our colleagues to address the challenges.

On being optimistic and passionate about your practice

1. When strategizing about growing your practice, do not allow yourself to think about how “bad” the climate is for practice these days. Instead, focus on creative marketing strategies, re-connecting with the work you love, and how to offer services that the community needs and wants. Take a planning day retreat every quarter to relax, enjoy yourself, and develop a new vision for your practice.
2. Surround yourself with successful, positive practitioners either locally or virtually. When you want to grow your practice, nothing squelches your energy more than listening to people tell you why what you’re thinking about doing won’t work. You need to believe in yourself and have excitement about your action steps in order to accomplish your goals.
3. View the changes that are happening with practice as opportunities for you to grow professionally. Examine the market forces and challenges to practice in your community without judgment. Approach any challenges as problems to be solved rather than roadblocks to your success. You will start to even appreciate the challenges because they’ll force you to re-think the way you’ve always done things and allow you to come up with creative, energy-giving practice concepts.

On being an advocate without getting the blues

1. Allow yourself to read and hear about the challenging issues facing our practices during designated times when you chose to focus on them. Do not let information seep in at random times when you are about the business of practice. This places you in control of how and when challenging or negative information is coming into your life. Do not ignore the issues, but focus on them at times when you are energized to be an advocate. Make sure you don’t leave these discussions feeling like a victim, but rather have a focus on how you can have an impact.

2. Be an advocate for your profession by being part of a group or team. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenges to our practices. It starts to seem more manageable when you are brainstorming as part of a group that is being strategic and solution-focused. The resultant synergy is much more powerful than acting on your own.

3. There are many places you can put your time, energy, and money to positively change the trends in the practice of psychology. Find your passion and niche. Find a place where you can creatively contribute to the strategic planning and where you’re confident that your money is being used for the good of practice. While advocacy is important for your practice, it is also “volunteer” work. You need to feel like you are contributing and having an impact in order to keep giving without getting burned out.

Cultivating optimism and passion for growing our practices while also attending to the challenges through advocacy places us in a position of power in our lives. We cannot have one without the other. As a division, our goal is to focus on both. One does not negate the other. Our goal is to collaborate with others inside and outside the division for advocacy issues. We also strive to focus on the day-to-day practice building by offering marketing and practice growth tips, through one-on-one mentoring, and by supporting one another.

But we are only as effective as our volunteers. That is why we need every voice and every hand in independent practice to cultivate optimism and passion in our practices AND to be an advocate for the challenging issues before us. Since there are many endings to the Chicken Little story, I have taken the liberty of writing my own ending:

Chicken Little awakened one sunny morning and was preparing for her morning walk. She searched for her umbrella the king had given her and it was nowhere to be found. She was very sad and stayed inside for several days. After awhile, her sadness started to fade and courage filled her heart. She took a step out the door without her umbrella. Every few steps, she would jump for joy as she noticed the vivid colors of the sky, clouds, and mountains up ahead. Day after day, she would go on this walk. Occasionally, an acorn would fall on her head and she would look up to see the tree from which it came. It was a majestic tree that she would have never noticed if she had not been thumped on the head. On some days there was thunder and lightening. And if you pass by Chicken Littles’ house, you may overhear her telling her friends, “If you want to thrive and enjoy life, you savor the gifts from the sky, whether it is bright sunshine or something falling that hits you on the head. . . and you never, never carry an umbrella when it is lightening!”