Episode #741: Shifting Niches

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast

Episode #741: Shifting Niches

Host: Allison Puryear
Guest: Laura
Date: March 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Abundant Practice Podcast explores the complexities and emotional realities of shifting or narrowing one's therapy niche—specifically for therapists working with clients struggling with food and body image, especially women in male-dominated fields. Allison guides Laura through her ambivalence about staying in or “fleeing” her niche, discussing marketing concerns, the impact of GLP-1 medications, and strategies to clarify a niche while making it personally sustainable and marketable.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fear and Ambivalence Around Settling a Niche

Timestamps: 02:54–04:38

• Laura expresses uncertainty about narrowing her focus on food/body/eating disorder work.
• She wonders if her discomfort is a "marketing problem" due to not wanting to be visible or found.

Quote:
"I have this urge to like flee my niche which is food, body, movement, relationship, eating disorders, disorder eating...I think it's more of kind of a marketing problem that I'm not maybe being willing to be visible and seen and found."
— Laura (02:59)

2. The Unique Experience of High-Achieving Women in Male-Dominated Fields

Timestamps: 04:38–06:47

• Laura's ideal clients are women in tech and medicine, often seeking power through attractiveness and perfectionism.
• The tension: external success vs. internal disempowerment related to body image.

Quote:
"She's in this male dominated field, so she's kind of like in a powerful position, but disempowered within that realm...there is just so much pressure, no matter what we do for a living, to be considered attractive and that there is power in being attractive."
— Coach/Allison (06:11)

3. The Role of GLP-1 Medications & The Underlying “Enoughness” Struggle

Timestamps: 05:01–09:17

• Many clients turn to GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) as a quick “fix.”
• Even after weight loss, core issues of confidence and “never enough” persist.
• Eating disorder dogma vs. meeting clients where they are.

Quotes:
"Just because you lose weight doesn't make the problem that caused the eating disorder go away, right? No, it's just that your primary symptom may be sated for now."
— Coach/Allison (06:05)

"I think 90% or more of the women I've worked with... whether they have an eating disorder or not, we're all just trying to fucking feel good enough. It is this insidious, what do I need to do?"
— Coach/Allison (08:53)

4. Adjusting Marketing and Messaging for Ideal Clients

Timestamps: 09:17–12:50

• Shift website and messaging focus: bring “striving for enoughness” and the experience of high-achieving women more to the foreground.
• Use client language, avoid over-pathologizing (e.g., "food and body relationship" might sound clinical).
• Consider the subtle cues (“struggling to get there”) that resonate with ideal clients.

Quotes:
"Maybe the food body relationship might be just even saying that might be over pathologizing to them because they're like, 'No, the problem is I just need to lose weight.'"
— Coach/Allison (10:38)

5. Website Tactics: Specialty Pages & Dropdowns

Timestamps: 11:27–13:45

• Homepage can act as a “table of contents” leading to specialty subpages for each client group or problem area.
• Drop-downs and specialty pages help to clarify but should reflect only groups/problems relevant to the main niche.

Quote:
"Think about your homepage as kind of a table of contents almost...the three or four main tenants of what your ideal client is like, 'I'm coming to therapy for this.'"
— Coach/Allison (11:51)

6. Marketing Modalities: What Actually Matters?

Timestamps: 14:41–16:23

• Clients rarely search for therapy by modality (e.g., ACT).
• Use plain, client-centric language; mention modality (e.g. ACT) briefly on your “About Me” but don’t foreground it.

Quote:
"Most people don't care...They just think we all do the same thing."
— Coach/Allison (15:52)

7. Social Media & YouTube: Strategy vs. Energy

Timestamps: 16:25–17:26

• Occasional content on YouTube unlikely to build an audience.
• Use YouTube to host videos for your website, unless you can commit to consistent, weekly content creation.

Quote:
"YouTube is a vast expanse. So a couple things here and there are not likely to be found...I might use YouTube to host videos that you then place on your website."
— Coach/Allison (17:13)

8. Networking Systems and Referral Organization

Timestamps: 17:33–19:52

• Track contacts and follow-ups with spreadsheets.
• Add personal notes to jog memory ("her in-laws were in town").
• Prioritize genuine connections over forced networking.

Quote:
"If you've made a friend, make a friend and if that friend is networking to you, you've got a friend and a referral partner that you then can count as networking."
— Coach/Allison (19:53)

9. Prioritizing Professional Partnerships

Timestamps: 20:14–23:32

• Focus networking on the types of professionals your ideal client visits (psychiatrists, dietitians, functional medicine).
• Medical professionals in private practice are often best; hospital-based are harder to reach.
• Consider educational talks (GLP-1, anxiety) for prescribers to indirectly generate referrals.

Quotes:
"Who you prioritize is who does your ideal client go to first?...doctors are terrible patients...so where are they going to manage their stress?"
— Coach/Allison (20:38)
"You could do a talk at doctor's offices about GLP1 meds and kind of the underlying anxiety..."
— Coach/Allison (24:14)

10. Staying Rooted in Niche Despite Self-Doubt

Timestamps: 27:32–27:54

• Laura worries about the lack of interest/demand, considers abandoning her niche.
• Allison encourages “regrounding” and refining presentation, not giving up.

Quote:
"Do I abandon ship and focus on something completely different? And I think I just need to, like, no, just reground."
— Laura and Coach/Allison (27:48)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We're all just trying to fucking feel good enough. It is this insidious, what do I need to do?"
  — Coach/Allison (08:53)
• "Maybe the food body relationship might be just even saying that might be over pathologizing to them because they're like, 'No, the problem is I just need to lose weight.'"
  — Coach/Allison (10:38)
• "You could do a talk at doctor's offices about GLP1 meds and kind of the underlying anxiety maybe. And how you will likely see an increase in confidence in your patients. And there's this underlying thing that food was solving."
  — Coach/Allison (24:14)
• "If you've made a friend, make a friend and if that friend is networking to you, you've got a friend and a referral partner that you then can count as networking."
  — Coach/Allison (19:53)
• "Do I abandon ship and focus on something completely different? And I think I just need to...no, just reground."
  — Laura & Coach/Allison (27:48)

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Essential Timestamps for Core Segments

• Niche-taking fears and rationale: 02:54–04:38
• High-achieving women’s unique challenges: 04:38–06:47
• GLP-1s, eating, and “enoughness”: 05:01–09:17
• Messaging and marketing pivots: 09:17–12:50
• Website strategy & specialty pages: 11:27–13:45
• Modality marketing reality check: 14:41–16:23
• YouTube & content decision: 16:25–17:26
• Networking and relationship building: 17:33–19:52
• Strategic referral partnerships: 20:14–24:14
• Niche doubt and reassurance: 27:32–27:54

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a candid and practical deep dive into the real struggles therapists face when clarifying or shifting their niche—especially in work focused on food, body, and high-achieving women. Allison provides actionable marketing, networking, and messaging advice, emphasizing authenticity, intentionality, and meeting clients where they are, both emotionally and in their language. The conversation is a blend of strategic tip-sharing and heartfelt acknowledgment of how challenging, and ultimately rewarding, it can be to settle into and thrive within a well-defined private practice niche.

Transcript

[Laura]

Foreign.

[Alison]

Hi, welcome to the Abundant Practice Podcast. I'm Alison from Abundance Practice Building. I have a nearly diagnosable obsession with helping therapists build sustainable, joy filled private practices, just like I've done for tens of thousands of therapists across the world. I'm excited to help you too. If you want to fill your practice with ideal clients, we have loads of free resources and paid support. Go to abundance practice building.com Links all right, onto the show

[Coach]

so I've talked

[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

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[Alison]

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[Coach]

out to the rest of my audience.

[Alison]

So join the wait list now. I'm going to put the link in the show notes and I look forward to helping you get your practice exactly

[Coach]

where you want it. Hey Laura, how you doing?

[Laura]

Good, good, good. How are you? I'm good, I'm good.

[Coach]

Yeah.

[Laura]

Hop in and jump right in. I was feeling nervous and I'm like, just breathe, it's me. You don't have to feel nervous. It's you. Yeah. So I guess to jump right in. I want to confirm my niche and narrow it because I think I have this urge to like flee my niche which is food, body, movement, relationship, eating disorders, disorder eating. And I can kind of share more about my state, like my statement that I share with referrals. But I'm also thinking it's more of kind of a marketing problem that I'm like not maybe being willing to be visible and seen and found in a way. So. And I know that you changed from eating disorders to something different. I've been watching some of the one to ones and trying to like glean some information there to kind of narrow focus of our time together.

[Coach]

Yeah.

[Laura]

So I like do think my niche is like life giving but also the stuff that comes after the eating disorder or the food and body work is kind of an underlying river but the other life stressors that were impacting people. So I would say the people I work with are women in historically or currently male dominated fields. So tech and medicine work on their relationship with food and body and find their place and like take up more space in a way.

[Coach]

Yeah, got it.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

That's juicy. That's juicy.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

I don't know that it's too much. No, I think it's, it's very specific which in niches is great.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

So it's looking at like how do you get in with them? Because. So there are already there are fewer women in tech. I think medicine is shifting to more women than men over time. Right?

[Laura]

Yeah, yeah.

[Coach]

So there were. There are fewer women in tech women in medicine. How many of them are struggling with food and body? How do they name that? Like what do they call it? They might not be calling it eating disorders or disordered eating or problems with food and body. Are they just getting on a GLP one to like quote unquote solve the problem?

[Laura]

Yes. And then I'm like, do they even want my support? Because that's happening. So I think I have a fear that like I'm not Going to have people wanting this type of support because they're like hopping on a GLP one. Or I have folks who are on a GOP one and we're sort of like navigating that together.

[Coach]

Yeah. Because I think that there's for people who have disordered eating, or an eating disorder specifically, that hop on a GLP1. Even though I'm not working with eating disorders so much anymore, I'm still like tapped in. Yeah. And I also know how eating disorders work. And like, just because you lose weight doesn't make the problem that caused the eating disorder go away, Right? No, it's just that your primary symptom may be sated for now.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

And the body dysmorphia can absolutely continue.

[Laura]

Right.

[Coach]

So I think it comes down to like your one ideal client. And what is her experience? She's in this male dominated field, so she's kind of like in a powerful position, but disempowered within that realm. So she's in this circumstance where maybe she's not seen or listened to or heard as much as some of her male counterparts. And as women, there is just so much pressure, no matter what we do for a living, to be considered attractive and that there is power in being attractive.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

And so they're disempowered in some ways in work while having powerful positions, they're disempowered and seeking power through whatever means they can. Like being more attractive, being over competent, being over responsible, like working twice as hard.

[Laura]

Yes. Okay.

[Coach]

So the GLP1 might take some pounds off and they're still not feeling good enough.

[Laura]

Right. Like that continues. Like, that is not the solution. Right. Okay. Yeah.

[Coach]

Right.

[Laura]

I think, I fear, I'm like, oh, I know that, like this is maybe not going to be helpful in the long run. So I'm like trying to build space to be like, all right, they're going to be happening. How do we maybe get to the point where they see that that's not their solution if they would want it or not? But anyway, I digress into that piece a little bit and I think we

[Coach]

also, because you and I come from a certain way of thinking about food and body, Right?

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

Like the eating disorder world can be pretty dogmatic. Yes. And I think as I spend less time with the eating disorder dogma and more time with people who just don't think like that at all, they're unlikely to get off their GLP1 and be like, you know what? It's fine, I'm gonna accept my body exactly as it is, like, they're not likely to do that. If the GLP1 is getting them the results that they want, they're just gonna be like, well, yeah, I look much better to myself and maybe to others, and I'm still really feeling powerless. So you ultimately, ultimately do get to work with the underneath stuff. Yes, I feel like a bad eating disorder therapist saying, like, yes, I struggle with that.

[Laura]

I'm like, I feel like a bad eating disorder therapist when I'm like, well, this is happening.

[Coach]

But yeah, it's like at some point they reach whatever goal, and if it doesn't become like a scary, constantly slipping down goal in, like, anorexia land, then like, they. They hit some sort of weight goal. That there is increased confidence and it is okay for us to acknowledge that there is increased confidence and they're still not feeling good enough.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

And I mean, I think 90% or more of the women I've worked with throughout my 20 plus years as a therapist, whether they have an eating disorder or not, we're all just trying to fucking feel good enough. It is this insidious. What do I need to do? Like, if it was a therapist marketing a practice, it's like you're doing 37 things to market a practice instead of five.

[Laura]

Right.

[Coach]

Trying to be good enough, Trying so hard.

[Laura]

So I'm kind of getting the vibe that maybe I might need to, like, make these pieces louder and, like, the food body eating disorder, because I feel like my website is like, anxiety and eating disorders and food and body relationship and movement, and maybe I need to, like, bring this other stuff more forward. Is that potentially?

[Coach]

I mean, I think, yeah, I think bring this stuff forward while keeping the pressure of looking a particular way as a woman.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

Try to be respected and to, like, try to maintain confidence and that that can lead to body image issues. And even if you're at the weight that you always wanted to be at, or if you're struggling, like, if you're struggling to get there, like, you can use words like struggling to get there because that's. That's a dog whistle to folks with disordered eating. Right. Like, yeah, I'm struggling to get there. I've been trying my whole life to be that weight. So keeping it in the conversation. But maybe the food body relationship might be just even saying that might be over pathologizing to them because they're like, no, the problem is I just need to lose weight. Right?

[Laura]

Yes. Okay.

[Coach]

And because these are two groups where they usually have the funds.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

I think many of them are getting on GLP1. So you could even, you could even mention GLP1. That could even be a drop down.

[Laura]

Yeah. I was also like. Because I think you were, I don't know, I saw you mentioned like Felisa, your friend and and so I went on their website and I was like, oh, I see. There's like these dropdowns with these like specifics because a part of me was like, but I don't want to like not have something on my website about these people. So I was curious of like having some of those dropdowns in that way, which I don't have yet to be like. And I also do this, but like this is my primary. Any thoughts against or for that structure?

[Coach]

I think as long as what you want to put in there relates to your ideal client. Okay, so like if your homepage were to be kind of like a table of contents, I just had like the best. I was hanging out with Cat Love on Zoom. We were just doing a catch up and got to talking about website and I was like, I hate my new website I built, I don't know why. And they're like, well, let me look at it.

[Laura]

And I was like, okay.

[Coach]

So one of the things that I really liked about how Kat explained it is like, think about your homepage as kind of a table of contents almost. So thinking about if you were to talk about the different people that you're working with within your niche, but if they have three different things they're struggling with or four different pieces that they're like, that's me, that's me, that's me, that's me. So those are going to link up to specialty pages. So you could have women in male dominated fields. You could have something around however they would frame, trying to have some power, trying to be good enough or that kind of thing. You could have something about confidence and body image or you know, you can kind of play with the, the three or four main tenants of what your ideal client is like, I'm coming to therapy for this.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Coach]

So your niche, like anxiety, for instance. Right. Your people have anxiety. Do they call it anxiety? Do they call it constant worry? Do they call it insomnia? Thinking about how they. We come in and we call it anxiety because we understand that diagnosis so well, right? Yes, totally.

[Laura]

Yes. Yeah.

[Coach]

Not our conceptualization but their experience, what they tell their best friend they're struggling with.

[Laura]

Yeah, I really need to get out of my like sort of clinician head because I'm just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This Is like, I'm almost like, referral speaking, I think, in my website, and I want to probably shift that. Okay. This is sort of a left field. I have some, like, just specific kind of questions which will pour back into what we were just talking about. How do you feel about banners? Sometimes I feel like banners can feel stressful to me and sort of like yelling at people and a little.

[Coach]

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on their size.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

And are we talking about, like, a ticker tape, one that goes across?

[Laura]

Yeah, that's just like, hey, I have two openings. Or I have. I don't know. I just. I don't know if you have any thoughts.

[Coach]

Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on how they're done. Right. Like, I've seen some where I'm like, oh, my gosh, I feel like I'm on some, like, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday kind of a thing. Right. Like, it's Times Square, weird vibe. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't need all the stimulation.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

But I think if it's like, a subtle and it matches the branding, and if it's like, if it's moving, it's a ticker tape. Like, all the colors are. Are making sense with all the colors on your website. Because if it's moving, you don't need to make it brighter for it to stand out and things like that. I think it can be a good place to say, like, I have two spots available or those kinds of things.

[Laura]

Okay, great. That's helpful. I use a lot of, like, ACT and values, work and metaphor, and I feel like I am, like, passionate about it, and I kind of, like, smuggle it in without even, like, naming what those things are. I have this fear that it's not relevant in marketing wise or networking wise and like, clinical wise, because there's so much sort of like, somatic ifs, like just different. Different approaches and. I know. Yeah. So I guess I'm like, does ACT still feel relevant to focus on clinically or marketing wise? Both.

[Coach]

So I'm a fellow ACT therapist. Love act.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

People aren't looking for ACT the way they're looking for ifs.

[Laura]

No.

[Coach]

And it doesn't mean that ACT isn't effective also.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

It's just not as when people are looking for modalities, they tend to be emdr, ifs, sometimes psychoanalysis, depending on where you are. But most people. Most people don't care. But the modality, they don't even know that there are different modalities. Right. They think we all. They just Think we all do the same thing.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

So I think it's thinking about your ideal client. Okay.

[Alison]

Right.

[Coach]

If they're physicians, they've probably had CBT shoved down their throat.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

Right. Of like this is the evidence based practice. Yes. Right. So you can not have anything on your website and allow them to ask. You can talk about how you work, like in your. About me. You can say like as an ACT therapist. And you can say ACT is like kind of a new generation of cbt. It's evidence based, blah, blah, blah. But you don't have to go deep into it.

[Laura]

Okay. Okay.

[Coach]

Yeah.

[Laura]

Great. Okay. And then I was thinking about really minimally for my marketing. I feel overwhelmed with the idea of social media, but I do feel potentially open to ideal client content on YouTube. A little bit of a couple things here and there. Do you feel like that is a good place for energy use and how any resources for coping with that sort of visibility or what might show up there?

[Coach]

Yeah. So YouTube is a vast expanse. So a couple things here and there are not likely to be found. Okay. I would use YouTube if you just want to do a couple things here and there. I might use YouTube to host videos that you then place on your website.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

But it's unlikely to be a driver to your website.

[Alison]

Okay.

[Coach]

Unless you are very consistently posting every week and you're doing a mix of shorts versus long form. It's a lot of work.

[Laura]

Yeah. Nope. So I'm not gonna.

[Coach]

You're like, I am done.

[Laura]

And that's a great answer. Perfect.

[Coach]

Okay.

[Laura]

I feel like the two things that were coming into my mind is systems and processes for networking. And I loved your feedback about humans first in one of your one on ones and like relationally. And then I'm also organizing it. Organizing the resource for organizing those books and remembering them. Like I have a little book with cards, but I'm just like any thoughts on organizing them?

[Coach]

I'm a spreadsheet girl. So like if I have networked with you, you are on my spreadsheet and it might have some notes about what we talked about or somebody we have in common to help jog my memory.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

Okay. And it might have your website so I can click on it and see your face and then from there, usually, like, let's say I grab coffee with somebody today. I'm. Well, not with the holidays because we're recording this in December. But normally I would put in a thing to follow up in a month in my calendar.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

I don't do the planning for when next anywhere except my calendar. And then when I see like, oh, you know, contact Jane Doe on the 10th of January, then I'm going to be like, oh gosh, which one's Jane Doe? If I've been networking a lot. Exactly. And so then I'm like, okay, there's Jane that. Oh yeah, we talked about her in laws were going to be staying with her for the holidays. So I can check in and be like, hey Jane, I was just thinking about you because you were on my calendar but wondering how it went with your in laws. I'd love to grab coffee again sometime in the next month or so. Let me know what your availability is.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

And that follow up with folks is that's for people who are likely to refer to you that you really liked that it was easy to be with. We do not need to be trying to force things with people that it felt awkward. And we also, as much as we like them, it might not make a lot of sense for us to keep following up with people that we liked who are also still filling their practice and aren't going to refer to us depending on niche.

[Laura]

That makes sense. And then my little human part is like, oh, but okay, yeah, I mean

[Coach]

still follow up with them like personally, but not, not necessarily counting it as a networking.

[Laura]

That makes sense, right?

[Coach]

If you have made a friend, make a friend and if that friend is networking to you, you've got a friend and a referral partner that you then can count as networking.

[Laura]

Yeah, that makes sense. Okay then with that, top three other providers that are actually. And maybe there's even resources because I think I logged back into the Abundance website or like the portal and I

[Coach]

was like, all this stuff, I could

[Laura]

just, I'm gonna look at all this stuff. So if there's like resources or things to be pointing me towards to just keep building on around best practices for marketing to like psych providers, dietitians, NDs, couple therapists, functional medicine. Like who would you prioritize first? And then what are the go to tools for connecting with them?

[Coach]

Yeah, so it's different for each of those groups. So I would think about like who you prioritize is who does your ideal client go to first? So the docs are less likely to go to a doc. Interestingly. Right?

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Laura]

They just talk to each other.

[Coach]

Yeah. Doctors are terrible patients. It's like a rule, not for us,

[Laura]

but for each other.

[Coach]

So where are they going to manage their stress? Do they have a weekly massage? Could you get in on a cme? Continuing medical education? Could you present Specific to like women physicians. Like the different pressures for women physicians, if you like to public speak, if you that makes you want to break out in hives, don't worry about it. So just thinking about where do they go first? They might be going to a dietitian because doctors are not trained in nutrition except for maybe one class during med school and the rest, they're just as brainwashed as the rest of us.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

And so getting in with dietitians and letting them know your women in tech are more likely to go to the doctor. Which doctor are they showing up to? Are they going to psychiatrists? I think a lot of, I will say like a lot of doctors will go to psychiatrists instead of like PCP for meds, even if they're just on an ssri. So psychiatrists can be a good get. And depending on the structure of the practice, like if it's a hospital owned practice, they're likely to be referring in in house. So I wouldn't waste your time. But the private practices psychiatrists are so much busier than we are. They see more people, there's never enough of them in any city. And so they might not be able to go to lunch with you in the way a therapist might.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

But you could say, hey, I would love to, especially if there's somebody who's currently prescribing for any of your clients. I'd love to touch base over lunch. I can bring lunch to your office and talk about some of these clients and like who you like, referral wise so that I can send you those people. And that can be an end with a prescriber. And I'm saying psychiatrist, but it could also be PAs or NPAs or like whoever's a prescriber. And then I think about does your ideal client, like I'm thinking about your woman in tech, for instance. What's happening psychosomatically for her? Is she having stomach issues because of anxiety? Because don't we all? So like if she's having stomach issues, is she going to her pcp? Is that getting escalated to a GI doc? Does it make sense? GI docs are almost always in a hospital system. Yeah, but does it make sense to try to connect anyway?

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

Even just on like LinkedIn or something like that. Right.

[Laura]

So what about like functional medicine folks? Because I feel like they're going to get a GLP1 and they're maybe starting there.

[Coach]

Yes, I think that's great. Esthetic places. Yeah. Functional medicine. Yeah.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

I feel like the docs and the people in Tech have so much in common and also so much different when it comes to referral sources.

[Laura]

Yeah.

[Coach]

Which is great because it's double the referral sources.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

That's the way to look at that.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Coach]

Just more work for you. But it's. They are going to have to go see somebody else to prescribe the GLP1 for them because usually it's not super kosher to prescribe your own meds.

[Laura]

Right.

[Coach]

And they're less likely to go to the aesthetic places because they kind of turn their nose up at them. Usually that's true.

[Laura]

Like, not med. Okay.

[Coach]

Yeah. So they might go to their PCP for that. It might be like, what if you did a talk at doctor's offices about GLP1 meds and kind of the underlying anxiety maybe. And how you will likely see an increase in confidence in your patients. And there's this underlying thing that food was solving. They thought it was about the food noise, and the food noise is now tamped down. But the anxiety that is actually what was driving much of the food noise is still there. So you could do a talk for, like. I mean, you could. Any doctor's office is prescribing them right now, so.

[Laura]

Yep, totally. I think I get hung up on, can I do that? Is this more of a dietitian role? Like, do I need to know more than I know to. To do that? But I think the way you framed it is kind of help, like, helping me.

[Coach]

Yeah. Because you don't need to tell them about the processes and like, blah, blah, blah, like, you need to talk about the feelings because all the feelings stay the same or worsen because now they don't have a tool to soothe themselves.

[Laura]

Yeah. Kind of like, it's so like. I feel like I'm hearing you describe it so similar to when there's a certain place in recovery where, like, I'm not using this as much anymore. But now all the shit I was dealing with is like, so there. And like, what the heck.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Coach]

This is another thing too. Not Everybody on a GLP1 had food and body issues.

[Alison]

Right.

[Coach]

And so that's another thing to talk about is like, what are the characteristics of the person whose anxiety is likely to increase on a GLP1 so that they're not. Because I think sometimes folks get defensive of, like, these are legitimate medications. Yes. Not just prescribing this to, like, women who want to be hotter. Yeah. You know.

[Laura]

Yes.

[Coach]

And maybe I am prescribing this for women who want to be hotter too.

[Laura]

Sure.

[Coach]

So for doctors who See, like, obesity as a disease that they are working with this patient to cure. Like, really being willing to see that from their perspective and meet them where they're at. But if that's the model they're working in and the patient is working in, how do you then help treat that anxiety?

[Laura]

That's what my presentation would be, potentially.

[Coach]

Yeah. Like, this is what I do. Here's what to look for as a prescriber. Here are the people most likely to struggle more. Their confidence will go up, so they'll have this bump of good feelings once they start getting the results that they're seeking. And that part of recovery, all that underlying stuff, is now laid bare. And while they might have some increased confidence, they've also got increased anxiety. So helping differentiate how they might present in session, how they. Or not in session, in. In the doctor's office.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Coach]

Like, have you been prescribing them an ssri? What have their complaints been before about? Like, I'm just super stressed out. Or like, what have you maybe thought in the back of your mind, like, this may be psychosomatic, so those kinds of things.

[Laura]

Okay. And like, there are people out there. There are people out there who want this type of support. I might just, yes. Say it differently because I think I'm like, with the slowing down, the less reaching out. I'm like, do I abandon ship and focus on something completely different? And I think I just need to,

[Coach]

like, no, Just reground.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Coach]

Yeah.

[Laura]

Okay.

[Alison]

Awesome.

[Coach]

It's so good to see you.

[Laura]

So good to see you too. Thank you so very much. I appreciate everything you had to share. Yeah, absolutely.

[Coach]

Yeah.

[Alison]

Okay, cool.

[Coach]

Well, I'll see you later then.

[Laura]

Awesome. See ya. Bye. Bye.

[Alison]

If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo COD abundant for two months free. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.