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Megan Walker:
Hello, Megan Walker here and welcome to Healthcare Online. Today, our very special guest is Karen Forrest from Jump Start Therapies. Hi, Karen, how are you?

Karen Forrest:
Hi Megan, lovely to see you.

Megan Walker:
You too. Now I've had the absolute pleasure of working with Karen over the last few years, helping Karen to move forward with her online courses for her clients. And one of the huge wins that Karen has had is getting onto social media, which I have grappled with personally for years. And I know many other health practitioners, clinicians, therapists do as well.

One of the voices that I have in my head is, it's evil. It's no good. It's bad and terrible and all of that. So out of today's conversation, we want to show you how, yes, it is all of things, but we can also use it for the purposes of good, but kick us off, Karen, and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. And then we'll get into sort of your mindset shift journey of adopting social media. How's that sound?

Karen Forrest:
Yeah, perfect. Okay, so I'm a psychologist. I'm in private practice and have been for a long time. And so I mostly work with neurodivergent kids, autistic kids and their families. And so that's face to face appointments.  So I found myself sort of on the little guinea pig wheel running around trying to do as many appointments as possible and then felt like I just can't keep doing that anymore. can't not not at that level that something had to change and that's when I joined your course.

Megan Walker:
So tell us about the course that you're creating,

Karen Forrest:
Yeah, so I'm at the moment I'm focusing on just finalizing my mini course, which is about managing meltdown survival kit for parents, including understanding how to work out the difference between a meltdown or a tantrum so that we know how do we how do we respond and how do we recognize that autistic kids do just challenging behavior just to test limits and see how far they can go like any kid and that, you know, we need to respond a bit differently in those moments to when they're meltdowns. So, yeah, just finalizing that at the moment with the, yeah, the goal of moving on to developing the main course, which will be around really trying to upskill parents around
how to support their kids to learn how to manage big feelings.

Megan Walker:
important work, particularly for any new parent facing these prickly emotions that can come up sometimes as an even more so the neurodivergent situations, which are so multifaceted. And when do we lean in? When do we call a pediatrician? When do we just let it roll? This is great work that you're doing. So that's fantastic. And let's, I'll put a link below. So where people can have look on your website and also join the wait list to find out more. But in creating these online courses, you like every other practitioner that we're working with. One of the parts of that journey is getting awareness out and building a brand. So when you first realized that social media was going to be a part of this, tell me your absolute honest reaction to that.

Karen Forrest:
Never ever ever will you see my face on social media.

Megan Walker:
There was you and at least three others in our group that had that exact same comment. I laughed so hard when I saw your gorgeous face on the weekend on social media and I'm liking all of your things that I'm going there she is looking great. And then the other three that had the exact same comment launched their websites in the last few weeks with their beautiful corporate photoshoot. You know, it's just amazing when we try for beginners mind what's possible. So how did you get around that?

Karen Forrest:
I hate it. It sucks. I'm never going to do it to starting to open your mind to it. When did that describe that experience?

Right, so I think I did it in a step-by-step way. So I think working at first doing just posts and aiming for one post a week and then aiming, you know, after I got that going then three posts a week with, you know, a different focus and I really was putting off like doing the reel of

putting my face on. Again and again, it's, you know, just doing the real is really going to make a difference, Karen. And so I sat down one day, you know, I did had a lot of negative self talk and how could I possibly, you know, have anything to say that people would want to listen to and

Everyone else seems to find it so easy and everyone else's looks so polished and mine's not going to be because I'm just going to be recording it in my office. But the first time like I'd written out the script in full and there was like five post-it notes across the top of my screen. And it literally took me

two hours to do a you know a minute and a half video reel for my first one but I actually felt like I'd conquered a mountain when I did the first one.

Megan Walker:
Good on you for sticking with it and pushing through all that discomfort because it brings up so much doesn't it all the imposter syndrome all the self-doubt it's like walking down the main street naked isn't it like it's that real test of vulnerability

Karen Forrest:
Totally. Yeah, absolutely. Who is going to say this? What? And of course, just imagining all the negative responses that you get from it and that, you know, you're going to look silly and, you know, you're not, it's not going to look professional and all of that stuff that goes on. So yeah, that

That the first one took me the absolute longest and each time after that, you know, it got faster and faster and I got a bit more used to how it would work for me. So, you know, now I just have one at the most one post-it note with like

three points on it and sometimes I don't even bother about the post-it note. I just look at like the three points have got written down and leave that on the desk and then just plunk myself down and do it. And it might take two or at the most three takes to get it done. And then it's done. It's off.

into the social media ether and I'm like don't think about it again. Yeah.Yeah. And so how long has it been from the no way, no way to I'm doing this on the regular? What's that timeframe been?

Karen Forrest:
That's probably, it'd probably be less than 12 months, I think. Probably, you know, getting towards 12 months, probably from the very first one, because I did like one a month for the first few months. But yeah, I'd have to look back, but maybe around 12 months. yeah, now it's just...

so easy that, you know, if I get an idea and I think, this is a great idea, I can just pull out the ring light and whack the phone in and go, I'm just going to sit down here and have a go.

So you're still in your office or you're branching out to other locations?

I'm mostly in my office because I feel like I can contain things there, but I'm starting to branch out. So like we were talking about on the weekend, sitting down, having an ice cream going, this is the perfect prop for talking about interoception. Let's just get the camera out and just did it. So, yeah. And sometimes like I'm out walking with my dog and I think

this is a great moment that's a good idea I'll just stand in front of this tree and do it.

Megan Walker:
Yeah. In that 12 months, what's the worst thing that's happened?

Karen Forrest:
look nothing really. Like no negative comments, no backlash. The worst thing would be that I didn't leave, you know, five seconds at the beginning of the video. So my secretary who just crops it for me, hasn't got that space to get a nice looking face on the screen without me with my mouth open or something. That's the worst.

Megan Walker:
So how does that compare to what you thought was going to happen?

Karen Forrest:
I thought the earth was going to swallow me up. Or I'd never be able to face any of my colleagues.

Megan Walker:
And tell us about your boundary. Are you showing yourself at home cooking or talking about your husband or you're in your bedroom with, get ready with me and your makeup? Like what's your boundaries around social media?

Karen Forrest:
Yeah, no, I think I'm pretty strict around that, so I don't talk about any personal things at all. I mostly have a bit of a routine where, you know, I've learnt that I have to put a bit more makeup on than I normally do in every day, so I, you know, when your husband looks at...looks at you on social media and goes, you're looking a bit washed out. You go, okay, I'll whack a bit more on. And yeah, so I think just having some boundaries around you're staying focused on what your topic is. Whether you know overall in your plan for the 12 months and then your topic for that month and
keeping focused on that. I think being a bit mindful around what the environment is around you. So most of my videos are done in my office, but every now and again, I'll do it outside where I'm outside, but I might be in my garden or I might be out somewhere where there's no other people around. So there's no one else listening or

You know, I'm not having a chat with someone else at the same time as I'm videoing. We're not talking about our dogs and stuff.

And I really like that because I know a lot of people feel like, no, I'm going to have to divulge all this stuff. Like I saw one the other day, what's in my handbag? And I thought, I don't really feel that A, that's relevant to my work or B at all interesting other than these three muesli bars in there that have probably got some really questionable expiry dates on them. So I love that you've got that boundary. It's me. It's a work version of you, isn't it? On social.

Absolutely. Yeah. Know what we're cooking for dinner tonight come behind the scenes and there's no need for that you're there helping parents of children who've got big emotions and big feelings. Doing your laundry doesn't help them.

Megan Walker:
Yeah, absolutely. No, no, not. And so the only thing that I might bring in that's still work related is, a parent asked me about this this week.Yeah, nice.

Karen Forrest:
or you know, I found myself, you know, in a session and a child was having this big struggle and I thought we'd talk about that today. Beautiful. So that's the only way that I will branch out but it's still all work related. absolutely. Handbags, lunch boxes, they're on, go.

Megan Walker:
And so we've talked about what hasn't gone wrong, which is wonderful to hear that there's no fallout. Talk to me about the positives. What's been the positive outcomes of showing up, pushing through, hi, I'm Karen, here I am.

Karen Forrest:
Yeah, well I think, yeah like there's, you know, there's quite a few. So I think getting over the fact of what it feels like recording yourself and seeing yourself on a screen, that has definitely helped me to get more ready to do the longer version on the mini course, which is great. I got asked to
co-present a webinar and to colleagues and you know previously that I'd you know, I still was a bit nervous but the fact that I'd done so many reels and videos for social media meant that I just apart from doing lots of preparation I just went into the same mode of when it came to talking giving the webinar on Zoom, it was just like a longer version of a reel, really. So that felt, that part of it of how do I present myself felt really comfortable. So that was so much easier. And I think having that social media presence has meant that when I meet new families in my practice,you know, part of the first session is just letting them know that, I have a social media profile. These are, you know, these are the links. You know, if you want some more information in between times on sessions, you know, hop on and have a look. Or I've just done, you know, a lead magnet. I've just done a cheat sheet or a checklist on this topic you might want to hop on it and just download that that might be helpful.

Megan Walker:
What's the feedback? What's the feedback being from people?

Karen Forrest:
Yeah, really positive, which is great. yeah, people will sometimes say, I saw this post or, I really liked this that you did last week or, yeah, I tried that thing on your checklist. You know, that really helped. I think other people should know about this. So.

Yeah, so it has helped. And look, definitely if you want to increase your referrals, which was not my goal at all, but actually that has happened just as part of it. It's absolutely, if that was your goal to increase referrals to your practice, then it's absolutely hands down a winner.

So good. And you can see the power once you get your programs up that it will just directly feed into that supporting people on your wait list or between appointments or people who can't reach you, other rural remote families. you so much. Thank you on two fronts. One for doing the work because it takes a huge amount of bravery. It's so easy for people like me and our helicopters to go, just get on social media and just, you know.

It's not that simple. Like I remember my first webinar. I think I threw up beforehand and I paid someone $3,000 to be there to watch to make and I had three different internet dongles and you know, we forget that the first time doing this stuff is terrifying. So thank you for being so honest and transparent for everyone else listening who's been either in that position or you know on the journey to go, you know, it's so normal.

We see so much in social media and it looks like it should just be easy, but it really isn't like, especially when you care so much about integrity and the people that you're trying to help and you're not wanting to mislead them. It's got to be done in a very quality way.

Karen Forrest:
100%. Yeah. It has to be aligned with yourself and your values as well as APRA's guidelines. But I think that comes across if you're, if you stay aligned with your values and keep in mind, I'm doing this to support parents.

that I know and all the parents out there that I haven't met yet, but who might find this helpful, hopefully. We'll get something out of it. We do.

Yeah. Karen, thank you so much for sharing your story. Please everyone have a look at the links below and what's your website address Karen so they can go and check you out a bit more and start following you and all of your fabulous social media posts.

Yeah, yeah. So the website is jumpstarttherapy.com.au and the Facebook page is at Jump Start Therapy Bathurst and the Instagram link is at jumpstart underscore therapy.

Megan Walker:
You are so cool. Thank you for a wonderful chat, Karen.

Karen Forrest:
Lovely to chat with you Megan, thanks.

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