May 18, 2023 • 20 mins
In this episode, Dr Peter Blundell interviews Dr Fraser Smith about being a Counselling Psychologist & Clinical Director for Psychology Scotland.
Dr Fraser Smith
Fraser is a chartered psychologist registered with the HCPC and BPS with years of experience and training working within therapy. He specialises in working with men's mental health and has worked in therapy with men, researched the field and become a recognised speaker within this area for a number of years.
Twitter: @_getpsyched_
Website: https://www.psychologyscotland.com/team/dr-fraser-smith/
Dr Peter Blundell
Peter is the founder and co-lead of #TherapistsConnect. You can find out more about Peter's work via his website www.peterblundell.com.
Twitter: @drpeterblundell
Website: https://www.peterblundell.com/
#TherapistsConnect is a platform for connecting therapists.
Website: www.Therapists-Connect.com
Twitter: @Therapists_C
Instagram: @TherapistsConnect
Facebook: @TherConnect
Origins of #TherapistsConnect
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peter Blundell (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another episode of
(00:02):
the Therapist Connect Podcast.
Today I'm interviewing Dr.
Fraser Smith. Fraser is a HCPCregistered counseling
psychologist, and he works in avariety of different settings.
He's spoken at various eventssuch as the 2019 TEDx in Glasgow
is a recognized speaker inpsychology and mental health.
(00:25):
Fraser was an early supporter ofTherapist Connect asked me to
write a blog for his getpsychedwebsite. You can find get site
on all the usual social mediaplatforms, and a large amount of
videos on YouTube. I hope youenjoy this episode as much as I
did recording it. If you'd liketo support the Therapist Connect
Podcast, then please find us onany of the podcast apps and
(00:47):
leave us a review.
Dr Fraser Smith (00:49):
Hi, Peter. How you doing?
Peter Blundell (00:50):
Morning Fraser, how are you?
Dr Fraser Smith (00:52):
It's nice to finally meet you face to face.
Peter Blundell (00:54):
I know it's stranger isn't it, we know kind
of like people on Twitter andstuff and have interactions with
them, and then have neveractually spoken to them.
Dr Fraser Smith (01:02):
such as the world today.
Peter Blundell (01:04):
Strange world we live in?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:05):
Yeah.
Peter Blundell (01:06):
Are you? Are you good?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:07):
Yeah, I'm doing really well. Yeah, things are
things are going well, verybusy.
Peter Blundell (01:11):
Can you tell us a little bit about how you came
to be a therapist in the firstplace? Like what drew you to the
profession?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:17):
Absolutely, there's a number of things that
kind of drew me in my, I alwayskind of gravitate to the
relationship with my motherfirst. So she has a her first
degree was in psychology. Andshe was a deputy head high
school teacher for the largepart of her life. And then there
(01:37):
was there was just like theconnect the connection that my
mother and I had were as a veryclose relationship. I think
there's a lot of psychologicaltherapeutic understanding on her
part that kind of probably thatit's worked me ingrained in me
at a young age. But what reallykind of sparked my interest in
going into the therapeutic worldwas really my own mental health
difficulty. So I am very longstory short, but I was in
(01:59):
America for a year, I wasplaying basketball there. And I
came back and was in university,I was actually doing a history
and politics degree at thattime. And just went through a
very difficult stage ofdepression and anxiety. And
there was a lot of thingshappening in my life at that
time that were extremelydifficult. I think at that age
and particular I was 19/20. Theworld was changing around me and
(02:21):
I didn't really have the legs tokeep up and went and saw
therapist. And it really turnedthings around for me. And one of
the main ways in which it turnedthings around for me was career
wise actually because I hadabsolutely no idea what I wanted
to do. It was always somethingthat I had tried to put off and
not really think much about. Andthen when I had that experience
with that therapist, I was like,this is a job that I would love.
(02:43):
And it was an opportunity cameto another one. And actually, I
managed to get job working nightshifts at reception desk at a
couples therapy center inGlasgow, and then got onto a
COSCA training skills course uphere in Scotland, which is like
an introductory course totherapy. And that really kind of
started the train ride fromthere and then worked my way up
(03:05):
through that organization andthen and took on Counseling
Psychology, and over the nextfew years, so yeah, that's
really kind of how it allstarted from
Peter Blundell (03:13):
The different motivations, there seemed like
very personal kind ofrelationship with your, with
your mum, and then and then kindof your own personal
experiences, which are kind ofboth fed into that that choice.
You did go down the line oftraining to be a therapist, can
you tell us a little bit aboutyour career so far, kind of what
what that's looked like
Dr Fraser Smith (03:31):
My career has been kind of somewhat eclectic.
It's kind of gone into differentbranches of therapeutic
training, and then alsopsychological experience. So I
started, as I kind of said toyou, I was working my way up
that that couples counselingorganization actually had a
youth working department wherethey went into schools and did a
(03:53):
lot kind of training and supportin different ways. And I did a
lot of that work. And then wenton to do my psychology
undergraduate degree. And as andas I went through that, I
continued working as a youthworker. And when I finished I
actually got a job as anassistant psychologist in a
brain injury unit. And that wasmy first experience directly and
the kind of psychologicaldomain. It was, with clinical
(04:15):
psychologists we were workingwith clients with brain
injuries, really was my firsttime having any kind of exposure
to client work. And I thendecided I wanted to go into
counseling psychology. So Istarted that doctorate, I was
fortunate to get into thedoctorate started at work as a
research assistant in healthpsychology, and worked as a
tutor for a little bit as well.
And then I did a number ofdifferent jobs within I worked
(04:39):
in some help lines and thingslike that in my therapy. And I
was also fortunate to get aplacement at an organization
nearby that then lead to hire methis was a private therapy
practice. I worked there forabout maybe about a year after
and then realized, you know, oneof the things I really value
about working as a therapistworking as a psychologist is the
(05:02):
kind of autonomy over my work,the creativity of my work, the
ownership of my work. And so Istarted my own private practice
called Psychology Scotland, andI started that in 2021. And kind
of the summer of 2021 was thevision of just for the first
year kind of working by myself,I managed to get an office space
had a website design, that kindof thing. But I had a kind of
(05:23):
future vision of wanting tobring more staff members on
board, opening up more therapyspaces. And then within a couple
of months, a few opportunitiescame by where the building
management I was working withhad more spaces open up, I had
some people reach out to me thatwant to work with me. So I just
jumped for it and went and wentwith it. And the first few
months were very difficult. Butsince then we've really brought
(05:45):
on a larger team, and and wehave a lot of ownership over the
way we do our work. And thepsychologists that work with us
all work independently andautonomously, autonomously. And
they work one to one therapy,and we do a lot of kind of
corporate contracts as well. Somy career has kind of taken a
number of different trajectoriesthrough different means in
psychology, but private practiceis kind of where it is right now
Peter Blundell (06:06):
Can you tell us a little bit about your
specifically your kind oftherapeutic approach and how and
how you work has that developedand changed over the years?
Dr Fraser Smith (06:13):
It has, you know, I think it's part of being
a psychologist, being atherapist in reality, of any
kind, that kind of ever, everchanging sense of how I approach
is often shifted. And I think,you know, I immediately
gravitate to my doctorate, whenI was studying and everything, I
was very keen to kind of ingraintheory, I was very keen to
(06:36):
utilize kind of structuredtherapeutic modalities. I'm a
big believer in Acceptance andCommitment Therapy, I use a lot
of that use a lot DBT. And I'm ahuge believer and utiliser of a
Person Centered therapeuticprinciples. And I was very keen
in my studies during myplacement to work very
structured in those ways. And Ithink as things have progressed,
I work much more in fluid kindof fluids much, much more
(07:00):
subjectively, with my clients.
And I still utilize a lot ofthose therapeutic approaches.
But I think as time has gone on,I've trusted more in the Person
Centered therapeutic model andthose principles. And then when
I was studying, I felt like Ican have to do more. And
absolutely, there's times wherethat's required to a degree but
really trusting in thoseprinciples and really trusting
(07:22):
in the process, and very muchtrusting in my own abilities to
hold space. And I think that wassomething that has, I've really
leant into particularly in thepast year actually. And also
thinking a lot of like I use, Iprobably utilize a little bit
more cognitive behavioraltherapy now in some ways, but
but always coming from a base ofa Person Centered therapy, I my
stance is kind of more similarto the integration where
(07:45):
Cognitive Behavioral approachesI use the Acceptance and
Commitment therapeuticprinciples I use, I'm always
mindful of my Person Centeredtraining. And yeah, I think as
time has progressed, I've valuedthat more than ever really.
Peter Blundell (07:59):
I mean, that's, that's really interesting, and
brings joy to my heart as aPerson Centred, a Person
Centered therapist. Say that,but I was wondering, did you was
that your Person Centeredtraining part of your your
doctorate, or, or was that, didyou do that in another time?
Dr Fraser Smith (08:17):
No, that was, that was a big part of the
doctorate. So I'm gonna give youa little bit more context that
we have our first stage, so tospeak of training in the
doctorate is a is PersonCentered. Now I did my first
stage over part time. So it tookme two years to complete that.
So I really did two years ofPerson Centered training, and
(08:37):
very much leant into thoseprinciples and really engaged in
those principles. And I thinkwhen I first entered the
doctorate, I thought it wasinteresting, like, I kind of had
done therapeutic training beforeat the COSCA skills course, I
had done Transactional Analysistraining for a year as well. And
I kind of thought of PersonCentered as a bit of bread and
butter, a bit of kind of that,you know, as you would conduct
therapy, and it was so much morethan that to me as as I engaged
(08:59):
in the training. And I justwhenever I feel kind of maybe
stuck or challenged in therapywith my clients, I always return
back to those therapeuticprinciples, and it always helps.
And so yeah, that was a hugepart of my training. The later
stages were more CognitiveBehavioral based, and then after
that was more about engaging inyour own stance, but in Person
(09:21):
Centered has always been at thecore of my training and my
beliefs about good therapy.
Peter Blundell (09:25):
Fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about I
mean, you've talked about you'vegot your own therapy community
building up within within yourpractice, but how connected do
you feel to kind of the widertherapy community maybe in
Scotland or even even broader,potentially,
Dr Fraser Smith (09:38):
yeah, and that that feels quite not up and
down, but can we be hot or coldat times? It's again, I think,
often by working privately andworking privately is a very
lonely experience sometimes andit's quite isolating. And I've
had to be better at stayingconnected. When I did, when I
(10:01):
was doing my doctorate, Icreated a platform called
Getpsyched. And it was like akind of online platform, social
media platform YouTube channelof a lot of content around
mental health and psychologytraining. And that really helped
me connect with other people,because people saw that content.
I spoke at conferences, I didpodcast, I did interviews. And
you know, that was really greatway to stay connected. When
(10:22):
psychology Scotland started, Ididn't, I kind of stopped, stop
Getpsyched. And so I've kind offelt a little bit more detached
from the community at times.
However, I've been mindful toconnect with the British
Psychological Society a littlebit more, I've been doing a lot
about work with them. Buildingmy own therapeutic community
here, you're right to say thatone of the biggest reasons for
doing that was to create a kindof network was to create a sense
(10:43):
of connectivity as well. And Iwas very keen for our team not
to just kind of go into thetherapeutic rooms and shut the
door, so to speak, but to stayconnected with the team around
us. And, you know, that'sdifficult, because we have team
members who maybe work two orthree days a week here, and
they're not full time. So, youknow, we it's important for us
to try and stay connected asmuch as possible. But that has
been difficult for me in manyways. I think COVID has got a
(11:06):
lot to do with that. And, youknow, I'm sure you'll have flet
the same way . You know, it's,it's feel a little isolating at
times. And I think social mediacan be really useful there. But
it's, I think working privatelyis something that I've needed to
and I would advise other peoplein the future to have more
intent. And being connected withother therapists, and then
looking at kind of governingbodies that they can connect
(11:29):
with have therapeutic networksin their area. And that's
something that I'm continuing totry and push forward.
Peter Blundell (11:35):
I think that's really interesting. I mean,
Getpsyched was the first bit ofmedia content that Therapists
Connect had, because we did ablog post
Dr Fraser Smith (11:44):
was very quick to jump on that.
Peter Blundell (11:48):
I forget sites, but I'm just interested to hear
about your journey in terms ofthat connection. Because, you
know, Getpsyched is a really bigthing. It's got loads of views,
it's you I should say you didlots and lots of things with it.
It's interesting that maybe howthings have shifted for you as
you've gone into privatepractice, and maybe not had as
many opportunities to kind ofconnect in that broader way.
Dr Fraser Smith (12:08):
Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you
know, it's a, it's a shame,because Getpsyched is, for me,
it grew into a great platform.
And that was really exciting.
But it asked so much of me. And,you know, when I had a family,
and when I needed to make a realincome, there was all those kind
of variables that came into thefold that that meant that maybe,
(12:30):
to Getpyched work had to take aback seat. And, you know, I was
putting out videos every week, Iwas in social media content most
days, and it was all me doing itwhilst I was doing doctorate. So
it was very, very taxing. But Ido miss it. And I think I
probably took it for granted alittle bit because it was a very
easy way for me to stayconnected with people, you know,
I would get emails and I wouldget messages most weeks, people
(12:54):
who had value from the contentor people who had additional
questions, or people who wantedme to do X Y Zed, and that was
great. And not to say that thatstuff doesn't happen still, but
it happens much less. And Ithink there's a again, that
requires a response from me,which I'm starting to with
again. And again, the buildingof the team here psychology,
Psychology Scotland has been apart of that is building a
(13:15):
network of my own. And makingsure I'm staying connected with
the wider community becauseyeah, it gets like, it kind of
did the job for me a little bit.
It was like a platform that wasthere. And people could access
it whenever and then they couldreach out to me. So staying
connected with people becamequite easy, actually as
Getpsyched grew. It's a littleharder now, but yeah, something
to approach with more of moreintent on my part as well.
Peter Blundell (13:38):
Yeah. And people could start access all that
content, even though there'smaybe not new content going on
there. It's it's all there forpeople to access already, isn't
it?
Dr Fraser Smith (13:45):
Yeah, it is.
And then, you know, we changedlike, for example, the
Instagram, I shifted that fromGetpsyched to my own personal
one. So I kind of I ended upwith a YouTube channel and the
website are still there. There'sa little bit of potential that
things may kick in again, withPsychology Scotland, there's a
chance I may look at rebrandingsome of the Getpsyhed stuff with
Psychology Scotland and startdoing some more video content
(14:07):
again. But that's still kind ofin the pipeline a little bit,
but all the content is still isstill there. It's very
accessible. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (14:15):
Can you tell us what what do you think the
biggest challenge that thecounseling and psychotherapy
professionals face right now inyour opinion?
Dr Fraser Smith (14:21):
For me, I think it's societal shifts. And
there's a lot people don't needto need me to tell them this.
There's a lot that's going on inthe world right now that affects
people's mental well being. AndI think there's a there's a
there's a greater challenge fortherapists to be able to hold
space and in a climate thatsunchanging at times, and I think
(14:42):
and I'm speaking only from myself, that can be quite a scary
potentiality for for therapistsbecause I think when I again
when I was training, and when Iwhen I think about my work, I'm
a huge believer in the potentialof people and people's ability
to overcome circumstances andmake and to heal and to make
situations better in theirlives, and I often work from
(15:04):
that ethos, but that's verydifficult when there, there is
war breaking out. And when wehave global pandemics, and we
have awful, you know, cost ofliving crisis and energy bills
and things like that, just toname a few of societal
situations that impact the wellbeing of the individual. And for
me, that's been a hugechallenge, because that creates
(15:25):
a number of difficulties, youknow, and then the individuals
often see that as well. Itaffects everybody, therefore,
why should I complain? Butactually, every individual has
their own traumatic experienceof things like Coronavirus, of
things like, you know, the ideaof war breaking out across
Europe, you know, the these kindof things that are really, and
(15:46):
many others as well, that impactindividuals. So for me, I think
there is something veryimportant and very challenging
about how we sit with andaddress massive societal
challenges on a one to one basiswith our clients. And again, we
are trained and being able to dothat. But it's very difficult
when those situations areunchanging in that room, and how
(16:08):
do we deal with that? How do welive with that? And how do we
hold that space? And thosesocietal changes are not going
anywhere? They're going toremain? And, you know, how do we
deal with that? For me, I thinkthat's one of the biggest
challenges that we're therapistsface, in my eyes.
Peter Blundell (16:25):
And I think that's for me, I think, becoming
more to the forefront, I think,in recent times that idea of
kind of maybe social justiceissues. Whereas in the past,
maybe those some therapists whomaybe have kept silent on those
particular issues. Now it'sbecoming much more open that
people therapists are engagedwith some of that.
Dr Fraser Smith (16:45):
Yeah, absolutely. But there's
something that we need to leaninto again, and, and that's been
the case for decades, of course,there's always been societal
challenges, and social justicehas always been an issue that
we've needed to address. But itfeels very present today. And
yeah, I think that's justsomething that we're going to
continue to have to adapt to. Mydoctoral research actually was
in men's mental health. And thenuances of that research were in
(17:07):
older men's mental health, theirkind of understanding of mental
health and barriers to accessingtherapies a demographic that are
in widely under represented inthe therapeutic community and in
research, and it was a reallyinteresting piece of research
for me. And I kind of went on todo a number of talks on men's
mental health at a TEDx talk inGlasgow in 2019. And 2018,
(17:29):
actually traveled out to EastAsia to speak on men's mental
health in the Philippines. So Ihad a lot of great opportunities
there. And I've done quite a bitof work in men's mental health,
I did quite a bit of videocontent on Getpsyched on it. And
as a result, I see quite a lotof men in therapy actually did a
workshop last week last week foran organization in Edinburgh and
(17:50):
men's mental health because itwas International Men's week, or
international, men's health, Ithink. So it's a it's an area
that I still I still speak a loton. And it's one that's I have a
great passion for, you know,understanding, I think it kind
of ties into my own upbringing,as well as my mother, my mother
was a single parent, I had quitea distant relationship with my
father at first. And as an onlychild, I think my exploration of
(18:13):
men's mental health has been alot about understanding myself
and also understanding myfather. And that's really kind
of where that stemmed from, butthen it kind of delved into an
area of real interest, you know,it's a, it's an, it's a constant
area of challenging suiciderates, lack of therapeutic
uptake is a continual issue. Andthen COVID has also had a big
(18:34):
impact there as well. And soyeah, it just feels more more
pressing than ever to really bebe a champion of men's mental
health as much as I can. And Itry and continue to do that. So
yeah, it's a real area ofpassion for me.
Peter Blundell (18:46):
I think that's really important. And I still
feel that even today, it doesn'tget spoken about enough. And,
you know, the amount of maletherapists is kind of, you know,
low compared to femaletherapists, you know, so it's a
it's a continuing issue. So Ithink it's important that we
yeah, you mentioned that so
Dr Fraser Smith (19:06):
absolutely.
Yeah, it's a continual area ofreal need for talking more about
it and also more work that'sneeded done in it. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (19:14):
Fraser that's all my questions. I suppose my
last one would be kind of whatyou're up to next.
Dr Fraser Smith (19:20):
Yeah, well, more Psychology Scotland stuff,
it feels like in a never endingtrend. And so ya know, what's
happening next for us iscontinued look at some growth.
We're opening up more therapyrooms, we're bringing on more
psychologists and therapists,we're very keen to explore the
idea of being a placementprovider as well and giving
(19:42):
students opportunities here. Soyou know, that's something that
we're very keen to explore. Wehave a number of different ideas
as well as to how we mightdevelop our practice and bring
more opportunities to ourtherapists but more quality
therapy to clients and a greaterexploration of some of our
organisational contacts. Youknow, I'm very keen to explore
(20:02):
that further. And we're we'rewe're kind of working with
organizations post COVID, inparticular to bring in mental
health and therapeutic supportto employees and it can get
through directly through theirorganization and that's working
really well. So, yeah, a numberof different things on the
horizon that we're going to pushtowards
Peter Blundell (20:19):
the end. Sounds very exciting. I look forward to
seeing more for you in thefuture. Fraser, thank you so
much, it's been great chattingto you on the podcast. Thank you
for supporting TherapistsConnect.
Dr Fraser Smith (20:29):
Thanks for having me Peter. Thank you so
much.
Hello and welcome to another episode of
(00:02):
the Therapist Connect Podcast.
Today I'm interviewing Dr.
Fraser Smith. Fraser is a HCPCregistered counseling
psychologist, and he works in avariety of different settings.
He's spoken at various eventssuch as the 2019 TEDx in Glasgow
is a recognized speaker inpsychology and mental health.
(00:25):
Fraser was an early supporter ofTherapist Connect asked me to
write a blog for his getpsychedwebsite. You can find get site
on all the usual social mediaplatforms, and a large amount of
videos on YouTube. I hope youenjoy this episode as much as I
did recording it. If you'd liketo support the Therapist Connect
Podcast, then please find us onany of the podcast apps and
(00:47):
leave us a review.
Dr Fraser Smith (00:49):
Hi, Peter. How you doing?
Peter Blundell (00:50):
Morning Fraser, how are you?
Dr Fraser Smith (00:52):
It's nice to finally meet you face to face.
Peter Blundell (00:54):
I know it's stranger isn't it, we know kind
of like people on Twitter andstuff and have interactions with
them, and then have neveractually spoken to them.
Dr Fraser Smith (01:02):
such as the world today.
Peter Blundell (01:04):
Strange world we live in?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:05):
Yeah.
Peter Blundell (01:06):
Are you? Are you good?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:07):
Yeah, I'm doing really well. Yeah, things are
things are going well, verybusy.
Peter Blundell (01:11):
Can you tell us a little bit about how you came
to be a therapist in the firstplace? Like what drew you to the
profession?
Dr Fraser Smith (01:17):
Absolutely, there's a number of things that
kind of drew me in my, I alwayskind of gravitate to the
relationship with my motherfirst. So she has a her first
degree was in psychology. Andshe was a deputy head high
school teacher for the largepart of her life. And then there
(01:37):
was there was just like theconnect the connection that my
mother and I had were as a veryclose relationship. I think
there's a lot of psychologicaltherapeutic understanding on her
part that kind of probably thatit's worked me ingrained in me
at a young age. But what reallykind of sparked my interest in
going into the therapeutic worldwas really my own mental health
difficulty. So I am very longstory short, but I was in
(01:59):
America for a year, I wasplaying basketball there. And I
came back and was in university,I was actually doing a history
and politics degree at thattime. And just went through a
very difficult stage ofdepression and anxiety. And
there was a lot of thingshappening in my life at that
time that were extremelydifficult. I think at that age
and particular I was 19/20. Theworld was changing around me and
(02:21):
I didn't really have the legs tokeep up and went and saw
therapist. And it really turnedthings around for me. And one of
the main ways in which it turnedthings around for me was career
wise actually because I hadabsolutely no idea what I wanted
to do. It was always somethingthat I had tried to put off and
not really think much about. Andthen when I had that experience
with that therapist, I was like,this is a job that I would love.
(02:43):
And it was an opportunity cameto another one. And actually, I
managed to get job working nightshifts at reception desk at a
couples therapy center inGlasgow, and then got onto a
COSCA training skills course uphere in Scotland, which is like
an introductory course totherapy. And that really kind of
started the train ride fromthere and then worked my way up
(03:05):
through that organization andthen and took on Counseling
Psychology, and over the nextfew years, so yeah, that's
really kind of how it allstarted from
Peter Blundell (03:13):
The different motivations, there seemed like
very personal kind ofrelationship with your, with
your mum, and then and then kindof your own personal
experiences, which are kind ofboth fed into that that choice.
You did go down the line oftraining to be a therapist, can
you tell us a little bit aboutyour career so far, kind of what
what that's looked like
Dr Fraser Smith (03:31):
My career has been kind of somewhat eclectic.
It's kind of gone into differentbranches of therapeutic
training, and then alsopsychological experience. So I
started, as I kind of said toyou, I was working my way up
that that couples counselingorganization actually had a
youth working department wherethey went into schools and did a
(03:53):
lot kind of training and supportin different ways. And I did a
lot of that work. And then wenton to do my psychology
undergraduate degree. And as andas I went through that, I
continued working as a youthworker. And when I finished I
actually got a job as anassistant psychologist in a
brain injury unit. And that wasmy first experience directly and
the kind of psychologicaldomain. It was, with clinical
(04:15):
psychologists we were workingwith clients with brain
injuries, really was my firsttime having any kind of exposure
to client work. And I thendecided I wanted to go into
counseling psychology. So Istarted that doctorate, I was
fortunate to get into thedoctorate started at work as a
research assistant in healthpsychology, and worked as a
tutor for a little bit as well.
And then I did a number ofdifferent jobs within I worked
(04:39):
in some help lines and thingslike that in my therapy. And I
was also fortunate to get aplacement at an organization
nearby that then lead to hire methis was a private therapy
practice. I worked there forabout maybe about a year after
and then realized, you know, oneof the things I really value
about working as a therapistworking as a psychologist is the
(05:02):
kind of autonomy over my work,the creativity of my work, the
ownership of my work. And so Istarted my own private practice
called Psychology Scotland, andI started that in 2021. And kind
of the summer of 2021 was thevision of just for the first
year kind of working by myself,I managed to get an office space
had a website design, that kindof thing. But I had a kind of
(05:23):
future vision of wanting tobring more staff members on
board, opening up more therapyspaces. And then within a couple
of months, a few opportunitiescame by where the building
management I was working withhad more spaces open up, I had
some people reach out to me thatwant to work with me. So I just
jumped for it and went and wentwith it. And the first few
months were very difficult. Butsince then we've really brought
(05:45):
on a larger team, and and wehave a lot of ownership over the
way we do our work. And thepsychologists that work with us
all work independently andautonomously, autonomously. And
they work one to one therapy,and we do a lot of kind of
corporate contracts as well. Somy career has kind of taken a
number of different trajectoriesthrough different means in
psychology, but private practiceis kind of where it is right now
Peter Blundell (06:06):
Can you tell us a little bit about your
specifically your kind oftherapeutic approach and how and
how you work has that developedand changed over the years?
Dr Fraser Smith (06:13):
It has, you know, I think it's part of being
a psychologist, being atherapist in reality, of any
kind, that kind of ever, everchanging sense of how I approach
is often shifted. And I think,you know, I immediately
gravitate to my doctorate, whenI was studying and everything, I
was very keen to kind of ingraintheory, I was very keen to
(06:36):
utilize kind of structuredtherapeutic modalities. I'm a
big believer in Acceptance andCommitment Therapy, I use a lot
of that use a lot DBT. And I'm ahuge believer and utiliser of a
Person Centered therapeuticprinciples. And I was very keen
in my studies during myplacement to work very
structured in those ways. And Ithink as things have progressed,
I work much more in fluid kindof fluids much, much more
(07:00):
subjectively, with my clients.
And I still utilize a lot ofthose therapeutic approaches.
But I think as time has gone on,I've trusted more in the Person
Centered therapeutic model andthose principles. And then when
I was studying, I felt like Ican have to do more. And
absolutely, there's times wherethat's required to a degree but
really trusting in thoseprinciples and really trusting
(07:22):
in the process, and very muchtrusting in my own abilities to
hold space. And I think that wassomething that has, I've really
leant into particularly in thepast year actually. And also
thinking a lot of like I use, Iprobably utilize a little bit
more cognitive behavioraltherapy now in some ways, but
but always coming from a base ofa Person Centered therapy, I my
stance is kind of more similarto the integration where
(07:45):
Cognitive Behavioral approachesI use the Acceptance and
Commitment therapeuticprinciples I use, I'm always
mindful of my Person Centeredtraining. And yeah, I think as
time has progressed, I've valuedthat more than ever really.
Peter Blundell (07:59):
I mean, that's, that's really interesting, and
brings joy to my heart as aPerson Centred, a Person
Centered therapist. Say that,but I was wondering, did you was
that your Person Centeredtraining part of your your
doctorate, or, or was that, didyou do that in another time?
Dr Fraser Smith (08:17):
No, that was, that was a big part of the
doctorate. So I'm gonna give youa little bit more context that
we have our first stage, so tospeak of training in the
doctorate is a is PersonCentered. Now I did my first
stage over part time. So it tookme two years to complete that.
So I really did two years ofPerson Centered training, and
(08:37):
very much leant into thoseprinciples and really engaged in
those principles. And I thinkwhen I first entered the
doctorate, I thought it wasinteresting, like, I kind of had
done therapeutic training beforeat the COSCA skills course, I
had done Transactional Analysistraining for a year as well. And
I kind of thought of PersonCentered as a bit of bread and
butter, a bit of kind of that,you know, as you would conduct
therapy, and it was so much morethan that to me as as I engaged
(08:59):
in the training. And I justwhenever I feel kind of maybe
stuck or challenged in therapywith my clients, I always return
back to those therapeuticprinciples, and it always helps.
And so yeah, that was a hugepart of my training. The later
stages were more CognitiveBehavioral based, and then after
that was more about engaging inyour own stance, but in Person
(09:21):
Centered has always been at thecore of my training and my
beliefs about good therapy.
Peter Blundell (09:25):
Fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about I
mean, you've talked about you'vegot your own therapy community
building up within within yourpractice, but how connected do
you feel to kind of the widertherapy community maybe in
Scotland or even even broader,potentially,
Dr Fraser Smith (09:38):
yeah, and that that feels quite not up and
down, but can we be hot or coldat times? It's again, I think,
often by working privately andworking privately is a very
lonely experience sometimes andit's quite isolating. And I've
had to be better at stayingconnected. When I did, when I
(10:01):
was doing my doctorate, Icreated a platform called
Getpsyched. And it was like akind of online platform, social
media platform YouTube channelof a lot of content around
mental health and psychologytraining. And that really helped
me connect with other people,because people saw that content.
I spoke at conferences, I didpodcast, I did interviews. And
you know, that was really greatway to stay connected. When
(10:22):
psychology Scotland started, Ididn't, I kind of stopped, stop
Getpsyched. And so I've kind offelt a little bit more detached
from the community at times.
However, I've been mindful toconnect with the British
Psychological Society a littlebit more, I've been doing a lot
about work with them. Buildingmy own therapeutic community
here, you're right to say thatone of the biggest reasons for
doing that was to create a kindof network was to create a sense
(10:43):
of connectivity as well. And Iwas very keen for our team not
to just kind of go into thetherapeutic rooms and shut the
door, so to speak, but to stayconnected with the team around
us. And, you know, that'sdifficult, because we have team
members who maybe work two orthree days a week here, and
they're not full time. So, youknow, we it's important for us
to try and stay connected asmuch as possible. But that has
been difficult for me in manyways. I think COVID has got a
(11:06):
lot to do with that. And, youknow, I'm sure you'll have flet
the same way . You know, it's,it's feel a little isolating at
times. And I think social mediacan be really useful there. But
it's, I think working privatelyis something that I've needed to
and I would advise other peoplein the future to have more
intent. And being connected withother therapists, and then
looking at kind of governingbodies that they can connect
(11:29):
with have therapeutic networksin their area. And that's
something that I'm continuing totry and push forward.
Peter Blundell (11:35):
I think that's really interesting. I mean,
Getpsyched was the first bit ofmedia content that Therapists
Connect had, because we did ablog post
Dr Fraser Smith (11:44):
was very quick to jump on that.
Peter Blundell (11:48):
I forget sites, but I'm just interested to hear
about your journey in terms ofthat connection. Because, you
know, Getpsyched is a really bigthing. It's got loads of views,
it's you I should say you didlots and lots of things with it.
It's interesting that maybe howthings have shifted for you as
you've gone into privatepractice, and maybe not had as
many opportunities to kind ofconnect in that broader way.
Dr Fraser Smith (12:08):
Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you
know, it's a, it's a shame,because Getpsyched is, for me,
it grew into a great platform.
And that was really exciting.
But it asked so much of me. And,you know, when I had a family,
and when I needed to make a realincome, there was all those kind
of variables that came into thefold that that meant that maybe,
(12:30):
to Getpyched work had to take aback seat. And, you know, I was
putting out videos every week, Iwas in social media content most
days, and it was all me doing itwhilst I was doing doctorate. So
it was very, very taxing. But Ido miss it. And I think I
probably took it for granted alittle bit because it was a very
easy way for me to stayconnected with people, you know,
I would get emails and I wouldget messages most weeks, people
(12:54):
who had value from the contentor people who had additional
questions, or people who wantedme to do X Y Zed, and that was
great. And not to say that thatstuff doesn't happen still, but
it happens much less. And Ithink there's a again, that
requires a response from me,which I'm starting to with
again. And again, the buildingof the team here psychology,
Psychology Scotland has been apart of that is building a
(13:15):
network of my own. And makingsure I'm staying connected with
the wider community becauseyeah, it gets like, it kind of
did the job for me a little bit.
It was like a platform that wasthere. And people could access
it whenever and then they couldreach out to me. So staying
connected with people becamequite easy, actually as
Getpsyched grew. It's a littleharder now, but yeah, something
to approach with more of moreintent on my part as well.
Peter Blundell (13:38):
Yeah. And people could start access all that
content, even though there'smaybe not new content going on
there. It's it's all there forpeople to access already, isn't
it?
Dr Fraser Smith (13:45):
Yeah, it is.
And then, you know, we changedlike, for example, the
Instagram, I shifted that fromGetpsyched to my own personal
one. So I kind of I ended upwith a YouTube channel and the
website are still there. There'sa little bit of potential that
things may kick in again, withPsychology Scotland, there's a
chance I may look at rebrandingsome of the Getpsyhed stuff with
Psychology Scotland and startdoing some more video content
(14:07):
again. But that's still kind ofin the pipeline a little bit,
but all the content is still isstill there. It's very
accessible. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (14:15):
Can you tell us what what do you think the
biggest challenge that thecounseling and psychotherapy
professionals face right now inyour opinion?
Dr Fraser Smith (14:21):
For me, I think it's societal shifts. And
there's a lot people don't needto need me to tell them this.
There's a lot that's going on inthe world right now that affects
people's mental well being. AndI think there's a there's a
there's a greater challenge fortherapists to be able to hold
space and in a climate thatsunchanging at times, and I think
(14:42):
and I'm speaking only from myself, that can be quite a scary
potentiality for for therapistsbecause I think when I again
when I was training, and when Iwhen I think about my work, I'm
a huge believer in the potentialof people and people's ability
to overcome circumstances andmake and to heal and to make
situations better in theirlives, and I often work from
(15:04):
that ethos, but that's verydifficult when there, there is
war breaking out. And when wehave global pandemics, and we
have awful, you know, cost ofliving crisis and energy bills
and things like that, just toname a few of societal
situations that impact the wellbeing of the individual. And for
me, that's been a hugechallenge, because that creates
(15:25):
a number of difficulties, youknow, and then the individuals
often see that as well. Itaffects everybody, therefore,
why should I complain? Butactually, every individual has
their own traumatic experienceof things like Coronavirus, of
things like, you know, the ideaof war breaking out across
Europe, you know, the these kindof things that are really, and
(15:46):
many others as well, that impactindividuals. So for me, I think
there is something veryimportant and very challenging
about how we sit with andaddress massive societal
challenges on a one to one basiswith our clients. And again, we
are trained and being able to dothat. But it's very difficult
when those situations areunchanging in that room, and how
(16:08):
do we deal with that? How do welive with that? And how do we
hold that space? And thosesocietal changes are not going
anywhere? They're going toremain? And, you know, how do we
deal with that? For me, I thinkthat's one of the biggest
challenges that we're therapistsface, in my eyes.
Peter Blundell (16:25):
And I think that's for me, I think, becoming
more to the forefront, I think,in recent times that idea of
kind of maybe social justiceissues. Whereas in the past,
maybe those some therapists whomaybe have kept silent on those
particular issues. Now it'sbecoming much more open that
people therapists are engagedwith some of that.
Dr Fraser Smith (16:45):
Yeah, absolutely. But there's
something that we need to leaninto again, and, and that's been
the case for decades, of course,there's always been societal
challenges, and social justicehas always been an issue that
we've needed to address. But itfeels very present today. And
yeah, I think that's justsomething that we're going to
continue to have to adapt to. Mydoctoral research actually was
in men's mental health. And thenuances of that research were in
(17:07):
older men's mental health, theirkind of understanding of mental
health and barriers to accessingtherapies a demographic that are
in widely under represented inthe therapeutic community and in
research, and it was a reallyinteresting piece of research
for me. And I kind of went on todo a number of talks on men's
mental health at a TEDx talk inGlasgow in 2019. And 2018,
(17:29):
actually traveled out to EastAsia to speak on men's mental
health in the Philippines. So Ihad a lot of great opportunities
there. And I've done quite a bitof work in men's mental health,
I did quite a bit of videocontent on Getpsyched on it. And
as a result, I see quite a lotof men in therapy actually did a
workshop last week last week foran organization in Edinburgh and
(17:50):
men's mental health because itwas International Men's week, or
international, men's health, Ithink. So it's a it's an area
that I still I still speak a loton. And it's one that's I have a
great passion for, you know,understanding, I think it kind
of ties into my own upbringing,as well as my mother, my mother
was a single parent, I had quitea distant relationship with my
father at first. And as an onlychild, I think my exploration of
(18:13):
men's mental health has been alot about understanding myself
and also understanding myfather. And that's really kind
of where that stemmed from, butthen it kind of delved into an
area of real interest, you know,it's a, it's an, it's a constant
area of challenging suiciderates, lack of therapeutic
uptake is a continual issue. Andthen COVID has also had a big
(18:34):
impact there as well. And soyeah, it just feels more more
pressing than ever to really bebe a champion of men's mental
health as much as I can. And Itry and continue to do that. So
yeah, it's a real area ofpassion for me.
Peter Blundell (18:46):
I think that's really important. And I still
feel that even today, it doesn'tget spoken about enough. And,
you know, the amount of maletherapists is kind of, you know,
low compared to femaletherapists, you know, so it's a
it's a continuing issue. So Ithink it's important that we
yeah, you mentioned that so
Dr Fraser Smith (19:06):
absolutely.
Yeah, it's a continual area ofreal need for talking more about
it and also more work that'sneeded done in it. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (19:14):
Fraser that's all my questions. I suppose my
last one would be kind of whatyou're up to next.
Dr Fraser Smith (19:20):
Yeah, well, more Psychology Scotland stuff,
it feels like in a never endingtrend. And so ya know, what's
happening next for us iscontinued look at some growth.
We're opening up more therapyrooms, we're bringing on more
psychologists and therapists,we're very keen to explore the
idea of being a placementprovider as well and giving
(19:42):
students opportunities here. Soyou know, that's something that
we're very keen to explore. Wehave a number of different ideas
as well as to how we mightdevelop our practice and bring
more opportunities to ourtherapists but more quality
therapy to clients and a greaterexploration of some of our
organisational contacts. Youknow, I'm very keen to explore
(20:02):
that further. And we're we'rewe're kind of working with
organizations post COVID, inparticular to bring in mental
health and therapeutic supportto employees and it can get
through directly through theirorganization and that's working
really well. So, yeah, a numberof different things on the
horizon that we're going to pushtowards
Peter Blundell (20:19):
the end. Sounds very exciting. I look forward to
seeing more for you in thefuture. Fraser, thank you so
much, it's been great chattingto you on the podcast. Thank you
for supporting TherapistsConnect.
Dr Fraser Smith (20:29):
Thanks for having me Peter. Thank you so
much.
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