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What happened when Sara Hammond Went From Therapist to Full-Time Online Teacher

Sep 29, 2022

During her 20-plus years as a highly successful therapist Sara Hammond found herself continually facing an ethical dilemma. When she began her own practice She realized that conventional marketing did not align with her beliefs in the treatment room.

A clash of morals led her to be uncomfortable promoting her practice via traditional social media marketing and in influencing the behavior. Over the years, she felt at a loss for her beliefs.

"I was feeling as if there was one value system that was meaningful within the room for treatment, however when it came time to build my business outside of the treatment room I was required to participate in illegal influence and emotional manipulation," she explains.

"There was no other clear path that I could take that others had chosen to follow. Marketing wasn't something that was taught in my training in professional therapy, so it was difficult to comprehend and I was unsure of how to begin. ."

After sharing her dilemma with other self-employed therapists, she came to realize that many of them faced a similar struggle in their principles.

"I was part of a really big community of therapists who were experiencing the same feelings. The general consensus was of'Well, how is the right thing to do?' Because , we choose to go with our instincts and avoid marketing entirely, or we implement a strategy for marketing that doesn't align with our values."

In a short time, Sara realized something was missing -- and the idea of How Humans Heal came to life.

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Filling the professional and personal gap

How Humans Heal provides the opportunity to learn about ethical marketing for Therapists. Not only did Sara's approach lead to a fully booked practice in just two years, but it also closed the gap between her personal and professional values.

"As psychotherapists, in order to feel completely at ease with what we're doing and to share our messages in a non-intrusive manner, we need our message to feel like an extension of who we are when we're helping someone to heal," she explains.

"Rather instead of trying to randomly follow a series of marketing strategies or launch promotions from a position that is a bit secluded, How Humans heal actually thinks about the things that are about humanity's connection to one another, integrity and authenticity and finds ways to enhance the qualities of these."

The identification of universal principles

How Humans Heal came out of a sense of genuineness and interest. At the beginning of lockdown, Sara sat down and discovered the principles that resonated with her and the clients she served.

"I thought to myself: What does it matter to me? What are my values? How do I apply those principles to each stage of the journey of a patient when they are in my practice Then I realized I had to invest more effort into those things rather than selling myself."

"I simply decided to stop and think about what was happeningI was able to understand why my clients were telling me that they were coming to me for a visit, and why my clients were coming back over and over often. What I kept hearing was, "I'm safe in your presence. It's like I'm learning to be able to trust myself. It doesn't seem like you're trying fix me. I'm feeling that you're helping me discover my way. This universal principle established the basis for the How Humans Recover ."

During her period of self-reflection in lockdown, Sara was thinking, 'Right, this is the right time to actually take all of these ideas and share them with other people.'

"I was forced to shut down my clinic for five months at the time we entered into lockdown -- it was this unexpected period that allowed me to flesh out my concept. It was at the back of my head for so long however, with an entire clinic full time it was never my chance to actually work on the idea," she explains.

With nothing but hours to spare, Sara knew she had to begin somewhere.

Offering positive tasters

Before launching her nine-part pathway course on , Sara started offering free online classes, as well as the free email course of five days as well as a monthly newsletter.

"My goal with the sales funnels was to get started discussing these universal concepts because there wasn't a terminology for them within our field. I just started discussing my values, and what it means to share your beliefs as a person who practices. My original strategies gave me the opportunity to be a practitioner and to actually talk about my method to determine what responses came up. ."

The overwhelming responses to Sara's samplers demonstrated that there was need for How Humans heal.

"I was so excited hearing people say"Oh, wow! I had no idea I could be inspired to actively try to improve my skills. The majority of the time, I want to walk a mile away from marketing, but this feels as if it is in line with my values. This is what inspired me to look for an online education platform," she says.

As a way to solve the problem

After confirming the demand to create How Humans Heal, Sara realized she had to transform the framework into an instructor-friendly online format. Like many other creators who are looking to begin their online courses, Sara started researching.

" absolutely stood out to me with regards to the accessibility of the site, the spirit of the organization, and all the positive reviews. It felt easy to begin. One of my primary beliefs is empowerment. I strive to empower my students and being a therapist I would like to help my clients become empowered. It was clear that empowerment is a key part of 's approach for instructors, and I truly appreciated what" she says.

The first time in her life since embarking on her entrepreneurial adventure, Sara felt equipped to transform her ethical framework into an online training path.

"I was finally able to envision the structure of my course and act on it. I now have pre-recorded video lessons that are released weekly over the eight-week course as well as emails with accompanying content which are sent out two times a week. I've also got PDF assignments and downloads, as well an online resource library to accompany the course materials and template."

"One of the main reasons that I am a fan is that it's been so simple for me to build on these elements. Video lessons are a big undertaking when you're starting out, but is manageable. It's easy to roll out the various elements since you can just build them little by little. It wouldn't have been feasible without ."

Investing in Communities

Since the beginning, Sara understood the importance of community, both inside and outside of the therapy sector. With her course approach, she made it her goal to create the students with a place where they will be able to build meaningful relationships.

"It's the best of both options for my students. They have the structure of the guided week-by-week pathway course. However, they are capable of participating in Community and being able to receive feedback via live Q&As as well. Communities offers a space for students who do not always feel confident enough to come in and have questions. It affirms the fact that our community will be there for them, and allows them to talk about anything that they would like ."

The HTML0 Communities added a layer that enhances Sara's student's learning experience in the classroom, it's also created a trend outside of the classroom.

"Our Community provides a counter to the"guru" model of wellness marketing. It's helped create a small community of people who all feel the same way and are dedicated to this revolutionary approach for therapists. The result is that people can gather and say, 'You know what, the mainstream approach to marketing isn't right for us. It does not work for the majority of therapists. We're not experts -- we're not here to help people. Rather, we're here to provide a secure space for those who need it."Our Community lets us to actively practice talking about these principles," Sara explains.

The leap

Since the launch of How Humans Heal at the beginning of the year more than 100 individuals have completed Sara's training. Her business' success enabled her to make her leap into full-time business.

"I actually closed my therapy business in Decemberjust prior to the Christmas season. I made the transition from full-time therapy to full-time teaching not because I don't love working as a therapist however, I realized that I wanted to teach my beliefs, and I came up with a solution to being able to do this," she explains.

"Being an therapist has been life-changing for me and I found it necessary to spread these concepts as well as help other therapists."

When offering advice to other entrepreneurs on the path of creating their own course, Sara explains that perfectionism can often be a barrier in the way of achievement.

"What held me back from taking the plunge was the idea I had of how I wanted things to be. The ultimate dream isn't something that you can simply switch on. It's important to be courageous enough to start with an idea that is small. "Not to sit around, but get started," she says.

"If you have a strong feeling or opinion about something, and you would like it to be different, go with that. If you think something's not working, it's likely you're correct. It all comes down to trusting that you can bring about a significant change. Other people may be talking about the issue, but you could be the one to take action and do some thing about it. ."

Are you inspired by Sara's experience of the development of a profitable online-based course company? Ready to take the leap yourself? Join and begin right now.