BG Futures Tenant Case Study - Reflective Therapies Ltd.

By Cassie Rainey, BG Futures Administrator

BG Futures is Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) is Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) purpose built business incubation centre. The centre provides office space, facilities and business expertise to people wishing to start up their own businesses.

This month we sat down with one of our tenants, James O’Shea, a UKCP registered psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and talked to him about his business Reflective Therapies Ltd. as well as his experiences as an entrepreneur.

James worked in the NHS for 30 years and for the last 11 as a Senior Adult Psychotherapist at the Lincoln Dynamic Psychotherapy Centre. After he was made redundant from this role in 2016, James took the exciting (and frightening) leap to becoming a business owner. He now operates through Reflective Therapies Ltd. offering individual, couples and group Psychotherapy to adults. Additionally, James had the opportunity to teach 3^rd year Psychology undergraduates as an Associate Lecturer at The University of Lincoln for two years; expanding his skill set into academia.

At first James found it difficult to assimilate to self-employed life, particularly when trying to understand jargon business terms and fully adapting a business owner mind-set. He did however refine his knowledge through great support in the business community, as well as that offered by BG Futures.

Although he had met with adversity, the benefits of being self-employed were clear to James; receiving word-of-mouth recommendations from clients gave him the opportunity to build a strong client base, as well as providing a needed boost to the start of his self-employed journey that continues through to today. Looking back on his experiences over the last two years James’ advice was budding entrepreneurs to take the plunge:

“I would encourage anybody to not be scared to try starting their own business. Reflective Therapies Ltd. has been given the chance to grow and thrive thanks to the platform BG Futures has given the business; through great opportunities and helpful staff, passionate about business growth.”

For Becky Goodman, Enterprise Development Manager at BG Futures, following James’ journey has been incredibly rewarding:

“It’s great to see businesses such as James’ flourish during their time with us at BG Futures Business and Enterprise Centre. James’ work is vital in assisting individuals to move forward in life and we are pleased to have been able to offer him an environment in which has supported his success."

If you’d like to know more about James and Reflective Therapies Ltd. you can visit his website or if you’re keen to follow in his footsteps and begin your own business contact the BG Futures team today.