A guest post by Sarah Leitschuh

As many therapists do, I found the leap into private practice to be an overwhelming experience. I built my clinical skills in an agency setting where I felt so confident. But, in the early days of private practice I found myself doubting even my most foundational skills as a therapist.

There was so much to learn, so much to do and so much to keep track of! I tried to do it all and found myself pulled in a million directions.

As you can imagine, this left me exhausted and frustrated.

Eventually, I realized that the practice I had been creating didn’t meet my needs and wasn’t in alignment with my goals for going into private practice.

Although I was building a profitable practice and doing good work with my clients, I wasn’t showing up in the way that I wanted to in any of my relationships inside or outside of my office.

I gave myself permission to slow down and re-vision my approach to my work and how my work would fit with my life outside of work.

As I’ve worked on fine tuning the way in which I approach my work, I have also supported other therapists in doing the same.

After reflecting on my conversations with therapists from across the country, I found that most often issues that contribute to therapist overwhelm are often linked to therapists’ struggle to maintain boundaries around their time.

4 Ways Therapists Can Reduce Overwhelm By Maintaining Boundaries

1. Clearly Define and Communicate Your Work Schedule

First and foremost, it is essential to clearly define your schedule for yourself.

You must be committed to the schedule that you create, so you can avoid the temptation to create regular “exceptions” to your schedule in order to accomodate to others’ wishes.

When you have a clearly defined schedule that you are able to commit to, you are able to confidently communicate this to your clients and let them know when you are available to see them and what they can expect from you in terms of timeframes for returned calls/emails, written reports and any other information they may need from you.

When you know exactly when you will be working you are able to map out the tasks that you need to do and avoid the spill-over of work into your personal time.

A clearly defined schedule with time blocked out for all practice related tasks allows therapists to feel less anxious about finding the time needed to see clients and complete administrative tasks.

2. Create Systems and Set Aside Dedicated Time For Regular Tasks.

Clearly defined systems help therapists complete their work in an efficient way and eliminate the uncertainty of not knowing when or how tasks will be completed.

Systems address the who, what, when, where and how of the work we do as therapists, specifically as it relates to tasks we do often.

Therapists should look at creating systems for many areas in their practices including; welcoming new clients, communications, documentation, billing/financial matters and scheduling.

Additionally, I suggest that when possible, therapists batch similar tasks together.

For example, designate set times/days for routine tasks such as checking email or writing session notes instead of randomly doing them whenever you have a few minutes to spare.

Avoid temptations to frequently deviate from the systems and structures that you create.

I love the flexibility of private practice as much as the next person, but know that too much flexibility leads to incomplete work and the spillover of work into my personal time.

3. Say No To Opportunities (Including Potential Clients) That Are Not In Alignment With Your Practice Goals

In our eagerness to start seeing clients and build our practices, it is easy to accept almost every opportunity that presents itself to us (think things like new client inquiries, invitations to speak to a group or a potential collaboration with a colleague) without really considering how the opportunity fits with the ultimate vision for our practice.

This is a habit that can carry into practices that are decades old.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen many therapists (including myself) inadvertently end up saying yes to opportunities that suck time and energy because they are not in alignment with our practice goals or vision.

Therapists need to allow ourselves the space and time to reflect on and evaluate opportunities before saying yes.

Ultimately, we want to save our time, energy and focus for the work that we are most passionate about.

I’ve found it helpful to build in a buffer of time before I officially respond to opportunities that present themselves by saying things like “Let me think about that and get back to you.”

4.  Create Rituals and Routines to Turn Off Work at the End Of The Day and Week

As a therapist and entrepreneur, I find it is important to be intentional in planning for how we wrap up our work at the end of the day and week.

The tasks that we need to complete will never be 100% complete and we need to be able to tolerate tabling unfinished work for the next day or the following week instead of pushing ourselves to work unreasonable numbers of hours each week.

Therapists who struggle to turn off work tend to find themselves more overwhelmed and burnt out.

The therapists who I have spoken to who are the least overwhelmed by their work are those who have made the time to reflect on and consistently implement the rituals and practices that they find most effective to turn off work and allow themselves the time and space to recharge.

About Sarah

Sarah Leitschuh is a Minnesota-based therapist and coach who is on a mission to help reduce therapist overwhelm. Sarah works with therapists who are ready to find a way to approach their work that leaves them energized at the end of the week instead of burnout and depleted.  You can learn more about Sarah’s work at www.sarahleitschuhcounseling.com.

The Overwhelm Assessment for Stressed Out Therapists is a tool that allows therapists to take inventory of all the areas contributing to their overwhelm and develop an action plan to reduce their overwhelm today.  Claim your complimentary copy of the Assessment.

Rhythm is a pivotal part of our bodies, our relationships and our lives.

Rhythm is more than a drum beat, more than a conversation – it’s in the way we walk, talk, breathe, interact, push ourselves, and soften into stillness.

In many ways, therapy is about rhythm – helping people regulate, helping them communicate, and helping them slow down meaningfully.

Private practice can keep you in your head a lot of the time – figuring out technology, putting systems in place, blogging, networking, tracking client numbers and income, and much more.

All of this is important. All of this matters.

But so does rhythm.

Rhythm is in the packed client days, and the empty hours to fill. It’s in the days when you do too much, and the days when you get mad at yourself for not doing enough.

Internal vs. external rhythms

Tuning into rhythm is a way to come back into your body, to re-inhabit your breath, to ground into yourself a creative being.

As rhythmic beings, we are constantly being influenced by both internal and external rhythms.

Internal rhythms are those that originate within ourselves and affect how we show up in the world. These include: breathing, walking, talking, energy levels, our thoughts and so many more.

External rhythms are those that originate from outside ourselves and affect our internal state and rhythms. These can include: other people’s energy levels, seasonal shifts, the news cycle, collective stress/trauma and much more.

Take a moment and notice one internal rhythm and one external rhythm that’s present in your life, right now.

Try to notice without judging or criticizing. Rhythm is information.

Do your internal rhythms tend to be slow, medium, or fast? Do the external rhythms that surround you (including clients!) tend to be slow, medium, or fast?

Take this opportunity to get curious about the rhythms that both surround you and are expressed through you.

Rhythm and self-care

You may already have self-care practices in place that connect you to rhythm. Yoga, meditation, exercise, art-making and so many more can connect us to rhythmic flow, to a give and take energy.

These (and other) self-care practices are an important way to come back to yourself and back to your own rhythms.

Remember that connecting to rhythm through self-care can also look like going out with friends, a group hike or other collective experiences.

Find what self-care practices work for you – remember that rhythm can be both an exuberant and subtle experience, so your self-care practices can mirror that range.

Tuning into your practice, right now

It can be easy (too easy some days!) to just power through without slowing down. My personal experiences and my work with helpers & healers has taught me how deeply helping, hustling and doing are ingrained in many of us.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those qualities.

But I bet there’s some part of you that wants to feel a different way. To find the sweet spot in between hustling/pushing and checked out/burned out.

Either you’d like to feel that building your practice could be just a teensy-bit less hard, or that you’re finally where you’d like to be practice-wise, but you’re feeling a little tapped out.

In order to shift anything, tuning it has to come first.

A quick mindfulness exercise

So, pause. Take a moment to tune into your breath, your body, and your thoughts.

Notice anything there may be to notice, with as much gentleness as possible.

Now turn your attention to your practice. Notice how your body feels and if anything has shifted.

The rhythm of your practice

Ask yourself – what’s the rhythm of my practice? Of my days?
You might tap out a gentle rhythm, tune into a body sensation, or think of a color or image.

Notice anything that may have come up – in thoughts or in physical sensation – when you get curious about your practice in this way.

The rhythm of your ideal practice

Now, tune into the rhythm of your ideal practice.

Notice if that pragmatic voice comes up inside with protests over how many more clients you need, or how you’ll pay this month’s office rent, or some other practical concern.

Kindly ask that voice to step aside for a moment (while still honoring that it showed up).

How would you like your practice to feel, rhythmically?

Lean into how it would feel in your body, in your breath, in your schedule.

Think of a song or piece of music that expresses the way you’d like your practice to feel.

There’s really no right or wrong – you might think of a song that helps you feel energized, one that connects you to a specific memory, one that relaxes you.

Allow your choice to “bubble up” spontaneously, rather than being a purely cognitive exercise.

Take time to listen to it – feel the rhythm of the song in your body, let it sink down to your bones. Invite your body and breath to shift into a different way of being. Songs can be powerful touchstones, so revisit it often. Let it be a reminder that reconnects you to the rhythm of your ideal practice.

Conclusion

Mindfulness and rhythm go hand in hand with private practice – and life.

When we can drop in the present moment and notice what is, while also holding/embodying the rhythm of how we would like things to feel, we give ourselves permission to build our practices in a way that feels nurturing and satisfying.

Ultimately, this allows us to serve our clients – and ourselves – so much better.

Maya Benattar, MA, MT-BC, LCAT is a music therapist and psychotherapist in private practice in Midtown Manhattan (NYC).  In addition to her clinical work, Maya offers online and in-person Reclaim Your Rhythm workshops for helpers and healers and individual Reclaim Your Rhythm consultations. She loves supporting helpers and healers in showing up for their clients – and themselves – in bold and clear ways.

For more information about Maya and her work, visit www.mayabenattar.com/professionals/

You can also find her on Instagram and Facebook.

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