Burn Bright, Not Out: 4 WaysTherapists Can Avoid Burnout Without Cutting Hours

Burnout in therapy isn’t just about long hours—it’s deeply rooted in systemic issues. The pressure to maintain high caseloads, insurance reimbursement challenges, administrative burdens, and the emotional toll of working within a healthcare system that often prioritizes profit over well-being all contribute to exhaustion. Unfortunately, working less isn’t always a viable solution, especially when financial stability and access to care are at stake. Instead of placing the burden on individual therapists to simply "do less," we need strategies that help the individual practitioners navigate navigate these systemic challenges while preserving energy, passion, and sustainability in the profession.

1. Attend CEs that that you actually like!

Many of us wait until the last minute to fulfill our licensure requirement…I’m not judging, however I am suggesting that when we wait until the last minute we don’t have a large choice and there is a deadline looming. Pick ones that fulfill your spirit and they can help you reclaim your passion for what you do. Not to mention, I believe that CEs are an untapped networking opportunity. Where else are a group of therapists gathered with similar interests that you didn’t have to organize yourself? Build connections, get names and emails. Then you can work on building supportive relationships to challenge the isolation and overwhelm that occurs in our field. In Georgia, we have t-minus 18 months to get our hours-if you look now and schedule out-you can find ones that you enjoy and might even take advantage of early bird discounts. I offer several CEs throughout the year, click here to find out the next one. I also keep a running list of low cost or free CEs here.

2. Find a therapist colleague/friend to do “work with.”

I love working with other people to find out their hacks and it’s just plain fun. Now, I realize if you’re in private practice lonely land this might be harder for you to do, but I can’t tell you enough how awesome it is to knock out some of my to dos while chilling with my colleagues at Petrichor or my suitemates who are not within Petrichor. I can also pick their brains at the same time: “what’s the clinical term that means…,” “what do you do when…,” “how do you handle…” Now you gotta find just the right person because sometimes it can distract you from your work but overall I find it motivating. Can you make pre-auth calls together? Can you plan a combined marketing event? Want to have an accountability notes partner? My friend Destiny Winters has a free business mastermind open to therapists and healers to just discuss their business projects and get feedback. This is what I like to call the “power of the group.” We don’t have to do it all alone. I would argue that capitalism wants to you think you are alone and to engage in group and community is a way to challenge capitalism.

 3. Look at your schedule.

I mean really look at your schedule. Use block scheduling for tasks that need to be done. Set aside times for appointments with clients and times for you to schedule your own appointments (see bonus tip). It would probably help to look at it with above friend/colleague. I sat down with my colleague and friend Tali Boots last week to look at our schedules and I can’t tell you how helpful it was to have an outsider’s POV. She was able to catch a big chunk of time that I wasn’t using to my advantage that will probably help me bring in more money with less time commitment-hell yeah! Also, it’s YOUR schedule, one of the biggest factors in me working in private practice is an ability to set my own schedule, but I have control over what that schedule looks like and the flexiblity to adjust to my current life needs. I frequently say, private practice schedules are flexible on the front end but not the back. W2 jobs set your schedule on the front end (ie you will work Mon-Friday 9-5) but you get to use PTO or sick leave if something comes up and the W2 job handles the rest, in private practice that is inverted. I can set up 12-4 on Mon, 3-5 on Tues, etc. but if I have to cancel or reschedule its more problematic. To be clear, I’m not saying therapists shouldn’t take care of themselves, but their is a higher risk when we cancel or reschedule, we end up paying double and risk losing the client. There are strategies we can implement that mitigate the cost of canceling or rescheduling but I would prefer to set up my schedule on the front end for success.

4. Diversify.

I do not get all of my income from clinical practice. I also do supervision, provide consultation, provide continuing education, and offer a membership to help clinicians short on time and energy build sustainable practices. Each task requires different energies from me and by spreading it out, I am not dependent on one source of income and it allows me to continue to be challenged and creative. Much like your money, we need to spend our time and energy in a variety of settings to help avoid burnout. Check out this article I found on the three types of burnout.

Bonus Tip:  Practice what you preach.

See your own therapist or do your own healing. The therapist or healer may be able to help you catch any underlying issues that are affecting your work. I, for one, am a recovering workaholic perfectionist which leads to me overbooking myself and feeling guilty for not doing enough (insert eyeroll and deep sigh)-nobody’s perfect. The only way for me to work on that shit is in therapy.