Episode #740: How To Stop Grinding In Private Practice

Summary

Podcast Summary: Abundant Practice Podcast

Episode #740: How To Stop Grinding In Private Practice

Host: Allison Puryear
Guest: Rebecca Smith
Date: March 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Abundant Practice Podcast focuses on a common struggle for therapists in private practice: overcoming the sense of endless "grinding" and building a sustainable, supportive practice. Host Allison Puryear and her guest, Rebecca Smith (a successful private pay therapist and Limitless Practice grad), respond to a listener's question about feeling unsatisfied and drained despite years in private practice. Together, they break down how to find rhythm, set up effective systems, and cultivate the career satisfaction and freedom so many therapists seek.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Problem: Stagnation and Unsustainability in Private Practice

• Context: A listener shares that after years in private practice, she expected to feel "more settled," but instead feels increasingly fatigued and unsupported by her business operations.
• Host’s Reflection:
  • Many therapists transition from agency work to private practice expecting more peace, ease, and freedom—yet can end up feeling similarly trapped.

    "You feel trapped. Especially trapped with, like, golden handcuffs that are like tarnished gold." — Allison (02:32)

  • Income is often higher than before, but not necessarily leading to more fulfillment or sustainability.

2. The Role of Rhythm, Systems, and White Space

• Feeling the Grind:
  • Rebecca’s Insight: The therapy "niche" can be working well, but lacking solid business systems makes everything feel heavier and less manageable, especially as caseloads grow.

    "We can tolerate a lot of systems that aren't honed when we have five or ten clients, but if you've got 20 or 25 clients, if those systems aren't honed, it feels like chaos and it feels unsustainable." — Allison (03:39)

• White Space is Critical:
  • Rebecca Suggests: Look beyond daily or weekly rhythms to the whole year. Make sure there's space not just for breaks, but for business development, reflection, and tweaking systems.

    "Some of the things that I'm curious about for this therapist is, is there enough white space either in a day or in the year to just take a break for yourself and then also take a break to look at the system, to shift it, to try something new?" — Rebecca (05:14)

  • Take purposeful breaks not just for vacations but also to work "on" your business — brainstorming, journaling, and system improvement.

3. How to Identify What Needs to Change

• Allison’s Practical Exercise:
  • If you're unsure where to start, track irritants or pain points during your workweek—from minor annoyances to major deal-breakers. Take a day to review these themes.

    "Jot down the things that are annoying at the minimum and all the way to 'I can't keep doing this' at the maximum and then take that day to look at the themes there..." — Allison (07:08)

• Rebecca’s Personal Example:
  • A shift from a 24-hour to a 3-day cancellation policy brought her immediate relief, even though it went against what "everybody else is doing".

    "I switched my cancellation policy from 24 hour to 3 days and for some reason that gave me so much more I could breathe." — Rebecca (07:49)

• Magic Wand Question:
  • Ask yourself: "What would make this great?" and enact those changes—even if they break the mold.

4. Common Sticking Point: Undercharging & Burning Out

• Charge What You’re Worth:
  • Many therapists keep the same rates for years, leading to burnout because they see too many clients just to make a sustainable living.

    "If you're not giving yourself a raise every year, then I'm going to suggest that maybe you could be doing things differently." — Allison (09:01)

5. Sustainability is About Consistent Flexibility

• Your Practice Will and Should Change:
  • The key to a practice you can stay in for years isn’t rigid routine, but adaptability.

    "Consistency and flexibility have to go hand in hand. You have to figure it out every year and shift it because last year's self doesn't need the same thing as this year." — Rebecca (09:20)

  • For therapist personalities who “thrive on consistency,” learning to embrace change is vital for long-term satisfaction and balance.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Golden Handcuffs in Private Practice:

  "Especially trapped with, like, golden handcuffs that are like tarnished gold. Right. They're not even making the kind of money they wanna make often, but they're making enough that it's more than they've ever made in their life." — Allison (02:33)

• The Universal Heaviness:

  "It's not like the world hasn't been on fire for a good long time, but I wonder how much that is just eroding... there's an erosion for a lot of us, that everything feels heavy. And so of course, work feels heavy where everybody's talking about the heavy stuff." — Allison (04:22)

• Permission to Structure Your Own Practice:

  "Who am I to say that it's not working? But it wasn't working for me." — Rebecca (07:49)

• The Need for Change:

  "How do I build the kind of practice that I can stay in for years will not be the same practice every year?" — Rebecca (09:20)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:32–02:50 — The reality of feeling "trapped" in private practice despite higher income.
• 03:09–03:39 — The difference between clinical and business systems; why burnout intensifies as practice grows.
• 05:14–06:43 — The importance of white space for reflection, strategy, and self-care—not just client-facing work.
• 07:08–08:35 — How to start evaluating and changing problematic systems.
• 09:01–09:38 — Rigid routines vs. necessary flexibility for long-term sustainability.

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Takeaways for Therapists

• Continual Evaluation: Sustainable practices aren't built on autopilot; regular review and adaptation are necessary.
• White Space Matters: Schedule breaks for self-care and business development.
• Embrace Change: What worked before may not work now. Don't be afraid to break "industry standards" if they're not supporting your well-being.
• Self-Advocacy: Raise fees and update policies as needed to support yourself and your practice longevity.
• Balance Consistency with Flexibility: Find a structure that supports you, but stay responsive to your own evolving needs.

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Resources Mentioned

• Limitless Practice program (for therapists feeling stuck at capacity): [See show notes for link]
• Worksheets & Checklists: Available at abundancepracticebuilding.com
• Contact & Support: [e-mail]

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This episode is an encouraging and practical reminder that private practice should support your life—not drain it. Therapists are urged to step back, evaluate their rhythms and systems, and give themselves permission to establish a practice that grows with them.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to Ask Abundance. Y' all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice. We answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. If you want support in your practice, we have you covered with on demand or one on one support. Links for the worksheet and support are in the show. Notes can't get enough Ask Abundance. Check out our YouTube channel for the entire library. Welcome back to Ask Abundance. Today I'm joined by Rebecca Smith. Rebecca is a limitless practice grad who came aboard Team Abundance. She has a premium fee, a private pay practice in New Orleans, and she is great at helping abundance therapists imagine what's possible for them. So we're going to be talking about some some good questions. Here is today's I've been in private practice long enough that I thought I'd feel more settled by now. Like I'd have a rhythm, a system, and a practice that actually supports me. It feels like the longer I do this, the heavier it gets to keep showing up, staying energized, and making decisions that don't backfire later. I'm realizing that being good at therapy isn't necessarily the same thing as building a practice that's sustainable. How do I build the kind of private practice that I can actually stay in for years? So before we get into it, I would love to talk about our sponsor for Ask Abundance Therapy Notes. I've talked about Therapy Notes for years, know their features by heart, but what truly sets them apart is that they genuinely care about your experience. It's not just about troubleshooting. They actively implement user suggested features like Therapy Search, Secure Messaging, Clinical Outcome tracking, and their AI notes feature. Therapy fuel. Everyone at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep their prices fair, focus on innovation, and prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven that you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see yours for yourself, try Therapy notes free for two months with the code [e-mail] Yay. Hi Rebecca. Hey.

[A]

Hey. How you doing?

[B]

I'm good. All right, let's talk about this person's issue. This is we have talked to a lot of people in this space where they're feeling like, oh, is this it? I thought this was gonna be a lot more peaceful and easeful Than this. Yes.

[A]

And free.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then you feel trapped.

[B]

Yes. Especially trapped with, like, golden handcuffs that are like tarnished gold. Right. Like, they're not. They're not even making the kind of money they wanna make often, but they're making enough that it's more than they've ever made in their life. Yeah.

[A]

And how can you cancel a day when you make that much in a day?

[B]

I know it gets messy. And I think that often adds to this sense of it being unsustainable. So it sounds like they don't have a rhythm, they don't have a system, and they don't have a practice that actually supports them. So maybe let's start with what is a good rhythm look like?

[A]

Well, and I think this question is. I love that question because it seems from this, from her question that, like, the niche, the therapy part is working and the business part is not. And so what I think is cool is this therapist knows what it feels like when something is working, and therefore they know that this part isn't. And so that kind of like trial and error period seems like what's happening right now to me.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe they're just continuing in the way that they started.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And it's just not working when you're this full. Right. We can tolerate a lot of systems that aren't honed when we have five or 10 clients, but if you've got 20 or 25 clients, if those systems aren't honed, it feels like chaos and it feels unsustainable. And I wonder if that's, like, the heavier it gets to keep showing up piece that they talk about. I also wonder, like, the staying energized I also just need to address, like, the world is on fire. So, girl,

[A]

it's exhausting to just be in it, but then to listen to people talk about it every day is so incredibly heavy. Yes.

[B]

Yes. And so I also wonder. It's not like the world hasn't been on fire for a good long time, but I wonder how much that is just eroding. Like, it's an. There's an erosion for a lot of us that everything feels heavy. And so of course, work feels heavy where everybody's talking about the heavy stuff. Yeah. And we can't, you know, we're obviously not going to be like, let's not talk about that to our clients. Right. So in my.

[A]

You sadness is making me sad. Can we switch topics? Like, that's not an option here.

[B]

Not an option. So to my mind, it feels like it would be a really great thing to have your systems set up and your practice set up so that at least the practice itself, the business part itself isn't adding to the heaviness. Yeah.

[A]

I think that when, when I look at the. A rhythm, a system, a practice that supports me, when I think about the rhythm, I think about the day to rhythm or week to week, but also like over the course of the year. And so some of the things that I'm curious about for this therapist is, is there enough white space either in a day or in the year to just take a break for yourself and then also take a break to look at the system, to shift it, to try something new? Or is it just like I'm sprinting back to back to back, not only every day, but from January to December?

[B]

Right. Yeah. So that's it. I like your, like zooming out that it's not just the day to day rhythm, but we, when we're really full, we don't always have the same lulls that we had when we were first starting our practice. So if you kind of looked forward to a slightly lighter August or taking a few weeks off in December and you're like, well, maybe I can't take the slightly. My, my people want to come all through the summer and my people want to come in December. That doesn't mean they come. You can say I'm taking the last two weeks of December off. Or making sure that you are prioritizing your vacations with your family over when you suspect your clients might want or need you. Because you're not going to be able to, like, this is already looking unsustainable. You're not going to be able to continue to serve people if you're burning it, you know, all the time.

[A]

Yeah. And to take that break for that vacation with your family and also take a break from clinical work for a day to brainstorm, to journal, to ask a mentor, to ask a therapist friend to help figure out that rhythm for yourself? Like taking the time and not going anywhere but working on the business to make active changes, that takes white space too.

[B]

I feel like 100% yes. Yeah. And I think sometimes I hear therapists, like, I don't even know what needs to change. Like, if I take a day off, I don't even know. I'm just going to stare at my laptop. So what I would suggest, if that's you, is that you would throughout the week just jot down the things that are annoying at the minimum and all the way to like, I can't keep doing this at the maximum and then take that day to look at the themes there and to remember where it's easy to get stuck in a rut that just because you've been doing something for maybe a decade in your private practice doesn't mean that's the right way to do it for you or because

[A]

everybody else is doing it. Like and I think that it's not about, it can be about your rate or whether you take insurance or something. But I made a change last year that was huge for me. I switched my cancellation policy from 24 hour to 3 days and for some reason that gave me so much more I could breathe. Like I had so many people canceling. Like at 25 hours out and all everybody has a 24 hour cancellation policy. Well, who am I to say that it's not working? But it wasn't working for me. And so figuring out what makes you really irritated, what makes you resentful about your practice or your clients, and then making what would make this great, do that magic wand question for yourself. What would make this amazing and then make that change. Actually make the change.

[B]

And I think one of the things we see most often is people not raising their rate. And so part of what's so hard is they're seeing too many clients in order to make the money that they want to make. So not sure if that's this person's thing, but that's definitely something to consider. And again, I feel like the people who've been in practice for a really long time are often the most set in their ways. Right. So this like. Well, I've been charging, you know, 175 for four years and I raised it from 150 before that, you know that four years ago. Yeah. So if, if you're not giving yourself a raise every year, then I'm going to suggest that maybe you could be doing things differently.

[A]

How do I build the kind of practice that I can stay in for years will not be the same practice every year? That really hit me when somebody told me that consistency and flexibility have to go hand in hand. You have to figure it out every year and shift it because last year's self doesn't need the same thing as this year.

[B]

Yes. And for those of us who are wired a little rigidly, you really thrive on consistency. That can be kind of hard to wrap your head around sometimes. But that flexibility really is so vital to weave into a sustainable practice. So amazing. Well, thank you Rebecca. I appreciate your thoughts. You're welcome. And yeah, if you are somebody who is in this circumstance. You may need to check out Limitless Practice. We may be on a waiting list when you get to this. If that's you, then we'll put the link in the show notes or in the caption if you're watching this on Social. And check out Limitless Practice. If you are full and need to make these kinds of changes and it's

[A]

hard and if you're not sure about it, you're going to talk to me about it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, you can talk to Rebecca to kind of like flesh it out, see if it's the right fit. Awesome. All right. Thank you. If you're ready for a much easier practice, TherapyNotes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. I hope that helped. Please get in touch with any of your questions for AskABundance. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.