How to Avoid Burnout as a Therapist

Being a therapist is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be exhausting. 

When you’re dedicated to helping others, it’s easy to lose sight of your own well-being. Burnout is a serious issue that can creep up on you, leaving you feeling drained and ineffective. 

Fortunately, we’ve gathered some valuable strategies to help you stay energized and perform at your best for both your clients and yourself. 

Let’s dive into ways to maintain your passion and energy in your vital role.

Set Aside Money for Paid Time Off

It’s important to take a break, but if you run your own private practice, time off can mean no money. This is why a lot of us try to stay away from it like the plague. But believe me, you need that time to rest and recharge. Here’s how to make it happen without stressing about your finances.

1. Budget for Paid Time Off: Beginning by finding your average weekly income. Let us say it’s $2,500. Take that number and multiply it by the number of weeks you want to take off. For a two-week vacation, you’ll need to save $5,000.
2. Create a Vacation Fund: Set up a separate savings account to save money for your trip. Every week or month, set up a transfer from your main account to this fund. You will have saved up the money for your trip by the time it comes around.

Imagine taking a two-week trip to Hawaii, where you can relax on the beach with a piña colada and not worry about anything back home. That sounds pretty good, right?

Raise Your Average Session Fee

Make the most of your money so you can work fewer hours without losing financial resources. This is another way to avoid stress. To get this balance, you can change your Average Session Fee (ASF). 

For more information, see our full guide on how to figure out and change your ASF. But here’s what it’s all about: 

1. Evaluate Your Current Rates: Find out how much other doctors in your area charge. If your rates are too low, you might want to raise them.
2. Slowly Raise the Interest Rate: Don’t shock your clients with a big rate increase. Instead, you should slowly raise your prices. Let your customers know ahead of time and explain why the price is going up.
3. Pay Attention to High-Value Services: Figure out which services are the most useful, and you might want to charge more for them. This will make your clients feel like they’re getting a good deal.

By carefully increasing your ASF, you can work fewer hours, avoid getting too tired, and still make your financial goals.

Outsource Administrative Tasks

Honestly, administrative chores can be a real pain. They take up most of your time and energy, which means you can’t spend as much time with yourself or your clients. Getting these tasks done by someone else can change the game.

1. Accounting and Payroll: The first thing you should do is hire a secretary or use a payment service to do your books. There’s no need to worry about your money here since experts will take care of it.
2. Meeting Planned: For you to always keep track of your appointments, use online tools or hire a virtual assistant. This will certainly help you make better use of your time.
3. Administrative Tasks: Recruit someone else to handle bills, insurance claims, and talking to clients. This lets you help your clients, which is what you do best.

The more work you delegate, the more time you’ll have to focus on your clients and your own health.

Practice Self-Care Regularly

It’s good to pay other people and plan your funds, but you also need to take care of yourself to keep from getting burned out. It’s easy to feel good about yourself if you do these things:

1. Set Limits for Yourself: Make it clear that work and home life are different. Don’t bring work home with you but just maintain rest days and do things you enjoy.
2. Participate in Physical Routines: Getting some exercise every day is a great way to deal with stress.  It could be a good habit for you to enjoy every day, like yoga, dancing, or running.
3. Be Mindful and Meditate: Being attentively aware of the present and meditating are two techniques that can help you calm down and handle stress most surely. Try to do them every day.
4. Get to Know Other Therapists: Meet and make friends with other therapists and get together with them while also getting help from time to time. Keep in touch with them often for both work and personal support. Knowing you’re not the only one going through this can help a lot.

Wrapping It Up

It’s not enough to make more money or work less hours as a therapist to keep from getting burned out. Always take care of yourself and do what you love. Have a good work-life balance while you save money for paid time off, and raise your Average Session Fee. Don’t forget that taking care of yourself is not a choice; it’s a must.

If you know your Average Session Fee (ASF), you can make smart choices about your money that will help you in the long run. It can help you decide when to raise your rates or drop insurance plans that offer low refund rates, which is probably even more important. Sometimes it’s hard , but we can help you to figure out the ASF! Start today with a quick chat with our experts today.

Until next time!