Strategies for Work-Life Balance for Therapists and Coaches

Mental health practitioners, therapists, and life coaches pour their hearts into helping others heal and grow. I know from personal experience both the deep satisfaction and emotional exhaustion that comes from caring for the needs of clients.

Your dedication is both inspiring and deeply human. However, it's essential to remember that to sustainably support those we serve, we have to care for ourselves. 

Prioritizing self-care and establishing a healthy work-life balance isn't a luxury—it's a necessity that nurtures our well-being and professional longevity.

Here are some strategies I’ve found especially helpful to strike a better balance.

Establish Clear Boundaries

Of course we all want to be available for our clients, but unless you’re working in an inpatient intensive care setting, your clients are not paying you to be on-call 24/7 (and even then, you have a shift you’re working…).

You and your loved ones need you to carve out time that is explicitly work time and explicitly personal time. 

If this is difficult for you, consider this: when you say “yes” to yet another client outside of your dedicated work hours, who are you saying “no” to? Yourself? Your partner? Your children? Your parents? Every “yes” to one person is also a “no” to others.

Here are two practical ways you can establish clear boundaries with your clients and your business:

• Disable Work Notifications: When you’re off the clock, turn off work-related notifications to fully immerse yourself in personal time. Disable work email push notifications from your phone, and resist the temptation to give out your personal contact information, like your cell phone number, to clients. Whatever boundaries you establish, make sure you’ve communicated those expectations upfront with your clients to avoid hurt feelings or misunderstandings.
• Workspace Separation: Many counselors or coaches don’t work in an office setting anymore and instead work from home. If possible, create a dedicated workspace that you can physically leave at the end of the day. This separation helps signal to your brain when it's time to shift from work to relaxation.

Prioritize Self-Care

As people in the caring profession, we are constantly preaching self-care to our clients, but how many of us struggle to practice what we preach?

Did you know that you have the power to define your life? You are the one who sets your schedule. You are the one who determines the standard of living you aspire to and how much you need to work in order to live. If you’re struggling with working less or making more, keep reading. There are changes you can make to work towards the life you want to live.

Rather than beat yourself up about how you aren’t making time for self-care, why not pick a few of these tips to implement, today?

• Regular Recharge: Schedule daily and weekly self-care activities—whether it’s a morning meditation, a walk in nature, or time with loved ones—to maintain a balanced state of mind. You probably give 8 hours of your day to your clients; you can afford to give yourself 30 minutes. Block self-care time on your calendar.
• Take Lunch: Of course there will be times when you need to push through the lunch hour, but try not to make it a habit. Our bodies and brains need to recharge. Even if you only eat a light lunch, step away from your screens and your desk and rest. Maybe this is the best time for your “regular recharge”?
• Mindful Transitions: Develop rituals that help you transition between work and personal time, such as a short walk or a few minutes of deep breathing, to clearly mark the end of a work session. This is especially important if you work from home.
• Take Vacation Time: Don’t be a martyr—if you’re earning PTO, take your PTO. It is a benefit you have been given as part of your compensation package. If you are self-employed, remember that one of the reasons you chose to go independent was freedom and flexibility. Schedule vacations, and try to take time away from your clients at least twice a year, if not once a quarter, so you can fully disconnect and recharge.

Delegate and Collaborate

If you’re a solo entrepreneur, every task falls on your shoulders… but it doesn’t have to be that way. Today’s workforce and technological advancements have made support services easier than ever to hire, with flexible options, one-time project support, contractual employees, part-time and casual hours, virtual assistants, and more.

You don’t have to carry the load all on your own. Here are a few ways you can ease that burden:

• Share the Load: Consider outsourcing administrative tasks or partnering with colleagues if you’re in a group setting. This can free up more time for both intensive client work and personal self-care.
• Peer Support: Engage in regular supervision or peer consultation groups. Sharing experiences and strategies with other professionals can help you find new ways to balance the demands of your practice.

Explore Intensive Formats

I’m biased with this tip, but it’s for good reason—incorporating intensives into my counseling practice literally changed my life. I used to be a full-time traditional therapist, seeing 25-40 clients every week. But around 10 years ago, I came across a therapist who was offering intensives for couples who were struggling with sex addiction and betrayal trauma. I sent a few of my clients to try out these intensives, and I couldn’t believe how transformative the experience was for them. I just had to learn more.

Since that time, I’ve transitioned my practice entirely over to offering intensives exclusively, and I’ve dedicated myself over the last few years to developing programming to help others who want to offer this method of delivery to their clients.

I’m probably getting ahead of myself. Let me explain how intensives can improve your work-life balance:

• Condensed Sessions for Deep Impact: Therapy or coaching intensives are structured, multi-session engagements held over a few days or weekends. They allow for deep immersion with clients, accelerating progress without the need for weekly sessions.
• Clear Boundaries and Focus: By consolidating your work into focused periods, you reduce the continual switching between work and personal life, which can minimize mental fatigue and help maintain clear professional boundaries.
• Built-in Downtime: Intensives create natural breaks between intensive periods, giving you dedicated time to recharge, pursue personal interests, or engage in self-care practices without the ongoing pressure of daily appointments.

I could go on, because there are so many benefits, for both you and your clients, but I’ll stop there for now. If you want to learn more, you can download The Intensive Method Handbook, which goes into greater detail about intensives, their benefits, and their structure.

Diversify Your Offerings

Although I’ve switched to offering exclusively intensives, you don’t have to take an all-or-nothing approach. For several years, I worked in both traditional and intensive methods.

The key is finding the balance that works best for you. What are your goals? What are your dreams? How can you build your life to help you achieve those goals? 

Here are two more ways you can support a better work-life balance in your practice through offering diversification:

• Mix Formats: In addition to intensives, consider group workshops, webinars, or asynchronous online courses. Diversifying your offerings can spread out the workload and reduce the intensity of one-on-one sessions.
• Flexible Scheduling: Offering a variety of session types provides you with more control over your calendar, making it easier to schedule breaks and plan personal time.

Don’t forget, you got into this business to help people live their fullest, healthiest lives… but not at the sacrifice of your own abundant life.

I am confident that you can establish the boundaries, priorities, and rhythms in your life that will allow you to live freely and abundantly.

If you’re at all intrigued by The Intensive Method, I encourage you to download the handbook, explore our other resources, and consider enrolling in our online course. This exciting method of care delivery is truly transformational—for both you and your clients.