Practical Tips to Help Therapists Manage Their Stress and Balance Their Workload

As therapists, we know how incredibly important it is to care for our mental health. Unfortunately, the demands of our profession can leave us feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. It's easy to dedicate too much of our time and energy to our clients and business, which can lead to burnout and stress if we don’t establish key practices for maintaining a sense of balance. Here are some practical tips or strategies you can incorporate to achieve a better work-life balance and promote better self-care while working as a therapist. Let's get started!

Establish boundaries between your work and personal life

As a therapist, it’s essential to set reasonable limits and boundaries to protect your emotional, mental, and physical health. Not monitoring emails or opening your computer outside of business hours, for example, can be an important boundary to maintain.

Practice what you preach to your clients and honor the boundaries you’ve set. Your clients can also benefit from this boundary because they will see that you respect and prioritize self-care, which can encourage them to take similar steps in their own lives. It can help to set clear expectations with your clients regarding your availability, so they understand when you are available to address any issues that may arise.

When establishing boundaries, make sure to communicate them clearly to your colleagues and clients and hold yourself accountable for maintaining them. Use technology tools, such as email scheduling or creating an automatic email response, to manage client expectations and ensure that you don't feel pressured to respond to messages outside of business hours. By respecting your boundaries and prioritizing self-care, you can improve your work-life balance, maintain your well-being, and increase the long-term success of your therapy practice.

Build your own support team

As therapists, we are constantly helping others with their innermost struggles and needs. It's important to remember that we too need support, without hesitation or judgment. Building a strong network of people you trust can be incredibly helpful in managing stress and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Whether it’s your own therapist, colleagues, friends, family members, or peers — it can be immensely valuable to have someone to talk to and share your experiences with. Having a support system in place will give you the strength, encouragement, and motivation that you need to sustain yourself in this challenging field.

Keep a daily planner and use it to manage your schedule

One of the most effective steps toward managing stress and workload balance is keeping a daily planner. Use it to stay on top of your schedule and ensure that you are allocating sufficient time for both your personal and professional responsibilities. This can help reduce stress and provide more balance in your routine. This includes your business activities, client sessions, and even leisure activities. Making a habit of using a planner takes time, but it's worthwhile, and with practice, it can revolutionize the way you work, enabling you to hold true to your priorities, minimize distractions, and create space for more meaningful connections, both professionally and personally.

Set aside some time every day for self-care

Even if it's just a few minutes, dedicating a portion of your day to self-care is essential for managing stress as a therapist. This could include activities such as journaling, meditating, going for a walk, or spending time doing something you enjoy. Whatever it is that helps you feel grounded and refreshed — make sure to practice self-care regularly.

Leave room for being "messy" with your self-care

On that same note, it’s important to give yourself permission to be imperfect with your self-care routine and don't beat yourself up if you can't stick to it every day. It's easy to feel that because we're therapists, we have to get self-care "right." That's not true at all. As long as you're taking steps to practice self-care, it’s okay if it looks a little different each week or if there are days that look messier than others.

Take breaks during busy days to help keep your energy levels high

When you work without taking a break, it can lead to burnout and decreased levels of productivity in the long run. By taking short breaks every 60-90 minutes, you allow your body and mind to rest and recharge. Use these breaks to stretch your muscles, take a walk, or simply relax and breathe deeply. These activities can help clear your mind and improve your focus when you return to work. Taking regular breaks should be considered an essential component of successful work habits. It helps keep you focused and productive, improves your overall health, and ensures you avoid burnout. Take the time to schedule these breaks in your calendar in between sessions — and make them non-negotiable. Your body and mind will thank you for it!

Ask for help

Most of these tips probably sound like things you would tell your own clients. But just because you would share this advice with a client doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult to take it yourself. It can be hard to put your own needs first, especially when you are so used to focusing on your clients and their needs. That is why it is important that you learn how to ask for help; whether it is from colleagues, family members, or our team at Supported Practice. We help busy therapists run the backend of their business so they can focus on what really matters, without burning out.

Utilize the magic of automation

Technology can be an amazing tool to optimize your business processes, reduce stress, and help you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Automating tasks such as scheduling appointments, sending reminders, and invoicing can free up valuable time that you would otherwise spend doing tedious administrative tasks. This allows you to focus on more important areas of your practice that only you can do! Here at Supported Practice, we set up and maintain game-changing systems for our clients that streamline the backend of their businesses.

Delegate whatever is not absolutely necessary for you to personally do yourself

Are you spending a ton of time returning phone calls and responding to new client intakes? Is it taking you forever to follow up on insurance claims? Tired of doing your own bookkeeping? Here's the thing: even though it might seem intimidating to let go of certain tasks, delegating them can be incredibly freeing and give you back your time and reduce a massive load of stress. The key here is to focus on the tasks that are absolutely essential for you to do yourself — such as providing therapy services and being a strong leader for your practice — and delegate everything else.

Allow yourself to be supported

At Supported Practice, we understand how overwhelming and challenging it can be to manage a successful therapy practice. We are here to help relieve some of the stress while still allowing you to focus on what really matters: helping your clients and growing your business. If you're looking for an experienced team of professionals who can help optimize your business processes so that you can better manage your stress, we'd love to help!