I’ve been in private practice for 15 years, and this August I’m taking a proper break for the first time.
Not a few days here and there between clients. Not “I’ll just check emails once a day.” An actual, planned, slower month.
It’s taken more organising than I expected to get here, and I’ll write a separate post soon about exactly how I’ve planned it, what I moved, what I said no to, what I’m leaving in place. But first, I wanted to explain why, and what it means for you this summer.
We tell our clients to rest. Do we show them we do it too?
Most of us came into private practice for a better work-life balance. That was the whole point. And yet it’s so easy to end up building a practice that runs us, rather than one that looks after us the way we look after our clients.
I ask my clients to rest. To set boundaries. To prioritise themselves. And I want them to actually see that from me — not just hear it in session while I look exhausted, because that’s not fair on them, and it’s not fair on me either. I don’t think you want that either.
So this August, I’m trying to live it out rather than just talk about it. A private practice shouldn’t be something we survive. It should be something that sustains us too.
What’s changing on Fridays in August
Normally, Fridays at 12 pm are our Q&A inside Therapist Corner. In August, they’re being replaced with something a little different: a short, focused training series called Enquiry-Ready Summer School.
Each Friday in August, a 10–15 minute training will land in Therapist Corner, walking through the Enquiry Pathway, the steps someone goes through before they book in with you and where things might be quietly breaking down along the way.
Because often the problem isn’t that you need to rebuild everything. It might be that:
People are finding you, but not quite understanding what you offer
They land on your website but don’t take the next step
They’re interested, but something in the process makes it harder than it needs to be for them to actually enquire
Each week, we’ll look at one part of that pathway, and you’ll get one practical thing to tighten up not a full rebuild, not a big August project. Just one useful fix at a time.
Why now, when enquiries usually go quiet anyway
Enquiries often dip over summer, that’s just the reality, unless you’ve been marketing three months ahead. But quiet weeks don’t have to mean sitting there refreshing your inbox and hoping September sorts itself out.
You can use this slower stretch to make your practice easier to find, easier to understand, and easier for people to take that first step with. Small, steady fixes now mean you go into September strong, rather than starting from scratch.
What stays the same
Wednesdays carry on as normal, there’s still plenty to write about. You’ll still get your usual practical, money-and-business post one week and a caseload-building post the next, exactly as you’re used to.
If you’re already a paid member of Therapist Corner, the Summer School episodes will land in your inbox automatically alongside everything else. If you’ve been sitting quietly in the background, this would be a good moment to upgrade your membership and get the series throughout August.
What I’ll be doing instead
Mostly the garden. Walking the dogs. A proper staycation, and I’m genuinely looking forward to it. I’ll be sharing bits of it over on Notes if you want a glimpse.
There are still a few Q&As left in July, so I’ll see you there before the summer break begins and I’ll be back soon with the full story of how I planned an actual month off after 15 years of not quite managing it.
