I opened up my laptop the other day and ended up in one of the many private practice Facebook groups. I stumbled across a post I’d seen 1,000 versions of before. And it went something like this... “I’m an exhausted parent and I don’t know how to fit my client schedule into my personal life. I’m so tired and so burnt out and I don’t know what to do.” I scrolled through the comments to see what our community had to offer and I won’t lie to y'all... I was infuriated.

Comment after comment I read: “I’m so sorry!” “It’s so hard, but hang in there. It’ll get better!” “Such a bummer. I feel you!” I read over and over and over as folks in our community offered up empathy and nothing else.

Y’all we have normalized burnout and exhaustion to a point where clinicians in our own community don’t even believe they’re in control. We’ve accepted a communal collapse of morale to a point where we’ve encouraged each other to lean on a crutch of learned helplessness.

Our empathy has bled into a laundry list of excuses as to why it’s “normal” to feel the way we do. If, as EMDR clinicians, we understand the importance of support therapy and change therapy, why aren’t we living that value within our own community??

It’s time that we come forward against the acceptance of burnout in our community by taking back the agency we so desperately need. When my twins were two years old, my client schedule wasn’t working for me and I’ll be honest, my life was miserable. And listen, I get that there are some things in life that you just have to get through like teething or cold and flu season.

But y'all, running your own private practice is not one of those things. I changed my practice to something that made sense for me and I won’t lie to you... it was hard. And I had to ask myself questions about what I wanted from my career that I was afraid to answer and I had to set goals that I was afraid I wouldn’t reach. But guess what? I did it anyway. And I learned that in our practices (and in our lives), there isn’t failure.

There is simply forward movement with data collection, interpretation and experimentation. It’s a lather, rinse, repeat kind of formula until your practice gets to a place where you get what you need, when you need it and how you need it.

As therapists, we know that things don’t get better when they get ignored. So, let’s move beyond just offering support for each other because there’s a moment when empathy isn’t enough. And that moment is now. I want to help folks in our community get their agency back. So, if you’re ready to learn how to experiment and innovate in your private practice, come work with me this fall in The Consultation Program.

The Consultation Program is a place where EMDR clinicians are encouraged and guided on how to create business models that work for them. It’s a place where clinicians get support and the tools and resources to implement real change into their practices. Apply for your spot in The Consultation Program today and change your practice forever.

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Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way.