Off The Chair
In a world where a nail artist can out-earn a licensed therapist, behavioral health professionals have no choice but to get scrappy, color outside the lines, and start writing our own rules. The old path—graduate school, licensure, paneled with insurance, packed calendar of 1:1s—is broken. It’s time for a new blueprint. That’s where Off the Chair comes in. We’re not just talking about surviving the grind, we’re exploring radically different ways to thrive. From building passive income streams to launching scalable service lines, we dive into business models that break the mold. We cover how modern t...
Trailblazer Series: Transforming Leadership in Group Practices with Julianne Guinasso & Poonam Natha
In this conversation, the hosts discuss the challenges of leadership in group practices, emphasizing the importance of trauma-informed leadership and building a culture of trust. Dr. Colleen Long introduces Poonam and Julianne from Level Up Leaders, who share their journey from clinicians to leadership consultants. The discussion covers the significance of understanding group practice owners, navigating isolation, and integrating culture into daily practices, especially in remote work environments. They highlight the costs of neglecting culture and the need for compassionate accountability in leadership, ultimately encouraging leaders to embrace their humanity and foster relational ecosystems within their teams.
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Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Collapse of a Seven-Figure Practice and the Reality of Clinician Burnout [Part 2]
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EPISODE HERE!
When a thriving seven-figure practice implodes, it never happens all at once. It happens slowly, quietly, through the small paper cuts that no one warns you about. In this episode, we take you inside a real-time autopsy of a private practice undone by clinician burnout, a broken mental health system, and the relentless weight of decisions made in survival mode. This is what it looks like when success on paper collides with the truth underneath.
We walk through the rise, the unraveling, and the reckoning that ultimately led to s...
Autopsy of a Practice: How Scarcity Mentality and Fear-Based Decisions Took Down a Seven-Figure Clinic [Part 1]
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EPISODE HERE!
This one is personal. In part one of our deepest dive yet, we begin the autopsy of a seven-figure practice that rose fast, broke even faster, and exposed what happens when the realities of a broken mental health system collide with raw human limits. This is not a business teardown. It is a confession, a reckoning, and a mirror for every therapist pushing through clinician burnout while trying to hold an entire organization together with grit and fear.
We unpack how early conditioning shaped a lifelong scarcity mentality, how...
Trailblazer Series - From Burnout to Balance: The Clinician’s Path to Freedom, Impact, & Legacy with Gordon Brewer
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EPISODE HERE!
What happens when you finally pause long enough to ask, “Is this really the life I built my practice for?”
In this conversation with Gordon Brewer, LMFT, founder of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, Kingsport Counseling Associates, and PsychCraft Network, we explore what it means to move from burnout to balance through purpose, faith, and intentional growth.
After 30 years in the field, Gordon has learned that lasting success starts when you know your why and build an aligned business that supports your life instead of consuming it. He s...
Trailblazer Series: How Shalene Kite Rebuilt Her DBT Practice and Redefined Clinician Burnout
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EPISODE HERE!
In this episode of Off the Chair, host Dr. Colleen Long sits down with Shalene Kite, LPC, DBT LBC, RYT, founder of DBT of South Jersey and Rebel Mente, to talk about how she transformed her DBT practice into a thriving business that challenges clinician burnout and empowers therapists to build freedom through aligned entrepreneurship.
From building a team of more than twenty clinicians to launching a national training brand, Shalene shares how she turned her skills as a therapist business coach into a movement for mental health professionals...
AI, Automation Examples & Etsy Empires — AI Tech That Gets You Off the Chair (and Back Your Time)
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “There’s got to be a smarter way to run this practice,” this episode is for you. Dr. Colleen Long takes you behind the scenes of AI automation examples and tools that are helping the modern therapist finally reclaim time without sacrificing quality, connection, or creativity.
From real-world AI for clinicians to easy-to-apply systems that bring freedom back to your week, Colleen breaks down how AI tech is reshaping what’s possible in private practice. This is your no-fluff guide to building structure, scaling smarter, and learning how to reclaim time while...
Halloween: Spooky Finances Edition with Lori Atwood, CFP
Therapists talk about everything except money, and that cost could be leaving you with money anxiety.
Too many therapists feel financially drained even while helping others heal. The truth is, avoiding your numbers only fuels money anxiety and keeps you from the financial empowerment you deserve.
In this Halloween: Spooky Finances Edition with Lori Atwood, CFP, we face the real-life fears that keep clinicians up at night. Lori, founder of Fearless Finance and a seasoned financial empowerment guru, helps therapists replace fear with clarity through simple, human strategies to help you release that money anxiety.<...
The Healer’s Exit Plan: Identity, Legacy & What Comes After the Chair
What if leaving the char wasn’t the end of your career, but the beginning of your healing? If you’ve ever felt torn between ambition and exhaustion, this conversation is for you.
In this raw and unfiltered episode, we sit down with Gabrielle Juliano Vilani, a licensed clinical social worker who built and sold a seven-figure group practice, only to discover that true freedom requires more than a business transaction. Together, we talk about how to refresh mental health, rebuild your sense of purpose, and find peace in the space that success leaves behind.
You’...
We are NOT Family: Leadership Resets for Therapists
Too many practice owners fall into the trap of treating their staff like family.
It feels caring, but it blurs boundaries and leads to therapist burnout and business chaos. We’ve been there, and we’re sharing how to reset your team relations.
As three entrepreneurial therapists, we know the tension between compassion and leadership. In this episode, we explore what happens when empathy goes too far, why clarity matters more than kindness, and how to lead with confidence. These are conversations about team relations and hiring and firing that every entrepreneurial therapist needs to hear...
I Don't Have Time: The Shawshank Conundrum
If you’ve ever whispered I don’t have time while drowning in back-to-back sessions, paperwork, and payroll, you’re not alone. The truth is, most clinicians stay stuck in therapist burnout and therapist fatigue, convincing themselves they’ll “figure it out later.” But later never comes.
In this conversation, we unpack the Shawshank Conundrum - the hamster wheel every therapist knows too well - and reveal how to chip away at the walls keeping you trapped in a model that doesn’t serve your life.
This isn’t another pep talk about hustling harder. It’s about namin...
Retreats, Rest & Revenue: The Dual Life of a Clinician-Entrepreneur
Feeling fried, curious about therapist retreats, or secretly dreaming of side hustles for therapists that will actually restore you? We get it - and we made this episode for clinicians who want rest and revenue without the shame spiral.
We sit with Amy Johnston, founder of The Exhale Collective, to unpack how a practicing clinician builds therapist retreats into a life-saving creative business. We get candid about therapist burnout, the logistics of running international retreats, and how to launch side hustles for therapists alongside your clinical work.
This episode balances the hard numbers (deposits, payment p...
Delegation Disasters & Hiring Heartbreaks
When it comes to running a therapist business, nothing derails growth faster than the wrong hire. In this episode, we get real about the delegation problems, the bad hires, and the lessons that cost us time, money, and plenty of sleep. From missed calls to admin chaos to leaders who looked great on paper but wrecked the culture, we’re unpacking the true cost of bad hires and how to recover when your group private practice takes a hit.
We’ve lived these mistakes, and we want you to skip the heartbreak by learning from our scars.
Freedom Isn’t Found in the Exit (And Scaling Doesn’t Have to Kill You)
Freedom after selling your practice isn’t guaranteed - and scaling doesn’t have to break you.
In this episode, we unpack what happens when “I’ll feel free after the exit” meets real life. We explore why peace comes from boundaries, systems, and aligned choices - not the transaction - while showing how a growing practice can actually create space.
Along the way, we share practical ways a therapist mom can protect energy, use AI tools for therapists to reclaim time, practice real self care for therapists, and boost therapist productivity without losing humanity. If you’re in...
The Realities of Being a Mom Boss
Being a mom therapist means wearing more hats than most people can imagine - and switching between them in the blink of an eye.
In this raw and real episode, we talk candidly about balancing motherhood and career, and how we manage the mental load without completely burning out.
We dig deep into the lived experience of being a mom therapist in today’s “do it all” culture - and we don’t hold back. From awkward Zoom calls with kids in the background to the cost (financial and emotional) of showing up at your kid’s 10a...
Scale, Sell, or Stay: How to Know What’s Next for Your Practice
When the walls feel tighter than ever, that crossroads of deciding to scale, sell, or stay is real - and confusing.
In this episode, we unpack the deeply personal, strategic, and emotional decision every practice owner faces: whether to scale therapy, sell, or stay - and how aligned practice management can help you make the right call for your life and your business.
We share the truth about what happens when your practice feels too big to manage but too valuable to walk away from. We talk about what it means to evolve as a c...
Scaling Without Selling Your Soul: Building a Business That Loves You Back
Therapist burnout doesn’t start with big breakdowns - it starts with tiny betrayals of your time, your energy, and your vision.
In this episode, we get real about the emotional toll when you scale therapy practices, the identity shifts that come with leadership, and how to build a business that actually loves you back.
We don’t just talk about how to scale therapy practices - we unpack what it means to scale with integrity, values, and your own well-being intact. If you're craving more ease in your practice management while staying deeply connected to yo...
Group Practice - Business Growth or Burnout Multiplied?
Ever wonder if you're the only one silently struggling while running a practice? You're not. This episode dives deep into the raw reality of therapist burnout - and what comes after.
In this episode, we pull back the curtain on our personal journeys through therapist burnout, the emotional toll of leadership, and the hard-earned lessons we’ve learned from building and breaking our therapy businesses. We’ve led teams, scaled services, and weathered some serious storms inside our own group therapy practice models. And we know firsthand how often clinician mental health is sacrificed in the process.
Burned Out, Broke, and Brilliant: How We Got Off the Chair
If you’ve ever felt trapped by your own success, stuck in the grind of growing your therapy businesses, or secretly questioning your career while leading others - this episode is for you.
We’re talking about the real cost of therapist burnout, what no one tells you about running therapy businesses, and how we finally stepped away from the chair (emotionally, clinically, and sometimes financially).
In this first episode of Off the Chair, we share our personal stories of crashing, questioning, and rebuilding from the ground up. Each of us has navigated the highs and l...
Welcome to Off the Chair
When therapist burnout meets business overwhelm, something has to change. Off the Chair is here to spark that change.
In this trailer, we introduce our unfiltered mission: to talk about what really happens behind the scenes of building and sustaining a therapist business in today's broken mental health system.
We are Dr. Colleen Long, Dr. Jennifer Politis, and Erika Bugaj, LICSW - three clinicians who have led, scaled, and sometimes struggled with running a group therapy practice while navigating the messy middle of motherhood, leadership, and identity.
This show is not about perfection. I...
