Overcoming Challenges As A Highly Sensitive Therapist In Private Practice with guest Liz Gray [Episode 35]

Hello there, and welcome back to the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast! I’m your host, Cindy Norton. Here in Episode 35 I’m going to chat with Liz Gray of Organize and Thrive about overcoming challenges as a highly sensitive therapist in private practice.

Let’s get started.

Have you been wanting to start your private practice, but you can’t seem to take that first step? Maybe you’re afraid of failure or lack confidence, or maybe the idea of running your own practice is overwhelming. I’m Cindy Norton, owner of Mountain Practice Journeys and I help therapists and counselors to love the business side of private practice. I’ll share with you practical skills and advice along with a healthy dose of inspiration so that you can be on your way to the practice of your dreams. Put on your hiking boots, and let’s get going.

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 34, I urge you to do that. In that episode - which is the Halloween Special Episode - I talk with you about how to manage fear on your private practice journey.

Now let’s get on to my chat with Liz.


[Interview with Liz Gray of Organize and Thrive]


During each episode I’ll be giving you one small take away, action step, or mindset shift. I call these acorns. Listen to Episode 0 to get the scoop on what the acorns are all about.

The acorn from this episode is that I want to highlight the fact that as HSP’s, our mirror neurons are more active than our non-HSP counterparts. This may just seem like a fun little fact, but it can have serious implications for therapists, counselors, and those in the helping professions.

Mirror neurons are what allow us to understand what our clients are experiencing by observing them. As therapists, one of the main parts of our job is to observe our clients. When we are observing our clients, our mirror neurons are extremely active and allow us to feel deep empathy and compassion.

The clients we are working with all have their own stories. Many have experienced deep, unimaginable trauma. And we are right there with them.

This can be extremely exhausting when you have a large caseload and back-to-back sessions. Your nervous system is on overdrive. Being a therapist is a difficult job. Add being an HSP into the mix and the difficulty of the job is compounded.

There will be people in your life who don’t understand, and will make statements like, “Why are you so exhausted? All you do is sit and talk to people all day.”

So please give yourself all the grace and compassion that you can, as not everyone will understand.

As I outlined in Episode 0, I’ll be alternating between a fun fact and ‘what I’m digging’ segment with each new episode.

What I’m digging for this episode is the book Do Less by Kate Northrup. I recently read this book and couldn’t put it down.

I love the research in the book that confirms that by doing less you are more productive. This was music to my little introvert and HSP ears. It’s something that flies in the face of the American culture of hustle and grind.

I loved reading Do Less so much that it is going to be the first book of the Forestmind Seasonal Book Club. I can’t wait to dig into it with the Forestmind members as we support one another in implementing the strategies in to our practices.

There’s also some amazing nuggets in the book about business planning with the moon phases, which is what we’ll be doing in Forestmind - so this book is the obvious first choice.

A friendly reminder that today is November 1st, so that means enrollment is now open for Forestmind, my new comfy, cozy mastermind for private practice introverts and highly sensitive therapists. If you join by December 15th you’ll become a founding member and get $1,200 off your yearly membership. Visit mountainpracticejourneys.com/forestmind/ for more information and to apply for your spot in this small, cozy, supportive group.

Thank you so much for joining me today on your private practice journey.

For Episode 36 I continue my conversation with Liz and we go into the 3 A’s of having a sensitive practice.

In the meantime, join me over on instagram @mountainpracticejourneys

There’s no way you can know how much it means to me that you choose to join me here as I share all things related to private practice. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a step. For more information about this episode, please visit the show notes page at mountainpracticejourneys.com/podcast I truly appreciate you Trailblazers. Your mountain is within reach. Journey on.