Shows
Off The ChairAutopsy 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...
2025-11-1846 minOff The ChairTrailblazer Series - From Burnout to Balance: The Clinician’s Path to Freedom, Impact, & Legacy with Gordon BrewerWATCH 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...
2025-11-1142 minOff The ChairTrailblazer Series: How Shalene Kite Rebuilt Her DBT Practice and Redefined Clinician BurnoutWATCH 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...
2025-11-0352 minOff The ChairAI, 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...
2025-10-2847 minOff The ChairHalloween: Spooky Finances Edition with Lori Atwood, CFPTherapists 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.
2025-10-2141 minOff The ChairThe Healer’s Exit Plan: Identity, Legacy & What Comes After the ChairWhat 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’...
2025-10-141h 00Off The ChairWe are NOT Family: Leadership Resets for TherapistsToo 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...
2025-10-0744 minOff The ChairI Don't Have Time: The Shawshank ConundrumIf 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...
2025-09-3042 minOff The ChairRetreats, Rest & Revenue: The Dual Life of a Clinician-EntrepreneurFeeling 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...
2025-09-2358 minOff The ChairDelegation Disasters & Hiring HeartbreaksWhen 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.
2025-09-1647 minOff The ChairFreedom 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...
2025-09-0958 minOff The ChairThe Realities of Being a Mom BossBeing 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...
2025-09-0246 minOff The ChairScale, Sell, or Stay: How to Know What’s Next for Your PracticeWhen 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...
2025-08-2654 minOff The ChairScaling Without Selling Your Soul: Building a Business That Loves You BackTherapist 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...
2025-08-191h 07Off The ChairGroup 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.
2025-08-1953 minOff The ChairBurned Out, Broke, and Brilliant: How We Got Off the ChairIf 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...
2025-08-1956 min
Off The ChairWelcome to Off the ChairWhen 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...
2025-07-3001 min