I never set out to become a marketer. In 1994, I was a happy environmental engineer, deeply involved in establishing recycling and composting programs for cities nationwide (with months of sorting garbage by hand in landfills, but that’s another story).
However, life took an unexpected turn when my first wife and two friends decided to bring Hakomi Training to Minneapolis. Suddenly, I found myself learning marketing—accidentally. Despite being dyslexic and having no sense of writing or design at that time, I was determined. This accidental journey led me to help fill a Polarity Bodywork Training. My first paid gig was working with Bernie Glassman and the Peacemaker Community and then helping run a 600-acre retreat center in Northern Colorado.
Fast forward to 2020, when we launched the Academy of Therapy Wisdom, inspired to explore the intersection of psychotherapy, spirituality, and social change. Our vision was to provide students with the best learning platform, featuring established teachers like Janina Fisher and Frank Anderson and supporting emerging voices like Juliane Taylor Shore and Linda Thai.
As burnout escalated due to COVID and growing political instability, we knew we had to offer practitioners more, and we began offering “care for the caregiver” sessions thanks to De, Robert, and others after many of our course training.
Then, we became aware of another threat: private equity firms buying up practices and commodifying therapy. It felt like the soul of therapy was up for sale, and we grew concerned about the quality of care being provided and the enormous national marketing budgets these firms had to capture your current and potential clients.
How can you, with a local practice, compete?
Our answer is WisePractice.io—more than just a practice management software; it’s a platform built to safeguard your practice’s authenticity, help you thrive, and ensure your business growth doesn’t compromise your values. Explicitly designed for mental health professionals, WisePractice equips you with practical, effective marketing and management tools that we’ve fine-tuned for over a decade.
We’re officially launching this at our booth at the Psychotherapy Networker Event in Washington, DC, and we have a special offer for our community: a 14-day free trial plus personalized onboarding support. Plans start at $67/month, with all the marketing features included in our $127/month plan. Check it out here.
Let’s protect the soul of therapy together.
Warmly,
Brian Spielmann, CEO
The Rising Tide of Therapist Burnout in Today’s Healthcare Landscape
The mental health profession has always been demanding, but recent years have introduced unprecedented challenges. According to a 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association, over 60% of mental health practitioners report experiencing symptoms of burnout – a staggering increase from 40% in pre-pandemic measurements.
What’s driving this alarming trend? Several factors have converged to create the perfect storm:
- Pandemic aftermath: The collective trauma of COVID-19 continues to reverberate through society, increasing both the number of clients seeking therapy and the complexity of their needs.
- Socio-political tensions: Growing divisions and uncertainties in our social fabric have added layers of stress not only to clients but to therapists themselves.
- Administrative burdens: Insurance requirements, documentation demands, and practice management responsibilities continue to multiply.
- Corporate consolidation: The entry of private equity into mental health has transformed the landscape, often prioritizing profit over practitioner wellbeing.
These challenges aren’t merely inconveniences – they represent existential threats to both the wellbeing of practitioners and the quality of care they can provide.
The Private Equity Problem: When Therapy Becomes a Commodity
The trend of private equity firms acquiring and consolidating therapy practices represents a fundamental shift in how mental healthcare is delivered. This isn’t just about ownership changing hands – it’s about a transformation in priorities and values.
When private equity enters the therapy space, several concerning patterns emerge:
- Volume-driven care models: Practitioners often face pressure to increase client loads beyond sustainable levels.
- Standardized treatment protocols: The art and nuance of personalized therapy can be sacrificed for scalable, one-size-fits-all approaches.
- Reduced practitioner autonomy: Clinical decisions may become increasingly influenced by financial considerations rather than client needs.
- Marketing dominance: Corporate entities deploy massive marketing budgets that independent practitioners simply cannot match.
As one therapist in our community noted, “It feels like we’re being asked to choose between our livelihood and our professional integrity.”
We believe this is a false choice. Independent practitioners can thrive while maintaining their values – but it requires new approaches and tools designed specifically for this challenging landscape.
Resilience Practices: Safeguarding Your Wellbeing as a Therapist
This week’s featured video highlights Dr. Arielle Schwartz, sharing some simple but powerful practices from her recent webinar on recognizing and preventing therapist burnout.
With the constant demands of your work and the uncertainty in the world, prioritizing your own well-being is essential—not just for yourself, but for the clients who rely on you. In this short clip, Arielle guides you through simple yet effective somatic self-care exercises designed to help you reset, recharge, and show up as your best self in the therapy room.
Join Dr. Arielle Schwartz for a FREE webinar
Recognizing and Preventing Therapist Burnout
In this free webinar, Dr. Arielle Schwartz will show you:
Recognize the early warning signs of burnout and secondary trauma.
Understand the neuroscience of resilience and how it applies to therapists.
Explore evidence-based self-care strategies and the importance of self-compassion.
Dr. Schwartz’s approach integrates several evidence-based strategies:
Somatic Awareness Practices for Therapists
Therapists spend their days attuned to others’ emotional states, often at the expense of their own bodily awareness. Simple somatic practices can help reset your nervous system between sessions:
- Conscious Breathing
Taking just 60 seconds between clients to practice diaphragmatic breathing can significantly reduce stress hormones and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. - Grounding Techniques
Simple physical awareness exercises like feeling your feet on the floor or noticing points of contact with your chair can quickly bring you back to the present moment. - Micro-Movements
Small stretches or gentle movements between sessions help release tension that accumulates during focused therapeutic work.
These practices don’t require special equipment or extensive time – they can be integrated seamlessly into your clinical day, creating small but powerful buffers against burnout.
Building a Sustainable Practice in the Age of Corporate Therapy
We understand the dilemma many independent practitioners face: how to maintain a thriving practice while staying true to your values and protecting your wellbeing. This challenge has informed our development of WisePractice.io.
The WisePractice platform addresses several key needs we’ve identified through our work with thousands of therapists:
- Streamlined practice management: Reducing administrative burden frees up mental space and time for clinical work and self-care.
- Effective, ethical marketing: Competing with corporate entities doesn’t require enormous budgets – it requires smart, authentic approaches that connect with the right clients.
- Community support: No therapist should have to navigate these challenges alone.
- Integrated self-care reminders: Technology can either drain or support wellbeing – we’ve designed our platform to do the latter.
Many practitioners find that the right tools don’t just make practice management easier – they fundamentally transform the experience of running a therapy business, reducing stress and rekindling the joy that drew them to this profession.
Reclaiming the Soul of Therapy: A Call to Action
The challenges facing independent practitioners today are real, but they aren’t insurmountable. By combining intentional self-care practices with the right business tools, therapists can create sustainable practices that honor both their values and their wellbeing.
As we continue to develop resources to support therapists in this journey, we invite you to explore Dr. Arielle Schwartz’s powerful webinar on recognizing and preventing therapist burnout. Her practical, embodied approach offers valuable tools that can be implemented immediately to support your resilience.
We believe in the power of independent, values-driven therapy. Together, we can ensure that the heart and soul of this healing profession remains intact, even as the landscape continues to evolve.
We´re looking forward to sharing the journey with you in the new WisePractice therapist community!
