Jodie Gale is a qualified therapeutic counsellor, life-coach and Master’s trained psychosynthesis psychotherapist who specializes in women’s emotional, psychological and spiritual health and well-being. Along with her husband, their two toddlers and two British Short Hair cats, Jodie lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney in Australia. She currently balances being a full-time stay at home mother with a part-time, evening and weekend, home office, private practice.
Read on to find out how Jodie spends her day in private practice.
A Day in the Life
My busiest day is Saturday when my husband looks after our two toddlers. Our home is open planned, so we are currently sound proofing and doing some building work to separate our home and my clinical space. In the meantime, my husband and kids travel 10 minutes down the road and check-in to Grandma’s for the day.
6.30am
Wake up and get ready to see weekly, medium to long-term psychotherapy clients.
7.00am
Husband wakes up and has sole responsibility for feeding the cats and getting the kids ready. Their day bag is packed and clothes laid out on Friday night so that hopefully there are no dramas on Saturday mornings.
I go downstairs and get my therapy space ready by putting the heater on and lighting a candle. I also choose a seed thought for the day from one of the Goddess , Inner Child or Daily Meditations . At the start of their therapy, I buy each client a portfolio art book to collect their therapy work. This might include a subpersonality chart, art work from guided visualisations, dream images, family tree, photos, models and notes. I get these out of my cupboard ready for the day’s clients.
7.30am
Tea and toast while I check my emails and phone for any last minute cancellations.
7.45am
Post first facebook article for the day. This also feeds my twitter page.
8.00am – 2.00pm
Clients - 1 hour sessions with a 15 minute break in between when I take notes, have a snack and sometimes post a facebook article on my professional page.
2.00pm
Private practice administration, marketing and blogging.
I do much of my administration, marketing, research and blogging on a Friday when both kids go to kindy. I use from 2.00pm till 4.00pm on a Saturday to continue with the tasks I started on Friday. These include:
- Noting client hours for professional association memberships
- Administrative tasks such as my tax return
- Business planning and marketing goals/strategies
- Researching and writing my latest blog http://jodiegale.com/blog/
- Researching, bookmarking and posting articles on facebook
- Scheduling social media posts on Hootsuite https://hootsuite.com for Sunday as I like to have an internet free day
- Replying to any new or existing client inquiries. I then switch phone off from clients until Monday 9am.
4.00pm
Family arrive home.
Weather permitting - we might go for a short bush/coastal walk, a bike ride, play in the backyard or at the park. Otherwise we play indoor games, watch Disney movies or dance to music.
5.00pm
Family dinner at a local restaurant.
We love eating out at Asian, Lebanese, Italian, Indian and Mexican restaurants. Our children (through permanent care/local adoption), are from a Filipino background, so we include family night as part of our cultural plan to learn about family rituals, birth family, different cultures and embracing difference.
6.30pm – 7.30pm
Bath, story and bedtime for the kids
7.30pm
Bath therapy!
This is my daily space for self-care. I create a sacred space and love the bathing rituals in the small book, The Enchanted Bath: Rituals and Recipes. I use essential oils or Dr Hauschka bath products, read novels, psychology or spiritual books, listen to guided meditations or audio books and also spend some time practising mindful bathing, even if just a few minutes!
8.30
Watch a DVD or catch up on our favourite TV series on TiVo.
It is often hard to get things done with two toddlers so you might also find me packing a day bag for Sunday, folding washing, sewing dress-up outfits, upcycling bits and bobs for the kids’ rooms, party planning or chatting with my overseas friends, my online mothers’ group or colleagues on facebook.
I am currently building my private practice Pinterest page so I also try to find some time each night for pinning.
11.00: Bed. Before we sleep - we always practise gratitude; sharing at least one thing we are grateful for about each other, our family and life.
To find out more about Jodie Gale's practice in Sydney, Australia visit JodieGale.com