A Day in the Life: Meet Psychologist Laura Louis, Ph.D.

Dr. Laura Louis has worked in the field of psychology for over ten years. Her specialities includes multicultural counseling and helping couples rebuild trust and intimacy after infidelity. Using her professional expertise and experience, she authored a book entitled Marital Peace: 10 Things You Can Do To Divorce Proof Your Marriage. Beyond her clinical career, Louis has provided consultation to different organizations and agencies to improve their productivity and efficiency through increased communication skills. She has worked in a variety of settings, including schools, court systems, domestic violence shelters, and psychiatric hospitals.

Peek into a day in her life as a psychologist here:

A Day in the Life

December 8, 2014

7:30AM -8AM

Woke up, got dressed, and checked my email.

8AM -10AM

Went to Stone Mountain for my weekly hike. This is what gets my creative juices flowing.

10AM-11AM

Prepped for my speaking engagement on helping couples heal from past infidelity. My 3 city tour is coming up next week, and I can't wait. YAY! I love to travel and meet new people.

11AM-12PM 

Put the finishing touches on my upcoming webinar about infidelity. I'm excited about reaching a broader audience, but also a bit nervous. Hope it goes well.

12PM-1PM

Wrote psychological reports while eating lunch (Thought- I need to hire a psychometrist; time to build that team).

2PM-7PM

Saw 5 clients (one each hour). That's my limit. Anymore, and I start to question my effectiveness.

7pm

Headed home. Listened to a few business podcasts on the way from my private practice.

7:45PM

Made it home and kissed husband. Aww, I missed him.

8PM-10PM

Ate dinner. Since my husband works from home, he made dinner. Yay:) Cuddled together while watching Law and Order. Checked email.

10PM- 11PM

Read Bible and took a shower.

11PM

Went to sleep.

To learn more about Dr. Laura, visit www.giftedcounseling.com.

If you'd like to submit a day in your life for this series, please contact me here.

A Day In The Life: Meet Psychotherapist Jodie Gale, MA

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

A Day In The Life: Meet Sex Therapist Regina Bright, LMHC

Regina is the proprietor of Stepping Stones Professional Counseling, an outpatient private practice in Mary Esther, Florida that was established in 2009 where she provides individual, group, family, and couple’s counseling. Regina is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Board Certified Sex Therapist, Certified Family Mediator, Parent Coordinator, Clinical Supervisor, and holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. She resides in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where she was born and raised, with her husband, 9 year old daughter, and three Labrador Retrievers: Roxy (Chocolate), Gator (Blonde) and Chomper (Black) one of each flavor.

Read on to find out how Regina spends her time in private practice.

A Day In The Life

July 2, 2013

7:15 AM

Woke up, brushed teeth, and got in the shower followed by the rest of my morning routine.

8:30 AM

Arrive at work, greet office manager, check e-mails, look at the Google calendar, and pull files for the clients that I see for the day.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

See my 8 clients for the day – in between sessions, I write my case notes.

5:15 PM

Posted social media updates on Twitter and on my business Facebook page

5:30 PM

Before heading home for the day, I visited my business page to update insurance panels and to add a couple of more books on the suggested reading page.

5:45 PM

Headed home. Greeted by my husband and daughter. My husband had the house cleaned and had a delicious meal waiting for me.

7:00 PM

Played games with my family.

8:00 PM

Took a bubble bath and put on my pajamas.

8:30 PM

Snuggled with my 9 year old – read books, told her funny stories of when she was a baby, and tucked her in bed.

9:00 PM

Checked my e-mail – scheduled clients from my Psychology Today profile and added some pins on my Pinterest page.

9:30 PM

My husband and I got in bed and watched some of our favorite recorded programs: Mike and Molly, How I Met your Mother, and Anger Management

11:00 PM

Kissed husband, snuggled with my 3 Labrador retrievers and went to sleep.

Find out more about Regina's practice visit SteppingStonesCounseling.org

If you’d like to submit a day in your life for this series, please contact me here.

A Day In The Life: Meet Divorce Counselor Misty E. Vogel, MA

A ten year career in the mortgage banking industry not only prepared Misty Vogel, M.A., NCC for many of the business aspects of self-employment, but also for managing the intense emotions that come with major life transitions.

Helping clients buy homes seems far from providing therapy, but the process of helping mortgage clients navigate intense emotions that surface during home purchasing has been added to Vogel's therapeutic skill set.

Fresh out of graduate school, Vogel is just starting to build her practice in Denver and in Evergreen while she continues to work as an extern at Evergreen Psychotherapy Center, a practice specializing in treatment of attachment disordered children and families.

In her private practice, Vogel combines her experience doing attachment work with her passion to help children and families navigate the difficulties of divorce and custody issues. Vogel's own parents divorced when she was 5 so she knows first-hand the impact divorce can have on the entire family. Peek into a day in the life of a therapist just beginning to build her private practice and see what it takes!

A Day In The Life

February 13, 2012

6:30AM

Alarm is sounding and my husband is up and out of bed quickly. I, on the other hand, reach for my phone which is next to me on my nightstand, easy to check email from here. I turn on the local news to check the weather. No snow and warmer temperatures… happy about this, as it means I can go for a walk later (self-care).

7:00AM – 8:15AM

Getting ready for my day includes planning lunch and a change of clothes. My externship is located in the foothills outside of Denver in Evergreen, about a 30 minute commute on a good day.

8:15AM – 8:50AM

On my commute to Evergreen! I can’t complain, this drive is often quite picturesque – many times the moon is setting to the west, or the snow capped mountains are glistening in the sun rising upon them, and, more often than not, I am fortunate enough to spot wildlife – buffalo, coyotes, elk, hawks, and even eagles once in a while! I also am lucky to use this time to make a few phone calls. (When I was still studying for the NCE exam, I used this commute to listen to Dr. Rosenthal’s study CDs!)

9:00AM – 12:00PM

In session, an intensive at my externship. Our current family is in real crisis. Mondays of the second week can be very tense because the families have just spent a couple of days outside of treatment and often they fall back to old patterns. Unfortunately, in this case, the crisis may not be diverted and it appears this week is going to be a tough one.

12:00PM-12:50PM

An hour with an individual client – my own client, not part of the externship. Without a break between the intensive and my individual session, I am feeling some hunger pains! Those almonds didn’t quite cut it.

1:00PM – 1:30PM

Commute back to Denver, meeting up with an old co-worker and friend who has a networking group she wants to introduce me to.

1:30PM – 2:45PM

Lunch with friend. Networking is essential at this stage of opening my own practice. I also attend a Private Practice support group as well as numerous workshops and conferences.

3:00PM – 4:00PM

Changed into walking clothes at the restaurant and went for a walk at the park. This is my self-care time!

4:15PM – 6:30PM

Back at my home office. I make finishing touches to my post card announcements for my new practice and two offices. Order those online – some will be mailed to a small database and the rest will be distributed in local coffee shops and local hang-outs. Post a quote on my business Facebook page – I find that if I do this every day, people are more likely to remember me and my practice. Open up the project I am currently dreading…building my website. I am trying to determine if I chose the right web page host; it hasn’t been a user-friendly experience thus far.

6:30PM – 7:45PM

Cook and eat dinner with my husband. Catching up on one another’s day. He is working on a start up company and we are also beginning the journey of seeking out fertility options. The journey has just begun – I filled my husband in on the task at hand getting in for a consultation with the fertility doc, information gathered on a phone call during my commute this morning.

7:45PM – 9:00PM

Took a little time to read up on divorce and attachment. I had downloaded a few articles over the weekend. I am considering writing a blog targeted to this population.

9:00PM-10:00PM

Both my husband and I are exhausted. We treated ourselves to a few TV shows on the DVR. Turning off our brains before heading to bed tends to produce better sleep!

10:00PM

Turning in – thinking about the family I’ll see tomorrow at Evergreen. They have been on my mind a great deal this afternoon.

Find out more about Misty's practice at  www.mistyvogel.com.

If you'd like to submit a day in your life for this series, please contact me here.

A Day In The Life: Meet Body-Centered Therapist Ashley Eder, LPC

Meet Ashley Eder, LPC and her therapy dog "Angel." While I know therapists who've brought their dog into the therapy office occasionally (it wasn't necessarily "therapeutic" for colleagues or clients), Ashley is the first therapist I've met who uses a therapy dog as a purposeful tool in clinical practice.

It makes sense that certain clients would feel at ease and find contact with a dog to be calming during therapy sessions. In her Boulder, CO private practice, Ashley specializes in body-centered psychotherapy and mindfulness interventions to treat somatic complaints, such as body image, self-harm, chronic pain, abuse recovery, and eating disorders in young adults in their teens and twenties.

In addition to her clinical practice Ashley provides counselor education, training, community building and supervises other counselors toward licensure. See how Ashley spends her day balancing family (she's a mom of one) and her clinical practice.

A Day In The Life

January 23, 2012

6:50AM

Wake up to the sound of my 15 month old son chattering to himself in his bedroom. He is currently my alarm clock, and this is an excellent arrangement when he sleeps past 6AM. I listen to him babble and do a quick first check of email to see if there is anything I need to know heading into my day.

7:00AM - 8:30AM

This is a whirlwind of play, feeding, diapering, getting dressed, and chasing a toddler around the house. My son decides today is the day he wants to learn how to climb the stairs. My husband makes us some coffee and I eat my own breakfast. We divide and conquer morning tasks like feeding our pets and unloading the dishwasher. I check email again and see I have one cancellation for this evening, and one client in crisis and requesting a phone consult today (no safety concerns). I’ll get back to both of them as soon as my son heads to daycare.

8:30AM - 9:00AM

Check in with my client in crisis over the phone. Return email to the client who needed to cancel confirming our regular appointment time next week.

9:00AM - 9:45AM

Shower and get dressed. Get my therapy dog Angel ready for work and in the car, then we head to the office. I have a short phone conversation with a colleague whose caseload I’ll be covering the next two weeks while she is out of town. I also call my son’s pediatrician to let them know that he still has the cough I brought him in for last week.

10:00AM - 10:30AM

I get settled in to see clients. This includes tidying up my office, making sure there is water in Angel’s bowl, and pulling charts for the clients I’ll see today. I have recently switched to electronic record keeping and have a personal goal of all case notes completed for the day before I leave the office. This keeps me from getting behind. I take a few minutes to sit quietly.

10:30AM - 3:00PM

I have four consecutive sessions with a half-hour break mid-way through. It’s the beginning of the school semester and my roster today reflects that students’ schedules are in flux, which means mine is too. This time flies. It is so rewarding that it’s energizing and I feel grateful for this work.

3:00PM - 4:30PM

A break. Angel and I go for a walk to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. We eat lunch by the pond outside my office where a pair of ducks is over-wintering. Angel loves to watch the ducks. Back in the office I check in with friends over Facebook and email. I return phone calls and schedule appointments with the two prospective clients who left messages this morning, and I schedule a supervision session with one of the licensure candidates I am supervising. I send a quick note to a colleague who has been a regular referral source for me lately.

4:30PM - 5:00PM

I participate in a half-hour informational interview over Skype with a college graduate from my alma mater. She contacted me via LinkedIn for advice on applying to graduate school and pursuing a career in counseling. I’m impressed by her initiative and preparation, and it feels good to help her out.

5:00PM - 6:00PM

My last session of the day. Because I have been charting all day I finish this final case note and log out of the electronic health record system by 6:00 PM sharp.

6:10PM

Pack my bag, draw the shades, lock my filing cabinet, vacuum dog hair from the carpet, leash up Angel, and head home.

6:30PM - 7:00PM

I come home where my husband and son have finished their dinners. Angel and I eat with their company and we talk about everyone’s day. My husband asks if Angel was a good therapy dog and I answer “of course.” I enjoy watching my toddler roam around the kitchen and family room. His curiosity is delightful and tomorrow we will spend the entire day together.

7:00PM - 7:30PM

Baby bedtime. We all go upstairs for the diaper change, pajamas, teeth brushing, and bedtime story.

7:30PM - 9:00PM

I finally make a dent in the pile of receipts from last year’s business expenses--time to get ready for taxes. Write a rough draft of a letter of recommendation for a client. Put the finishing touches on my resume and cover letter for an affiliate faculty teaching job I’d love to have.

9:00PM - 10:00PM

Hang out with my husband, who has also been catching up on some work that was left over from the day.

10:00PM

In bed, I skim through email and Facebook once more before going to sleep.

To learn more about Ashley Eder, LPC and her therapy dog angel, visit www.ashleyeder.com.

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