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

4 key questions to help you prepare personally and professionally for managing maternity leave in private practice.

I'm a mother of four children. My first two children were born during my educational journey and my last two were born while I was in private practice. Being in private practice provides many perks for balancing work and family life. The flexibility of being my own boss has been wonderful. However, taking time off for extended periods of time, like maternity leave, can prove to be tricky. Unlike working for an agency, in private you don't get paid leave in private practice, you still have expenses to pay even when you're not seeing clients, and you have unpredictable income as you "wind down" to take time off and then build your client load back up after taking family leave. Becoming pregnant while in private practice and planning for the new addition in your family requires some extra planning, coordinating, and saving.

How Much Time Will You Take Off?

These little babies can be a BIG adjustment. It's important to really think about taking enough time for you to adapt to being a parent to this new, little person. Dr. Jennifer Fee, psychologist from California found that one of the most helpful things was taking sufficient time off after giving birth. She suggests coming back gradually and not carrying a full load for awhile.

"Rushing back [to work] while you're adjusting to and bonding with a new baby is not good for you, your baby, or your clients. The great thing about private practice is that it's not an 'all or nothing' business. You can start practicing with a few clients rather than jumping back into a full load," says Dr. Fee.

Determining the length of your maternity or paternity leave can be extremely important in keeping your practice thriving. If you are a sole practitioner, taking a three month leave could potentially leave you with very few clients upon your return. You must decide not only how long is financially feasible but also how long works for your family and your clients.

Who will provide services to your clients in your absence?

It's important to consider who will provide clinical services to your clients while you are on maternity leave. If you are in solo practice, consider reaching out to another trusted private practice colleague who has openings to provide services to your clients while you are on leave. Make sure that your clients have the contact information of the therapist who'll be covering for you. I suggest that clients in crisis have appointments set up with this therapist before you take time off.

I recently talked with a private practice colleague who is pregnant with her third child. I suggested that she consider hiring another therapist to cover her clinical cases and also to generate income for her practice while she is on maternity leave.

When will you stop taking new clients?

You'll also want to think about when you will stop taking new clients. If you plan on taking new clients up until your leave I suggest that in your first conversation you inform them that you will be taking time off so they can have the option of seeing someone who can provide uninterrupted services.

Jennifer Venable-Humphrey, LCSW of Social Work Solutions stopped accepting new clients one month before her due date. When put on bed rest with her third child, Jennifer used Skype or phone sessions to check in with current clients that she had to stop seeing earlier than planned.

How will you cover your fixed expenses and lack of income?

Taking time off in private practice is tricky because you have to plan not only for lost income but for paying the fixed expenses of maintaining a practice while you are on leave. Expenses like rent, phone, internet, or perhaps the cost of support staff may need to be paid whether you are practicing or not.

Joseph Sanok, LLP, LPC of Mental Wellness Counseling in Traverse City, MI suggests considering the cost of being away from your family once you have returned to your clients. Sanok decided to increase his fee when his wife became pregnant. "For me, I knew that working in my practice was going to be difficult when I had the draw of a wonderful new addition. By raising my rates, it made it easier to give up the time."

I'm curious to learn more about the changes you made or creative ways that you found for your transition to parenthood in your private practice. Share those here!

EHR "SimplePractice" to Add Group Practice Option

As healers, we genuinely like to do our work. Guiding clients through the therapy process and seeing them make progress is why we do what we do. But if you're in private practice, you know there's a lot going on in the back end and that it's crucial to run an efficient and organized business.

How to Write Compelling Website Copy: Interview with Website Whisperer Nicole Bonsol

I recently had the opportunity to interview Nicole Bonsol, a writing, branding, and graphic designer for healers. She helps therapists create an inviting and powerful website and best craft their message to engage with their viewers. I was fascinated at what Nicole had to say, especially because of her unique role in the process of helping clinicians reach their audience. Here are some highlights of our discussion:

Private Practice Website: Should You Hire a Pro or DIY?

As therapists in 2016, we understand that having a functioning, informational, and attractive website isn’t just a good idea-it’s a necessity. But if you’re just starting out in private practice, it can be intimidating to build one from the ground up. How do you design your home page so a user can easily navigate and find what they need? How do you present information in a way that isn’t overwhelming or too “busy”? What’s the best way to make sure your content is mobile-friendly? And even when you figure out the answers to these questions, how do you make the vision in your head actually become reality on a website?

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