Intentional Therapist: Putting You In Your Schedule

Ever feel like you’re always giving—whether it’s to your clients, your family, or even strangers on the street—and somehow your own needs get pushed aside? You're not alone. In fact, this might be part of a much bigger issue that’s rigged against women when it comes to self-care. If you're a female therapist, juggling the demands of your clients, family, and personal well-being, this episode is going to shine a light on why that balance feels so elusive—and what you can do to break the cycle.Today, we're talking about the hidden forces that keep women stuck in the 'human giver' role and leave little room for genuine self-care. We’ll dive into the cultural expectations and productivity systems that make it harder for women to prioritize themselves. But here's the good news: You can change the game. Join us as we explore how to reclaim your time, passions, and well-being—without guilt, shame, or burnout. Ready to shift the paradigm? Let’s dive in. Episode Highlights:3 ways the self-care game is rigged for women: Seeing ourselves as ‘human givers’Pressure to fit into male-dominated productivity systemsNot feeling permission to have passionsSelf-Care Experiments:  Let yourself be a human being, not a human giverGather up the ‘time confetti’Focus on integration over ‘greatness’Give yourself permission to have passionsResources Mentioned:Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World and Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) Not Enough Time, both by Eve RodskyOverwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid SchulteThe Plan: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra AdachiThis is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something - Anything - Like Your Life Depends On It by Tabitha CarvanOur past podcast interview with Tabatha CarvanVisit our website to get your own copy of our FREE 4 C's Self-Care Assessment:  https://www.intentionaltherapist.caConnect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

Do you often find yourself working hard, yet questioning your abilities, feeling like you’re just pretending to be competent, waiting to be found out? If you’re a female therapist wrestling with imposter syndrome and the pressures of a lingering student mindset, you’re not alone, and this episode is for you. We’ll explore how these internal struggles can impact your self-care and professional fulfillment.Join us as we explore the traits that once helped you succeed but may now be holding you back.  How can recognizing these patterns empower you to move past the fear of being an "imposter"?  Listen in as we share valuable insights and actionable strategies to help you push back on that inner critic and reclaim your confidence.  Episode Highlights:Understanding the ‘student mindset’ and ‘imposter syndrome’Factors that increase the likelihood of experiencing imposter phenomenaKey starting points: Know that you are not aloneUnderstand how and why imposter feelings show up so can respond with compassion Self-Care Experiments:  Notice your perfectionism cycleRelax your standardsGet to know your inner criticEmbrace your non-student life (*assuming you are no longer a student!)Resources Mentioned:Book:  Imposter No More: Overcome Self-Doubt and Imposterism to Cultivate a Successful Career by Dr. Jill StoddardVisit our website to get your own copy of our FREE 4 C's Self-Care Assessment:  https://www.intentionaltherapist.caConnect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

Mental health professionals often carry the emotional weight of their clients long after sessions. The podcast explores the hidden challenges, such as emotional depletion and psychic isolation, that come with the job. It emphasizes the importance of self-care and resilience strategies. Listeners learn about navigating workplace hazards and the significance of embracing uncertainty in therapy. The discussion also includes key self-reflection tools to enhance personal well-being while providing quality care, creating a supportive community for professionals.

When was the last time you felt truly in control of your schedule? Or had a day when your to-do list didn’t just overflow with everyone else’s needs, leaving yours at the bottom? If self-care feels like just another item you’re not quite managing to cross off, you’re not alone – and that’s exactly why we created this podcast.In this first episode, we’re introducing a game-changing approach to self-care – one that’s tailored to the unique challenges of being a female therapist. We’ll be sharing our 4 C’s model, a simple yet powerful framework to help you start putting more of you back into your day. It’s a fresh approach that goes far beyond bubble baths and massages to help you carve out space for what actually matters to you. If you’re tired of self-care advice that doesn’t stick, and you’re ready to learn how to make real, sustainable changes, please tune in. Episode Highlights:Why we created this podcastOur new definition of self-care:  Putting more of you in your schedule and creating a life from which you don’t need to escapeThe 4 C’s model:  Connection, Compassion, Courage, and CreativitySelf-Care Experiments:  Which of your 4 C’s pillars feels strongest?  Which needs more attention?  What is one thing you can do to give that pillar a bit more attention?Resources Mentioned:Visit our website to get your own copy of our FREE 4 C's Self-Care Assessment:https://www.intentionaltherapist.ca Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

Ever feel like there’s just never enough time in the day? You’re juggling client sessions, family responsibilities, and maybe even a little bit of a social life—if you’re lucky. And yet, somehow, taking care of yourself always falls to the bottom of the list. Sound familiar? In today’s episode, we’re breaking down the toxic time messages that keep us stuck in this endless cycle of overwhelm. We’re diving into how these hidden beliefs sneak into our everyday decisions and offer some practical tips to reclaim your time—and your energy.We’ll be talking about why saying, “I can do it better and faster,” or, “I should spend my time doing X, Y, Z,” might be costing you more than you realize. So, if you’re tired of feeling like time is slipping through your fingers and ready to start putting you back in your schedule, please stick around.Episode Highlights:Toxic Time Messages:“I can do it better and faster”“I can save time by doing it myself”“I should be spending my time doing x, y, z”Time reframes"Even if I can do it better, that doesn't mean I should be the one to do it""Saving time now isn't worth the long-term cost to my well-being""I will not let 'shoulds' rob me of time for myself"Self-Care Experiments:  Delegating a taskPausing before agreeing to new commitmentsSetting aside uninterrupted time for yourselfResources Mentioned:Book:  Fair Play by Eve RodskyVisit our website to get your own copy of our FREE 4 C's Self-Care Assessment:  https://www.intentionaltherapist.caConnect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

Self-care shouldn’t be another task on your to-do list!  Hosted by Dr. Karen Dyck and Dr. Melissa Tiessen, clinical psychologists, founders of Intentional Therapist, and self-care advocates, this podcast is for female mental health therapists who are ready to redefine self-care.   Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

As regular listeners know, we are (still!) in the process of working on a new format for our podcast which we hope to share in the very near future. So please stay tuned!Until then, we are continuing to go into our podcast archives to replay some past episodes that we feel deserve a repeat performance. This month we are re-sharing another one of our favourite podcast interviews, where we discuss the importance of owning our therapist sensitivities.  As a self-described Highly Sensitive Therapist (HST), April Snow shares her perspectives on what it means to be a HST and why honouring our unique qualities is essential in setting up a practice that truly allows us to thrive, both at work and beyond.   So, whether you identify as a HST or not, we hope you will join us in re-visiting this important and highly relevant topic for us all.  Because the reality is effective self-care involves knowing ourselves and aligning our self-care to our unique qualities and circumstances.  And, for some of us, that might just mean working in bed!  And that’s okay.    Episode highlights:What it means to be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)What lead April to specialize in working with Highly Sensitive Therapists (HSTs)Some of the biggest misconceptions of being a HSTOne step listeners can take today to work in alignment with being a HSTApril’s favorite “non-conventional” self-care practiceApril Snow, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and consultant in California who specializes in working with Highly Sensitive Introverts. April strongly believes that being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) doesn’t have to stop you from living a fully engaged life and is on a mission to help HSPs create a life on their own terms so they can manage the overwhelm and start to thrive. Connect with April:https://www.aprilsnowconsulting.comConnect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

As you may already know, we are in the process of working on a new format for our podcast which we hope to share in the very near future.  So please stay tuned!  Until then, we are continuing to go into our podcast archives to replay some past episodes that we feel deserve a repeat performance.  This month we are re-sharing one of our favourite podcast interviews, which was with Tabitha Carvan, the author of This is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something—Anything—Like Your Life Depends on It.  As the name might imply, what this book is really about is the importance of women reconnecting with our passions and joyful pursuits.  Tabitha does a wonderful job of mixing humor and levity with some profound insights into why women often struggle with doing things that can give us pleasure.  So we hope you will join us in revisiting this important and highly relevant topic to self-care because we can all use reminders (and perhaps even permission) to truly reconnect with our passions and joyful pursuits.     Episode highlights:What brought Tabitha to write a book full of references to Benedict Cumberbatch but ultimately not actually about him at allWhy its so easy for us, as women, to get disconnected from our passionsWhy connecting with joyful pursuits can cause women to feel like there’s something “wrong”How embarrassment and shame get in the way of our passionsTabitha’s important take-home messageTabitha’s favorite “non-conventional” self-care practiceTabitha Carvan is the author of This Is Not A Book About Benedict Cumberbatch and a science writer for the Australian National University.  She lives in Canberra, Australia.  Connect with Tabitha:http://www.tabithacarvan.com/Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

As we shared last month, we are busily working on a new format for our podcast which we’re planning on unveiling in the next few months.  Until then, we’re continuing to go into our podcast archives and resharing episodes on topics we thought warrant a repeat performance.  So with that in mind, this month we are resharing our podcast interview with Linzy Bonham on the important topic of finances.  We hope you’ll join us in revisiting this important and highly relevant topic to self-care.  As we often say, self-care isn’t one and done and the reality is we often need reminders to keep us on track.  Whether you are in private practice or in a salaried position, this episode has great information that will help you reflect on your own finances and provide some potential steps you can take to start making this part of your self-care plan.  Because as Linzy points out finances are foundational to self-care!Episode highlights:  What led Linzy to create her signature course, Money Skills for Therapists How money skills fit into self-care Factors that contribute to unique money related issues for female therapists Steps you can take today to start feeling more on top of your finances Linzy’s best “non-conventional” self-care practice Linzy Bonham is a therapist in private practice, a consultant who helps therapists feel calm and in control of their finances, and the creator of the Money Skills for Therapists course. As the daughter of an accountant, Linzy inherited a good dose of bookkeeping brain. She's like half therapist, half bookkeeper. So when she went into private practice, she dug right into all the ways to build a healthy business that pays for her life and always has extra money in the bank. Now Linzy helps therapists develop peace of mind about their money. Since so many of us were never taught about money, she focuses on the 'how' of making the financial side of private practice doable, and even super satisfying - feeling competent and calm about your money is pretty swell! Resources:  Free Mini-Training: The Secret to Getting Unstuck in Your Business Finances (this and other resources are available on this page):https://moneynutsandbolts.com/resources Connect with Linzy: https://www.moneynutsandbolts.com hello@moneynutsandbolts.com Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.

We are very excited to share that we are in the process of reformatting our podcast!  We are aiming to launch the new format in the coming months, and in the meantime we will be sure to share more updates as well as we would love to get your feedback.  So please stay tuned for more details!In the meantime, we decided to go into our Thrivival 101 archives to share a replay of our most popular episode:  Documentation.  In this conversation with Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey, we covered not only what gets in the way of clinicians staying on top of their clinical documentation, but also what any of us can start doing today to make this a little easier. And most importantly, Maelisa shares how incredibly common of a challenge documentation can be.  If you haven't listened to this episode before, we really encourage you to do so now.  And if you have listened to this episode, we also encourage you to give it another listen!  Self-care is never a 'one-and-done' (just like documentation!), and we absolutely benefit from revisiting these topics on a regular basis. New resource mentioned in the introduction to the episode:  Maelisa's Reviews of AI for Progress NotesEpisode highlights:What led Maelisa to create QA PrepHow staying on top of our documentation fits into self-careFactors that contribute to clinicians’ struggles with documentationSome warning signs that we need to change our approach to documentationOne step you can take today to start getting on top of your documentationMaelisa’s best non-conventional self-care practiceDr. Maelisa McCaffrey is a licensed psychologist, nail design enthusiast, and multi-passionate entrepreneur. With her business QA Prep, she empowers therapists through trainings and consultation on clinical documentation. Maelisa focuses on the “why” behind the usual recommendations and encourages clinicians to think outside the box, while also keeping their ethics intact. As someone with ADHD who’s had to figure out what works through trial and error, Maelisa aims to make sure her trainings are practical, while also allowing for plenty of laughter and fun.Connect with Maelisa:https://www.qaprep.com/ https://www.instagram.com/maelisamccaffrey/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maelisa-mccaffrey/  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCytXRIFI17MtbmTh5QTJhsg Connect with Melissa & Karen at Intentional Therapist:intentional@intentionaltherapist.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/drmelissatiessen/Share one of your own self-care experiments via our SpeakPipe page at: https://www.speakpipe.com/intentionaltherapistDisclaimer: This podcast seeks to be educational in purpose and is not to be used as clinical advice. Please connect with a therapist one-on-one for personalized support.