Off The Chair

Feeling fried, curious about therapist retreats, or secretly dreaming of side hustles for therapists that will actually restore you? We get it - and we made this episode for clinicians who want rest and revenue without the shame spiral.

We sit with Amy Johnston, founder of The Exhale Collective, to unpack how a practicing clinician builds therapist retreats into a life-saving creative business. We get candid about therapist burnout,...

When it comes to running a therapist business, nothing derails growth faster than the wrong hire. In this episode, we get real about the delegation problems, the bad hires, and the lessons that cost us time, money, and plenty of sleep. From missed calls to admin chaos to leaders who looked great on paper but wrecked the culture, we’re unpacking the true cost of bad hires and how to recover when your group private practice takes a h...

Freedom after selling your practice isn’t guaranteed - and scaling doesn’t have to break you. 

In this episode, we unpack what happens when “I’ll feel free after the exit” meets real life. We explore why peace comes from boundaries, systems, and aligned choices - not the transaction - while showing how a growing practice can actually create space. 

Along the way, we share practical ways a therapist mom can protect energy, u...

Being a mom therapist means wearing more hats than most people can imagine - and switching between them in the blink of an eye. 

In this raw and real episode, we talk candidly about balancing motherhood and career, and how we manage the mental load without completely burning out.

We dig deep into the lived experience of being a mom therapist in today’s “do it all” culture - and we don’t hold back. From awkward Zoom calls with ki...

When the walls feel tighter than ever, that crossroads of deciding to scale, sell, or stay is real - and confusing. 

In this episode, we unpack the deeply personal, strategic, and emotional decision every practice owner faces: whether to scale therapy, sell, or stay - and how aligned practice management can help you make the right call for your life and your business.

We share the truth about what happens when your practice feel...

Therapist burnout doesn’t start with big breakdowns - it starts with tiny betrayals of your time, your energy, and your vision. 

In this episode, we get real about the emotional toll when you scale therapy practices, the identity shifts that come with leadership, and how to build a business that actually loves you back.

We don’t just talk about how to scale therapy practices - we unpack what it means to scale with integrity, val...

Ever wonder if you're the only one silently struggling while running a practice? You're not. This episode dives deep into the raw reality of therapist burnout - and what comes after.

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on our personal journeys through therapist burnout, the emotional toll of leadership, and the hard-earned lessons we’ve learned from building and breaking our therapy businesses. We’ve led teams, scaled services...

If you’ve ever felt trapped by your own success, stuck in the grind of growing your therapy businesses, or secretly questioning your career while leading others - this episode is for you. 

We’re talking about the real cost of therapist burnout, what no one tells you about running therapy businesses, and how we finally stepped away from the chair (emotionally, clinically, and sometimes financially).

In this first episode of Off t...

When therapist burnout meets business overwhelm, something has to change. Off the Chair is here to spark that change.

In this trailer, we introduce our unfiltered mission: to talk about what really happens behind the scenes of building and sustaining a therapist business in today's broken mental health system. 

We are Dr. Colleen Long, Dr. Jennifer Politis, and Erika Bugaj, LICSW - three clinicians who have led, scaled, and some...