Episode #690: Living In Two Countries As A Therapist

Ever dream of living part of the year abroad and running a thriving in-person practice? 🌍✨

 

In this Ask Allison, I’m breaking down how to make it work when you’re living a dual-country life—whether you’re gone for a few weeks or a solid three months. We’ll cover 4 creative practice models that let you travel without burning out, losing income, or ghosting your clients.

 

Whether it’s sabbaticals, virtual work, adjunctive services, or intensives—you’ve got options, and I'm here to help!

 

Sponsored by TherapyNotes®: Looking to switch EHRs? Try TherapyNotes® for 2 months free by using promo code ABUNDANT at therapynotes.com. 

 

Links You’ll Love:

• Grab our FREE tools to grow your practice—weekly worksheets, the Tasky Checklist, and more: www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/links
• Ready to fill your practice faster? Join the Abundance Party today and get 75% off your first month with promo code PODCAST: www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/abundanceparty
• Need help with your niche? Check out our Know Your Niche course (just $27!) and learn how to attract your ideal client effortlessly: www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/niche 
• Have a question for me about practice building? Submit it via our Ask Allison form, and I'll add it to the queue: https://www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/ask_allison
• Prefer video? This episode is also available to stream on our YouTube channel!

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to Ask Allison.
Y'all ask the questions about having a
fun and thriving practice and I answer them.
We have a worksheet for you today so
you can bring this answer into your life.
You can access that at abundancepracticebuilding.com slash
links, where you'll also be able to ask
any questions you have for Ask Allison.
If you want more support, we've got some
free trainings in there too.

(00:28):
If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check
out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask
Allison library.
Welcome back to Ask Allison.
Here's today's question.
How can you sustain an in-person practice
if you're basically living a dual life, nine
months in one country and three months in
another?
Y'all, this question made me stretch my

(00:50):
brain in all the best ways.
Before I answer, I'd like to thank Therapy
Notes for sponsoring Ask Allison.
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(01:34):
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for two free months.
All right, back to this question.
I'm going to assume the nine months are
sequential, the three months are sequential, so it's
like a seasonal migration.
If instead they're broken into smaller chunks, it'd

(01:56):
be a little easier.
You can run your practice as usual and
just let folks know you're going to be
out of town.
But if you're gone for three solid months,
that's going to take more intention.
So I see four potential avenues here.
Let's walk through them.
The first is to treat it like a
sabbatical.
This option only works if your practice model
supports shorter-term therapy.
Think solution-focused brief therapy, CBT protocols, or

(02:19):
even just certain rounds of EMDR that can
be wrapped up in a finite amount of
time.
Here's how it could work.
During those nine months at home, we'll call
that Home 1, you accept new clients, but
you stop taking them after a certain cutoff
point, maybe two to three months before your
departure.
That completely depends on average number of sessions
per client.

(02:40):
That gives you enough time to bring your
current client's treatment to a natural conclusion instead
of leaving them hanging.
The upside is that clients know what to
expect.
You can market your work as short-term
and focused.
You can get three uninterrupted months abroad where
you don't have to worry about your clinical
responsibilities.
The challenge, of course, is this is assuming

(03:01):
that you are estimating or triaging this client's
circumstance appropriately.
We don't know everything when they first start
with us, so that might be a challenge.
Another challenge is income consistency.
So you'll likely need to keep marketing while
you're away so you can have a pipeline
of new clients waiting for you when you
return.

(03:22):
So think of it like farming, nine months
planting and harvesting, three months letting the field
mostly rest.
Option two would be to go hybrid with
virtual work.
This is probably the most obvious solution.
You're in person for nine months, you're virtual
for three.
Many clients are used to hybrid models by
now, so it wouldn't be as jarring as
it might've been pre-2020.

(03:43):
The big caveat here is legal.
Make sure you are covered by your licensing
board and malpractice insurance when you're physically in
another country.
It's not about where the client is.
We know that as long as you're licensed
where they are in the United States, that's
usually fine.
But if you're in another country, just CYA.
See where you are when you're practicing and
if that's okay.
If you want some inspiration for this, check

(04:05):
out episode 628 of the Abundant Practice Podcast
where I interview Annie Krajewski.
She's a therapist who travels internationally while seeing
her U.S.-based clients online.
She's got some really creative solutions for handling
things like time zones and scheduling.
If you're in the Abundance Party, we have
a full training from her too.
If this interests you, do that.

(04:26):
If you go this route, be really up
front the very first client call that nine
months of the year we're going to meet
in person, three months I'm going to see
you virtually.
That transparency, it builds trust, it gives clients
the choice about whether or not that model
works for them.
Option three, adjunctive work.
So this one's a little more creative.
So let's say you're an EMDR therapist.

(04:47):
You could collaborate with local therapists and offer
adjunctive services for their clients.
So while those clients are in between phases
with their primary therapist or their therapist is
addressing other goals, they can come to you
for really focused trauma processing.
It's a win-win.
The primary therapist isn't losing their client and

(05:07):
you're offering something valuable but time limited.
This model works especially well if you're only
in town for part of the year because
adjunctive work is naturally more contained.
So imagine telling referral sources, I'm available for
nine months to do this deep targeted work
that supports, doesn't replace, but supports your ongoing
therapy with clients.
And that can position you as a specialist

(05:27):
rather than somebody who's like an...
Option four, lean into intensives.
And this is honestly my personal favorite suggestion
of these if financial stability is top of
mind or sustainability is top of mind.
Intensives are really perfect for someone living a
dual country life because they condense the work.
So instead of weekly sessions, you bring clients

(05:49):
in for one day, two day, even multi
-day intensives.
They get really powerful, immersive experiences.
You can schedule them in a way that
makes sense for your travel.
And here's why it works.
Intensive yield higher revenue per hour.
So you can potentially make enough in nine
months to comfortably live the rest of the
year.
Plus they set you apart.
Not every therapist offers them, which can create

(06:11):
a niche for you.
So if you're curious about this path, check
out episode 565 of the Abundant Practice Podcast.
Stephanie Feld, who's amazing, does a great kind
of overview of intensives.
She has a really amazing training inside the
Abundance Party that dives into the nuts and
bolts of running intensives.
And after that training with her, I started

(06:32):
getting my stuff together to be able to
do them myself.
So if you're not already a part of
the Abundance Party, where those deeper trainings are
with the two people that I mentioned, both
Annie and Stephanie, then hop on in.
So let's recap though.
Sabbatical model, short-term therapy with built-in
seasonal breaks.
Number two is hybrid model, in-person nine

(06:54):
months virtual for three.
Third is adjunctive work, collaborate with a therapist
for targeted services.
And then four is intensives, high-impact, time
-efficient work that fits a seasonal schedule.
Each of these options has pros and cons.
The key is aligning your clinical style, your
financial needs, your lifestyle values.
And the beautiful part is there's no one

(07:14):
right way.
You get to design a practice that supports
the life you want, not the other way
around.
So regardless of your choice, you're going to
need to start with the fundamentals.
The free worksheet this week is niche versus
ideal client.
This is vital to make marketing as easy
as possible.
Because you're working a little bit differently than
a typical therapist will with each of these,

(07:35):
you're going to need to have a really
targeted niche in order to bring people in
who aren't going to be bothered by that
at all or are excited about that.
So DM the word sheets or click the
link in the show notes and I will
send that your way.
All right.
Have a great day.
If you're ready for a much easier practice,
TherapyNotes is the way to go.

(07:55):
Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo
code abundant for two months free.
I hope that helped.
If you have questions for Ask Allison, or
you want to get your hands on the
worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com
slash links.
If you're listening, you probably need some support

(08:17):
building your practice.
If you're a super newbie, grab our free
checklist using the link in the show notes.
I'd love for you to follow rate and
review, but I really want you to share
this episode with a therapist friend.
Let's help all our colleagues build what they
want.