Subscribe to the Leaving the Chair Newsletter: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

Episode Summary

What does it mean to feel like a fraud even when the evidence says otherwise? In this episode, Dr. Jen Blanchette sits down with Dr. Kevin Cokley — a leading scholar of the imposter phenomenon and African American psychology — to unpack why imposter feelings are so common, who experiences them most acu...

Subscribe to the Leaving the Chair Newsletter: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

Are other therapists gaslighting us about burnout? In this episode, Jen responds to a social media post claiming "burnout is not a given" — and unpacks why that framing, while well-intentioned, can quietly turn burnout into a "you problem." She talks honestly about arriving at burnout already burnt, why a new business model isn't a...

Can you prevent burnout as a therapist? This episode explores the balance between work life and personal life, the importance of boundaries, and how to navigate systemic challenges in the therapy field. Main Topics:

• The concept of guardrails in therapy and personal life
• Practical boundary-setting techniques for work-life separation
• The impact of systemic issues and environment on burnout
• Personal stories of systemic injustice and b...

Subscribe to the Leaving the Chair Newsletter: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

Are you a therapist who keeps adding certifications, trainings, and credentials, hoping that this one will finally make you feel like you're enough? In this episode, Jen gets personal about the inner voices of imposter phenomenon — the ones that say "I failed," "I'm not cut out for this," and "how did I get it all so wrong?" &mdash...

📬 THE LEAVING THE CHAIR NEWSLETTER For therapists done with burnout, overwhelm, and overscheduling — whether or not you're leaving the chair. Published twice monthly, free, and practical. 👉 Sign up here: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

In this episode: Jen asks the question therapists are thinking but not saying out loud — are certifications in our field kind of like an MLM? She digs into the rese...

✨ New: The Leaving the Chair Newsletter

Tired of the overwhelm, the over-functioning, and maybe even the therapy chair itself? Leaving the Chair is Dr. Jen's new newsletter for therapists who are ready to stop white-knuckling their careers and start building something that actually feels like theirs.

Sign up here: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

Show Notes — Bonus Episode: Dr. Jen on the Emotionally Wealthy...

Join my Therapist Pen Pal list (free):

https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

Overbooked & Overwhelmed (again): How to Prune What You Can When Your Calendar Feels Impossible

In this episode, I’m revisiting a topic I first talked about last year: what to do when you look at your calendar and genuinely can’t see how you’re going to make it through the week.

I’m naming the backdrop we’re all l...

Burnout Story: Today, I’m joined by Dr. Kiki Fehling (aka @dbtkiki), a psychologist, author, and DBT expert (Linehan board-certified). Kiki shares the burnout story that started in grad school and became impossible to ignore after an unexpected heart attack at 29 during internship.

We talk about what happens when your body forces a reckoning, why therapists normalize burnout so hard, and how Kiki ultimately built a career teac...

Join Leaving the Chair (registration closes Sat, Jan 31 at midnight):

https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/jhvxnbroxe

In this quick episode, I’m recapping the live webinar I just hosted on burnout and pivots — and what surprised me most wasn’t the content… it was the honesty in the questions.

A lot of therapists who showed up were already in motion: closing their practice, leaving a job, or sta...

After nearly three years of talking with therapists about burnout (and living my own recovery in real time), I wanted to pause and name what I keep seeing underneath the surface — especially for therapists who feel stuck, spinning, or quietly wondering if they can keep doing 1:1 work.

In this episode:

• Burnout isn’t just exhaustion — it’s losing your aliveness
• Therapist burnout isn’t a persona...

Quick note: Enrollment is open for Love It or Leave It (Leaving the Chair).

Closes January 30 (at the time of recording).

Join Love It or Leave It (Open Enrollment):

https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/jhvxnbroxe

Book a consult call (limited availability):

https://calendar.app.google/JBkK3aUPXyvxr46F7

About this episode

Micah Freeman interviews Jen for Episode 100.

We talk about milestones, burnout (in real life), cognitive...

Happy New Year, therapist. If you’re listening in real time, it’s 2026—and we made it through another year of “Earth school (thanks Liz Gilbert!)” in 2025.

In this episode, I’m rejecting the hustle harder / reinvent yourself energy that shows up every January—especially when your nervous system is already fried. Instead, I’m making the case for a soft start: a gentle re-entry ...

Join the therapist (Pen Pal List): https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb I write back!

Burnout isn’t just exhaustion — it’s the loss of feeling alive.

In this final episode of the year, I’m sharing what burnout recovery has actually looked like for me: the slow parts, the stuck parts, the softening of ambition, and the small pockets of aliveness that are bringing me back to myself.

In this epis...

Ending a therapeutic relationship is never easy, whether it’s because you're closing your practice, changing your career path, or setting necessary boundaries to protect your own well-being. In this episode, I share my personal experiences and challenges with therapy terminations, especially when they’re not planned or mutual. We dive deep into the fears therapists often have about letting clients down and the emotional...

December is often the most dysregulated month of the year—for our clients and for us.

From managing the anxiety of cancellations and income dips to navigating family boundaries that get pushed to the limit, today we are covering how&nbs...

Therapists are experts at spotting gaslighting in our clients' lives, but we are often the worst perpetrators of it in our own heads. If you’ve ever thought, "I should be able to handle this" or "If I leave, I’ve failed," y...

Join the Therapist Pen-Pal List for weekly reflections and burnout recovery tips:https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

After a difficult meeting left me dysregulated and questioning everything (again), I knew it was time to return to this series: Structured Rest.

In this personal and practical episode, I talk about:

• Why traditional rest isn't enough in burnout recovery
• What it means to actually create safety in your bod...

Therapy is profoundly weird. It forces us into a messy middle ground—a hybrid existence that few outside the profession understand. As Matt Hussey shared, the more "unprofessional" we were in discussing these realities, the more it resonated.

Get more therapist real talk on the newsletter for podcast updates, offerings, and my upcoming circles in 2026: https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/drjenb

The Financial...

If you’ve ever thought, “I just can’t do this work anymore, but I don’t know what else I could do,” this episode is for you.

Host Jen Blanchette sits down with career coach and recruiter Alki Thompson to talk about the real-life process of career transition—especially for therapists and helpers who feel stuck, depleted, or unsure of what comes next.

Together they unpack:

• What burnout, instabilit...