I was getting really busy in my private practice, this was exciting, but I was starting to burn out. I had some tough decisions to make so that I could free up some time and energy. However, nothing could have prepared me for a global pandemic and having to transition my Canadian private practice from in-person to online counselling. IN THIS EPISODE: Making the decision to focus on my private practice Getting back into the swing of things The change that COVID-19 brought on Embracing the world of online counselling Taking more risks Making the decision to focus on my private practice Going into the fall of 2019 I knew I couldn't sustain the amount of work I was doing and I needed to cut down on the number of clients I was seeing each week. In mid-November/December I made the difficult decision to leave my job at Dalhousie at the end of January 2020. I had after all moved to Halifax to start my private practice and that is what I needed to focus on and continue building that. In addition to this, I also needed to get to a point where I wasn't feeling so burned out all the time. The change that COVID-19 brought on By the 3rd week of March, there was a notice that businesses would be closing down because of COVID. My last day of seeing clients in person, I needed to figure out how I was going to continue to counsel people. In a very short space of time, I had to make some crucial decisions and take some action steps: Which video platform was I going to use? Contact all my clients to let them know we can continue sessions Jane App (use code: FEARLESS for one month free) is the long-term plan I settled on for my video platform, and it was at no extra cost! This was a huge weight off my shoulders because then my caseload started to decline. People didn't want online counselling, they only wanted in-person counselling and others just decided that they were going to wait it out and continue sessions once everything was back to normal. This was stressful, but luckily, I had that emergency fund. It also helped that for the last few years I had lived on a very frugal budget. I could scrape by with paying my living expenses but I couldn't afford the rent at the clinic anymore. Taking more risks The clients I was seeing at the clinic, stayed with me. I was surprised, even though I shouldn't have been. For the past few years, I always had admin help from someone from the clinic where I rented space, and the last thing that I wanted to do now was to take on that role and take calls for intakes and answer emails. So, I hired a virtual assistant and began the process of training her. Having her do these tasks really legitimized my Canadian business, it felt more like a company than just me as a solo therapist.    In September 2020 it started to get really busy again! The burnout was still lingering and I decided to cut out Saturdays and I changed the time I saw my clients. Connect with me: Website and Instagram Resources Mentioned and Useful Links: Ep 04: How I Grew My Canadian my Private Practice – Year Three Jane App - Book, chart, schedule, invoice, process payments, and run your whole practice online (use code: FEARLESS for one month free) Brighter Vision Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an Online Canadian Private Practice Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon, and TuneIn.

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