How to Smoothly Transition between Work and Home Life as a Sensitive Therapist
Starting anything new can bring up a lot of resistance: What will it be like? Who will be there? Will I know what to do? But, I’d rather stay cozy in bed today. Once you actually get started and settled in, it can actually be difficult to stop! I’m sure you’ve had those days where you didn’t feel like going to work, but then got immersed in a project and ended up staying late.
This is because Highly Sensitive folks have brains that need to process before transitioning from one thing to the next. When you’re rushed your nervous system can get easily overstimulated, creating feelings such as anxiety or irritability. The same process happens for Sensitive Therapists rushing between seeing clients and getting home. You may want to make that transition as quickly as possible, but in the long run you may actually benefit from slowing down.
Below are a few ways you can approach the transition from therapist self to personal life more intentionally...
Symbolize the Start of Your Day
When you begin your day, it can be helpful to have some symbol that you’re now in therapist mode. For some, that’s wearing a certain piece of clothing or jewelry. For others, that may include visualizing putting on your symbolic therapist hat (or shawl!) and setting up your boundaries. Find a practice that feels right for you and then repeat that at the beginning of every client day.
Use a Closing Checklist
Once you finish the last session of the day, there are probably a few other tasks you need to tend to before heading out of the office (or your bedroom or garage, if you’re working from home). Things like processing credit card payments, wrapping up your clinical notes, or turning off the sound machine.
To ensure you can transition into home life with peace of mind, create a checklist with all the little and big items included in your “closing duties” checklist. Post this list somewhere you can easily see it, such as behind your computer, underneath the protective cover on your desk, on the back of the bedroom door if you’re working from home, or near where you store your personal items in the office.
Take Off Your Therapist Hat
Now that you’ve finished all your sessions for the day and completed your closing checklist, you are ready to head home or out into your personal life. But wait, you’re forgetting to symbolically take your therapist hat off! It’s important to create an intentional practice or ritual that signals to your nervous system that you are finished being a therapist for the day. This process could be as simple as reversing the way you started your day - taking off the special piece of jewelry or clothing that you wear as a therapist. Often Sensitive Therapists need a more in-depth transition since we’re wired to pause and move into the next phase more slowly.
A few practices that could support your transition include:
Changing your clothes
Taking a shower
Going for a short walk
Engaging with your favorite mindfulness or regulation exercises (breathing, tapping, etc.)
Visualization (imagine taking off your imaginary therapist hat, storing client emotions/stories in a safe place, or clearing away any residual energy you’ve absorbed)
Schedule in Time to Decompress
Once your therapist hat is off, you’ll want to give yourself some time to decompress and slowly ease into the next part of your day. This could include as little as five minutes sitting in the car before you head into the house or laying on the bed in your teletherapy “office” before you return to home life. However much time you can spare, whether five minutes or an entire hour, give yourself space to transition into prepping dinner, talking to family or roommates, and tending to personal responsibilities.
Of the suggestions I’m offering here, I know this may be the hardest one to complete. Setting aside time for yourself is not always easy and you may feel guilty. I’ll remind you to think of the big picture here and the long-term impact of regularly taking a little time to recharge your emotional battery. Otherwise, you’ll begin to feel irritable, overstimulated, resentful at home and at work, eventually leading to burnout.
No matter what practices or routines help you navigate between your therapist and human self, the foundation must be permission. Permission to move slowly between these two parts, to give yourself time to ease into the transition, and tend to your sensitive nervous system. Take care of yourself as well as you do your clients, dear Sensitive Therapist.
