How to go on Maternity Leave in Private Practice | My Complete Plan

How to go on Maternity Leave in Private Practice | My Complete Plan

Swipe my emergency "Early Labor Notice" email:
https://tinyurl.com/yxcrmfmn

How to Tell Clients You're Pregnant:
   • Telling Therapy Clients You're Pregna...  

By the time this video goes live, I will be just a couple weeks away from going on maternity leave. There are so many ways to do maternity leave well, but in this video, I share my personal plan for going on maternity leave in private practice.

This video is geared for therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.

Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.

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Music Credit:
"Sunshine" by Ikson
  / ikson  

This video is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

Maternity leave! How come nobody ever seems to talk about it? Given that there are more women than men in the field of psychology, and that many women I know opt for private practice in order to leverage the flexibility it offers to embrace mommyhood, I think it’s time to chat about it. And no better time than this, because by the time this video goes live I’ll be over 8 months pregnant (ahh!!!).

Here are the steps I’ve taken to be ready to go on leave:

1. Create a loose window for how long I’ll be gone so clients know what to expect. For me, I’ve told clients that I’ll need 2-4 months for leave, and that I’ll let them know around the 2 month mark when they can expect me to return.

2. Start making a financial plan as soon as you’re pregnant. I opted to not take a paycheck while on leave, but I calculated the expenses I would owe if I took a full 4 months leave. During the 8 months between finding out I was pregnant and going on leave, I stowed away a small budget each month to cover all my expenses to keep my business open while I’m on leave, while leaving a bit of buffer.

3. Tell potential clients that you’re pregnant. Once I told existing clients that I’m pregnant, I announced to potential clients during the initial phone screen that I’ll be taking leave beginning in August.

4. Decide when to stop taking new clients. I decided to stop taking new clients 3 months before going on leave. Most of my clients are fairly long-term, and I’m hoping to avoid leaving any clients hanging right when we’re getting into good work.

5. Connect clients with referrals where needed. Even for my most stable clients, they receive a list of therapists to contact should they need support while I’m away. For clients that I anticipate may need more support, I play a more active matchmaker role and set them up with a therapist they can meet with while I’m on leave.

6. Create an emergency email in case you go into labor. Around the 30 week mark, I created an email draft with all of my clients BCCed in case I went into labor before my leave started. You can snag that email from me and make it your own by clicking the link in the description box.

7. Set boundaries. I’ve been very clear with clients that I’m completely unavailable for the first two months of leave. That means, no returned calls, no emails, nothing. I have an email auto-reply set up and updated my voicemail to reflect that I’m not available. They also direct clients where they can go if they need support. I will also delete any client related apps from my phone so I’m not tempted to take a look. I want to be present to baby girl when she arrives!

8. Phase back in slowly. My intent is that around the two month mark I will start to see a few of my clients, possibly only via teletherapy. I can see how this structure jives with my new family dynamics before deciding to dive back in all the way.

I also want to speak to the dads-to-be out there: I encourage you to consider utilizing as many of these tips as you need to go on paternity leave too. Whomever you are, whether you take a month off or a full year, it’s important to have a plan in place that also allows some flexibility for those times when things don’t go exactly as we planned!

I hope you found this video helpful, and if you’re anticipating a new baby arriving in your family soon I wish you all the best with that! Until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well.