This week, I’m writing with a simple question:
Have you ever taken a long leave of absence from therapy work?
Maybe it was a formal sabbatical.
Maybe it was just time to focus on yourself or family (ideally beyond the laughable 4-12 weeks of mat leave that's supposed to cover childbirth recovery.
Maybe you needed a LONG break from therapy work to recover from burnout.
If you’re interested in sharing your experiences, transformative or not, would you please write back and let me know?
And if you haven’t taken a long leave from work before, what happens to your brain and body when you think about it? Do you fantasize about it? Fear it? I want to hear from you too!
I came across something called The Sabbatical Project this week.
From what I can tell, they've created a support and educational structure to help people take long breaks and to research the impact of these breaks. There's also some advocacy for helping businesses implement an ethos of long rest from top to bottom.
The other healing professions (religious or spiritual) have some sort of sabbatical woven into their expected rhythm of work. Sure, expectation and reality can differ, but they at least have language to talk about it!
I can’t think of any mental health job I’ve had that genuinely expected me to take breaks from work as part of my professional development and as part of protecting the clients we serve.
Last year, my friend in tech took a sabbatical. Let me say that again. They're giving out sabbaticals IN. TECH. I love that for her, no shade at all. But aren’t we the ones always talking about healthy work-life and self-care? Tech is notoriously abusive to its staffers and this company was just…happy?…with her taking 6 months to herself???
What’s the deal? Are sabbaticals even practical for therapists?
What would mental health clinics, group practices, and private practitioners need to put in place to make this happen?
What would we, as helpers, need to be able to take the offer? Money seems like the obvious answer...would we need anything else?
I’m going to be reading some research on this. If you have an experience you’d like to share, you can hit me up at [email protected]. I won’t share with others unless you give me permission. I just want to hear some stories!
Ok, good luck this week, catch you later.
-Andreana
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