Episode 18: Four Essential Considerations in Preparing for Pregnancy and Maternity Leave in Private Practice
Understanding the Journey
Welcome back to the Raised to Empower blog. Today, I’m diving deeper into a topic that’s incredibly close to my heart: navigating pregnancy and maternity leave in private practice. In this post, I’ll walk you through four key areas to consider, providing practical tips and insights to help you plan effectively for this unique journey.
Navigating Pregnancy Symptoms
Embracing the First Trimester Challenge
Let’s face it, the first trimester can feel like a battle. Many women, including myself, experience nausea, migraines, and extreme exhaustion, making it difficult to keep up with work demands. The key is to listen to your body. Your body knows best, so if it’s telling you to slow down, it’s crucial to honor that message.
I can’t stress enough the importance of self-care during this period. It’s okay to cancel appointments if needed. Your clients will understand. I’ve found it helpful to keep snacks nearby during sessions to manage nausea and disclose to my clients when necessary. If you missed my detailed experiences, have a listen to Episode 15 of the podcast, where I discuss my first trimester experiences across three pregnancies in private practice.
Planning with Flexibility
Planning for pregnancy requires flexibility. Instead of a rigid plan, set intentions that can adapt to your body’s needs. This approach provides structure while allowing the flexibility to adjust as needed. Remember to communicate with your clients about your condition, whether you tell them outright or simply inform them that you’re unwell.
Talking to Clients About Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
Timing and Approach
When and how to disclose your pregnancy to clients is a personal decision. The goal is to provide your clients with enough time to prepare for your absence without overwhelming yourself. Based on my experience, I’ve found disclosing around 16-22 weeks to be effective. This timing gives clients a few months to adjust to the idea and prepare for your leave.
Considerations for Specific Client Populations
It’s also important to tailor your approach based on your client population. For clients with a perinatal focus or those who have experienced pregnancy loss, a more sensitive approach might be required. Be sure to have referral options ready in case they need additional support.
For clients with abandonment issues or those heavily reliant on your sessions, it might be helpful to have a solid maternity leave plan in place before you disclose your pregnancy. This reassures them that they will continue to receive the support they need.
Financial Planning
Budgeting for Personal and Practice Expenses
Finances can be a significant concern when planning for maternity leave. It’s essential to budget both your personal and business expenses. Start by identifying your monthly financial needs and explore ways to save or adjust expenditures. Knowing your financial situation allows you to determine the length of your leave with more certainty.
Exploring Additional Income
If your initial financial evaluation shows a shortfall, consider exploring ways to generate additional income or reduce certain expenses during your leave. This planning can provide the financial buffer needed to make your maternity leave as stress-free as possible.
If you have a partner, collaborating on personal finances can also be beneficial. Together, you can strategize on saving and managing expenses efficiently.
Providing Coverage for Clients
Considering Client Needs
Deciding on client coverage during your maternity leave requires careful thought. Determine whether you’ll be available for emergencies or if clients need to be completely referred out during your absence. You might have a trusted network of colleagues who can offer temporary support to your clients.
Utilizing Professional Networks
For those who are part of communities like Our Village, leverage your network to provide client coverage. Having colleagues who understand and can step in if needed offers peace of mind for both you and your clients.
It’s essential to have these discussions with your colleagues beforehand to set clear expectations and ensure a smooth transition. Communicate your plans with clients well in advance to reduce anxiety and provide assurance of continued support.
Wrapping Up
Planning for pregnancy and maternity leave in private practice can be daunting, but with careful consideration and flexibility, it’s entirely manageable. Remember, it’s about taking care of yourself so you can continue to provide the best care for your clients.
I also wanted to give a shoutout and invite you to a free workshop I’m hosting on July 12th, focusing on planning for maternity leave in private practice. We’ll be diving into these topics in greater detail, preparing scripts for client conversations, using a financial calculator, and connecting with other providers. Visit www.raisetoempower.com/maternityleave to sign up.
Stay tuned to the Raised to Empower podcast for an exciting special series starting next week, where we explore diverse journeys to motherhood and their impact on private practice. Don’t forget to subscribe to get each episode directly in your feed!
Until next time, take care of yourself, and remember, you have the power to navigate this journey with confidence!
Transcript for Episode 18
[00:00:00] Ashley Comegys: You are listening to the Raised to Empower podcast. I'm your host, Ashley Comegys, a licensed clinical social worker with a multi-state online therapy practice. I have a passion for empowering women and mom therapists to break free of the fear, overwhelm, and oppressive systems that hold them back from taking action and building the private practice of their dreams.
[00:00:23] My goal is for you to boldly believe in yourself as a clinician and business owner. If you are looking for a place to learn, practice, building, strategy and skill, while also claiming your own power as a woman and a therapist, then you are in the right place. Welcome to the show. Welcome to this week's episode of The Raised Empower Podcast.
[00:00:46] At the time that I'm recording this episode, I'm actually coming off of a week long vacation with my family at Disney. We only live an hour away, so it was kind of a nice and easy getaway and was really fun to do with the carrots. But if anybody else has done [00:01:00] Disney, it was exhausting and you know, that, uh, it was honestly really good to take time to just unplug.
[00:01:07] I had brought my computer to do some work and really didn't do much at all. It was just really nice getting to enjoy ourselves. But I have to admit, just. How exhausting it was. If you've been following the show, you know, I'm pregnant and Florida heat is no joke, even at the beginning of June and the heat really took it out of me.
[00:01:28] I've never napped so hard in my life as I did certain days this past week, but it's really good to be getting back into a rhythm and routines as we're just kind of trying to get ready for the start of this week. So in today's episode, it's one that I'm excited to share with you because it definitely hits close to home for me, but it's also a topic that I see come up in many conversations among women and mom therapists, and that's about taking maternity leave and private practice.
[00:01:56] Unfortunately, we do not live in a country that [00:02:00] actually acknowledges the work of mothers and the hardship that comes in the postpartum period. It's really a shame. And maternity leave is looked at as a luxury or even a privilege and not as a right. And I see a lot of women that are in the therapy world questioning, am I even allowed to take maternity leave in private practice?
[00:02:21] Oh my goodness. Yes. Like if you get. Anything out of this episode, please take that away. That a hundred percent, absolutely. Yes. Yes. You can take maternity leave and it can look like whatever you want it to because when you're in private practice, you work for yourself. Now, if you're in a group practice, that can be a little bit different.
[00:02:43] And so I'm speaking more so from the standpoint if you are a solo practitioner, or even if you are like a 10 99 in a group practice, you have more autonomy than if you were a W two employee. So yes, you can take maternity leave, you get to [00:03:00] decide what it looks like, how long it is, when you wanna take it, when you wanna come back.
[00:03:06] That is your decision. That being said, I think it's important to think through and kind of plan ahead, not just for maternity leave, but really for your pregnancy while you're in private practice, being able to have a plan and. I'll actually, let me just call it an intention because especially in pregnancy, plans get thrown out all the time.
[00:03:28] We have to listen to our body, what it's telling us. We may get up one day and be like, I have the intention of eating a salad today, and your body is like, Hell no. You are going to lay on the couch and barely be able to even eat crackers, let alone anything healthy to put in your body. When it comes to trying to plan for how our body is going to respond in our work and in maternity leave, having a flexible plan or setting like this is my intention and I can [00:04:00] kind of move with that.
[00:04:02] It'll help you to have an idea of what to expect, and then how to plan for your pregnancy and your maternity leave. Now, there are so many different things to consider when planning for maternity leave, and each of us are different. We each have different personal. Needs or family needs or business needs.
[00:04:22] Just keep that in mind that this is hopefully a framework and we're gonna focus on four key areas that I want you to focus on and use this framework to think through and begin preparing and planning for. Your pregnancy in, in private practice and your maternity leave, but again, just keeping in mind that everybody's situation is different, but that this framework can help you to think through your specific situation.
[00:04:51] Being able to plan ahead for your pregnancy and maternity leave can help you to have a thriving [00:05:00] practice that doesn't just completely disappear when you have the baby or when the baby arrives. So these are things to just consider, again, as you head into pregnancy or if you're already there as you are preparing for maternity leave.
[00:05:17] The first area to consider when you know, thinking through all of this, is honestly navigating pregnancy symptoms. Being able to recognize that the first trimester, especially for many women, is just, I. An uphill battle. It is just surviving and trying to get through. It can be an emotional rollercoaster, and that's not just the first trimester, but it can be really hard physically.
[00:05:45] Many women experience nausea and that can be anything from, I just don't feel good to, I can barely keep anything down and I have to have a trashcan or a toilet nearby at all times. [00:06:00] Exhaustion. Is so real during that first trimester where you feel like you can barely keep your eyes open. Some women, um, experience migraines or you may have to be taking certain medications during your first trimester.
[00:06:16] Some women even have to have injections depending on their needs. These are just some things to be thinking about when it comes to pregnancy and how do you navigate those specific types of symptoms or needs that you may have when you're working with clients. If you go back to episode 15, I share what the first trimester has been like for me in my three pregnancies and in private practice, and how I navigated through those symptoms and dealing with clients.
[00:06:49] It's not that there's one specific way to do it. Each person's experience is different, and it's really important to remember that. But it may be helpful for some [00:07:00] women to have snacks nearby that you can be munching on, whether it's in between sessions or even during sessions. I definitely did that my first pregnancy.
[00:07:07] After I think I had disclosed to clients, I told them like, I just need to have some food nearby to be able to just help keep this nausea at bay. I really encourage you to go back and listen to episode 15, being able to give yourself permission to cancel appointments, even if it's last minute. If your body's telling you, not today, you can't do this today, you need to listen and honor that.
[00:07:32] And so thinking through, how do I communicate to clients, if you feel ready about why you're counseling, are you comfortable telling them it's because I'm pregnant, or do you need to just let them know, Hey, I'm not feeling well. I need to cancel at the last minute. So anticipating, what are you comfortable with?
[00:07:49] In dealing with some of those symptoms, or if you have to take medication at certain times, how will you navigate that if it's during a session time or if it is [00:08:00] something that may make you not feel as well with after you take it? These are not gonna necessarily be hard and fast detailed plans, but how do you anticipate navigating that for yourself and with clients?
[00:08:13] One of the things though that I really want you to hear and to remember, especially in the first trimester, but really throughout your pregnancy, is that you need to be caring for yourself. Self-care is not an option. We hear that all the time, but especially in. Pregnancy. If you aren't well, you can't care for your clients.
[00:08:38] So if you need to cancel an appointment, because you can barely focus on what your client is telling you because you're just trying to keep yourself from vomiting. You need to make sure that you're recognizing that I have this limitation right now and it is okay to cancel, or it is okay to cut my schedule back.
[00:08:54] That is okay. Your clients will be fine. I promise you. [00:09:00] And if you aren't comfortable telling your clients, Hey, like the reason I'm having to do this is because I'm pregnant, that's okay too. I have yet to have a client. Get upset with me when I have canceled last minute because I had told them I'm not feeling well.
[00:09:15] Whether it was due to pregnancy or a cold I caught from one of my kids. You need to be able to tell clients when it feels right to you. So if you wanna tell them early on, Hey, this is what's going on with me, that's okay. And if you aren't ready to have that conversation with them, that is okay too. Just make sure that you are putting yourself as a top priority.
[00:09:37] As you're navigating those symptoms and, and that timing of everything. So the second area that you definitely wanna consider as you are preparing for pregnancy and maternity leave is how to talk with your clients about your pregnancy and also your plans for maternity leave. Everybody is different and what you feel comfortable disclosing is [00:10:00] totally up to you, but it is important to think about how do you want to communicate these things and when do you want to communicate these things.
[00:10:11] This is an area that a lot of us struggle with when it comes to telling clients, Hey, I'm going to be taking some time off. I see a lot of us have feelings of guilt coming up about not being able to see clients due to leave. You know that, oh, I feel bad because my client's not gonna be able to see me during this time.
[00:10:30] Is it okay to actually take this leave? Throughout all of that, we really need to remember that our clients will be okay. We just need to consider how we communicate to them what will be happening. I've seen some therapists talk about how their clients were so appreciative that they had several months in advance to prepare for.
[00:10:52] Their therapists going on maternity leave because they needed to build certain coping skills, knowing that their therapist was not gonna necessarily [00:11:00] be available or there was gonna be a change in medication coming up. And so maybe they decided not to go off medication while the therapist was on leave.
[00:11:08] So just thinking about when do you feel comfortable disclosing, but also am I giving clients enough time to prepare in my experience? For a client to have, um, several months to prepare is more than enough time. You don't have to tell them at 12 weeks. You don't have to tell 'em at six weeks. Just giving them enough time to think through and prepare for you not necessarily being available.
[00:11:34] And depending on the population that you're working with, it may have an impact on how and when you want to tell them that you are going on maternity leave. For example, if you work with the perinatal population, you're gonna wanna consider if you're seeing clients who have struggled with trying to conceive or pregnancy loss or infant loss, You may want to [00:12:00] consider how you communicate your pregnancy to them versus a client that has not necessarily had those same struggles.
[00:12:09] You may want to consider even having some outside referral options available to them right off the bat. Not that you have to necessarily give them to them. When you first disclose, but just letting them know that you do have referral options available. If they feel like it would be better for them to be referred out to work with somebody else during your pregnancy and during your maternity leave.
[00:12:34] If you have clients who have abandonment issues, do you wanna have your plans of what maternity leave is gonna look like more in place before telling them? Or do you feel like you can disclose that you're pregnant and that you will talk to them in the future about what maternity leave is gonna look like?
[00:12:51] Again, there's not a right or wrong way. To do this. There's not a right or wrong answer, but it's just things to consider. For me, I've disclosed [00:13:00] my pregnancies between 16 and I think around 22 weeks. And when I've disclosed it, I haven't necessarily known at the those times exactly what my maternity leave was gonna look like.
[00:13:12] I simply kind of told them, Hey, I'm pregnant, and. I'm anticipating about this time that I will be taking leave because I'm due around this time, but that I will discuss with you, you know, a few months before I go out on leave, exactly what my leave is gonna look like. I usually start to have that conversation with them around the start of the third trimester, so that way it gives us at least three months in advance to say this is exactly what it's gonna look like my clients.
[00:13:44] The majority of them in my maternity leaves have chosen to stick around and continue to work with me right up until the end. I really haven't had anybody deciding to switch therapists during my pregnancy. They have chosen to see me [00:14:00] right up until I took my leave, and many of them have then come back after my leave.
[00:14:05] So again, everybody is different. Everybody's experience is gonna look different, but for me, that is what has worked for me and what has been successful for me. So if you are worried, am I going to be able to have my caseload when I come back? Part of it depends on the relationships that you have already built with these clients, but also how you're communicating with them what maternity leave is gonna look like.
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[00:15:23] The third area that you definitely need to consider when you're planning for maternity leave is what? Are your finances and planning financially for that leave? When it comes to maternity leave, one of the major considerations of what your leave is gonna look like will really be dependent on your financial situation, and this is one that you'll need to actually start planning for throughout your pregnancy and even before you get pregnant or before you start an adoption process.
[00:15:54] If you're able to start thinking through and saving. That will help. As you are preparing [00:16:00] for your leave, when you think about budgeting and saving, again, a lot of us get really overwhelmed with this. You're gonna need to not only consider your personal finances, like what do you need? For your take home pay while you're on leave, but also the finances of your practice.
[00:16:18] What will you need to set aside each month so that while you're out, you can cover your bills and expenses for your practice while you're not seeing clients? Are there certain things that you usually are paying for each month that maybe you can put on hold while you're not necessarily using those systems or that.
[00:16:36] Service, are there things that, it's a non-negotiable you have to continue to pay for while you're out, so you just wanna consider all of those things, so not only, again, your personal finances, but also what are the things you're gonna have to continue to pay for. That help cover the expenses of your practice while you're on leave.
[00:16:55] Finances are one of the things that stress most of us out. Even if [00:17:00] we have like a good relationship with money, it is something that for many of us, we just feel overwhelmed. But the truth is it's, it's not something we can ignore. And honestly, having a sense of how much we need to save or put away will help inform you on how long you can take for your maternity leave.
[00:17:20] You may be anticipating, I only can take X amount of weeks because I don't think I can make it work financially. But once you look at your finances, you may be able to. Actually take longer than you think, or maybe you're anticipating taking multiple months. And when you look at the finances, you may have to figure out, okay, is there another way I can save for that?
[00:17:43] Or is there another way to generate some income? To help cover expenses so that I can truly have the maternity leave that I want and be able to have that time with my baby and not feel like I have to just go back to work simply because financially I can't afford not to. [00:18:00] So you definitely need to go over how much you need to have personally and business-wise financially each month and start exploring how you can begin saving a bit each month to help cover those expenses if you have a partner, maybe when it comes.
[00:18:14] To the personal finances. That's something that the two of you can look at together around how can we, in our personal life, save to cover some of those personal expenses so that way you are not feeling maybe quite as strapped when it comes to the business side. And then the fourth area that you need to consider when planning for maternity leave is providing coverage for therapy clients.
[00:18:40] While you're on that leave, You definitely need to consider what kind of coverage will be available for your clients. Everybody is different, and so what you feel like you can give is not going to be the same as what somebody else. Wants to do for their leave and for their coverage. I [00:19:00] know that I don't have the mental or emotional space to be in contact with my clients on a needs basis during that time, but for some, they may be comfortable with them texting them or emailing them.
[00:19:10] So do you want to have clients contact you at all during pregnancy? Do you have colleagues that can be available? To clients if there is an emergency while you're on leave, or are you available if there's an emergency? Do you need to refer out when you're unavailable that maybe you have a client who they can't not be seen while you're on leave, so do you need to have them being seen by another therapist for the weeks or months that you're going to be out?
[00:19:41] Those are definitely things to think through and, and really for that kind of. Situation to discuss with your client of, Hey, I am thinking that it may be beneficial for you to be continue to be seen, or they may ask for that. And so if that's the case, who are you going to be referring them out to? Many [00:20:00] therapists are willing to help provide emergency coverage.
[00:20:03] So like if you had a therapy client that. Needed to be seen while you're unavailable. They can reach out to one of these other therapists and say, Hey, would you be available for a session? If you're familiar with our village community, that is one of the most amazing parts of that community, is having that network of providers to help provide coverage for leave, and knowing that, okay, these other therapists, they have my back during that time and I don't have to worry about.
[00:20:31] My clients because somebody else is there to provide that support for them. But it is important to talk with those colleagues, with other therapists to find out like, what do you feel comfortable providing while you're on leave? Is it more of a emergency basis? Are you available if a client needs to be seen regularly?
[00:20:50] Having those conversations just so that way you know what to communicate with clients is going to be really important and just to help make a smooth transition for [00:21:00] everyone. Obviously there's a lot to consider and plan for with pregnancy and maternity leave and private practice, but hopefully thinking through these four areas will help give you a better idea of what leave can look like for you.
[00:21:14] And if you're thinking about or you're just beginning to prepare for maternity leave soon or in the future, I'd love to invite you to come to a free workshop that I'm hosting on July 12th called Planning for Maternity Leave and Private Practice. This is a totally free workshop and we're gonna be going into much more details about these four areas.
[00:21:36] We're going to prepare scripts for talking with clients. We have a financial calculator that we're gonna use to work through so that we can get an exact financial picture of what you need to plan for, and also how to connect with other. Providers to help cover you and your practice during your leave.
[00:21:54] This is a totally free workshop. I'm not pitching anything after, so don't worry about that. But it's [00:22:00] something that is available and I would love to have you join. You can sign up at www.raisetoempower.com/maternity leave. We will have a link for that in the show notes, so definitely want you to check that out and when.
[00:22:16] Love to have you join us for that free workshop. I also wanna share about a special series that is going to be launching on the podcast next week. Usually, if you have been listening to this show, you know that a new episode comes out each Monday, but next week I'm going to be. Doing a special series where four new episodes are going to be dropping Monday through Thursday.
[00:22:43] Each of us has a different journey to motherhood and pregnancy looks very different for each of us. So I'm going to be highlighting four different women's experiences of journeying to motherhood, everything from adoption to multiple pregnancy losses, to fertility [00:23:00] treatments, to single motherhood by choice.
[00:23:02] And we're gonna talk about how their experiences in becoming mothers shaped the way that they navigated their private practices and taking maternity leave. I really encourage you to watch this podcast feed next week for each of these new episodes. If you haven't already subscribed to the show, I'd love for you to do that now so that you'll get each of these episodes right in your feed as they drop.
[00:23:26] And if you feel like some of these episodes may be too triggering for you. You can skip the ones that you need to and listen to those that feel appropriate for you. So again, I really encourage you to register for the workshop coming up in July, and I would love to have you join us here next week for the special series.
[00:23:45] I'll see you then. Thank you so much for listening to the Raise to Empower podcast. Check the show notes for all links and resources mentioned in the show. If you found today's episode helpful or inspiring, be sure to share it with your [00:24:00] therapist friends, and don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave your five star rating and review.
[00:24:05] It truly means so much to me and will help us get our message of empowerment out to other women and mom clinicians, and I'd love to connect with you in our Facebook community. So check out the show notes for the link or head to Bit.ly/raised to empower to join us. I'll see you back here next week.