This week, we're sharing a conversation originally recorded for The Innovative Therapist with Shawn Hondorp.

What started as a typical podcast interview quickly became a conversation that helped me better understand my own work (thank you very much!) We talk about how chronic shame disconnects us from our agency, why therapists need to be honest about power dynamics, and what happens when we stop trying to "arrive" at healing and instead embrace the lifelong journey of becoming.

• Why personal power and agency are essential to healing from developmental trauma

• How therapists unintentionally recreate harmful power dynamics in therapy and workplace settings

• The connection between chronic shame and self-abandonment

• Why therapists must prioritize their own healing work

• How creativity, play, spirituality, and community can become powerful pathways to transformation

If you've ever felt frustrated by the limitations of traditional therapy, exhausted by workplace dynamics, or curious about what authentic healing really looks like, I think you'll find something meaningful here.

Originally aired on The Innovative Therapist podcast in 2026. Many thanks to Shawn Hondorp for the invitation and conversation. If you haven't already, check out her show and add it to your listening playlist.

The Innovative Therapist Retreat October 2026 with Shawn Hondorp

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

You know how I'm always encouraging therapists to sit with the unknown? Well, fair warning: this episode may test your limits in the same way that a good fitness coach might test your stamina.

It's time for the AI conversation.

• AI's growing role in therapy, healing, and emotional support

• Why loneliness and disconnection make AI companions appealing

• What human therapists can offer that AI can't replicate

• How therapists may need to evolve in an AI-driven future

• The importance of community, embodiment, and real connection

Maybe therapists can't counter all of our dystopian daydreams, but we can expand our capacity to connect.

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

You know how we are always talking about dismantling harmful systems on this podcast? Well…what happens when those systems show up inside group practices?

This conversation with Andie Baumgartner and Nadia Parfenova from Rowan Tree Counseling goes deep into the complicated, emotionally loaded relationship between practice owners and employees. And, in fact, it was THE conversation that helped me realize we needed to work with employees as well as business owners in the Group Practice (R)evolution!

Topics include:

• Therapist burnout and workplace trauma

• Transparency, hierarchy, and power dynamics

• Why trust feels so difficult in therapy workplaces

• The emotional realities of group practice ownership

• Risk tolerance, private practice culture, and clinician anxiety

From the fear many clinicians carry into the workplace to the pressure practice owners feel holding entire businesses together, we unpack what's happening behind the scenes in the therapy industry and what it might actually take to build healthier, more sustainable working relationships.

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

***

Group Practice (R)evolution is a podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

In my ongoing effort to "future-proof" the field of therapy, I'm encouraging practitioners to dream beyond the conventional session model. How do we move our profession and the world closer to a truly person-centered ethos? How do therapists expand our professional capacity to welcome (or, at least tolerate) interpersonal nuance, spiritual inquiry, somatic experiences, and/or political difference?

My guest, Dr. Danica Harris, suggests that therapists begin by loosening their death grip on the one-on-one billable hour, among other things. Danica is the somatic experiencing practitioner behind The Empowered Therapist on Instagram. She's also a complex trauma expert working internationally as a coach, facilitator, presenter, and educator.

If you're gonna chart a course for a utopian professional future, you're gonna want Danica along for the ride!

• Why the medical model is failing many therapists and clients

• The growing divide between therapy education and real-world healing

• How trauma shows up in therapists themselves

• Why younger clinicians are challenging old systems

• The role of spirituality, embodiment, and vulnerability in healing

• What hope looks like during times of collective trauma

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

I'm going to say something that might make a few therapists squirm: power is not the enemy. And yet… so many of us act like it is.

In this conversation with Francine Proulx-Kenzle, I kept coming back to a core truth that I think we—especially in the therapy world—need to hear again and again: power simply exists. What matters is how we relate to it.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Power isn't something you have or don't have—it's something you learn to use

• Avoiding power often leads to recreating the same harmful dynamics

• Burnout is often a sign of disconnection from your own needs and agency

• Systems like sociocracy show us what shared, humane power can look like

• Healing isn't about becoming perfect—it's about staying in relationship with your humanity

If there's one thing I want you to take from this conversation, it's this: you don't have to reject power to be a good person. You just have to learn how to use it differently. And that work starts with you.

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

Our third cohort of the Authentic Leaders Group starts this spring and it's got me thinking about systems that need to change. While change may be inevitable, it's far from easy. That's especially true in the therapy field.

Our clients and culture are undergoing sweeping evolution and so too must group practice. How do we bridge the gap between employees and owners when both feel overworked and underpaid?

Sociocracy could be the answer.

• Why group practice feels unsustainable right now: Exploring the growing disconnect between owners and clinicians—and how burnout, compensation, and evolving cultural needs are pushing the current model to its limits.

• What sociocracy offers instead: Insights from Ted Rau on consent-based governance, shared decision-making, and how "circles" can distribute power, responsibility, and accountability.

• The real question behind systems change: What it actually asks of us—owners releasing control, clinicians stepping into leadership—and whether the field is ready to experiment with more equitable, collaborative ways of working.

I'm committed to having more of these system-focused, heart-centered conversations. I hope you are, too.

Next cohort starts May 1, 2026.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

You know how I'm always going on about a) doing your work, and b) doing that work alongside others? It occurred to me that many therapists don't know where to begin, especially with "everything" happening to our profession and the communities we serve.

Kathryn Esquer felt that same deep desire for peer-based connection and support. So, she built it. Today, The Therapist Network offers professionals a virtual space for genuine collaboration, collective wisdom, and feedback––the kind of inspiration and resource-sharing that chaotic Facebook groups just can't provide.

Katy and I advance that goal by offering a "what to expect" primer for healthy group dynamics:

• Why build community? Your professional growth and mental well-being depend on it! Joining something is scary as hell, but extending yourself is better than going it alone.

• Practice discernment. Not all collaboration is good! If you're questioning a group's leadership, motives, or focus, then it's time to find a new space.

• Include elders and others. If the group doesn't embrace a mix of backgrounds, orientations, or ages, then it's not a true community.

• Seek safety. Authenticity is easier to access when a group feels secure. A reminder that safety doesn't mean devoid of accountability. A safe community promotes responsibility among all its members.

Take time to find your people.

Join The Therapist Network and receive 20% off your subscription tier when you enter the code SARAHROCKS.

Next cohort starts May 1, 2026.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

The Therapist Network is a global community built by and for therapists. You'll find live consult groups, an ever-growing library of workshops and courses, plus a community that really sees you. Sarah's group, Tending to the Wounded Healer, meets every other Monday from 1–2pm CT, and it's a space to explore the intersection of your lived experience and your clinical work.

So if you want to feel more supported and less alone, visit TheTherapist.Network—or join Sarah's group directly at tinyurl.com/HealerConsultTTN.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

This realignment impacts you whether you're a group practice owner OR a therapist staffer.

If you take only one lesson away from my conversation with Lori Goldstein, award-winning employment lawyer, let it be this: If you're not sure, then ask a lawyer.

Common group practice legal issues include:

• Misclassification: 1099 vs W-2 Therapists

• Non-Competes & Non-Solicits in Work Agreements

• Workplace Compliance & HR Discrimination Risk

• Generational Workplace Expectations

• Unethical Private Equity Practices

• ​​Therapist vs Business Owner Role Confusion

• Communication Failures Leading to Legal Disputes

Opportunities abound for new ways of working together. Just make sure you consult a lawyer first.

***

Group Practice (R)evolution is a podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. Become a part of the (R)evolution in our Authentic Leaders Group.

This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Conversations With a Wounded Healer Merch

Join our Patreon for gifts & perks

Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers

Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts

***

Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places…

Website

Facebook @headheartbiztherapy

Instagram @headheartbiztherapy