Why So Many Therapists Feel Stuck After 3–5 Years in Private Practice I EP 40

There’s a particular season in private practice that rarely gets named.

You’re not burnt out.

You’re not failing.

You’re fairly booked, competent, and stable.

And yet — something doesn’t feel quite right.

In this episode of Not In Training, Ashleigh Nicole explores why so many therapists begin to feel stuck between years three to five of private practice, even when nothing is “wrong” on paper. This is a reflective conversation about the quieter middle years — the phase therapy training doesn’t really prepare you for.

Rather than offering strategies or solutions, this episode focuses on naming an experience many therapists silently carry: restlessness without a clear cause, stability without aliveness, and the tension that can arise when your identity as a practitioner evolves but your business model hasn’t caught up yet.

You’ll hear reflections on:

• Why feeling stuck in private practice isn’t the same as burnout or failure

• The overlooked transition phase after you’ve built a stable caseload

• How therapists can outgrow the way they work without outgrowing the work itself

• The role of meaning, values, and identity shifts in mid-career private practice

• Why this season often brings confusion, shame, or self-doubt — and why it doesn’t have to

• How simply naming this experience can reduce isolation and self-blame.

This episode is for therapists and counsellors who feel busy but unsettled, successful but quietly questioning, and unsure what the “next step” is meant to be — without wanting to rush into fixing or forcing change.

Sometimes, naming the thing is the work.

🎧 Listen if you’re navigating:

• Feeling stuck in private practice

• Mid-career therapist transitions

• Identity shifts after qualification

• Questions of meaning and purpose in therapy work

• The space between early career and burnout

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