Planning extended leave from your practice: What psychologists and therapists need to know before going on maternity leave or other extended leave with Dr Rosie Gilderthorp and Dr Michaela Thomas

Summary and Key Learning points

It is my hope that this podcast episode will be useful to any psychologist or therapist who needs to take a longer break from their practice. For me, and for Michaela, our guest today and long time friend of the podcast, we are taking breaks from our practices because of maternity leave but you could also need to take a break for other life events, maybe even something fun like travel! This episode is not intended to give you a one size fits all plan for extended leave/maternity leave. Every practice and person is different and one of the things I love most about independent practice is that you can flexibly adapt everything to suit your values and needs. Instead Michaela and I will talk you through some key points that you need to consider and we will let you in on our thinking and our plans. 

So before we jump into our maternity plans I think it is important that we both introduce our businesses and say a bit about what our normal working weeks involve as that obviously has a big impact on planning a break!

Michaelas’s business: The Thomas Connection

Tuesday- Friday: 3 days clinical sessions (9 clients)

CEO day on Friday 

Afternoons focus on passive income streams and visibility including - podcasts, speaking, online course, writing, managing her team.

My business: The Innovation in Mental Health Project 

IMHP actually has three projects within it that all contribute to the overall social enterprise. 

Psychology Business School

• Psychology Business School Online Course (building thriving & fulfilling) practices
• Do More Than Therapy Membership (growing and developing passive income streams to make more impact in your practice)
• 1: 1 coaching for psychologists and therapists in independent practice

In Mind Consulting

• A separate company with three other incredible psychologists, Kat, Boo and Kendelle!
• We offer bespoke training and consultancy packages to organisations that want to improve the mental wellbeing of their teams, particularly in the wake of COVID 19 induced change, uncertainty and conflict.

Dr Rosie Psychology Services

• Therapy
• Perinatal online courses
• Hypnobirthing
• Associates

Michaela’s maternity leave plan:

Psychological flexibility is key!

Saved money as a buffer of £12,000

 Plan to take dividends of £1000 a month (limited company) 

My maternity leave plan:

3 months off (while writing a book as I can’t ever stop writing)

3 months teaching PBS and DMTT only 

3 months teaching + consultancy

Clinical work and 1:1 coaching to resume after 12 months

Key points to consider when planning your maternity leave/extended leave 

How long do you actually want off? 

This is my third baby and the honest answer to this has been different every time. It is also likely that you won’t know in advance so it is important to model out some different scenarios and allow for flexibility. 

Financially forecast different versions of your leave. 

Model what it would look like if you needed to take longer than your plan or if you delegated more or less of your work. Eg. If I stopped the-clinical side of my practice all together I could pay my VA less so I needed to model if it was likely to be worth paying her + keeping the associates going.

Consolidate outgoing expenses and reduce where possible. If you have subscriptions ask if you can pause them or cancel anything you don't use regularly.

What tasks can be automated?

• Set up recurring payments as standing orders
• Schedule newsletters/blogs/ podcast episodes
• Filter and forward emails to people who can respond for you
• Create transparent out of office responders
• Create frequently asked questions section for your website and  

What needs to be done while you are away but can be done by someone else?

• Accounts reconciliation
• Community management (f you have FB groups for example)
• Management of incoming referrals + delegation to associates
• Website maintenance
• Responding to customer service issues for any passive income products

Create clear Standard Operating Procedures for every task you are delegating and set them up at least a month before you leave (see our episode on systems with Amy Mitchell and my episode on policies for advice on how to do this)

Be realistic about tasks you will still want/need to do while on leave

• weekly newsletter
• social media interaction
• writing the book

I tried to rid myself of all admin tasks to make sure I could conceivably do these and have made sure that I will have some support in place for a couple of hours a week.

Create clear messaging for your website and socials and emails that show your plan clearly.

If maternity leave: Research whether statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance is best for you

Ask an accountant about this! If you are going for MA but need more than that to make ends meet then pay it to yourself in advance + save it if possible.

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Michaela Links:

www.thethomasconnection.co.uk

Insta: www.instagram.com/the_thomas_connection

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thethomasconnection

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thomasconnect

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaela-thomas

Facebook group: Pause Purpose Play pausepurposeplay

Podcast: Pause Purpose Play https://thethomasconnection.co.uk/podcast/

Book: The Lasting Connection https://thethomasconnection.co.uk/thelastingconnection/

Podcast Links:

Michaela Thomas

Episode 37: Dealing with perfectionism and owning your expertise as a psychologist or therapist with Michaela Thomas: https://psychologybusinessschool.com/the-business-of-psychology/perfectionism-and-owning-your-expertise-as-a-psychologist-or-therapist/

Episode 58: Creating a purposeful practice part 2 with Michaela Thomas: https://psychologybusinessschool.com/the-business-of-psychology/creating-a-purposeful-practice-part-2-with-michaela-thomas/

Amy Mitchell

Episode 56: Systems for success – streamlining your processes so you can achieve more with Amy Mitchell: https://psychologybusinessschool.com/the-business-of-psychology/systems-for-success-streamlining-your-processes-so-you-can-achieve-more-with-amy-mitchell/

Policies

Episode 47: 6 key policies/contracts you need in a psychology private practice: https://psychologybusinessschool.com/the-business-of-psychology/6-key-policies-contracts-you-need-in-a-psychology-private-practice/

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Grow a thriving independent psychology/therapy practice

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