Guest Article

The Ultimate Personal Reset: Take a Career Break!

Fran Wickner, Ph.D., LMFT

A career break is simply time away from your job. There is no “right” way to take a career break, but usually if it is less than a month it’s more of a vacation. The word sabbatical is often used and is the same concept. Others like to think of it as “incremental retirement.”

Maybe you have told yourself this narrative, i.e. I will work and work until I retire. But in our field, there usually isn’t a set age to retire, and if you are in private practice, no one is “retiring” you. Just like with any big change in your life, if you take all this in and tell yourself “I can’t do this,” you never will.

There are many benefits to taking a career break and travelling. For a profession like ours, most reasons are obvious such as returning from travelling refreshed, replenished, gaining new perspectives and having time to not think about your clients. As noted in the research below, people who take career breaks often return with a more positive outlook on their job and life in general.

And there are other benefits as well that have been substantiated through research.

Psychologist Lile Jia at Indiana University published an article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology that says distance can make you more creative. The implications of his research show that travelling to faraway places and communicating with people dissimilar to us can help increase creativity and lead to considering novel alternatives.

A study from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago also supported the research that living abroad boosts creativity. This study showed that the experience of another culture endows us with valuable open-mindedness, making it easier to realize that a single experience can have multiple meanings. People who travel are more willing to realize that there are different ways of interpreting the world.

Jia’s work and the study at Kellogg showed that travelling not only helps your creativity but also improves your problem-solving abilities, skills that are imperative in our field.

If you do decide to take a career break, be prepared for internal and external blocks that can often lead to anxiety and then inertia. Society’s norm is to work until you get old (or sick) before you can take your break, so when deciding to take a career break, encountering mental and social hurdles are common.

Below are a few simple tips on taking small manageable steps on how to get out of the “inertia zone.”

1. Read articles from people taking successful career breaks. You have already started; you are reading this article.

2. Start a CAREER BREAK folder. Include this article. Look up the studies referenced at the bottom of this article and include those. Add articles you find on places you may think of going, links that are interesting, etc.

3. Start dreaming of your ideal career break. Would it be slow travel, living in one place for an extended time? Or going to a few different places? Or both?

Where would you go? What do you want to see and do? This is the dreaming stage, it doesn’t have to be exactly what you would do!

4. Then make the idea real by saying it out loud. Even if you don’t know when or how you will do it, talking about it makes it more likely to happen. You will have to explain yourself to family and friends because right now taking a break when you are healthy and younger than when you plan on stopping work is the exception. Sometimes using the word “sabbatical,” a term people know, will help explain what you are doing, but you will still find many family and friends doubting your decision.

5. Talk to people who have taken a career break. You’ll find friends of friends, people online, or of course I would be happy to schedule a time to talk to you about this at any point in your planning.

Once you decide you really can do this, here are some of the common business concerns that therapists bring up when I help them plan their career break.

1. What will happen to my clients?

Logistically, this is usually the main concern I hear from clinicians. Those in private practice might also be worried about what will happen to their business. You need to treat this the way you do other planned (or unplanned) absences such as maternity leave, caring for a sick family member or leaving your agency job.

Most importantly, make sure you give adequate notice to your clients. This will vary client by client based on the work you are doing with them. As with other absences, you share as much or as little as you want based on your theoretical perspective and the particular client’s needs.

Plan what will happen when you are gone. Will you do Zoom type sessions with them? Will they take a break? Will they see your backup clinician?

2. What will happen to my business when I return?

Plan a schedule for when you get back including scheduling in clients.

If in private practice it is often helpful to schedule some marketing activities to get you up and running: maybe have a workshop or a speaking engagement scheduled or an article timed to be published for when you return.

Before leaving could be a good time to use a practice building consultant so you can return to a thriving practice.

3. How can I make money when I’m away?

If appropriate, you may be able to do sessions with clients by phone or Skype or Zoom. 

Maybe you want to teach a class or workshop while you are travelling. You can plan it on your own or contact a local university or counseling center.

4. What do I need to have in place before I leave?

Obviously, there are many things that need to be done before an extended absence, but here are the things related to the business of being a therapist.

You need a trusted clinician to:

Check your voicemail.

• See current clients who want to continue therapy while you are gone.
• See current clients if an emergency arises.
• See new potential clients.
• Pick up your mail and manage it.

If you have a private practice office:

• Pay your office rent in full before you leave or have a system in place for paying your landlord.
• Work out how to pay for monthly expenses such as office gas/electricity when you are gone.
• If you are allowed to sublet your office, introduce your tenant to the landlord if possible.

The basics above will get you on the path to join thousands of people are now taking career breaks. It is possible. You will return with new motivation and renewed energy for the wonderful work we do. Consider taking a career break because you deserve it. And the best reason isn’t deep or clinical or psychological or particularly introspective; do it because it will add to your happiness.

References

Jai, Lile, Hirt, Edward & Karpen, Samuel. Lessons from a Faraway land: The effect of spatial distance on creative cognition . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 45(5), September 2009, 1127-1131.

Lehrer, Jonah. Why We Travel. The Observer. (3/14/10).

Maddux, William W. & Galinsky, Adam D. Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 96(5), May 2009, 1047-1061.

Stellin, Susan. Practical Traveler: Making the Dream Trip a Reality. New York Times. (10/17/10).

Fran Wickner, Ph.D., MFT has been a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 1983. In addition to her clinical practice in Berkeley, Dr. Wickner is a practice building consultant and offers individual consultations and workshops as well as availability to speak to your consult group or professional association on all aspects of building and expanding your private practice. Website: FranWickner.com/ForTherapists