WP182 | Building a Sustainable Therapy Practice When Life is Heavy with Rebeca Gilbert
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If you’ve ever tried to lead your practice well while your real life feels heavy… this one’s for you.
Because let’s be honest, y’all—no one teaches you how to run a business, care for clients, honor your faith, and carry your own hard season at the same time.
In this conversation, I’m joined by Rebeca Gilbert, and we’re talking about what it actually looks like to build a sustainable therapy practice when life doesn’t let up. Not in theory—but in the middle of real pressure, grief, and uncertainty.
We get into the tension so many of us feel…
When does showing up for your clients become too much?
How do you know when it’s time to keep going—and when it’s time to step back?
And what does “success” even mean when your priorities shift?
Rebeca shares her story of navigating private practice during an incredibly heavy season, and how it reshaped the way she thinks about boundaries, income, time, and calling.
This episode is a reminder that sustainability isn’t a fixed formula. It’s something you reevaluate in every season.
And sometimes, being faithful doesn’t mean getting bigger. It means slowing down, adjusting your expectations, and building a practice that actually supports your life—not just your business.
If you’ve been feeling stretched, tired, or questioning what’s next… I think this conversation is going to meet you right where you are.
When This Work Starts to Feel Heavy
Y’all, this work can feel heavy. Not just because of the clients we sit with every day, but because of everything we carry as practice owners. We’re making decisions, leading teams, thinking about stewardship, and trying to build something that honors both our calling and our lives outside of work. And then life happens on top of that. There are seasons where what’s going on personally doesn’t stay separate from the practice, no matter how much we might wish it could.
The Kind of Loneliness No One Talks About
There’s a loneliness that comes with leading a practice that people don’t always name. Especially when you’re trying to do this work in a faith-centered way. You’re holding space for everyone else, but you don’t always have a place to process your own stuff. You’re expected to keep showing up, keep leading, keep making wise decisions. And sometimes you’re doing that while quietly carrying something really heavy.
That’s why these conversations matter so much to me. Because I know so many of y’all are feeling this, even if you haven’t said it out loud.
When Life Doesn’t Slow Down for Your Business
One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is that life doesn’t pause just because your practice is finally working. You can have a full caseload, a steady income, systems in place, and then something happens that shifts everything.
A health crisis. A loss. A major life transition.
And now you’re trying to figure out how to keep the business running while your personal capacity is changing in real time. That’s a really hard place to be. And there’s no simple formula for how to handle it.
The Tension Between Showing Up and Stepping Back
There’s this tension we all feel as therapists. Sometimes when we’re going through something hard, it actually deepens our work. We feel more present. More empathetic. More connected to our clients.
But there’s also a line.
And that line is different for everyone. There comes a point where what you’re carrying starts to impact your ability to show up in a way that’s sustainable, ethical, and healthy for you and your clients. The hard part is discerning where that line is.
For some, it’s a short season where you can keep going with a little extra support. For others, it becomes clear that something has to shift.
When It’s No Longer Sustainable
One of the most powerful parts of this conversation was hearing what that turning point can look like. Not all at once, but slowly. What starts as manageable begins to feel heavier. Your body starts to respond. You notice signs of depletion instead of dependence.
That’s something I want y’all to really sit with. There’s a difference between relying on God and pushing yourself past your limits. Sometimes we tell ourselves we just need to be stronger, more faithful, more disciplined. But sustainability often requires honesty.
It requires paying attention to what’s actually happening in your body, your mind, and your capacity.
Giving Yourself Permission to Step Back
For many practice owners, the idea of stepping back feels impossible. There are financial responsibilities. There are clients depending on you. There’s the fear of losing what you’ve built.
But sometimes the most responsible, ethical decision you can make is to pause.
That might look like reducing your caseload. It might look like taking a sabbatical. It might even mean closing one version of your practice so you can rebuild in a healthier way later.
That’s not failure. That’s wisdom.
Redefining Success in This Season
I think this is where so many of us need a mindset shift. We come into private practice with goals around income, growth, and expansion. And those aren’t bad goals. But life has a way of reshaping what success looks like.
There are seasons where success isn’t about getting bigger. It’s about being sustainable.
It’s about providing for your family, protecting your time, and creating a rhythm that actually supports your life. It’s about asking yourself, “What can I realistically carry in this season?” and being honest about the answer.
Sustainability Is Seasonal
One of the biggest lessons here is that sustainability isn’t a fixed target. It changes.
What worked when you were in a different season of life may not work now. Your capacity shifts. Your priorities shift. Your energy shifts.
And instead of fighting that, there’s an invitation to adapt.
To reevaluate. To make adjustments. To build your practice around the season you’re actually in, not the one you wish you were in.
Letting Go of Someone Else’s Path
It’s easy to look around and assume there’s a “right” way to build a practice. Go solo, then grow a group, then expand, then scale. But that path isn’t for everyone.
And more importantly, it might not be what you’re called to in this season.
Sustainability isn’t about keeping up with what other people are doing. It’s about discerning what’s right for you, your family, your values, and your capacity right now.
A Different Way to Move Forward
If you’re in a heavy season, I just want to encourage you.
You don’t have to do this the way you’ve always done it. You don’t have to keep pushing at the same pace. And you don’t have to measure your success the same way you used to.
Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is slow down, reassess, and make changes that actually support your life.
And y’all, you’re not alone in that.
Sponsor Wise Practice Summit 2026
If you’re in a season of big decisions, feeling stuck, or carrying the weight of leadership, the Wise Practice Summit was created for you. It’s a space for faith-based practice owners to step away from the day-to-day, gain clarity, and realign their practice with their life and calling.
Right now, you can grab $100 off your ticket with our Early Bird pricing through May 1.
You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Meet Meet Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS
Rebeca Gilbert is a Licensed Professional Counselor and somatic trauma therapist serving women in Florida and Georgia, specializing in EMDR, Brainspotting, and body-based trauma care. She is a faith-centered private practice owner who helps clients and clinicians move out of survival mode by honoring nervous system regulation, ethical care, and sustainable rhythms of work and rest. Rebeca bridges neuroscience, somatic wisdom, and Christian faith to challenge hustle-driven models of success in therapy and business. Her work invites clinicians to build practices rooted in safety, stewardship, and trust rather than fear or burnout.
Rebeca’s Resources
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: One of the things I hear most from practice owners is loneliness. Not just from running a practice but trying to lead and grow it in a Christian way. You're making business decisions, thinking about stewardship, caring for your team, and wanting to honor your faith, and it can get lonely. That's one of the big reasons that we created the Wise Practice Summit.
Each year, faith-based practice owners from all over the country gather together and people consistently say that the summit brings them rest, connection and clarity in their business. Rest from carrying leadership alone, connection with others, with shared value and clarity on next steps in their business.
So this year. We're gonna be in Nashville, Tennessee, October 8th Through the 10th, you will have practical business sessions, great food, and an intentional time together, plus a happy hour on the top floor overlooking the entire city. We like to have fun and we like to make big moves in our business. So right now you can save a hundred dollars with early bird pricing.
It ends May 1st. So [00:01:00] make sure to head to the show notes or go to the website wise practice consulting. Look forward to seeing you in Nashville.
[00:01:08] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant,
[00:01:13] Whitney Owens: and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place.
Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time. Now let's get started.
[00:01:34] Speaker 3: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:01:53] Whitney Owens: Hello friends. Welcome back to The Wise Practice Podcast. It means so much to me that you are here and joining me. [00:02:00] Just this week we had our kickoff party for the Wise Practice Membership Community, and we were on Zoom. And the stories I was hearing from practice owners about listening to the podcast, I literally got tears in my eyes.
In fact, that morning I had been reading a devotional about joy, and I was like, Lord, I wanna tap into that joy, right? And I had been feeling. I don't know. There was a lot going on in my business, my life, and just needed to tap into that. And while I'm in the middle of this meeting with the community, I was just like, I feel joy right now in this moment.
And as y'all know, running a podcast, running a practice, the work we do, it's tiring and hard. Right. And so when someone says, the words you said meant so much to me, or one person said, I listened to your podcast on my drive to work, and I just knew there had to be something out there speaking to faith-based practice owners, I was like, yes.
Like this person found the show and it meant something to them. And so I know in the work we do, I could [00:03:00] feel lonely. We can connect with one another. That's what wise practice is all about. We are even connecting now in a way, as you're listening to the show, knowing other faith-based practice owners are listening.
And so I love that. And it was really special to kinda hear about the experience people have had finding the podcast. So I just wanted to start out with telling you how much that meant to me. And I am really excited about connecting people. And so today you're gonna hear from Rebeca Gilbert and she's gonna talk about building a sustainable therapy practice.
When your life is heavy, right? Because life sure is heavy. Just like this week, hearing those words, they just brought so much joy to my heart. And as I was thinking about sustainable practices and where I'm at, and I, I don't know if this is relatable to you, but it probably is 'cause you're a faith-based practice owner.
The work we do is heavy y'all, and it's not just our clients. It is the community, it is people reaching out to us needing help and that is what we are here for. And it's so important [00:04:00] that you set boundaries, right? That you know what you can and can't do and that it is okay to say no. Right? I, um, was speaking to my husband over the weekend 'cause somebody had reached out to me for a call and I was like, I, I don't know if I have the time this week.
And he was like, what? You don't have the time. Make the time. And there's that guilt that comes over. You like, make the time. I don't know if I can, I, I got stuff right and I actually did, did end up sending my link for this person to make some time. But the point is I thought to myself, it's okay to be thoughtful about who I give my time to and who I don't.
And I think a lot of times we feel like we have to give our time to anyone who asks. We are Christians. We're trying to make the world a better place. We're doing our work, we're sharing the love of Christ. We're being therapists. But I want to say that you don't have to be everything to everybody, and I know we know that, [00:05:00] but we have to act that way.
You know, if there's something in your business that someone else can take over, someone else can respond to somebody, let them. If you're thinking about maybe starting a group practice because you're inundated with clients, but you wanna provide a service, start a group practice, bring on therapists.
'cause they can do therapy too. Kind of take your step back and take care of yourself. This is a busy season. You know, we're here, you're gonna be hearing this in April. I'm recording it at the beginning of the month, and it's heavy. And Rebeca's gonna talk about that. And so I just wanna encourage you that it, that I'm taking steps back at times.
I still want you to reach out to me and tell me about things going on in your practice. Doesn't mean I can get on a call with everybody, but I have a team and we do it together and we help practice owners. And so finding your people to help and support you and taking care of yourself, it's so important and I really appreciate that about.
The faith-based practice community that we have here with Wise practice, the encouragement that we give to one another to make that step. [00:06:00] And Rebeca certainly, um, alludes that So. I'm really happy to have her on the show. She brought lots of good nuggets and I walked away so encouraged after our interview, so here we go.
Welcome to the Wise Practice Podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to Rebeca Gilbert. She's an LPC and somatic trauma therapist serving women in both Florida and Georgia. Specializes in EMDR, brains spotting and body-based trauma care. She's a face center private practice owner who helps clients and clinicians move outta survival mode by honoring nervous system regulation, ethical care, and sustainable rhythms of work and rest.
Rebeca Bridges neuroscience. Somatic wisdom in Christian faith to challenge hustle driven models of success in therapy and business. Her work invites clinicians to build practices rooted in safety, stewardship, and trust, rather than fear and burnout. Rebeca, [00:07:00] welcome to the show.
[00:07:01] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
[00:07:03] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Even reading your bio, I was like, I need to talk to that girl.
[00:07:07] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I'm glad. I'm glad it's resonating.
[00:07:09] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, let's just start out getting to know you a little bit. Tell us kinda where you're located, your family, anything personal that you wanna share, just so we can. Rebeca?
[00:07:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Absolutely. Um, so I'm based out of Orlando, Florida.
Orlando's not my home, but that's a long story. We can chat about that, the conference or another day. Yeah. Uh, but I'm based out of Orlando. Um, I've been married for 15 years and I have a daughter and a son. My son is 11 and my daughter is nine. So we're in the throes of middle school.
[00:07:38] Whitney Owens: Totally. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, let's kind of talk about, well, I guess first I wanna know more of how you got into the field that you're in. I mean, not every therapist does this type of work, so Sure. Share a little bit more about that with us.
[00:07:51] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah, that's a great question. So I've known that I wanted to be a helper for a long time.
I actually interned at a crisis pregnancy center in [00:08:00] college and really had a clear sense of calling from that place of like, okay, this is what God's calling for my life, more a calling than a career. So from about 18, I knew this was a calling, so I went straight from college to seminary for a counseling degree.
[00:08:17] Whitney Owens: Oh, where'd you go to school?
[00:08:17] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I went to Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. I really wanted a place that would give me a clinical training with a really solid, scriptural, biblical foundation.
[00:08:28] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:08:28] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And so, and I was in the more, um. Psychodynamic and person centered and all the fun things until rubber met the road.
And so in 2019, actually 2017, I found Somatic attachment EMDR. And so body and Attachment focused EMDR. And that was amazing. And as I was wrapping up my 10 month certification on that, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. [00:09:00] I know, right? Big exhale. He's okay now. That's a big miracle story. We can go into that if you want.
But his diag, I was already started to be curious. I had been practicing for about 10 years at that point, and I had started to notice how just talk therapy wasn't helping my clients get the healing they wanted. And it was getting close and they were growing, but they were having the root and the breakthroughs that really were um, desired.
So that was what led me to EMDR and then my husband's cancer was an in, in hindsight, was an invitation to walk it out.
[00:09:36] Whitney Owens: Ha
[00:09:38] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: that he's like, Hey, here's a tool. Now walk it out. And so his cancer was really quick and really fast. He was, all of a sudden, he was a stay at home dad. We had a three and a 5-year-old, and I had a solo practice, my first like brick and mortar, like my only my name on the wall, like it was my dream practice.
And then all of a sudden he's out [00:10:00] and the doctors gave him six months to live. And here I am. I'm a solo practice owner. Love my job. Like this is like dream setup. I have a three and a five-year-olds, five-year-olds starting kindergarten. And then the doctors are like, Hey, you might become a widow soon and it's not looking good.
And that's when I started actually having to lean into both my faith and my EMDR work to just survive.
[00:10:30] Whitney Owens: Sure.
[00:10:31] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah. So that's kind of what got me more into more of the somatic piece of therapy was because I needed it, is the short story.
[00:10:41] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Wow.
[00:10:42] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:10:43] Whitney Owens: Our stories lead us to the work we do. I think about the Bible verse about we we comfort.
We comfort those with the comfort we've been given.
[00:10:50] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yes. Yeah.
[00:10:52] Whitney Owens: Um, God has a way of doing that, so. How long had you had your private practice before the diagnosis?
[00:10:59] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I had been, [00:11:00] I've done a bunch of different work in like, you know, uh, community mental health, small group nonprofits, but I had started solo low practice when I came back from my first maternity leave.
I'm, I realized after in the group I'm like, oh, I'm gonna have to rebuild. I might as well build my own.
[00:11:16] Whitney Owens: Sure. Hmm.
[00:11:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And so I had been in solo practice for five years at that point.
[00:11:22] Speaker 3: Yeah. Gosh.
[00:11:24] Whitney Owens: I mean, having your own business, young children mm-hmm. Diagnosis for your spouse, that's mm-hmm. Certainly heaviness.
[00:11:31] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And. And we're really grateful. Our church really, we were living away, we were in Athens, Georgia, uh, at the time. Yeah, well, we've done this SEC college tour. We lived in Oxford, Mississippi at almost for a season, and then moved to Athens, Georgia. Uh, never affiliated with the universities, just working around college towns.
And I love college towns. I loved working with the college students. [00:12:00] That was a big part of my population and my practice. So. Our church was amazing and really supportive, but we were away from family. His was in Alabama, mine in Florida. And so it was just like, what does it look like to, at first it was survive, right?
How do you just survive the season? But it's been really interesting unpacking cancer. So it's been, we're getting to year seven now. Uh, this summer will be year seven and really, 'cause this was all 2019. Love, of course we had little kids, cancer and then COVID.
[00:12:36] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Oh man.
[00:12:37] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: The COVID was a whole interesting situation for us, but it's been really interesting to distill the lessons from that now that like the survival was first and then to go, okay, after surviving, and how do we stabilize?
And I feel like now I'm in the season of like, how do I reorient my life? With the lessons that I gained from that season, how [00:13:00] do I allow that suffering to shape me and shape my work and keep me tender and not hardened? How do I let that season soften me, but also reorient and reevaluate, um, what my goals are for personal life and business too?
So it's really reshaped. How I think of my private practice, how I measure success, and how I want things to go moving forward. After that time,
[00:13:32] Whitney Owens: you brought up this idea of suffering. That's so in biblical unfortunately. Unfortunately, you know that it's through our suffering that we
[00:13:41] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yes.
[00:13:41] Whitney Owens: Understand love.
Yes. We appreciate we grow.
[00:13:45] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:45] Whitney Owens: And we serve, you know?
[00:13:47] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yes.
[00:13:47] Whitney Owens: So, yeah. So let's talk about, I mean, I'm, I'm curious, how do we stay sustainable? 'cause even though you're talking specifically about your husband's diagnosis, we could move that to so many other traumatic
[00:13:59] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Absolutely [00:14:00] right.
[00:14:00] Whitney Owens: Situations, practice centers.
So how do we continue in our practice, or should we continue,
[00:14:05] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: should we
[00:14:06] Whitney Owens: stop? And like, how, can you just help us navigate that?
[00:14:09] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah, sure. I mean, obviously. I can't prescribe to people's situation, but I can definitely describe mine. And whether it's on maternity leave, chronic illness, another cancer diagnosis, loss in the family, or whatever the suffering might look like, we can take the lessons from suffering.
So, so for me, um, Whitney, it looked like that initial, just like get to a place. That I can, I tried. I really tried. Um, so I'm a solo practice owner, so I don't have staff or anybody else. It was just me. So for four months I tried to keep the boat afloat.
[00:14:43] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:44] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And that's when the panic attacks started.
That's when I really started like my, I was at peace, but my body was just collapsing.
[00:14:52] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:14:52] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And so I was like, okay, this direction is not, sus is not sustainable. And so I actually sent my clients a [00:15:00] notification in December, 2019 saying, Hey, it's come. It's just, I'm gonna need to take a sabbatical. And so I took six months off.
I joked that the world joined me with COVID. But I had already planned on taking a sabbatical before everything shut down. Um,
wow.
[00:15:16] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah. And so I just kind of, I realized that I could, I was getting, I had gotten to the point that I was just trying to make a living. And then, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I, but our jobs are so layered that it's not just a paycheck, you know?
No. And so, yes, I needed a paycheck and it was the only income coming to the family, but I felt like God had been so faithful in allowing me to not harm my clients during that season. And he had seen, I've seen some really sweet work, but it felt like it was starting to get to a point that it was unwise and risk.
Like from a risk management and just care, ethical practice, like I felt like I was starting to be at a place that I couldn't [00:16:00] provide quality, ethical care.
[00:16:03] Whitney Owens: You're bringing up such a good topic here and like sitting with it because that fine line between caring, like I think about. When I'm raw or have something in my life going on.
[00:16:19] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:16:19] Whitney Owens: My goodness. I actually think it makes me a better therapist.
[00:16:22] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yes.
[00:16:23] Whitney Owens: Right, agreed. Because I'm agreed with their pain. I'm not moving forward fast. But what you're saying, it's like where do we find that line between I'm using it effectively and then what you're saying, like risky. How do you know that place?
[00:16:37] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Oh, that's such a good question. For me, what it looked like is that the first three months, it just felt like manna. It just felt like God was saying, here's your bread for today. Here's your meat for today. And people, my clients kept showing up and it the were, it was sweet and I was able to sit with them and mourn with those who mourn.
I was like, we were in it and it was a really [00:17:00] tender place and I felt like God really met us there. But then it started to shift to when my panic attacks started really taking off and my body was really struggling, and it shifted from a place of dependence to a place of depletion.
[00:17:15] Whitney Owens: Hmm.
[00:17:16] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And it, it, it just, it became that if I were to show up for the, my clients, um, I would have like panic attacks, migraines, and just be on the couch the rest of the day.
[00:17:31] Whitney Owens: Yeah. That's certainly such a hard thing for us as therapists. Mm-hmm. Right. It is that line. And then as a group owner, it's like my. My therapists come to me sharing about their own suffering, pain, and then I'm thinking about how do I support them, but how do I seeing clients? 'cause you can't just be like, well something sad happened in my life today.
I can't go to work. You know, like, of course
[00:17:54] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: not. Right? No.
[00:17:55] Whitney Owens: But at the same time, we do have to find that place of what you're saying then as a business [00:18:00] owner, and you're kind of saying this, it's, that's revenue to help pay rent and what am I gonna do? Yes. Yes. So hard.
[00:18:07] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: It is really hard. And so I think part of my framework for that now is, um, seasonal, right?
So if it's a short term thing, if it's something that, it's gonna be two weeks of sadness, one month of sadness, it's just gonna, a loss of something grief that is like more acute, but then it can, you can subside. Then I just let it roll. But this one was, the chronic was really building. We were getting to month five and there was no look, there was no relief coming.
I think that was, I think a big marker for me, Whitney, is that if it had been a, if it had been more of a short, like a earmarked season, sometimes our suffering is, is, has clear timelines to it. And I don't mean our grief, I mean like, you know, there's a, there's a medical procedure, there's an event, there's a treatment, there's a thing, and we know, okay, if I can get through [00:19:00] this, then I'll be okay.
Mine didn't have a timeline.
[00:19:03] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:04] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And so that was part of my decision process, was really accepting that I don't have a timeline. I don't know if he's gonna get better and. If he doesn't get better, we're looking at like quick decline, and so I had to. Really make a decision based on I, right now, the way I am, the way the trajectory is going.
I had to be really honest with myself and that kind of, that internal discernment and that external accountability. That's where I brought friends. That's where I brought my wise counsel and my some good friends. My best friend is a therapist from grad school times and my family to come alongside me and say, Hey, I'm concerned we need income and mm-hmm.
I can't imagine this being wise and sustainable and responsible to keep doing for much longer. Yeah. What do you think? And, [00:20:00] and every single person said it's time to close your practice
[00:20:04] Whitney Owens: Now, did you close the practice or you took time off?
[00:20:07] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: So I, it was kind of a hybrid.
[00:20:11] Whitney Owens: Okay.
[00:20:11] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Uh, I took a sabbatical, a six month sabbatical.
Um, but we moved states during that time.
[00:20:18] Whitney Owens: Okay,
[00:20:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: so we moved from Georgia to Florida, and so I subleased my space. I sold all my furniture. I lost the physical space and, um, I, I transferred my clients to new people and I told them, Hey, I'm hoping to come back, but I don't know.
[00:20:33] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:20:34] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Because that was the honest thing I could tell them.
[00:20:37] Whitney Owens: Sure.
[00:20:37] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Uh, and so that iteration of my practice close the LLC never did.
[00:20:44] Whitney Owens: Yeah,
[00:20:45] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: but that version of my practice did not res resume. I eventually, after things stabilized a little bit, I didn't have the capacity to be a solo practice owner for a season, so I joined a really, a group in [00:21:00] Georgia that I really respect, and I worked under them for two to three years while getting my Florida license because yay licensure, they had me go back to grad school.
[00:21:13] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:21:14] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:21:14] Whitney Owens: Had my therapist have to do that in the practice too. It's
[00:21:16] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: unfortunate.
[00:21:17] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Um, wow. I, I, so I stayed with the group practice in Georgia a while, kind of rebuilding physically, emotionally, spiritually, and just kind of getting my desks in a row for Florida. And then eventually I teetered down.
Tapered down the Georgia group, started revamping my Florida practice and I've been back to solo online, you know, for the last th two years.
[00:21:42] Whitney Owens: Great.
[00:21:43] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:21:44] Whitney Owens: So this is more a logistical question, but I'm sure I'm gonna get people are thinking about it.
[00:21:48] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Whitney Owens: How did y'all survive financially without either of you working?
[00:21:53] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: That's a really good question, and it's actually changed how I do my finances now. So [00:22:00] I, this might be a problem for many practice owners, but, um, we didn't have health, I. Traditional health insurance because when you're solo, you know, when you're self-employed, health insurance is difficult. So we did medical sharing, Christian medical sharing, and that had been great for us through pregnancies and all the things, but they have a financial cap.
So we, we cashed in all our retirement is a short answer, Whitney. Um, we had to pull, um, thankfully we, we had no debt other than student loans in our mortgage. Before cancer. And so, um, we had to cash in all our retirement and all our savings to stay afloat. And then, um, and then with the medical bills were separate.
We had about $1.5 million in debt. Um, from that, and I don't know if you want me to tell you a couple miracle stories sprinkled into here, but there was, uh, I [00:23:00] can just, I could just leave it at a cliffhanger and people can find me at the, at the conference if they wanna hear the whole story or up to you.
I can tell you more. But basically miraculous provision, we got approved for the medical debt to be forgiven. So I literally have a letter that hangs in my office that say you owe $0.
[00:23:19] Whitney Owens: Wow, that's beautiful.
[00:23:21] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I was on the, I was on the way to, uh, file for bankruptcy. Uh, a letter came in. Yeah. Wow. You should have seen me.
I was a mess. I was at the Chick-fil-A drive through because we, people gave us so many Chick-fil-A gift cards. I'm so grateful. I was at the Chick-fil-A Drive through,
[00:23:37] Whitney Owens: oh,
[00:23:37] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Chick-fil-A and uh, and I get the letter and then my email and I'm just weeping. And the sweet little 16-year-old was like, can, what?
Can I, how? I forget what their little script is, but they basically asked for my order and I'm just bawling and I'm just like, these are happy tears.
[00:23:55] Whitney Owens: Oh wow.
[00:23:56] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And that poor girl was like, I'll just take a tray of chicken [00:24:00] nuggets. And she's like, are you sure you're okay? I'm like, I'm fine. I'm gonna be fine.
But the short story is with Cashton 401k retirement, our medical debt was forgiven. And then my husband's family made a GoFundMe and that helped. That covered because he was in the hospital for. 28 days and then he had to go to rehab before he could come home. And so the GoFundMe paid for the rehab and so it took a village and all our retirement,
[00:24:35] Whitney Owens: yeah, we trust that God will build it right back, whatever it needs to be.
Right.
[00:24:39] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: We're working on that and that's part of the goals of my practice now. Um. So since this was seven years ago, one of my goals in rebuilding my practice was having a, um, having, making sure my practice with my accountant's blessing has, I have a 401k set up through my practice and matching funds and things like that to [00:25:00] rebuild rather aggressively.
And then I also have a six month emergency fund in my practice. Great. And so that if health changes or if a season, whatever, and that's just built in now that I can run, I have six months of salary in there.
[00:25:18] Whitney Owens: Good.
[00:25:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: As a safety net. That was a big lesson from from from the suffering. Yeah.
[00:25:25] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So how's your husband doing now?
[00:25:28] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: He is currently cancer free.
[00:25:31] Whitney Owens: Hmm.
[00:25:32] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: That's correct. The doctors have no explanation of why he's alive. Zero. There's no medical record. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:25:41] Whitney Owens: Praise God for that.
[00:25:43] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I know. And they're like, it might come back. We don't know. I'm like, Hey, you told us you only had six months, so we, we respect you, but we we're not putting our trust in you.
[00:25:53] Speaker 3: That's, yeah.
[00:25:55] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:25:55] Whitney Owens: Well, as, as I'm sitting with your story and thinking about sustainable [00:26:00] practices in the midst. Going through these things. Is there anything we didn't touch on that you wanted to make sure to mention of kinda how to sustain during those times?
Yeah,
[00:26:08] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: so a couple things that have been really helpful for me, Whitney, is thinking about a sustainable practice is really reevaluating what sustainability is for each season.
Just really giving myself permission for that to be a seasonal reevaluation. Um, and not necessarily a calendar year seasonal, but like it was different when the kids, when I was pregnant to different, when I had toddlers. Now, yes, both kids are in school. That's a different season. Cancer, I just think of cancer as a season.
Um, and so really kind of giving myself permission to reevaluate what that looks like for each season. Um, I don't do weekends and night times anymore. That's no longer sustainable for me because I have to find time to be a mom, a person, and a, a spouse, and a therapist, all the things. [00:27:00] So some of it is as simple as boundaries with my time, um, boundaries with my expectations, and very honestly, um, boundaries of my income.
I've become, I used to have dreams of like, oh, I'm gonna own, like, have this, like make this men this numbers and hit these my metrics and these things of success. But honestly, um, reevaluating success has been like for me now, success is we can rebuild our sa our retirement. We, I can take care of my family and I can work the least hours possible.
That's success for me now.
[00:27:33] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I think you're speaking again to something that many practice owners that I hear is mm-hmm. They start working, you know, as a consultant. It's like, well, what, what do you want? And it's, I want this number. Yeah, I want thing. And it's like. Okay, but life doesn't work that way.
[00:27:49] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: No, it doesn't.
[00:27:50] Whitney Owens: You know, and, and just hearing you talk about time actually time's something I've been like contemplating the past month or two.
[00:27:55] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:27:56] Whitney Owens: Different types of time.
[00:27:57] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Of course.
[00:27:58] Whitney Owens: Ros time and
[00:27:59] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: [00:28:00] Kronos time.
[00:28:00] Whitney Owens: That's right. And the fulfillment and like being in something instead of like, I think so many business owners were.
A to point B, give me the plan, I wanna get there. It's like, I mean, I can give you the plan, but if it's not the season that you're in and you're not paying attention to that within you and within your practice, who cares what the plan is?
[00:28:18] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Right. The, um, I, I am not great with citations, but I, this one, I know Proverbs, um, 16, one comes to mind, which is the heart of a man can make plans, but the answers come from the lips of the Lord.
I mean, this is not the practice journey I had in mind. Uh, that's good. And I didn't actually ever plan on living in, in, in Orlando. And that's not what I had in mind. And um, really being willing to, to shift and soften and pivot and, you know, I think sustainability is a lot about adaptability.
[00:28:50] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:28:51] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And discerning how to adapt for the season that you're in and not the season that you want.
'cause there's a big difference.
[00:28:58] Whitney Owens: Yes. Oh, [00:29:00] yes.
[00:29:00] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:29:00] Whitney Owens: Well, um, so I'm curious, and I didn't tell you I was gonna ask about this. That's all
[00:29:05] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: right.
[00:29:05] Whitney Owens: Yeah. You recently started working with Laura Long mm-hmm. Um, doing some consulting, and I believe it's surrounding, if I read your application about just kind of wanting to create something else that's sustainable outside your practice.
I remember that correctly.
[00:29:17] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah. So we haven't met yet. I've worked with Lauren in the past. We're starting on Monday. So today as we record Friday, uh, we start on Monday, but I, one of the things that I, I took, um, I've gotten into a practice in the last couple years of taking a week, a year for me. I travel by myself.
Yes, just me. And I do it Monday through Friday, so like, while my kids are in school. So it's less work for my husband. So I took, I took a solo cruise this year in January, Uhhuh, and it's my like. Uh, rest and recharge and it's like a spiritual retreat of sorts for myself. And I really feel like the love God calling me to a season of more intentional, slowing down.
[00:29:57] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:29:58] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And cultivating more rest and [00:30:00] being even more intentional with slowing down in my time. And so I'm like, okay, how can I decouple my income from therapy? Yep. And, and really trying to think of therapy as what if the dream now is what if therapy could be my true will just really just be back to my calling and not have dollars attached to it.
What if I didn't need the therapy income? What if there was something else that could carry the bulk of the income load? Mm-hmm. So that's kind of what I'm dreaming about. Now. I'm not exactly sure what it looks like. I don't want to have to do something that requires me to show up on, like, I don't wanna run a Facebook group.
Nothing wrong with those. Um, that's just not my, my thing. I don't wanna run a group. I don't wanna have to keep posting and pouring out. I don't wanna hustle more. But it's just that longing for this curiosity around what could it look like to have [00:31:00] a. Kind of, don't wanna call it passive 'cause that, you know, obviously implies that you're not working at it.
But this income that doesn't require synchronous time.
[00:31:09] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Good.
[00:31:11] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah.
[00:31:11] Whitney Owens: Well you certainly reached out to the right girl for that.
[00:31:14] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Yeah, I'm excited.
[00:31:16] Whitney Owens: Well, I, I am gonna definitely have to catch up with you in six months, you know, maybe at the, at the summit. I definitely wanna hear kinda what God builds through this and your passion and it's a beautiful thing.
So
[00:31:28] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: I'm excited. Is
[00:31:28] Whitney Owens: there anything we didn't touch on that you wanted to make sure to mention before we finish up here?
[00:31:33] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: No, I think my goal, uh, Whitney was just really encourage people to, to that, like being faithful sometimes doesn't mean getting bigger.
[00:31:42] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:31:43] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: And that being sustainable in practice isn't just necessarily going from being a supervisee to having your full license, to having a solo, to then building a group and then having multi-site group.
That is a lovely journey, but not everybody is called to it. And to just [00:32:00] really invite people to like. Reevaluate what their success metric is so that they can find what's sustainable and what God's calling them and not what other people are doing.
[00:32:11] Whitney Owens: I love that. Well, Rebeca, it's been my honor to spend this time with you and, uh, looking forward to seeing where the journey goes.
And thank you for sharing with us today.
[00:32:21] Rebeca Gilbert, LPC (GA), LMHC (FL), EMDR-C, ACS: Such a pleasure to be with you. Thanks for having me.
[00:32:26] Speaker 3: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:32:44] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other [00:33:00] amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
