4 Tips for Therapists to Benefit From Time Between Sessions

It’s five minutes before your next client’s session and you still haven’t taken a sip of coffee, gone for a bathroom break, or checked your notes for this upcoming client.

As therapists, we’ve all probably been there!

Where does all the time between sessions go? 

How to make the most of the time between sessions

As clinicians in private practice, we get to set our own schedules and choose how we want to spend our time during the day—but it can be tricky to figure out what to do with the limited time between sessions with clients.

Here are a few ways to get the most benefit from those precious minutes.

1. Prepare ahead of time

Set yourself up at the start of your day with everything you might need in between client sessions. Assume you’ll inevitably get hungry or thirsty between sessions, and throw a snack (or five) in your desk drawer.

Fill your water bottle before you start your day. And, if you feel like splurging, buy yourself a mug warmer to limit runs to reheat your coffee or tea. 

Instead of thinking of your time between sessions as simply a bathroom break or a moment to scarf down a granola bar, put your reframing skills to work.

Try to make those ten minutes something you can look forward to—an oasis in your day.

Make your office environment, whether physical or virtual, one that’s built to meet your own personal needs as well as your clients’ needs. 

Being in private practice means there’s no one telling you how many clients to see and when to see them.

It also means no one is keeping tabs on whether or not you’ve taken a break. If you know you have a long day of back-to-back sessions again and you might not have enough time to refuel during the time between sessions, try booking yourself a lunch slot and go sit somewhere other than your desk while you eat it.

Carving out time just for you can make a big impact, and scheduling those times as though they were appointments helps you stop skipping out on important things. 

2. Keep firm boundaries

It’s important that your clients understand their session must end at 50 minutes (or whatever the end time is for their specific session). Holding a firm start and end time with your clients not only benefits you by allowing you the full break in between sessions, it also models accountability, integrity, and valuing other people’s time to your clients.  

Reminding your client at the last five or 10 minute mark or using an hourglass can be helpful ways to ensure things wrap up on time. You can also ask your client to join in on this effort by inviting them to keep track of time on their own clock as well.

While this might feel uncomfortable the first few sessions you try it, this process can promote collaboration and respect in your therapeutic relationship, and can help you both in the long run.

3. Make sure you make time to breathe

Although it can often feel like there’s no time for you to take a break, it’s critical that you decompress, even for 60 seconds, in your time between sessions.

Skipping this important step can lead to burnout and disorganization—neither of which serve you or your clients. Even if it’s just for a minute, close your eyes and focus on your breath.

Play your favorite song for a minute, or send a quick text to a friend. Whatever makes you feel centered and like yourself, make sure you make time for it.  

Personally, my office is in a place that has a lot of oak trees, which I love for a lot of reasons. I’ve found that taking even just a few minutes to go sit under their shade helps me clear my mind and feel more prepared for my next client.

You may not have any trees by your office, but hopefully you have a special space that can help you find that moment of peace. 

Reflection and taking a pause helps us stay present and aware. It’s helpful to think of these as speed bumps in your day—small reminders to slow down and take everything in.

Compassion fatigue and burnout don’t happen overnight. They’re built on hours, days, and weeks of putting in tough work, making ourselves emotionally available to difficult feelings, and holding space for our clients, when often no one else will. 

These responsibilities can add wear and tear on our overall well-being as clinicians. On days where you have back-to-back sessions or experience an emotionally heavy session, you’ll be thankful that you’ve built this time to decompress into your schedule. 

4. Understand and work with limitations

Realistically, there are limits to what you can do in 10 minutes. That said, a lot of good can be done in taking some time to care for yourself. Whether it’s 40 seconds or the full 10 minutes, use that time to regroup and center yourself. Remember to consider your own needs throughout the day—not just at the end of it. 

In a profession that’s built on being there for others, it’s too easy to neglect our own needs. Each 10-minute gap you can bank throughout your work week will help sustain you and build your resilience for future sessions.   

At the end of the day, being a therapist isn’t a predictable job.

Sometimes our sessions may go long if a client is in crisis, or our between session minutes may be spent on an unexpected software update. By the time all of these unexpected things add up, we barely have time to inhale before our next appointment—and that’s okay too.

The goal is to have a loose agenda each day that improves your ability to have a moment to yourself in the time between sessions. Some days it will be easier to stick to this agenda than others.

Be compassionate toward yourself on the days you run out of time. 

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