Empowering women clinicians as private practice business owners
If you’re a new therapist in the early stages of your career, it can be tough to carve out a professional path that’s all your own.
Your academic experiences are still fresh in your mind, and it’s natural that your work might initially be heavily influenced by professors, supervisors, and colleagues.
However, it’s important to establish your own values as a therapist and recognize what you bring to the profession as an individual.
How to develop your voice as an early-career therapist
There will be a number of challenges and triumphs during your first few years as a therapist, and through these experiences, you can develop an authentic voice that helps you connect with your clients and reflects your personal experiences.
Here are some tips to finding your voice as an early-career therapist.
1. Use challenging moments to grow
Many therapists experience difficult moments in their training process. It’s important to find a way to work through these challenges, so that you can continue to learn, grow, and evolve.
Holding onto setbacks can be detrimental to the development of your own voice.
You may experience a microaggression from a supervisor, a peer, or even a client.
You might get negative feedback from a client online or harsh feedback from a mentor.
These moments can cause you to experience some self-doubt.
Diminishing comments—intentional or not—can make you feel silenced, ashamed, or uncertain.
Rather than internalizing these experiences, ask thoughtful questions, seek clarification, and use the feedback as an opportunity for growth.
Avoid silencing yourself or going against your instincts. Use these moments as catalysts for your own positive change, and leave the shame and doubt behind.
2. Overcome imposter syndrome
Depending on your upbringing and cultural background, it may feel uncomfortable to assert yourself as a professional.
Early-career therapists emerge from years of academic and clinical training where it was the norm to defer to a professor or supervisor.
Even if you’ve established yourself as an authority and are handling your own clients, it can be challenging to assert yourself and rely on your own instincts.
This feeling—known as imposter syndrome—can be a barrier to finding your voice in these early stages of your career. It may cause you to question your competence, even when there is objective evidence of your skills and training.
You’re far from alone. A 2025 systematic review of over 11,000 health service providers globally found that approximately 62% experience imposter syndrome—highlighting just how widespread it is in the field.
In order to move through imposter syndrome, find a trusted mentor who supports your growth and champions you as a professional.
You might try looking for a mentor with a similar background or cultural identity.
Talking with your mentor may help to remind you why you were called to this profession in the first place.
3. Explore critical consciousness
The field of therapy has been built with the best of intentions, but it still suffers from issues of inequality found in other industries.
By exploring critical consciousness, you can start to develop an awareness and understanding of the structures and systems around us that reinforce those inequalities—and then take action to amend them.
Think about how your own experience is influenced by a number of factors, including:
- Racial identity
- Gender identity
- Social class and education
- Religious background
- Physical ability
Your voice as a therapist should incorporate all aspects of your whole, contextual self. And that includes your multifaceted identity as well as your lived experiences.
Think about how you may be privileged and/or marginalized in certain areas and how that affects your work.
This type of self-exploration not only strengthens your understanding of yourself, but also enhances your cultural humility and ability to empathize with clients from different backgrounds.
Create an atmosphere where these issues can be openly discussed—whether it’s with a client, your colleagues, or your supervisors—so you can learn from one another and grow together.
4. Identify your core values and hopes
Think about what you want to bring forth from your own experience, background, and identity in your work.
What pathway do you want to carve out for yourself that’ll empower you as a therapist?
You can begin to define your voice by identifying your core values and hopes as a professional.
Try reflecting on questions like:
- What are your reasons for entering the field?
- What did you envision, anticipate, hope for in your work?
- How are your reasons and hopes for your work connected to your core values about life?
- How have your personal experiences and understanding of who you are influenced your desire to work in the field?
- Who do you hope to serve? How?
Identifying your values isn’t only a reflective exercise—it can shape your clinical work in tangible ways.
Your values can act like a compass, guiding how you show up for clients, make ethical decisions, and protect your own well-being.
Guiding clinical decisions
If you deeply value empowerment, you may lean toward approaches like solution-focused therapy or narrative therapy, which center on client strengths and autonomy.
Conversely, if you value deep exploration and insight, you might feel more aligned with psychodynamic or humanistic approaches.
Setting healthy boundaries
Therapists who value balance and sustainability are more likely to protect their schedules, decline taking on excessive caseloads, or set clear expectations with clients around session limits and communication.
These choices not only safeguard your well-being but also model healthy boundary-setting for your clients.
Selecting a therapeutic modality
If you value cultural responsiveness and inclusivity, you may intentionally seek training in multicultural counseling frameworks or evidence-based approaches like acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which integrates clients’ personal values into the healing process.
If social justice is central to your identity, you might integrate critical consciousness practices into your work with clients and advocate for systemic change.
By clarifying your core values, you create a filter for making tough calls—whether that’s choosing how to intervene in a session, deciding when to refer a client, or determining which professional opportunities to pursue.
Your values help you practice with integrity and keep your therapeutic work aligned with who you are.
5. Establish a support system
Aside from working on a deeper understanding of yourself, it’s important to strengthen your relationships with others as well.
When you’re in an academic program or your first job, it’s easy to focus solely on your individual progress, experiences, and career development.
However, reaching out to colleagues and fellow therapists and establishing a support network can be a great way to develop your voice as a therapist.
Look to communities and spaces for support during the early stages of your career, like:
- Peers with shared experiences
- Work colleagues
- Professional organizations, networks, and events
- Online forums, such as the SimplePractice Facebook Group
Choose support systems that nurture and affirm one or more aspects of your identity—such as professional focus, scholarly interests, spirituality, race and/or ethnicity, gender and/or sexual orientation, and so on.
Surrounding yourself with a support network—peers, mentors, or identity-aligned communities—fosters the kind of meaningful connection that deepens both your self-awareness and therapeutic presence.
Beyond cultivating understanding of yourself, it’s essential to build a network that supports and sustains your growth.
Many national associations—such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA)—offer active online communities, mentorship, and continuing education support.
Specialties like family therapy have their own active groups too—the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) unites over 25,000 members globally through regional and online peer networks.
6. Work through personal transitions
The transition from an academic setting to a professional setting comes with unique challenges.
Perhaps you may miss the sense of community you felt in your academic program.
Or, maybe you’re experiencing a decline in clinical self-confidence when you start to work on your own. It’s important to remember that relationships with past colleagues and supervisors may shift, especially as you integrate yourself into a new workplace.
While this can be difficult, it can be an opportunity to find your place in the professional world.
Try to view these personal transitions as opportunities for solidifying your identity as a therapist.
Focus on finding a job where the values of the organization and the attitude of your colleagues align with your professional values and goals.
It’s also important to be mindful of burnout, which is one of the most common stressors for early-career therapists.
Transitioning into professional practice often comes with heavier caseloads, new responsibilities, and the pressure to "prove yourself."
Without intentional balance, it can be easy to overextend.
Protecting time for rest, personal relationships, and hobbies isn’t just self-care—it’s an ethical responsibility that allows you to show up fully for your clients.
Consider scheduling regular check-ins with yourself (or with a trusted peer) to evaluate your workload and energy levels, and don’t hesitate to seek supervision or therapy for your own support when needed.
Prioritize your personal development
While these tips can help you find your voice as a therapist, this isn’t a one-time thing.
The more you’re exposed to, and learn from, experiences of your clients, the more your understanding of yourself and others will deepen.
Prioritize your individual growth early in your career, and commit to making it an ongoing journey.
Sources
- American Psychological Association. (2021). Addressing Impostor Phenomenon in the Psychology Field.
- Bell, L. A. (2016). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. Routledge.
- Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2019). The mindful self-compassion workbook. Guilford Press.
- Norcross, J. C., & VandenBos, G. R. (2018). Leaving It at the Office: A Guide to Psychotherapist Self-Care.Guilford Press.
- Wong, P. T. P. (2020). Existential positive psychology and the new science of flourishing. Routledge.
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