From Isolation to Connection: The Power of Community in Private Practice

For many psychotherapists, private practice is the ideal - bringing autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to shape your own professional journey. It is a structure that supports a healthy work-life balance and suits so many of us at certain stages in our professional life.

But, behind the freedom lies a challenge that creeps up on us and makes us question the choices we’ve made about how we work. Working alone can feel really lonely.

We might look at other professionals in hospitals, clinics, and universities, and feel glad that we don’t have to answer to others, work around others or have that constant pressure of working within a team. But, on the other hand, there are no team meetings to go to, no casual check-ins with colleagues, no quick chats, no unexpected events, no welcome distractions and no structured peer support. Sometimes it’s only when you’ve been in private practice for a while that you realize how much those small things can bring you on a daily or weekly basis. 

And the loneliness hits hardest when we feel uncertain about what we’re doing with a client, when we’re working with a challenging case or disgruntled individual, when we have an ethical dilemma, or when the emotional toll of holding space for others every day just gets the better of us. Without a professional community, we feel disconnected and unsupported, even when doing meaningful work.

Stronger Together, Weaker Apart

There are so many small aspects of our work with clients where checking-in with someone who understands is all you need. Every week there are little questions, worries, dilemmas, uncertainties and choices to be made. But, when there is no sound board, these worries don’t resolve themselves, they escalate and our confidence slips. And it’s not hard to see how this starts to affect our clients too and will inevitably undermine the work you do together. You’re both stuck, isolated, alone and feeling unsure of what you’re doing. 

What often feels like being stuck with a client is actually just having no-one to check in with. When you work alone, you just do what you do, you’re not inspired or nudged to do anything differently. Even if you find a solution or something else you want to try, you’re doing that alone too, so it never fixes anything. Incompetence isn’t the problem, nor is it lack of professional motivation. We just don’t thrive professionally when we always work alone. It’s fertile soil for self-doubt and burnout.

The Power of Community

In the PBBT community, we pride ourselves on the warmth, support and companionship we offer our therapists. We fully respect the benefits of their life in private practice and we try to make that work for them by building a community around that practice, because working inside a broader professional community is transformative. It inspires, supports, moves, humbles and enriches us. It fosters resilience and innovation. 

Interactions with a community don’t have to be onerous or demeaning. We all enjoy peer consultation, supervision, new information, thinking in new ways and just connecting with people who think and work the same as us. A community that really works is one that provides a space to share insights, troubleshoot challenges, and celebrate successes - these are things that private practice cannot provide.

At the PBBT Institute, we are building a strong professional network, grounded in safety, equality, collaboration, shared learning, and personal progress. If you’re a practitioner feeling the weight of isolation, you’re not alone. If you are interested in being part of a collaborative, science-driven community, join us at the PBBT Institute, where we’re shaping the future of psychotherapy - together.