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Guest: Cindi Miller MA, LMHC (she/her)
Host: Kayla Schubert-Wirth, MSW, LCSW (she/her)

Therapists are often punished for being good at their work through increased responsibilities with decreased support. When you're the "go-to" clinician, expect to handle everything solo while leadership tells you to just be grateful for the opportunity.

• Working in residential treatment facilities and group practices with unrealistic expectations
• Being thrown into high-acuity situations with zero training or preparation
• Having seven different supervisors in four months, each with conflicting expectations
• Complete lack of safety protocols, including being left alone with a client who pulled a knife
• The double standard of being told to have "intrinsic motivation" while receiving no feedback
• Experiencing burnout from constantly being left to "figure it out" without proper resources
• Showing up authentically with clients despite system pressures to conform
• Finding your path forward might mean leaving toxic workplaces, even without a perfect alternative

If you've ever felt like speaking up made you difficult, if being the go-to therapist has left you drowning in responsibilities and gaslighting, or if you're tired of being told to be grateful for unsafe, unsupported, unpaid work, you're not the problem, the system is.

Resources & Links:

🔹 Cindi's Instagram: @sportsfoodandmentalhealth

🔹 Work with Kayla:
Burned out by broken systems? Build a practice that honors you.
👉 gritandgracepsychotherapy.com

💼 Ready to leave burnout and bullshit behind for good?
If you're a therapist stuck in someone else's version of success and craving a business that actually feels like yours, Kayla offers bold, honest business coaching to help you unlearn the rules and build your private practice on your own terms.
💥 Join the waitlist or apply here

💌 Be Part of the Show:

📝 Apply to be a guest:
https://forms.gle/fvm82tXdhRmpZ2TE7

🕵️‍♀️ Submit your story anonymously:
https://forms.gle/snoC3Qiz2WxCMKW57

📬 Join Kayla’s Email List for therapist support, raw stories, and no-BS biz tips:
https://kaylaschubertwirth.myflodesk.com/overit

📲 Tag us on Instagram @therapy_with_kayla and let us know what part hit hardest.

This podcast includes personal opinions and experiences shared by guests and anonymous contributors. All identifying details may be changed to protect confidentiality. These stories are intended for educational and storytelling purposes and are not meant to defame, accuse, or harm any person or organization. Any resemblance to real persons or entities is purely coincidental.

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Guest: Ashley Orbanus, LPC (she/her)
Host: Kayla Schubert-Wirth, MSW, LCSW (she/her)
Podcast: Burnout & Bullshit: Real Stories from the Mental Health Field

What happens when your internship starts with a screen door, a stare-down, and the words:

“You’re 10 minutes early? Good. Learn to value your time—or you won’t make it.”

In this raw and unfiltered episode, Ashley Orbanus, LPC, pulls back the curtain on the appearance policing, burnout culture, and boundary-violating leadership she endured from internship to private practice. From being told to hide her tattoos and remove piercings, to being overworked, underpaid, and unsupported—Ashley’s story is the one too many therapists relate to but are scared to say out loud.

🔥 Topics Covered:

• Toxic internship dynamics & microaggressions
• Tattoo shaming in the therapy world
• 1099 exploitation in private practice
• Therapist burnout and nervous system collapse
• Gaslighting disguised as "professionalism"
• Reclaiming identity and building a values-aligned practice

Chapters

Chapters

00:00 Journey into Mental Health: Personal Trauma and Motivation
02:31 Internship Experiences: Challenges and Lessons Learned
04:32 Navigating Professional Identity: Tattoos and Authenticity in Therapy
08:56 Career Path: From Corrections to Private Practice
11:25 The Reality of Private Practice: Flexibility vs. Burnout
14:33 Navigating Professional Identity and Authenticity
16:54 Turning Points in Private Practice
21:46 The Importance of Support and Boundaries
26:11 Advice for New Therapists and Challenging Norms
33:24 Introduction to Raw Conversations
33:46 Finding the Right Therapist

✨ Resources & Links:

🔹 Ashley’s Profile:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/ashley-orbanus-shickshinny-pa/894781

🔹 Work with Kayla:
Burned out by broken systems? Build a practice that honors you.
👉 gritandgracepsychotherapy.com

💼 Ready to leave burnout and bullshit behind for good?
If you're a therapist stuck in someone else's version of success and craving a business that actually feels like yours, Kayla offers bold, honest business coaching to help you unlearn the rules and build your private practice on your own terms.
💥 Join the waitlist or apply here

💌 Be Part of the Show:

📝 Apply to be a guest:
https://forms.gle/fvm82tXdhRmpZ2TE7

🕵️‍♀️ Submit your story anonymously:
https://forms.gle/snoC3Qiz2WxCMKW57

📬 Join Kayla’s Email List for therapist support, raw stories, and no-BS biz tips:
https://kaylaschubertwirth.myflodesk.com/overit

📲 Tag us on Instagram @therapy_with_kayla and let us know what part hit hardest.

This podcast includes personal opinions and experiences shared by guests and anonymous contributors. All identifying details may be changed to protect confidentiality. These stories are intended for educational and storytelling purposes and are not meant to defame, accuse, or harm any person or organization. Any resemblance to real persons or entities is purely coincidental.

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Guest: Katie May, MA, LPC (she/her)
Host: Kayla Schubert-Wirth, MSW, LCSW (she/her) | Burnout & Bullshit: Real Stories from the Mental Health Field

Summary:
What if the gaslighting isn’t coming from the top down—but from “below”? In this raw and unfiltered episode, therapist and leadership coach Katie May, LPC joins Kayla to dismantle one of the most harmful deflections in group practice culture:

👉 “Sometimes the toxicity comes from below.”

Yeah… no.

From her early days in a partial hospitalization program to building a sustainable, values-aligned group practice, Katie shares the lessons no one tells you about leadership, accountability, and what it actually takes to build a workplace where people don’t ghost you after giving notice.

Whether you’re a therapist who's been scapegoated—or a group practice owner ready to face hard truths—this episode will challenge, validate, and empower you.

🔥 Topics Covered:

• What “toxicity from below” really means
• How shady onboarding and passive-aggressive policies breed burnout
• Boundaries, supervision, and real leadership vs. control
• Questions to ask in therapist interviews
• How to spot hiring red flags
• Why clients aren’t property—and how that mindset hurts everyone
• What it looks like to lead with integrity

🧠 Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to Toxic Leadership
02:01 – Why “Toxicity from Below” Is a Myth
03:10 – Clear Expectations as a Practice Owner
05:56 – Supervision and Communication
07:26 – Leadership Starts with Inner Work
10:04 – Clients Are Not Property
13:05 – Interview Questions for Therapists
15:08 – Red Flags to Spot When Job Hunting
19:12 – When a Practice Works Too Well
25:37 – What is Stabilize & Scale
28:58 – Final Reflections: Responsibility at the Top

✨ Resources & Links:

🔹 Katie May’s Stabilize & Scale Program
Group practice owner? Build values-driven systems that actually work.
👉 becomeagroupguru.com/scale

🔹 Work with Kayla
Burned out by broken systems? Build a practice that honors you.
👉 gritandgracepsychotherapy.com

💌 Be Part of the Show:

📝 Apply to be a guest:
https://forms.gle/fvm82tXdhRmpZ2TE7

🕵️‍♀️ Submit a story anonymously:
https://forms.gle/snoC3Qiz2WxCMKW57

📬 Join Kayla’s Email List for therapist support, raw stories, and no-BS biz tips:
https://kaylaschubertwirth.myflodesk.com/overit

📲 Tag us on Instagram @therapy_with_kayla and let us know what part hit hardest.

💥 Keywords: burnout, therapist burnout, toxic workplace, leadership in therapy, group practice, private practice growth, therapist support, supervision, onboarding, therapist interviews, boundaries, business coaching, mental health podcast

This podcast includes personal opinions and experiences shared by guests and anonymous contributors. All identifying details may be changed to protect confidentiality. These stories are intended for educational and storytelling purposes and are not meant to defame, accuse, or harm any person or organization. Any resemblance to real persons or entities is purely coincidental.