Picture a psychologist with 25 years in perinatal mental health — burned out from holding space for loss and trauma for decades.

She needed something that was just hers. No clinical notes, no disclosure risk, no empathy fatigue. She chose floristry.

And then her perinatal colleagues found out. And asked her to bring it to conferences. Then to teach it online. Now she has a waiting list of clinicians who want in.

Today's guest, Carla Anderson, is a clinical psychologist who built two very different streams inside one business — perinatal mental health training for healthcare clinicians, and floristry-based therapeutic programs for clinician self-care. She didn't plan it. She followed her gut. And the market responded in ways she didn't see coming.

HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1️⃣ Your Burnout Might Be Pointing You Somewhere — Carla needed something that shut her brain off after 25 years of perinatal loss and trauma work. Floristry did that. What started as self-preservation became the foundation of an entirely new program. Your burnout isn't a problem to solve. Sometimes it's a signpost.

2️⃣ The "Weird" Idea Is Often the One That Takes Off — Carla kept reverting to her safe perinatal niche because floristry felt too new, too hard to package. Then perinatal conferences kept asking her to run the floristry sessions. Fellow Incubator members asked when they could join. The market told her what it wanted — she just had to listen long enough to believe it.

3️⃣ You Don't Have to Explain Everything Upfront — People come to Carla's workshops thinking it's about flower arranging. By the end they're doing deep reflective work through metaphor. You don't need a ten-paragraph explanation. You just need to get people in the room. The experience does the convincing.

YOU'LL ALSO HEAR:

• Why healthcare clinicians (GPs, midwives, doctors) are desperately under-resourced when it comes to psychological support skills — and how Carla fills that gap
• What therapeutic horticulture actually is and the science behind why nature-based practices work
• How she structured her first beta launch (including the Valentine's Day flowers disaster that became an accidental metaphor)
• The internal flip-flopping between the safe niche and the exciting one — and how she finally stopped reverting
• What it looks like to let market feedback build your confidence instead of waiting for certainty first
• Why everything is figureoutable — including how to teach flower arranging online

RESOURCES: Connect with Carla Anderson:

• Website: www.carlaandersoncliniciantraining.com
• Facebook & Instagram: @carlaandersoncliniciantraining
• LinkedIn: Carla Anderson

Therapists Rising Programs:

• Caseload to Course Bootcamp: https://therapistsrising.com/bootcamp
• The Incubator: therapistsrising.com/incubator
• Instagram: @dr.hayleykelly

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If this episode made you look at your "just for me" hobby differently, subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews help other therapists find conversations that give them permission to build something unexpected.

You don't have to abandon what you're good at to build something new. You don't have to have it all figured out before you start. And you definitely don't have to ignore the thing that lights you up just because it doesn't fit the obvious mould.

What if the thing you thought was just for you is exactly what other clinicians need? What opens up when you stop treating your own joy as a liability?

Picture a corporate wellness landscape where companies are tired of boring PowerPoint workshops but also can't justify wine tastings when burnout is a WHS compliance issue.

There's a gap there. A big one.

And what if you could fill it?

Today's guest, Dr. Mitzi Liddle, is doing exactly that. She's teaching corporations about play and pleasure - yes, you read that right - as nervous system regulation tools. Not fluff. Not entertainment. Neuroscience-backed performance enhancement.

And teams are actually booking it.

HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1️⃣ Play Isn't Childish—It's a Nervous System Tool – When Mitzi started noticing corporate teams responded better to movement, music, and laughter than traditional lecture-style workshops, she followed that thread. Play and pleasure aren't frivolous—they're pathways to regulate your nervous system out of chronic stress and burnout. They bring you into your window of tolerance where creativity, energy, and clear thinking actually live.

2️⃣ There's a Gap in Corporate Wellness (And You Can Fill It) – Organizations don't want boring PowerPoint workshops. But they also don't want wine tastings that waste time. They want something engaging AND evidence-based. Something that addresses real burnout while meeting psychological safety requirements. If you can position experiential work with neuroscience backing, you've found the sweet spot.

3️⃣ Diversification Doesn't Mean Starting Over – Mitzi's been a psychologist for 20+ years. She didn't abandon her expertise—she expanded it. Corporate playshops for teams. Group programs for individual women. Both use the same foundation (play, pleasure, nervous system regulation) but serve different audiences. You don't need a brand new skill set. You need strategic positioning.

YOU'LL ALSO HEAR:

• Why "playshops" get better engagement than traditional burnout prevention workshops
• How to position play and pleasure so corporations take it seriously (and pay for it)
• The neuroscience behind why these "soft" concepts actually work as performance tools
• What changes when you follow your energy instead of grinding through what you think you "should" do
• How Mitzi created her beta program fast—and what supported that momentum
• Why dabbling and experimenting is actually the path (not a failure to commit)
• The one piece of advice for therapists who want something different but feel stuck

RESOURCES:

Connect with Dr. Mitzi Liddle:

• Website: www.drmitziliddle.com.au
• Instagram: @drmitziliddle

Therapists Rising Programs:

• The Incubator: therapistsrising.com/incubator
• The Collective Mastermind: therapistsrising.com/collective
• Instagram: @dr.hayleykelly

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW:

If this episode made you rethink what's possible for your practice, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews help other therapists discover conversations that challenge the status quo and open up new possibilities.

You don't have to choose between engaging work and credible work. Between joy and professionalism. Between staying small and burning out.

What if the thing that lights YOU up is exactly what your ideal clients need? What opens up when you give yourself permission to follow that?

You've got the notebook. The voice memos. The Google Doc titled "possible program ideas" you haven't opened in weeks. You're not short on ideas. You're drowning in reasonable options.

And somehow that feels worse than having no ideas at all.

Because when you're stuck with multiple good directions and still can't get traction, it starts to feel like a you problem. Like you're overthinking it. Not ready. Not disciplined enough.

Here's what you need to hear: You're not failing at this. You're misoriented. You're trying to choose before you're positioned to see clearly. And the question you're asking yourself is keeping you stuck.

HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1️⃣ This Isn't Confusion - It's Misorientation – Your brain is doing exactly what it was trained to do: analyse before acting. But when there are multiple good options, analysis mode creates paralysis. Your nervous system reads commitment without clarity as threat, so you stay stuck in research mode. This isn't a motivation problem. It's a starting-point problem.

2️⃣ You're Asking the Wrong Question – "What program should I create?" forces comparison, activates imposter syndrome, and assumes you need something novel. The better question: "What problem am I already solving repeatedly, whether I intend to or not?" This shifts you from ideation to pattern recognition, from theoretical planning to lived experience. Most therapists don't need a new idea - they need better visibility on work they're already doing.

3️⃣ Depth Creates Blind Spots – If people keep bringing you the same problem without you marketing for it, that's data. But experienced therapists dismiss what feels familiar, obvious, or "too simple." The more expertise you have, the more invisible your skill becomes to you. You're not underestimating the work - you're underestimating yourself.

YOU'LL ALSO HEAR:

• Why therapists trained to assess before acting get stuck when building programs
• The nervous system response that keeps you in "gathering information" mode
• How to recognize when you're dismissing your most obvious starting point
• Why confusion is often a sign of depth, not failure
• The one question that creates grounded momentum instead of endless scanning
• Why orientation matters more than urgency when building sustainable practices

RESOURCES:

Therapists Rising Programs:

• The Incubator: therapistsrising.com/incubator
• Instagram: @dr.hayleykelly

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW:

If this episode reduced the frantic energy you've been carrying, subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews help other therapists find conversations that actually shift how they're thinking.

Clarity doesn't come from choosing the best idea. It comes from standing in the right place to see what's actually there.

You're not behind. You're just facing the wrong direction. What shifts when you ask a better question?