Vibrant Therapist Spotlight: April Snow

I had the privilege of interviewing San Francisco psychotherapist April Snow for this month’s Vibrant Therapist Spotlight.   While in graduate school, April was introduced to the work of Dr. Elaine Aron and recognized that she was a Highly Sensitive Person.    April has experimented and figured out how to structure her days and use systems that allow her to do her work without leaving herself depleted.   So many of the strategies that April shared in her interview are in alignment with the strategies I utilize personally and work on helping my Vibrant Therapist clients implement.   April provides tips and support for other Highly Sensitive Therapists over at her website: www.sensitivetherapist.com.

Please introduce yourself to the readers and tell us a little about the work that you do.

I’m April Snow, a psychotherapist in downtown San Francisco specializing in helping Highly Sensitive Introverts reduce overwhelm, create supportive lifestyles and have more fulfilling relationships.  In addition to my clinical work, I also create resources and organize community gatherings to support my fellow Highly Sensitive Therapists (HSTs) who are struggling with exhaustion and self-doubt. The solution to these difficulties is to establish a practice that prioritizes downtime and balance. Get started with my “Sustainable Practice Checklist.”

The readers may not be aware, but you identify yourself as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).   How did you come to recognize that you were an HSP and how do you believe it impacts your work as a therapist?

During graduate school, I was often immersed in exploring my inner world and reflecting upon my Introverted nature, but soon realized that Introversion didn’t explain all of the parts of my personality.  I needed much more downtime than many of my Introverted friends, I felt everything so deeply, I seemed to be more aware of little details and my mind loved to process things are length. I was grateful when a classmate introduced me to the work of Dr. Elaine Aron, who conducted much of the initial research about the trait, because I suddenly understood myself at a much deeper level.     

Being Highly Sensitive creates both advantages and limitations to being a therapist.  On the positive side, HSPs are naturally more empathetic (we have more active mirror neurons in our brains) and more perceptive/intuitive (our brains are wired to notice subtleties others miss) which I would consider to be therapist superpowers.  On the other hand, feeling everything deeply and noticing so much can be extremely exhausting if we struggle to hold boundaries and prioritize our needs.

What strategies have you found effective for helping Highly Sensitive Therapists successfully navigate the work that we do without finding themselves depleted?

Highly Sensitive Therapists have to stop comparing themselves to their non-HST colleagues and instead create work that is in alignment with their temperament.  This often looks like:

• Seeing fewer clients per week.  In a recent poll I conducted, 74% of HSTs reported that their ideal week is seeing 14 clients or less.  
• To be financially viable, seeing fewer clients per week often requires working in a private pay model, charging higher fees and incorporating other types of services such as supervision, consultation, or groups.  
• More downtime and rest including taking lunch breaks, reducing back-to-back sessions, and having unstructured quiet time before bed.   
• Holding firm boundaries around scheduling and availability, both professionally and personally.  
• Creating systems to reduce decision fatigue.  
• Delegating and asking for help.  
• Engaging in meaningful self-care that fills them up on a regular basis.

 What types of doubt and fears have you encountered in your career and how have you addressed them?

Being someone who prefers a quiet life and gets easily depleted when socializing, I worried about my ability to network and create a name for myself.  In the beginning, I was told that networking is the most reliable path to building a successful practice so I went to networking events, stopped by open houses and reached out to other professionals.  Not surprisingly, these activities were very draining for me so I decided to give myself permission to follow a different path.

Alternatively, I began to network on my own terms, focusing instead on building a few one-on-one connections that were fulfilling to me and created my Highly Sensitive Therapist facebook community which has sparked many meaningful connections and collaborations.  To make sure my future clients could find me, I have also focused on strengthening my website’s SEO (search engine optimization), blogging, guest posting and showing up consistently on social media – all tasks that I can do in my PJs!    

How do you personally manage overwhelm when working on multiple projects?

Some people are surprised at all I do as a Highly Sensitive Person, but I am able to focus on multiple projects because there are systems in place for everything and I delegate a number of personal and professional tasks.  For me, organization is the antidote to overwhelm which typically arises when we have too many things to focus on or too many decisions to make.

There are many components which help me simplify my day and stave off decision-fatigue:

• All of my daily and weekly tasks are assigned a time in my calendar so I don’t have to think about when I’m doing what.
• Instead of focusing on my entire to-do list, each morning I review my schedule and identify the essential tasks that need to get completed that day.   
• I break up bigger projects into smaller tasks that feel more digestible.  
• Similar tasks such as blog writing or client days are batched together so I am not focusing on everything at once.  
• The majority of my social media posts are autoscheduled in advance.  
• I have checklists and email templates for repeating tasks so I don’t have to recreate the wheel.  

How do you approach your work and self care in order to avoid becoming burnt out or depleted?

Before discovering I was Highly Sensitive, I constantly felt depleted but didn’t understand why.  Now I know that I process and feel everything more deeply than others which uses up a significant amount of energy and brain power, therefore downtime is essential.  

To avoid depletion as a therapist, I am very careful about scheduling and how I approach my work day.  I take 30 minute breaks between clients, only see clients three days per week, never see more than four clients per day, limit social media use or other distractions, and incorporate mindfulness and silence into my routine.  These practices help me maintain energy and focus throughout the day rather than using up my fuel at the beginning of the day and burning out quickly.

In addition to pacing myself throughout the day, it’s also important to focus on work that is meaningful and fulfilling since HSPs need complexity to feel engaged.  This involves holding strong boundaries, prioritizing what’s important to me and saying no to projects that may be good opportunities but don’t light me up.

 If you could go back in time, what tip or advice would you share with yourself at the beginning of your career?

You don’t have to follow a traditional path or do what everyone else is doing.  It’s okay to trust your vision and do it your way!

More about April

April Snow is a psychotherapist who supports her clients and fellow Highly Sensitive Therapists to reduce overwhelm and have more fulfilling lives.  She strongly believes that being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) doesn’t have to stop you from living a fully engaged life, it’s just a matter of knowing yourself and making adjustments to care for your unique temperament.  

Through her writing, media presence, clinical work and therapist retreats, April is on a mission to de-stigmatize the word “Sensitive” and highlight the Sensitive Strengths of being able to live, love and feel deeply.  She is passionate about helping other Highly Sensitive Therapists clear the storm of overwhelm in order to access their therapeutic gifts and more fully support their clients.

You can learn more about April and connect with her at www.sensitivetherapist.com.   You can also find April on Facebook and Instagram!

Thank you so much for participating in the Vibrant Therapist Spotlight, April!

Now it’s your turn!

Are you inspired after reading April’s interview?   Please leave a comment below sharing one change you would like to start implementing today in order to allow the vibrant therapist within you shine!