Love Your Workflow: A Productivity Guide for Therapists

As a therapist who has worked for startups in the health space, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how mental health clinicians manage administrative tasks and how even small improvements in efficiency can significantly reduce burnout. I've also experienced the relief that comes from a workflow with fewer glitches and a more easeful, steady flow.

Everyone operates a little differently and your ideal systems will be unique to your practice and the tools you choose to use. The goal of this guide is to share simple workflow optimizations that help speed up, streamline, and eliminate repetitive tasks.

I. Block your time and batch your tasks

Constantly switching between different types of tasks slows you down in more ways than one. Moving from a progress note to a client email, then to a billing issue and back to documentation forces your mind to jump between frameworks while also costing you precious minutes opening and closing tabs, tools and files.

Batching similar tasks together offers an effective solution, though it does require intention and follow-through. To put this into practice, set aside specific blocks of time each day, week, or month, or quarter to focus on one type of task at a time.

There are meaningful side benefits as well: Task batching reduces decision fatigue by removing the constant question of what to do next and helps ensure important work does not fall through the cracks. It also creates an opportunity to notice how you spend time, and whether that investment aligns with your larger goals.

Where to start:

Email check-ins (30–60 minutes, daily)

Block out two 15 to 30 minute windows on your schedule each day (depending on your inbox volume) to check and respond to email.

This approach works best with one key adjustment: turn off email notifications. Let family, friends and clients know they should call or text if something urgent comes up.

Progress note catch-ups and compliance reviews (1 hour, weekly)

Blocking a weekly notes catch-up hour gives you dedicated time to tackle any unfinished documentation and review compliance requirements.

Select a day and time that works best for you and block it on your calendar. I’ve found late Friday afternoons often work well for this kind of focused cleanup.

Billing and insurance tasks (2 hours, weekly)

Use this time to tackle everything insurance-related in one sitting:

• Submit claims for the week
• Follow up on outstanding payments
• Handle denials or requests for additional information
• Process any authorizations that are coming due

When you batch these tasks together, you only have to get into "insurance mode" once—which is much less draining than scattering these tedious tasks throughout your week.

Marketing and networking (1-3 hours, monthly)

Once a month, start by asking yourself what you are trying to accomplish with your marketing right now. Are you hoping to connect with other experts in your field, attract more of your ideal clients or refine your brand positioning? Let your answer guide how you use this time.

You might spend each session:

• Brainstorming content ideas
• Reaching out to referral sources
• Updating website copy
• Batch-creating social media posts

This kind of intentional focus helps prevent you from spinning your wheels on activities that do not meaningfully move your practice forward.

Long-term strategy (2 hours, monthly)

Schedule one monthly strategic thinking session outside of your usual workspace. Step away for some blue-sky thinking by going for a walk, working from an energizing coffee shop, or settling into a comfortable spot in a boutique hotel lobby.

Use this time to reflect on what is working, clarify your long-term vision, and identify anything you would like to shift.

II. Create your own templates

Early in my career, I resisted templates, worried they would make my emails, social media posts or session notes feel less personal or impactful. Now that I use templates across many areas of my business, I see the opposite is true.

Templates free up mental space to add meaningful details because you're no longer rephrasing and reorganizing the same foundational information.

Where to start:

Note and treatment plan templates

If you're not already using templates for session notes and treatment plans, it's likely because they don't reflect the way you think or practice. That's why creating your own templates can be so effective.

If it's been a while, revisit the required components for session notes and treatment plans and make a clear list of mandatory elements. From there, design a template that organizes those elements in a sequence and format that feels intuitive to your internal workflow.

Give yourself permission to make it your own. The goal is a template that supports how you think, write, and practice today.

Email templates

Once you start using Gmail templates or a similar feature in your email software, you are unlikely to want to stop. After investing about 20 minutes to learn the steps and create your first template, the long-term payoff can be significant.

Consider creating email templates for these common scenarios and any others you encounter regularly:

• New client inquiry responses
• Welcome to my practice and how we will work together
• Requests for insurance details
• Appointment confirmations
• Late cancellation policies
• Superbill requests
• Recommended readings and resources

Social media templates

A reality of private practice is that you may need to ramp up your marketing with little notice. Having templates ready allows you to create a series of social assets quickly and with intention rather than starting from scratch each time.

Consider using a simple tool like Canva, which offers a wide range of customizable templates. Choose designs that fit your personality and clinical approach, then apply your brand colors and font styles so everything feels cohesive.

Select one primary platform to focus on and build a small library of reusable social media templates, such as:

• Educational templates (3-4) to share information about the conditions or concerns you are uniquely trained to address, such as “3 facts about,” “myth versus reality,” or “what therapists wish you knew”
• Inspirational templates (2-3) for quotes, artwork, nature photography, or video
• “About you” templates (2-3) that highlight what you are reading, your self-care habits, your pets or hobbies
• “About your practice” templates (3-4) featuring office photos, accepted insurance plans, or areas of specialty
• Event templates (1-2) that include your photo and brief bio along with event details

III. Work with your energy

You are not a machine, and expecting your energy to remain consistent throughout the day, week, or month sets you up for exhaustion and frustration.

Learning when you naturally have more mental clarity, creativity, or stamina and structuring your work around those rhythms is one of the most powerful and often underused time management strategies available.

Where to start:

Energy pattern tracking

Take time to notice when your energy is naturally highest and lowest throughout the day. Then:

• Schedule more demanding tasks such as client sessions or complex administrative work during your peak energy hours
• Save lower-energy tasks for times when you are naturally less sharp.

You cannot always organize your entire life around your energy levels. That is not how life works. Still, making conscious, intentional choices about how you structure your time can make a meaningful difference.

Restorative transitions

Build short breaks of 5 to 15 minutes between sessions to allow for genuine restoration. These buffers help prevent emotional and mental fatigue from building up and give you space to transition between different clients and their needs.

During breaks, aim to truly rest rather than shifting to another task. If you are eating, simply eat. If you are listening to music, just listen. Put your phone away or turn it face down to reduce the pull toward additional stimulation. When possible, step outside or spend a few minutes in a different environment.

IV. Manage requests & maintain boundaries

As a therapist, you may struggle with requests because you are trained to be responsive and helpful. However, saying yes to everything or feeling pressure to respond immediately to every request is a fast track to resentment and exhaustion.

Learning to pause, assess and respond thoughtfully rather than reactively is a skill that can be developed and one that protects both your time and your sense of agency.

Where to start:

Pause and consider

Before agreeing to any request, pause. Ask yourself whether you genuinely want to make this commitment and whether there is a middle-ground option that might work better for you, such as a limited scope, a delayed timeline, or a collaborative approach.

Taking a moment to think before committing helps ensure you are investing your time and energy in ways that truly make sense for you.

Assess urgency

When you receive a request, start by asking whether it is truly time-sensitive. If it is, respond promptly. If not, give yourself space to consider whether it aligns with your priorities and how you want to engage or whether you want to decline. That breathing room often makes all the difference.

Let go of perfectionism

Is perfectionism or over-functioning creating inefficiency in your workflow? Not every task requires the same level of attention and effort. Trust yourself to deliver work that is good enough when appropriate.

Good enough is not mediocrity. It is thoughtful, competent work that meets the real requirements of the task without unnecessary overextension.

Set response-time boundaries

Establish and communicate clear response-time expectations such as “I respond to non-urgent emails within 48 business hours” so clients know what to expect and you are not carrying pressure to respond immediately.

This simple boundary protects your time and reduces the persistent feeling that you should always be checking your inbox.

Your workflow is always evolving

To me, productivity is not about squeezing more work into your day. It's about designing a workflow that feels supportive and aligned with the way you want to practice—which is bound to change over time.

Small shifts such as batching tasks, using templates, honoring your energy, and setting clear boundaries can quietly but meaningfully change how your workdays feel. Even one or two intentional adjustments can create noticeable relief.

These choices add up to a workflow that allows you to show up with greater presence for your clients and still have energy for your life outside of work.

When your workflow supports you, you become more grounded, more intentional and more easeful. You’ve got this!