Episode 17

Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Collapse of a Seven-Figure Practice and the Reality of Clinician Burnout [Part 2]

Published on: 25th November, 2025

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EPISODE HERE!

When a thriving seven-figure practice implodes, it never happens all at once. It happens slowly, quietly, through the small paper cuts that no one warns you about. In this episode, we take you inside a real-time autopsy of a private practice undone by clinician burnout, a broken mental health system, and the relentless weight of decisions made in survival mode. This is what it looks like when success on paper collides with the truth underneath. 

We walk through the rise, the unraveling, and the reckoning that ultimately led to selling a medical practice not out of strategy, but out of necessity. And if you have ever wondered how a seven-figure business can still leave you drowning in fear, debt, and shame, this is the episode you have been waiting for. Nothing is sugarcoated. Everything is honest. Because clinician burnout is not a mindset problem. It is a system problem created inside a broken mental health landscape.

Inside this story, you will hear how one founder went from feeling unstoppable to confronting the limits of capacity, leadership, loyalty, and regulation. You will see exactly how the combination of a thousand cuts, clinician burnout, and a broken mental health system created a perfect storm that even a seven-figure revenue line could not withstand. And you will hear what happens after the collapse, including the unexpected freedom that comes with finally selling a medical practice you once thought you would build forever.

What you will learn

• How clinician burnout sneaks up on even the most driven founders and why a broken mental health system accelerates it

• The operational blind spots that create a thousand cuts long before anyone sees the collapse of a seven-figure practice

• The emotional and psychological toll of selling a medical practice when your identity is tied to its success

• Why money alone cannot protect you from clinician burnout, a thousand cuts, or the realities of a broken mental health industry

• The unexpected clarity that emerges after letting go, healing, and rebuilding on your own terms

If this episode hits something raw, share it with the clinician who still believes they have to white knuckle their way to success. Leave a review, subscribe, and stay with us as we continue to expose the realities behind seven-figure growth, the truth about clinician burnout, and what comes after selling a medical practice in a broken mental health system shaped by a thousand cuts at every turn.

Connect with us!

Website: www.offthechair.com

Instagram: @offthechairpodcast

YouTube: @offthechairpodcast


Colleen Long, Psy.D.

Website: www.claritypsychologicaltesting.com

LinkedIn: Dr. Colleen Long

 

Jennifer Politis, PhD, LPC

Website: www.wellnesscounselingBC.com

Instagram: @wellnesscounselingnj

TikTok: @wellnesscounseling

LinkedIn: Jennifer Politis

 

Erika Bugaj, MA, MSW, LICSW

Website: www.dandelioncounselingcare.com

Instagram: @dandelioncounselingcare

LinkedIn: Erika Bugaj

Transcript
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About the Podcast

Off The Chair
Breakout From Burnout with Dr. Colleen Long

In a world where a nail artist can out-earn a PhD, it’s no wonder we have a broken mental healthcare system. Clinicians can’t rely on the old playbook anymore. The traditional path of grad school, licensure, insurance panels, and a calendar packed with 1:1s might be familiar, but for many of us it’s no longer sustainable. It’s time for a new blueprint.

Off the Chair is about getting there—and we mean “off the chair” in two ways.

First, off the chair means stepping beyond the idea that your income must come only from 1:1 direct clinical hours that trade each of your precious hours for dollars. Each week, we explore radically different, values-aligned ways clinicians can earn a living: scalable service lines, medical and mental health innovation, digital products, consulting, education, communities, automation, AI-supported workflows, and other models that expand your impact without burning you out.

Second, off the chair means stepping into the side of practice no one taught us in training. Whether you’re in solo practice, running a group, leading a clinic, or building something entirely new, we talk about the non-clinical reality of being a clinician-entrepreneur: hiring, firing, retention, culture, systems, operations, HR, legal landmines, finances, and the messy decisions that make or break a practice.

This is the no-BS podcast for psychologists, therapists, physicians (MD/DO), physical therapists, dentists, and clinicians of every discipline who are tired of being trapped in a broken healthcare system and ready to build sustainable, creative, financially solid careers without selling their souls.

Hosted by Dr. Colleen Long, Off the Chair brings you honest conversations, real strategies, and behind-the-scenes lessons from clinicians who have built, pivoted, and rebuilt businesses in the trenches.

If you’re a growth-minded clinician who wants more freedom, better systems, and a career that supports your life (not the other way around), you’re in the right place.

New episodes drop every Tuesday.