r/therapists•
LEBW1234

How to leave a group practice?

Rant - Advice wanted :snoo_scream:

I graduated this spring and started at a small, supportive, well-networked group practice 3 months ago. My first two weeks I was certainly nervous, but following that I began to feel better albiet the typical imposter syndrome and new therapist anxiety.

The past three weeks; however, something has majorly shifted in me. I wake up every morning with panic/dread, and I wake in the middle of the night crying. I work an additional job beside the group practice, and I find myself crying between shifts and feeling completely on-edge literally all of the time. I am a person with anxiety who has been in therapy herself for a long time...and I really got to a place where my life had changed, I am functional, happy, meeting my needs, etc. I felt very, very ready for this work. But the past 3 weeks I feel like an entirely different person and like I want to go hide.

Considering how intense my anxiety and low mood has gotten, I'm worried that this is no longer new-therapist anxiety. I'm afraid that this work is just not for me. I haven't felt this way in years. I feel so trapped. I told myself I would give it at least a year, as I know myself and that I have difficulty with adjustments, but this just feels like too much.

I'm sad because I like working with many of my clients and do not want to leave them, and the group practice owner has been extremely encouraging of me, but I feel like I tricked the owner somehow into thinking I'm more equipped than I am. Truly I feel underprepared and again, like maybe I just wasn't built for this. I didn't feel this way at all in my internships or practicum, and again, didn't really feel like this the first two months. I'm in an insane amount of debt and feel a deep sense of shame for even considering leaving, but I don't know how much of this anxiety and dread I can handle everyday. I've become a completely different person.

If you've left a group practice - what did that process look like for you? How much notice did you give? I feel horrified to even consider leaving after 3 months, and with each day I hold out hope that I'll feel better the next day, but everyday is the same and I wake up in tears and just don't know how much longer I can keep "waiting" to adjust or feel better

Sorry for how long this is. I just really need guidance

Posted Sep 1, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

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