The Bad Therapist Police Aren’t Coming: Permission to Do Less

At orientation, Lindsey’s grad program told her that skipping a single reading meant failing her future clients. At graduation, they laughed and said, “We know you couldn’t have possibly read everything.”

That gap tells you a lot about how therapists learn to burn out.

In this episode, Ashley Charbonneau and Morgen Villegas sit down with Lindsey Boes, LMFT, an AAMFT-approved supervisor in Colorado. She works with therapists, healers, and caregivers in burnout recovery. Lindsey hit her own wall eight years into private practice. At the time she was teaching, supervising, reviewing notes, and seeing a full caseload. She rebuilt from there. She raised her rates by $40 and didn’t lose a single client. Now she takes a month off every year.

Together, they talk about:

• Why so many therapists start as the emotional caretaker in their family of origin
• How shame gets used in grad school and supervision, and what it teaches new clinicians
• Burnout as a systemic problem shaped by capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy culture
• How Lindsey blends narrative therapy and IFS to help clients drop the stories that keep them overfunctioning
• Modeling real boundaries for supervisees, sabbaticals included

If you’re sure you just need to work harder, this one’s for you. You’re not failing. You’re human, and you have permission to do less.

Guest Bio:

Lindsey Boes is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AAMFT Approved Supervisor in Colorado. She has over a decade of experience helping therapists, healers, and caregivers recover from burnout and build better boundaries. Her work is rooted in feminist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist values. She sees burnout as a systemic problem, not a personal one. Lindsey runs her private practice, Guided Journey Therapy. She also founded Guided Journey Studio, which offers tools for people who give a lot and are learning they deserve care too. Find burnout recovery and boundary resources at guidedjourneystudio.com.

Guest Contact Info:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-boes-ms-lmft-s-a1b22890/

Website: www.guidedjourneytherapy.com

Your Hosts:

Ashley Charbonneau, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, evaluator, clinical supervisor, consultant, and educator. She works with people affected by the legal system, with a focus on offender accountability, survivor healing, and restorative justice. She trains professionals across the country on restorative justice, addiction, clinical supervision, sexual offending, therapy boundaries, and mandatory reporting and is the author of The Resilient Therapist (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Supporting Clients of Sexual Trauma (PESI, 2026). Learn more at https://www.ensopllc.com/

Morgen Villegas, LCSW, LAC, ACS, is a therapist, consultant, EMDRIA Consultant, and author of Shadows to Light. Through her practice, Vida Idílica Therapy & Consulting, she specializes in helping women heal from trauma, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and the lasting effects of overfunctioning and caregiving. Morgen also provides consultation to EMDR therapists seeking greater confidence and nuance in working with complex trauma. You can reach Morgen at https://www.vida-idilica.com