Who Decided Therapy Had to Be 50 Minutes Anyway?
Who decided therapy should happen in 50-minute increments, once a week, indefinitely? And why do we keep treating that structure as though it's the only way people can heal?
In this episode of The Art of Being a Therapist, Ashley Charbonneau and Morgen Villegas welcome Kellee, the founder of Wild Transformations Therapy, to explore what happens when therapists start thinking beyond the traditional clinical hour. From therapeutic rituals to EMDR intensives, the conversation challenges us to reconsider what healing can look like and whether the structures we've inherited actually meet our clients' needs.
When Being a "Good Therapist" Means Doing Less
Before opening her private practice, Kellee spent years working in hospitals, residential treatment, and case management. At one point, she carried a caseload of 125 clients. She loved the work, but the workload wasn't sustainable. Eventually, she made the difficult decision to leave her position and prioritize her own well-being and education.
Today, Kellee continues to navigate the balance between meaningful work, motherhood, and running a business. She also acknowledges something many private practice therapists experience but rarely discuss: isolation. Sometimes we miss the community of agency work, even when we don't miss the workload. Sustainability isn't always about seeing fewer clients but about creating a professional life that actually supports us.
Healing Doesn't Fit Into an Hour
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation centers on Kellee's therapeutic rituals. Drawing from her own experiences with grief, spirituality, and significant life transitions, Kellee began offering ceremonies designed to help people intentionally acknowledge endings, beginnings, and everything in between. These rituals can create space for experiences that don't always fit neatly into traditional talk therapy, including postpartum transitions, grief, and identity-related milestones.
Morgen shares her personal experience participating in one of Kellee's ceremonies, describing how meaningful it was to have dedicated time and space to honor the end of her childbearing years. The conversation also explores longer therapeutic sessions and EMDR intensives. Ashley reflects on her own experience receiving extended EMDR sessions, Morgen discusses offering multi-day intensives in her practice, and Kellee describes how 90-minute sessions can better accommodate some of her clients with ADHD.
The takeaway? Sometimes clients need more time, not more appointments.
What if we let more of ourselves into the room?
Kellee also shares how reconnecting with her spirituality has transformed her practice. After years of keeping parts of herself separate from her professional identity, she began finding ways to incorporate personally meaningful practices, such as oracle cards, when appropriate and welcomed by clients. She's also rediscovered joy through hip-hop dance, including performing in front of an audience despite her initial fears. Her experiences raise an important question: How much of ourselves do we leave outside the therapy room because we think professionalism requires it?
Being a good therapist involves boundaries, ethics, and clinical competence. But it can also involve creativity, authenticity, and recognizing that healing takes many forms. Sometimes the most meaningful professional growth happens when we give ourselves permission to evolve.
Join Ashley, Morgen, and Kellee for a conversation about therapeutic rituals, spirituality, EMDR intensives, burnout, and creating a practice that reflects who you are. Listen to Rituals & Wild Transformation on The Art of Being a Therapist: The Space Between Training and Real Life.
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