1. How A Therapist Survives Firehouse Life And Business Chaos

I’m Emily, and I’m building a space for the messy truth behind the therapy office, the firehouse schedule, and the family life nobody posts. We name the chaos, share what helps, and keep coming back to the same bottom line: you’re not alone.

• Why I start this podcast and what “behind the scenes” really means 

• The weekly Mayday idea for stress and survival mode 

• Juggling a group practice, hiring, PhD work, and basic needs 

• An unexpected win and the bedtime “five things” script for kids’ anxiety 

• The real-life strain of first responder schedules and missed holidays 

• What nobody tells you about therapy internships, unpaid work, and supervision 

• Why business skills matter for therapists and practice owners 

• Prioritizing when everything feels urgent and catastrophic 

So I really hope that you come back.

Our mission is to make mental health conversations more accessible, reduce stigma, and connect people with trusted resources, practical tools, and stories that inspire hope, healing, and resilience. 50% of all donations and/or monthly subscriptions are donated to our Vegas Valley First Responders. 

Thank you for listening to The Elevate Conversations Podcast. Wherever you serve, whatever you're facing, know that you don't have to carry it alone. Until next time, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and keep elevating the conversation.

Your support helps us reach more individuals and families seeking education, encouragement, and connection. Thank you for listening. Until next time, keep elevating your mental health, your relationships, and your life—one conversation at a time.       

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Transcript

Meet Emily And The Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Hi everyone, I am Emily. I'm a therapist, a business owner, a mom, and a firefighter wife. For me to be formal, my name is Emily Ann Behart, a licensed clinical professional counselor, doctorate student, a mom and a firefighter wife. And so I wanted to create this. I think my my biggest hope is to help others understand that they're not alone in some of the wackiest things that I plan on sharing in this podcast. So life behind the badge, behind the therapy office, and behind the scenes. You know, I feel like there's a lot more people that can relate to this and we just don't talk about it. So this podcast isn't about having life figured out. It's about how do we survive and not stay in this trauma state where we're not really functioning. You know, there is a balance, and there are days where we'll be a little low and days where we'll feel, you know, wonderful, which is fair. We'll talk about marriage, about with this is I'm sensitive to this. We'll talk about marriage with first responders, raising kids, running businesses, mental health therapy, entrepreneurship, running your own biz, and occasionally wondering whether we're all just one forgotten permission slip away from completely losing our marbles.

The Weekly Mayday Check-In

SPEAKER_00 2:11

So we're gonna start with Mayday. And I think Mayday is an excellent segue into the beginning of this journey that we're gonna experience together. What was your weekly Mayday this week? For me, it was really nothing. You know, I'm just opening up a group practice. Really, it's already opened up, it's kind of figuring it all out and getting it situated. And we're not even gonna go there yet. Hiring staff, that's fun. Creating teen groups, that's really fun. I love teens. Networking grief groups with local hospice business businesses. Trying to finish my PhD, although I just started it raising my two beautiful boys, eight and ten. And somewhere in all of that, and I don't cook, I really don't. Not that I can't, it's that I won't. But again, circling back, somewhere in between all of that, I do need to remind myself to drink water, basic needs, and fold laundry, which never really happens. We'll say rarely, because it never is a distortion. So I want to know what it's like for you. Can you relate? What's your biggest challenge when it comes to this? Because I am not a wizard or a witch, and I don't get to follow people around and and you know, stare at them and see what they're doing. But I would imagine that some of us are out there going through the same thing and wondering if we're alone. You know, like what pushed you over the edge this week or almost did? It could have been a slow driver, it could have been the weather, it could have been a cold coffee, you know, it could have been anything. So I am curious to know what

A Small Win With Big Impact

SPEAKER_00 4:03

that is. And if you don't know right now, that's okay too. And what was your unexpected win? I'd have to think about that. Actually, no, I'm lying. I watch reels with my husband. Laughter is a form of medicine, and we discover that there are five things to say to your child because during their brain development in between the ages of 7 to 11, they have anxiety, they have certain things that come up for them when they're in bed. So I learned five things to say to them before they go to sleep, and let me tell you, it works. You are safe. I love you no matter what you do. I really do have to write these down or get them tattooed on my forehead because I sometimes space. To be fair, I just learned this. I will always come back to you. Tomorrow is a new day, and I am proud of you no matter what you do. And if I already said that, it's I love you no matter what you do. So that was really, really, really touching. I asked my youngest how that felt when he listened to that, and he said it was perfect. So they ask for it now, they ask for the five things, so that was my win. I also think I may have won when I realized that I don't have to build everything myself anymore. And and you know, that doesn't feel right all the time. I'm not gonna say all because that's a distortion. It doesn't feel right. I feel like most of the time I have to carry it all. And I am do you feel the same? Um, do you can you relate? Because I do, oh excuse me, I do feel alone in that. I do feel like, am I the only person? But that's something that we can

Five Bedtime Phrases That Calm Kids

SPEAKER_00 5:55

think about. Now going into the firehouse reality check, and this is why I love this podcast because we're gonna go over chaos, balancing family, business, marriage, and you don't have to be married to a first responder to relate. Let's be fair. So I'm just gonna share my story because you know, just in case you are married to one and we can always improvise. A funny story that happened with my husband. So a couple things. We learned how to celebrate holidays on non-holidays. So, what that looks like, I mean, this year he happened to work on, well, actually, we looked at this year. He didn't work on Father's Day or 4th of July. So that was a win. But when he does work on holidays, it's really hard. It's really, really hard. The kids and I get creative and we try to do things that, you know, I guess lessen the mild grief, I suppose. We've kind of gotten used to it over the years, and sometimes we'll do something special. And so I was wondering, you know, I this is gonna sound silly. And and I honestly heard this in therapy one day. And I don't remember if it was from a professor or a supervisor. Actually, I'm lying. It was from a supervisor. The dad was a really busy dad. Now we're going to therapyland. And, you know, he was kind of like a without saying too much, he he he ran something like a a priest would run something. That's all that's all I'm gonna say. And his family felt very neglected. And one of the questions that I had asked him as it was recommended, uh well, uh his family, uh, how do you think uh and I said this with love how do you think the president's uh family uh deals with the president being so busy? Not minimizing them, not minimizing their hurt or pain or feelings, but wildly think of that, right? Like what about a performer? I mean, Charlie Pooth. I don't know why I'm bringing him up, but he just had a baby and his baby is young and he's on tour. And so again, I don't know why I brought that up, but it's just one of those things where you know, when we we reframe our thinking, that can be very powerful. Now, I'm not gonna take that away from you. If you are feeling angry and sad and frustrated and life is shorting you, then you get to have that because that's how you feel. But anyway, going back to him being a firefighter, yeah, it it it definitely sucked. In the beginning, it was a pretty big challenge to get used to completely unorthodox scheduling and just bizarre. You know, who works 72-hour shifts? Firefighters do. And first of all, that's a lot of hours. I'm pretty sure I see 20 clients a week, and that feels like 72. So there's that. Overall, though, I mean, you have a spouse, you have a job. We're gonna we're gonna look for that seventh cup of coffee if we're coffee drinkers or chai drinkers or other drinkers, no judgment. You know, I know that it's been a rough day when I'm pushing on another cup of coffee at like 5 30 p.m. I'm living life on the edge. So there's that. That is something though that that I'm I've had a day and I've gotten to Dutch before and ordered a drink and had no shame, asking for maybe five shots. I don't know. These are obviously on harder days, and getting looked at. Like, are you sure? I'm sure. I am sure. So if you if you can relate, slow clap for you.

Firehouse Marriage And Holiday Reality

SPEAKER_00 9:49

So now that we kind of got the fire stuff, the firehouse reality check out of the way, let's talk about therapy land. Now, if you're a therapist married to a firefighter, hashtag sister-in-law, hashtag my brother. I know, isn't that crazy? And the same for me. It's rare, but crazy. You know, a couple things about therapy, agencies, internships, practicums. Nobody tells you that you're gonna graduate with your master's and then you have to work for free. What? Yeah, I mean, I knew that when you're a doctor as a resident, you make peanuts, and then after your experience, you become an attending, and there's that. No, no, no, no, no. In Therapy Land, you pay your supervisor to teach you, and not only that, but you essentially work for education. So I don't know how I feel about that. I have mixed emotions. I don't think I can have them right now, logically, because I myself have wonderful and beautiful practicum students, part of my group, my group practice, and they're they're lovely. They really help me, they remind me of when I was at that during that stage in my career, and it's kind of refreshing. I love it actually. So, circling back, why did I open a group practice? Well, I don't like to be in solitary confinement. And as much as I love individual therapy, like the whole typical Freudian thing where you're just sitting there listening to someone talk about their innermost desires and dreams as you cycle analyze them, which there's nothing wrong with, by the way, nobody really does tell you, and I think we should change this, that in grad school, you may want to own your own business. You may want to learn about insurance companies and credentialing and billing. And, you know, maybe you don't go a c maybe you don't go for that concurrent degree and get an MBA, but let's sneak a class in there, right? Like let's sneak some like oh, some LLCs and some S-corps and some W2 employees. I mean, that would be phenomenal. So if anybody is down for the count, I'm I'm ready. I'm I'm ready and willing. Either way, I think that that's something that you and I can, or you and I and everyone else can discuss because sometimes things get thrown our

Therapy Training And Owning A Practice

SPEAKER_00 12:23

way. And I love the term life on life's terms. Or I love the the phrase life on life's terms because we have no control over what are those things called? Those things that come out of the sky and they like hail and they hit you, and it feels like a golf ball is hitting you on the freaking head. If you've never had that experience, God bless your soul because it hurts. But something like that, right? Like just getting hit in the head. Nobody asked for it. I wasn't doing anything harmful, and all of a sudden, these golf balls are coming out of nowhere. So this is what I'll end with. What to expect from these mini segments? I'm trying to really, really uh broaden what I want to share with the world. Who I am, I am a very motivated individual. I am just a human being like you, married to a human being like him, and his name is Jack, by the way. I believe that being in a first responder family, we need a voice. I think everyone needs a voice. I I honestly do. I think this is a tough career, and then oh my gosh, married to a therapist? Like what? That's like, what did I tell someone recently? That's like putting a butterfly in a cage with a snake. And I don't know why my brain came up with that, but that's where it went. And so, and as far as being a therapist, we just need some honesty, you know, just honesty. We need to be honest, we need to hear honesty. And at the end of the day, what that looks like is you know, we're human. It all boils down to us being human and making hard decisions when life can and will be hard. So I just want you all to know that you're not alone. And the main concept of this podcast is to discuss what life is like behind the badge or the career behind the therapy door, whether or the therapy office, rather, whether you are a therapist or you are a client or patient, and behind the scenes, because we all have a behind the scenes, right? Like that's not something that yeah, that's not a thing. So, whether you are in the field of saving lives in any capacity, married to one, raising kids, building a business, trying to keep your head above water, feeling like you're not drowning. Thanks for spending time with me today. And if this week felt messy with you, you are in good company because I too could totally relate.

Priorities, Catastrophe, And Not Alone

SPEAKER_00 15:08

So I really hope that you come back. What I do want you to know about these, about what I want to cover. I want to cover that everyone has a lot on their plate. We are going to play to your greatest strength and genuinely think about what that looks like, and then also complain a little bit because you know what? I don't know if I can curse on this. I want to, but I think I need to make it explicit, explicit, I was gonna say. I wife, I fall on my face. I wear 7,000 different hats, and sometimes I forget to put one on and then I get sunburned. I hire staff and I create trainings and I do podcasts and I write books and I create projects. I mean, these are just all things that I want to share with people, not because I'm boasting, but I think it's how I cope. And whether you cope the same or different, there's no right or wrong. There is no on or off switch. And at the end of the day, right, let's look at catastrophe. Let's look at that for a second. We all feel like we have there's another distortion. We often feel like we have catastrophic moments, and it does, in fact, feel that way because our bodies are responding. Facts, but you know, with a little bit of insight and some therapeutic love and support, we can get through that. And sometimes I have to remind myself too. I don't know, I feel like I realize I made a face. You can't see it, but I made a face. So we're we're gonna end with this. I think it's when I realize I have 7,000 different projects on my desk, 25 million browsers, actually 500 because that's the max. My coffee has been sitting out for two days, and I don't even know why I walked into my office or what I was going to do. Those things are so very real. So there are there aren't enough hours in the day. If everything's a priority, nothing's a priority. And honestly, the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway is you're not alone. So I hope you come back for the next one. I want everyone to know that you deserve a voice and you deserve to be heard, and that's what I'm going to advocate on this podcast with a lot more goodies coming up. So I appreciate you tuning in, and I look forward to our next one.