Between Sessions, Between Breaths:
Gentle Regulation Practices for Therapists
Mental health professionals spend much of their working lives moving from one emotional landscape to another. A session ends, the door closes, and moments later another client arrives with a different history, nervous system, and set of needs. In this in‑between space—often measured in minutes rather than hours—clinicians are asked to reset, recalibrate, and remain present.
This article is written for therapists, social workers, counselors, and mental health professionals, and all others serving their community, who know that between‑session regulation is not a luxury. It is a quiet, essential skill for sustainable practice—especially in a time when stressors in American society are cumulative, real, and deeply felt.
Why Between‑Session Regulation Matters
Therapy is relational and embodied work. Even when we feel cognitively prepared, our nervous systems carry traces of what we have just witnessed: grief, anger, fear, despair, hope. Without intentional regulation between sessions, this activation can compound across the day, leading to emotional fatigue, reduced attunement, and burnout.
Between‑session regulation supports:
Clinical presence and emotional availability
Ethical decision‑making and reduced reactivity
Therapist resilience and nervous‑system sustainability
Clearer boundaries between clients and personal life
Rather than striving to "clear" emotions entirely, the goal is integration and containment.
Regulation Is Not Resetting to Neutral
A common misconception among helping professionals is that regulation means returning to calm neutrality before the next client. In reality, regulation is about bringing intensity into a manageable range, not erasing impact.
Between sessions, therapists are not expected to become blank slates. They are invited to become grounded witnesses—aware of what they carry, and able to set it down enough to meet the next moment.
Gentle Between‑Session Regulation Practices
These practices are intentionally brief, realistic, and adaptable to busy clinical settings. Many take under two minutes.
1. Physiological Reset
Place both feet on the ground and gently press them down
Take 3–5 slower exhales (longer out‑breath than in‑breath)
Allow the shoulders and jaw to soften
This supports parasympathetic activation and signals safety to the nervous system.
2. Sensory Orientation
Identify:
3 things you can see
2 things you can feel physically
1 thing you can hear
Orienting to the present moment helps shift the brain out of threat monitoring and back into awareness.
3. Emotional Containment Phrase
A brief internal statement such as:
“I can hold this without carrying it.”
“This belongs to the session, not my whole day.”
Language matters. These phrases reinforce boundaries without dismissing care.
4. Micro‑Movement
Gentle movement—stretching arms, rolling shoulders, standing briefly—helps discharge residual activation stored in the body. Regulation is not only cognitive; it is somatic.
5. Intentional Transition
Before the next session, pause and internally name:
One word describing your current state
One word describing how you want to show up
This brief reflection supports intentional presence rather than emotional carryover.
When Sessions Are Especially Heavy
After crisis sessions, trauma processing, or intense emotional disclosures, regulation may require slightly more structure.
Helpful options include:
Writing a few grounding notes before closing the chart
Stepping outside or near natural light if available
Using temperature shifts (cool water on wrists, holding a warm mug)
Brief consultation or acknowledgment with a trusted colleague
Needing more support after difficult sessions is not a weakness—it is a sign of attunement.
Between‑Session Regulation as Ethical Practice
For therapists, emotional regulation is not just personal wellness; it is a clinical responsibility. A dysregulated clinician may unintentionally rush, withdraw, over‑function, or miss subtle cues.
By tending to regulation between sessions, clinicians:
Protect the therapeutic alliance
Reduce risk of countertransference enactment
Support clearer clinical judgment
Model healthy boundaries and self‑respect
Sustainability is not separate from ethics—it is part of it.
A Note on the Current Climate
In the present American context, many clinicians are holding not only client distress but shared societal stress. Between‑session regulation cannot erase this reality, but it can help therapists remain grounded enough to continue meaningful work without self‑erasure.
Small, repeated acts of regulation accumulate. They create enough space to keep choosing presence.
Closing Reflection
Between sessions, there is breath. There is choice. There is the opportunity to return—not to perfection or neutrality—but to steadiness.
By honoring these small transitions, therapists care for the part of themselves that makes care possible.
