October
"when the work follows you home"
Thinking about clients at 10pm? You're human. Every night? That's data. This month is about noticing what you're carrying and learning to leave work at work—not because you don't care, but because you need to last.
💡 October Tip
Want the full 2026 calendar? It's included in the Winter 2026 Quarterly Kit. Get it →
Personalize Your Calendar
The Winter 2026 Kit includes stickers to personalize your calendar with dates that matter to you—client milestones, personal reminders, or trigger dates.
🧠 World Mental Health Day
Check in on your own mental health—not just theirs. You can't pour from an empty cup.
💊 Drug Take Back Day
Remind clients to clear out old medications. Reduces access to means for overdose and suicide.
🎃 Halloween
Parties, drinking culture, costumes as "permission." Check in with clients before the weekend.
💜 Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Abuse doesn't pause for recovery. Stay aware.
SUD and domestic violence frequently co-occur. Substances can be used as a tool of control, and trauma from abuse often underlies addiction. This month, recommit to screening:
- Are you routinely asking about safety at home?
- Do you know the signs of coercive control—not just physical abuse?
- Are you aware that abusers sometimes sabotage recovery?
- Do you have DV resources ready to share when clients disclose?
- Are you checking in on clients whose partners control their access to treatment?
National DV Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | Text START to 88788
Holiday Relapse Prevention Planning
This two-page guide makes the case for starting holiday relapse prevention conversations in October — not December when clients are already in crisis mode. It opens with why holidays are hard (family triggers, social pressure, financial stress, grief, disrupted routines, loneliness) and then offers questions to ask clients now, before the stress hits. The middle section walks through building a holiday survival plan: identifying high-risk situations, planning ahead for specific events, building in supports, practicing saying no, creating alternatives to drinking-centered gatherings, and planning for loneliness. The guide ends with a timeline of key holiday dates from Halloween through New Year's Day to plan for.
Best for: Addiction counselors who want to get ahead of holiday stress instead of doing damage control in December. Start these conversations in October — by November, the anxiety is already building.
Available October 1stWhen the Work Follows You Home
This three-page worksheet examines what you're carrying home from work — clients you can't stop thinking about, sessions you replay, worry that follows you into your personal life. It opens with a checklist of signs that work is following you home (replaying sessions after hours, worrying about client safety at night, checking email constantly, dreams about work, difficulty being present with family or friends). The next section helps you identify patterns: which clients, what time of day, what triggers these thoughts, how often it happens. The middle section offers concrete strategies for creating separation — end-of-day rituals, physical transitions, designated "worry time," removing work email from your phone. The worksheet includes reframing exercises for thoughts that keep intruding, and ends with space to commit to one boundary you'll set this week.
Best for: Clinicians who can't stop thinking about clients after hours, feel like they can never fully disconnect from work, or notice work bleeding into personal relationships and wellbeing. Also useful for supervision conversations about work-life boundaries.
Available October 1stPre-Holiday Anxiety
Trend: Pre-holiday anxiety builds now. By the time December hits, your clients are already in crisis mode.
Watch for: Clients starting to dread the holidays. Family stress, financial pressure, and grief surface early. Don't wait for Thanksgiving to address it.
Action: Start holiday relapse prevention planning NOW. Use the Holiday Relapse Prevention Planning guide to walk through high-risk situations before they arrive.
📝 Related Reading
I Don’t Practice What I Preach – When the Gap Between What You Teach and How You Live Isn’t About Burnout – It’s About Wiring
Therapist Self-Care There’s a version of this blog I could write that you’ve already read. The burned-out clinician. Compassion fatigue. Running on empty. Giving everything
I’m Worried My Client Is Hopeless: When Doubt Creeps In and the Entire Process is Affected
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Navigating a Trauma-informed System That’s Not Trauma-informed
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My Client Died: When The Loss Belongs To You Too
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📰 April 2026 Newsletter – The Underrated Dispatch
Monthly Strategies for the Underdog Clinician Featured Highlight: NEW — YOUNGER CLIENTS — TOOLS BUILT FOR THE ROOM YOU’RE ACTUALLY IN Expanding into child, adolescent,
My Client Scares Me, Part 3: Fear of What They Show You
When Clients Trigger You as a Clinician There’s a fear in this work that nobody puts in the job description. Not the fear of getting