The

Therapist's
Second Act

Redesigning Your Career — and Your Life — With Intention

There is a moment that many therapists recognise.
Not a crisis — something quieter. A Tuesday between sessions
when the question arrives, unbidden:
Is this still what I want?

This book was written for that moment — and for everything that becomes possible on the other side of it.

Join the waitlist

✦   Thank you — you will be the first to know when the book launches.

No spam. Simply a warm note when the book is ready.

✦

About the Book

A book for the therapist who has given generously —
and is ready for more.

You are not burned out. You have not made a wrong turn. You have simply arrived at the moment that every long career eventually reaches — the moment when the shape your professional life has taken no longer quite fits the person you have become.

The Therapist's Second Act is a deeply honest, warmly written, and practically grounded guide to one of the most significant transitions a therapist will ever navigate. Drawing on more than thirty years of clinical practice, supervision, and mentoring, Karen Saunders Hurley offers experienced therapists a companion for the crossroads.

Why depletion is not a sign that something has gone wrong — but a signal that something important is trying to get your attention

How the professional self can quietly absorb the whole self — and what becomes possible when you begin to reclaim what has been waiting

The permission problem — and why the only permission that truly matters is the one only you can give yourself

The many shapes a therapist's second act can take — from supervision and mentoring to writing, creative practice, and the portfolio life

How to design a working life that is genuinely sustainable, creatively alive, and spiritually whole

Why the second act does not just redesign your professional life — it makes you a better therapist

This is not a book about leaving therapy. It is a book about evolving.

“
The second act is not a reward for having worked hard enough. It is simply the next chapter — available to any therapist willing to look honestly at what they have built, what they have become, and what they most genuinely want the years ahead to contain.

— The Therapist's Second Act

Photo coming soon

Karen Saunders Hurley

MSW · RSW
RP · RMFT

About the Author

Karen Saunders Hurley is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and mentor with over thirty years of experience in individual and group psychotherapy. She has spent her career accompanying people through some of the most significant transitions of their lives — and has spent the past decade turning that same quality of attention toward the professional lives of her fellow therapists.

In her early forties she signed up for her first oil painting class with no artistic background and no particular expectation — and discovered, over the years that followed, a creative identity she had not known was waiting. She is now an acknowledged oil painter. She practises yoga and meditation as daily anchors of her spiritual and physical life, and has a deep love of home design and interior spaces.

She lives and practises in Ontario, Canada, where she continues to see clients, supervise therapists, and believe — with genuine conviction — that the second act is not a retreat from a life of meaning. It is its fullest possible expression.

Programs

The book is the beginning.

A suite of online programs to accompany your second act journey — from the first wondering to the active redesign of a portfolio life.

Single Session · 3 Hours

The Second Act Discovery Workshop

Name what is happening, discover what you have accumulated, and sketch a first vision of your second act.

$197 CAD · Quarterly

Full Day · Online

The Second Act Intensive

A complete day moving from recognition and inventory through possibilities and design to committed next steps.

$397 CAD · Twice Yearly

Eight Weeks · Small Group

Designing Your Second Act

A structured, supported programme for therapists ready to move from wondering to designing — with fellow travellers.

$897 CAD · Spring & Autumn

Six Months · Ongoing

The Second Act Mentoring Group

The most intimate offering — fortnightly sessions with Karen and a small group actively building their second acts.

$297 CAD/month · By Application Only

Half Day · Online

Writing Your Second Act

For therapists who sense they have a book in them. Find your subject, your voice, and write the first page.

$197 CAD · Offered Twice Yearly

Programs launching alongside the book. Join the waitlist to be notified first.

Your second act is waiting.
Let us begin.

Join the waitlist and be the first to know when the book launches — and when programme registration opens.

✦   Welcome — you will hear from Karen when the book is ready.

No spam. No noise. Simply the right message at the right moment.