The Sh*tstorm Survival Guide: How to Manage Your Clinic Through Personal Crisis
Nov 18, 2025You've built something meaningful. Your practice serves your community, supports your team, and provides for your family. But what happens when you're the one who needs support? When personal crisis strikes and you can barely keep yourself afloat, let alone an entire business?
Anna and Kendall address this vulnerable reality with remarkable honesty, drawing from their own experiences of navigating personal challenges while keeping their practices running. This isn't theoretical advice—it's hard-won wisdom from leaders who've been there.
The conversation begins with Anna acknowledging current challenges with parenting: "Parenting teens can involve more energy than you want in life... Maybe I underestimated 13." This seemingly small admission opens the door to discussing how life's demands—whether parenting struggles, health crises, or family emergencies—can require stepping back from work in ways we never anticipated.
Kendall shares the principle that shaped her entire practice structure from day one: "From the beginning, set up the practice in a way that everyone could still be paid, even if I, in the beginning, wasn't seeing clients." This wasn't academic planning—it came from nine years of experiencing MS relapses before opening her clinic. She understood viscerally that stepping away wouldn't be a possibility but an inevitability.
The hosts emphasize that the same preparation that protects you during personal crisis also protects you during external challenges. As Anna notes: "It really is the same playbook, whether it's something happening within your personal life or something happening within the external environment... You have to go back to your core principles as a company and create delegational or process oriented documentation."
One of the most valuable discussions centers on administrative support as the critical first layer of protection. Kendall asks directly: "Who's scheduling the patients, who's rescheduling them, who's booking new people, who's answering billing questions?" Without this support, stepping away becomes nearly impossible. As Anna warns, "What would be most unfortunate is that you then have to step into a situation where you're training an admin and dealing with a crisis."
The conversation takes a poignant turn when addressing the emotional dimension of stepping back. Kendall shares her experience with therapy clients during MS exacerbations: "99% of my caseload were clients with chronic illnesses themselves. And so we had a mutual understanding... even in those situations I felt that I was harder on myself than the client was."
This leads to an important permission statement: "It's okay to disappoint people." The fear of letting others down often keeps practice owners working through situations that require rest and recovery. But as Kendall reflects, "Most of the time what I've received is take care of yourself, it's okay, we'll be fine. The world keeps spinning."
Anna offers a powerful reframe for situations requiring indefinite stepping back: "When we see it as this person could take on this role and they would thrive in it, or this practitioner would have so many more patients if I weren't seeing patients at this time. What an opportunity for growth." This transforms crisis from catastrophe to catalyst.
The episode concludes with Anna's reminder about agency: "We don't have control, but we definitely have agency in these situations and understanding that we can make something of it rather than being a victim of our circumstance." Paired with Kendall's encouragement to "give yourself space and grace," this creates a balanced approach to navigating personal crisis.
If you've ever worried about what would happen to your practice if you needed to step away—or if you're facing that reality right now—this episode offers both practical preparation strategies and the emotional permission to put yourself first.
For information regarding the upcoming retreat, go to: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/retreats
Sponsored by Jane App, Jane offers online booking, charting, scheduling, secure video and invoicing on one secure, beautifully designed system: https://jane.app/ Use code wellness1mo for a one-month grace period on your new Jane account.
About Anna Rudel
Anna Rudel, L. Ac is the owner and founder of Lokahi Acupuncture Clinic in San Jose California, founded in 2003. Anna is a master organizer and clinician, and as a Coach she specializes in working with Clinic Owners in the state of California, and Acupuncturists and Acupuncture Clinic Owners, or groups wanting to add Acupuncture worldwide, as well as teams that need support with employee retention and satisfaction. Born in the UK, Anna has traveled extensively in Asia and now has a thriving multi-practitioner clinic in the US!
Anna's Website and Links
- Website: https://lokahiacupuncture.com/
- Learn Group Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/group-coaching
- For info about Individual Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/individual-coaching
About Kendall Hagensen
Kendall is a Somatic Mental Health Therapist, Multidisciplinary Clinic Owner and Business Coach. She specializes in, and is passionate about, working with healthcare professionals to create the businesses of their dreams. Big goals always have a psychological component beneath the surface, so Kendall uses her background in Somatic Psychotherapy and EMDR Therapy mixed with Business Coaching tools to help clients develop a healthy relationship with their business and their strength as a leader.
As someone who lives with a chronic illness herself, Kendall feels that health happens best within community, which is why she takes a holistic, integrative, and collaborative wellness approach to her personal and professional life.
Kendall’s Web/Social Links