Private Therapy for Entrepreneurs - For the Ones Who Can’t Switch Off

Esther Dietrichsen-Farley
Apr 14, 2024
3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

You’re the one who solves problems, raises standards, sees the next move before others do.

But who sees you?

There’s a mental health crisis unfolding quietly behind closed doors - in co-working spaces, kitchen tables turned into desks, boardrooms, and solo founder WhatsApp groups. Entrepreneurs are burning out at unprecedented rates, and often in silence.

According to research from Durham University, 1 in 2 entrepreneurs report experiencing mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion. For founders under 30, that number is even higher. You may be thriving on paper and unraveling in private - both can be true.

Woman seated behind a laptop, eyes closed and pinching the bridge of her nose — symbolising the emotional pressure and mental exhaustion entrepreneurs often carry.

Why This Feels Different

Founders don’t burn out because they’re weak.

They burn out because they care. Deeply.

Because they’re the ones holding the vision, the team, the finances, the contingency plans - all of it. Even when their bandwidth is gone. Especially then.

Many of the entrepreneurs I see at The Farley describe feeling emotionally spent, but still “performing” calm. Their bodies are wired, their minds on overdrive. They second-guess every decision. They can’t sleep - or they crash for days. Often they’ll say something like:

“I can’t switch off. Even when I’m not working, I’m bracing.”

This isn’t just stress. It’s survival mode dressed up as productivity.

There’s often a paradox here: you want support, but you also want to stay in control. You long to feel seen, but not exposed.

I explore this tension more fully in a companion post:

👉 Founders and Stress: The Stress Paradox

What Makes Therapy Different

Most of your life is spent in strategy mode: thinking ahead, managing risk, staying three steps in front. Therapy offers something radically different - not a plan, but a pause.

At The Farley, private therapy for entrepreneurs isn’t another performance space. It’s a space where you don’t have to impress or figure it all out. You don’t even have to know what you’re feeling yet. We’ll begin with where you are.

Together, we might explore:

How perfectionism, drive, and self-worth have become tangled
Why success doesn’t feel like enough - or doesn’t feel like anything
The early messages that taught you rest was indulgent or unsafe
The loneliness that comes from always being the one others lean on
This is where we untangle not just how you're coping, but why it feels so costly to stop.

Why Founders Avoid Therapy - and Why It Matters

Many high-functioning adults avoid therapy because it feels indulgent, inefficient, or too uncomfortable. But that avoidance is often a protective strategy - one that makes sense if you’ve learned that vulnerability isn’t safe.

You may also have been in therapy before and felt unseen. Maybe it was solution-focused when what you needed was space. Maybe it was too clinical, or too vague, or left you feeling like a diagnosis rather than a person.

At The Farley, therapy is person-centred and relational - meaning the focus isn’t on ticking boxes, but on building a space where you can feel. Fully. And safely.

Because relational wounds - the kind that quietly tell us we have to manage everything alone - don’t heal through tips and tricks. They heal in relationship.

If you’ve made something out of nothing but it’s costing you more than you can admit

Private therapy at The Farley is for adults who are functioning outwardly and struggling underneath. Whether you're running a business, leading a team, or simply carrying too much, you're not alone and you don't have to keep holding it all without support.

You’re welcome here - exactly as you are.

The Farley offers private therapy in Southampton and online across the UK.

Please feel free to book a free initial consultation or reach out for a conversation.

A note on language

In the UK, people often use the terms counselling and therapy interchangeably. I use both too. While some people view counselling as more short-term and therapy as deeper work, the two often overlap in real life. In my practice, what matters most is that the space feels human, safe, and attuned to you.

Whether you're searching for counselling Southampton, private therapy in Southampton, or exploring private therapy online across the UK, The Farley offers a consistent, grounded space to come back to yourself - whether you think of it as therapy, counselling, or something you’re still figuring out.

The Farley