Hilary Kinavey / EMBER

04/15/2026

That number. The one you imagined, feared, and maybe lost sleep over.

Sometimes it’s the email from your accountant.
Sometimes it’s the 11pm kitchen-table math you run twice because it *can’t* be right.
Sometimes it’s the quarterly payment you missed because the money wasn’t there… and now it’s April and the whole year is catching up at once.

However it arrives, it lands in the body first: tight chest, drop in the stomach, that familiar mix of dread + shame.

And then the story starts:
“I’m bad with money.” “I should’ve planned better.” “Other people have this figured out.” “Maybe I’m not cut out for this.”

Pause.

The number is not a verdict.
It’s information. Uncomfortable, sometimes alarming information—but not a character assessment.

If you’re self-employed, you’re dealing with a system built for salaried employees with steady withholding. Your income comes in waves. The tax schedule doesn’t care. That mismatch is structural—not a personal failing.

Feel the feelings. Then don’t let them drive.
Fear makes small decisions. Shame makes invisible ones.

One thing I see every April: people panic-cut (lower rates, overbook, abandon the group/training/offer they were building) to “fix” the number. And it makes it harder to ever get ahead.

The tax bill is the rearview mirror. It reflects last year.
Your practice today is the windshield. Don’t let the rearview mirror drive.

A full caseload can’t be your only path to stability.
Because then every cancellation costs you. Every vacation is unpaid. Every slow season becomes anxiety.

The work isn’t “do more sessions.” It’s practice architecture:
a group, a training, a course, consulting, packages—*something* that can earn even when you’re not in session.

Also (US): if you owe and can’t pay in full by April 15, you have options (payment plans exist). Avoidance is usually the most expensive choice. Talk to your tax pro about what fits your situation.

If tax time is highlighting cracks in your practice structure and you want a thinking partner, I have Practice Architecture Coaching spots available.

—Hilary
[email protected]

02/28/2026

Here are some of the questions we've been getting about EMBER:

"What if I can't make the live calls?"

All calls are recorded and in the community within 24 hours. Many cohort members rarely attend live and still get value from recordings.

"What if I get behind on the modules?"

You have lifetime access, so you can catch up anytime. The cohort structure actually helps you stay on track better than working alone and other people's questions often answer yours before you even ask them.

"I'm really new / I'm really established — will this work for me?"

Yes. We have differentiated threads in the community forun newer practitioners (0-2 years) and established practitioners navigating transitions. You self-select into whichever fits. We will also all benefit from the collective wisdom that gathers in this cohort.

"What happens after the 6 months?"

You keep lifetime access to all modules. If you want ongoing support, there's an optional monthly membership ($135/month) with continued teaching, Q&A, and community. Completely optional, cancel anytime.

"Is this only for therapists?"

No. It's for therapists, coaches, dietitians, social workers, and other care professionals. The principles apply across helping fields.

"What if I'm not in the US?"

Totally fine. Calls are recorded so time zones don't matter. Office hours are async so you participate on your schedule. If currency exchange is stopping you, reply to this email and let me know.

Current call schedule:

Coworking- 9-11am PST on the first Monday of each month

Teaching call- 11:30-12:45pm PST on the second Tuesday

Q & A call- 9:30-10:45am PST on the third Friday

"What's the difference between the cohort and DIY EMBER?"

The curriculum is the same. The cohort adds live calls, dedicated office hours, community, and the particular kind of momentum that comes from moving through something alongside other people. DIY is $1,110 and available anytime. The cohort is $2,197 and closes tomorrow. Payment plans for 6 or 9 months are available.

And the question I suspect some of you are sitting with but haven't asked:

"Why would I do something like this right now — in this economy, in this political moment?"

I've been thinking about this one a lot.

Here's what I keep coming back to: the practitioners who do justice-oriented, liberation-centered work are not insulated from what's happening. Many of you are carrying the weight of the current moment in your bodies, in your practices, in the clients sitting across from you. The system is asking more of you exactly when it feels least stable.

And that is precisely when having a sustainable structure underneath you matters most. The system is not truly taking care of you.

This is about building a practice that can hold you when things are hard so you can keep doing the work you are here to do that feels aligned and purpose driven.

EMBER won't fix the political or economic context. But it can help you build something that is needed AND feels like you.

Link in bio

02/27/2026

As this enrollment window closes, I keep coming back to something.
The practitioners I most want in this cohort aren't the ones who have it figured out. They're the ones who are tired of pretending the current model is working and are ready to stop troubleshooting alone.

That's what EMBER is for. Not a fix. A structure. A place to think and create out loud with people who understand the particular weight of this work.

Enrollment closes tomorrow (Saturday, 2/280. Link in bio if you want to join us.



https://www.hilarykinavey.com/ember

02/21/2026

Next Sunday, Carmen Cool and I begin Grief and the Body—seven sessions exploring the losses our bodies carry.
The aging body. Chronic illness and disability. The body we hoped for but didn't get. Bodies marked by gendered violence and trauma. Pregnancy, infertility, and paths not taken. The somatic experience of grief itself.
We'll tend to what lives in our flesh, our bones, our breath. Not to fix it, but to witness it with tenderness and care.
There's still time to join us.

https://www.hilarykinavey.com/grief-and-the-body
Link in bio.

02/20/2026

For a long time, I thought I’d do private practice forever.

I loved the work. The relationships. The quiet rhythm of showing up for people week after week.

What eventually shifted wasn’t my care for clients — it was my growing awareness of systems.

I started asking different questions:

What happens to this work beyond the room?
How do helpers stay resourced over time?
What could we build if our ideas reached more people?
How do we create things that don’t just help individuals — but change the conditions around them?

That’s what led me to build EMBER.

EMBER supports care-centered practitioners who want to expand or evolve their work in thoughtful ways — through groups, trainings, consultation, writing, or new offerings — without burning out or abandoning their values.

More than anything, I want people to find your work.
The work that helps people and impacts systems.
The work the world actually needs right now.

Early bird pricing for EMBER ends tomorrow.

If this resonates, I’d love to have you join us.

https://www.hilarykinavey.com/ember
Link in bio 💛

02/05/2026

You didn’t set out to run a business.
You set out to do meaningful work.

And yet, somewhere along the way, you became responsible for everything—clients, schedules, money, marketing, systems.

If you’re holding all of that together while quietly wondering if there’s a better way to build this, I’m hosting a free webinar this Friday:

Redesigning the Container: The Business Side of Your Calling
Friday, Feb 13 | 12–1pm PT

We’ll talk about:
– why burnout is often structural, not personal
– how to tell what’s been predetermined in your practice (and what you can actually redesign)
– the difference between coping inside your current structure and changing the container itself
– how inner work + wise strategy create sustainable change

This is a grounded conversation for therapists, coaches, healers, and care providers who want their work to feel more livable.

Free to join. Link in bio to save your seat.
https://www.hilarykinavey.com/offers/z3bTwaKK

02/05/2026

01/10/2026

Part 2 of How We Get Paid looks at how therapy became governed by a billing system built for medicine, not relationship.

This isn’t about blame.
It’s about understanding the structures we inherited and the quiet cost of working inside them.

Get the series sent to your inbox: https://www.hilarykinavey.com/pl/2148735861

01/07/2026

I published the first piece in a new series today.

It’s called How We Get Paid—and it’s about why this work can feel so hard in ways that aren’t personal.

Part 1 looks at fee-for-service, moral injury, and the quiet ways clinicians are asked to translate care into something smaller than it is.

It’s written as a kind of love letter to providers.

If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t think it’s just burnout,” this might resonate.

Subscribe to recieive the email series over the next week:

https://www.hilarykinavey.com/pl/2148735861

12/30/2025

I opened 8 Private Practice Sessions for January this morning.

They're 75-minute intensive sessions for one specific structural transition you're facing in your work.

The rate increase you keep putting off.
The move to private practice.
The schedule that's you can no longer tolerate.
The model shift you're trying to figure out.

Here's what I want you to know:

I'm not going to judge you for any of it. Not the rate you're charging. Not how long you've been avoiding this. Not the mess it feels like.

I've been doing this work for 25 years. I understand the clinical complexity. I understand the guilt and the fear and the relational messiness of changing things when people depend on you.

We're going to figure out what makes sense for YOUR life and YOUR practice—not what's perfect, but what works now and supports change going forward.

8 spots available

LINK in bio
https://www.hilarykinavey.com/private-practice-sessions