52 | Scarcity Doesn't Stay in the Bank Account, with Linzy Bonham

Scarcity doesn't stay in the bank account. It shows up in the fee you slide before a client asks, the split that looks generous, and the clinician you keep because you're afraid of losing her income. Linzy Bonham, a social worker turned finance coach for therapists, joins Cecilia and co-host Steph Davis to trace where that comes from and what it costs a practice. Linzy started her career as a complex trauma therapist, making order out of chaos in the room. Now she does the same with therapists' finances. After years of looking inside their bank accounts, she has seen one pattern often enough to name it. Scarcity starts as a feeling about money and becomes a posture: tight, careful, small, not taking up space. And it travels. It moves into your fees, into how you pay your team, and into who you hold on to and why. Cecilia shares the scarcity she carried as a first-generation Canadian, and the question that finally loosened it: what is the number? She and Steph also push on why therapists can say "I'm not good at business" but almost never "I'm not a good leader." **What we cover** - The difference between money (what it means to you) and finances (the math of running a practice), and why a practice owner needs literacy in both - How scarcity shows up in leadership: saying yes when you're already full, keeping wrong-fit clients, and holding on to a clinician who is hurting the culture - Why sliding your fee before anyone asks and setting splits at the most you think you can survive come from the same fear of being greedy - Why "enough" needs an actual number, and how trusting your future earnings changes what you feel you have to hold on to today - Why therapists can admit they're bad at business but not that they're bad leaders, and what that distinction hides - Why your numbers are an ongoing relationship rather than a course you finished, and what Linzy is bringing to Together in Practice **Timestamps** 00:00 Welcome, and Steph joins as co-host 01:36 Money vs. finances: the distinction Linzy's work is built on 02:42 The "bad at math" story, and why it's mostly emotional 05:01 From complex trauma therapist to finance coach 08:53 The most common pattern: "there isn't enough" 09:22 The $90,000 nobody could touch 10:16 How scarcity shows up in leadership and team decisions 11:30 Cecilia's scarcity story: what is the number? 13:38 A foreshortened sense of future 15:27 Checking job boards for years, and when it stopped 16:37 Keeping a licence you don't use: scarcity or insurance? 17:16 "Money is bad": guilt, sliding fees, and 80/20 splits 21:12 Business as a series of learnable skills 24:02 "I'm not good at business" vs. "I'm not a good leader" 25:26 The empathy index 27:22 Escape fantasies, including the Costco bakery 28:42 Linzy's Summit session: financial leadership 30:19 Numbers are not one and done **Quote from Linzy** "Usually when we are exploiting ourselves financially, we are also exploiting ourselves emotionally." Therapists often undercharge, set associate splits they can't sustain, and keep team members who aren't working out because scarcity and guilt about money shape their business decisions. Building financial literacy and naming concrete financial targets lets those decisions be made on the numbers instead. **Join us at Together in Practice** Linzy leads the session on financial leadership at Together in Practice, a leadership summit for therapy practice owners, on Saturday, 17 October. The summit runs over two Saturdays, 17 and 24 October 2026. Bring your numbers; there's pre-work. Register: https://www.togetherinpractice.ca/ Take the Practice Growth Ceiling Diagnostic: https://www.ceciliamannella.com/diagnostic **About Linzy** Linzy Bonham is a social worker turned business coach who teaches therapists financial literacy. She is a former complex trauma therapist based in Guelph, Ontario, and she created Money Skills for Therapists and Money Skills for Group Practice Owners. Website: https://moneyskillsfortherapists.com/ Money Skills for Therapists: https://moneyskillsfortherapists.com/msft-waitlist/ Money Skills for Group Practice Owners: https://moneyskillsfortherapists.com/msgpo/ Linzy's podcast: https://moneyskillsfortherapists.com/podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moneyskillsfortherapists/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linzybonham/ **Co-host** Steph Davis, RCC-ACS, PCC, COC, is co-owner of Shoreline Counselling and Cecilia's co-host of Together in Practice.