Physicians, Nurses, and Clinicians
You spend the day holding other people's worst hours, and then you drive home.
For clinicians carrying shift work, compassion fatigue, and the strain of practicing inside systems that do not always let you do right by patients. Confidential, and never reported to a board.
Overview
Where this usually starts
Shift work is not just an inconvenient schedule. It changes sleep architecture, appetite, mood, and the speed at which your body can come down after something hard. People who rotate shifts often describe a permanent half-step of jet lag, and then they judge themselves for being irritable in it. The first thing we usually do is stop treating a physiological problem as a character problem.
Then there is what the work itself deposits. Compassion fatigue is not the same as burnout, though they travel together. Moral injury is different again: the specific weariness of knowing what a patient needs and working inside a system that will not let you provide it. Those need different responses, and naming which one you are carrying is most of the relief.
At a Glance
- Shelley Davidescu, LMFT, 17 years in practice
- In person in Bankers Hill, San Diego
- Telehealth Monday through Friday across California
- Free 15-minute consultation
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes.
Full fees and policiesDoes This Sound Familiar?
The specifics, not a symptom list
Open any line to see how I would think about it with you.
You come off a run of shifts, and it can be hard to rejoin your own life.
Reentry is a skill and almost nobody is taught it. We build a short, specific transition ritual that fits your actual commute and your actual home, and we treat the first hours after a shift as part of the shift.
Fit
Who this is for, and who it is not
It is worth knowing before you book, so neither of us spends four sessions finding out.
A Good Fit
- You are a physician, nurse, resident, therapist, EMT, or other clinician, and the work has begun to cost more than it gives.
- You want someone who understands that your schedule is genuinely unusual and will not treat missed sleep as a lifestyle choice.
- You want a confidential place that is completely outside your institution.
- You are willing to do body-based work, because insight alone rarely resolves what shift work does.
Not the Right Fit
- I do not treat conditions that require psychiatric management, and I do not treat severe mental illness. If that is what is happening, I will say so directly and help you find appropriate care.
- I do not provide fitness-for-duty evaluations, board or employer documentation, or any assessment used in a credentialing process.
- If you need crisis or inpatient-level care, this is not the right setting. If you are in crisis now, call or text 988.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988. If I am not the right clinician for what you are carrying, I will say so and help you find someone who is.
What We Work On
Three things, in order
Sleep and recovery, first
Not sleep hygiene handouts. Real work on what your specific rotation does to your body, what a realistic recovery window looks like inside it, and how to protect the parts of the week that actually restore you.
What you are carrying from patients
Certain cases stay. EMDR is often the right tool when a specific event keeps returning, and I am EMDR certified. We go at a pace that does not leave you unstable before a shift.
Confidentiality and boards
I am not connected to your hospital, group, or licensing body, and I do not report to any of them. Sessions are confidential under California law, with the ordinary legal limits that apply to every therapist in the state, and I go through those with you at the start.
Questions
Answered plainly
Anything not covered here is worth asking on the free 15-minute consult.
Related Reading
Will my board or my employer find out I am in therapy?
Not from me. I do not report to licensing boards, hospitals, or employers, and I do not provide credentialing or fitness-for-duty documentation. Your record is protected under California law, and I explain the standard legal limits on confidentiality in the first session.
Do you have evening or overnight availability for shift workers?
Sessions are weekdays, Monday through Friday. I am not going to promise evenings or overnights, because I would rather be accurate than accommodating on paper. The consult is the place to compare your rotation against my open times.
Can we meet by telehealth from the hospital?
Yes, as long as you are physically in California and somewhere private enough for you to actually talk. A parked car has worked for plenty of people. A shared workroom generally has not.
Is this the right place for compassion fatigue specifically?
Yes. That, moral injury, and the strain of clinical work are a large part of what I do with this group, alongside anxiety and trauma work. What I do not do is treat conditions requiring psychiatric care.
What does it cost?
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Superbills are available on request. Cancellations need 24 hours, and I hold that firmly, including for clinicians whose schedules change.
Free 15-Minute Consult
Fifteen minutes to find out whether this is the right work.
Tell me what is actually going on. I will tell you honestly how I would approach it, and whether I am the right person for it.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.