I was successful but depressed at 41. I found a fulfilling side hustle and negotiated a 4-day week to pursue it.

"My late 30s and early 40s were a difficult time. I had a successful career in management consulting, yet I was struggling with what I now know was depression and anxiety. When I was 41, I started seeing a psychotherapist who recommended a book called "The Middle Passage" by James Hollis, which is about making the second part of your life, after your 40s, richer and more meaningful."

"It really spoke to me and helped me to understand that, for some, midlife is a time of necessary sufferingin order to prompt questions like, "who am I really?" and "what does my life want from me?" rather than, "what do I want from life?" It's really quite profound and far from any "self-help" manual. Six years later, in 2017, I began studying and training during the evenings and on weekends to qualify as a psychotherapist."

"The psychotherapy training took six and a half years and over 700 hours of supervised client contact time. I pitched my four-day week as a way to get a fresh perspective on the business I joined Gate One in 2018, and in 2021, when I was a partner, I was given permission to work a four-day week and run my own therapy practice on Mondays."

Ben Tye experienced depression and anxiety in his late 30s and early 40s despite a successful management consulting career. At 41 he began therapy and encountered James Hollis's The Middle Passage, which reframed midlife as a period of necessary suffering that prompts deeper existential questions. He undertook six and a half years of psychotherapy training, including a foundation year, a four-year postgraduate diploma, and a two-year research component, accruing over 700 hours of supervised client contact while continuing personal therapy. He joined Gate One in 2018 and negotiated a four-day week in 2021 to run a private practice on Mondays and gain fresh perspective for his consultancy work.

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