Therapy for Therapists

What is it that’s so unique about being a therapist?

You came to this work to make a difference and to help people. You learned to develop a relationship focused on your clients, not you.

People fascinate you, as you listen hour after hour to them as they share their stories, heartaches, and pain.

All your training, experience, and knowledge exist within the framework of who you are as a person.

You are your own representative, each moment that you sit across from a client and say, “How can I help you today?”

As therapists, we are the tools we use while working with clients. Our personal issues, beliefs, and perspectives, in addition to our professional education and training, are what we draw upon.

If we are self-aware and have explored our own lives, we can then be present to others.

We can only take someone as far as we ourselves have traveled.

When listening to others share their stories, it is common for our own personal issues to get activated. If we are dedicated to our own personal growth, this activation invites us to explore our own issues.

One of the most valuable practices for me is looking at how my feelings about my family of origin or my own life experiences can get stirred up when I work with clients.

Getting help to increase my own self-awareness makes me a better therapist.

As a result, I can be more present when I clearly see my clients’ issues as theirs and don’t get stuck in my own feelings or how their problems may reflect similar issues in my own life.

As a therapist, there’s power in working on your own self-awareness.

Burnout is a risk.

What do you do when listening begins to overwhelm you?

You care so much about the person sitting across from you, yet you can find your attention wandering, suddenly thinking about what you’ll eat for dinner.

You realize you have two more people to see that day, and the level of attention they require from you is exhausting rather than energizing to you.

Therapists can’t help others when they start to experience vicarious or secondary trauma from working with people who have been traumatized.

Burnout is a real thing; and it helps to take regular time away from the office, practice good self-care, and to have reliable professional supervision. An excellent way to prevent burnout is to work with your own therapist who will focus on you, your personal growth, and well-being.

Be the role model your clients need you to be.

Clients need to know that you believe in the work of therapy.

We really are all in this life business together.

Appropriately and when the time is right, you may decide to share that you too seek out therapy when you need help untangling the knots in your own life.

Your clients will trust that they too can get the help they’re seeking.

I honor the work we do.

I deeply respect the work we therapists embark upon.

It’s meaningful, challenging, and life changing.

I would be honored to help you grow in your personal life, so you can grow in your professional one.