Therapy for Therapists
I help therapists who are struggling with their own sense of unworthiness, anxiety, or sadness. In my safe, confidential, and understanding space, you’ll finally be able to let down the facade and let go of the secrets you’re holding. You’ll leave with the confidence you need to be successful in your career and at peace with yourself.
Isolation and burnout aren’t just words…
… that come up in ethics training. No, they are real.
There’s that special, indescribable moment when the woman you’ve been working with for months puts together the pieces and lets go of the belief she has clung to for years, that the rape was her fault…
… there is the young man who lets the tears fall and finally opens up about the bullying he experienced all through school, and your heart hurts with him.
Mothers cry on your couch; men show up crushed; girls are lost souls, cutting themselves to feel something, anything…and you hold it all without missing a beat.
At the end of the day, you wish you could share it…
… the joys of a breakthrough and the heaviness and weight of sadness, but you keep it all inside.
Sometimes it’s the same thing over and over, and you wonder if you’re really doing anyone any good. Self-doubt creeps in and begins to eat away at the confidence you try to convey to your clients. And to top it off, you’ve got your own issues with family and relationships… and your past, that surface when you least expect them.
Giving your best to your clients means keeping your own issues apart from your clients’ issues, but feelings don’t fall neatly into categories or sort themselves automatically, like… client? to the right… oh, this is my stuff? go left.
This work is hard.
Being a therapist can be so rewarding… and so lonely.
When you first started working with clients…
You had a lot of hopes and dreams. Like most of us, you got into this field “to help people, or “to make a difference.”
Although the future picture was fuzzy – the setting, the faces, the details – you never doubted that it would be personally fulfilling.
You were confident your work would matter.
… but you had a lot of fears, too!
Some of the fears don’t seem relevant anymore (like wondering if you’re doing treatment plans and notes right).
But they’ve been replaced by new ones, like worrying that you’re not really helping anyone… and that everyone will find out your flaws and wonder what in the world you’re even doing in this field in the first place.
“How can I help anyone else,” you think, “when I’ve got my own problems to deal with?”
We need to do our own work to really help our clients.
We’ve all heard that, right?
It sounds good in theory, but the reality of diving deep into our own stuff can be overwhelming. Didn’t we already deal with that back in grad school?? Well yes… and no.
Some things you never told anyone. And now, stuff seems to creep into your thoughts and feelings, when you least expect it:
An image of her as a child in the middle of a bad situation…
A flash of your own relationship gone wrong…
Feeling defensive and angry at the husband in front of you who just can’t seem to understand his partner’s needs, and worse, he doesn’t seem to care…
Frustration with the client who just keeps coming in every week, talking a good game and never doing what she says she’s going to do, and what you KNOW would help her…
Being yelled at by the very people you’re trying to help in treatment, and you can’t hold back the tears.
You find yourself zoning out to avoid the feeling…
… or letting the edginess and defensiveness seep through in your voice. This isn’t who you want to be at all.
And sometimes the emotion of the day doesn’t go away. You find yourself irritable, moody, wanting to be alone, drained… In the evenings, you stay busy, have a glass of wine to relax, and try not to think about the day… or the next day.
You can’t talk to your family about the details, and they don’t understand what it’s like to do what you do. They think you just sit and listen to people all day and give advice; and they have no idea of the intensity, the reality, of what you do.
When you’re in front of a client, you’re on. You’re expected to be 110% mentally present and responsive. No break. There’s no checking email, googling, taking a call from the kids, or grabbing a coffee. Four hours is like eight to others.
It’s amazing work, but there’s a catch. The rewards come at a cost to you.
Therapy can make a difference in your work… and in your life.
Therapists who work with me tell me it’s just the place they need.
They’re able to talk through and sort things out… and not have to worry about what someone is thinking.
It’s confidential and comfortable, and they feel relief. It’s safe here.
And the same support and relief is available to you.
I’ll help you see patterns in your life and work… to make sense of the feelings and inclinations, so you can choose rather than react. We all like to think we can see our own stuff; but having a mirror, another therapist with your best interest at heart, brings clarity and light in a unique way.
We’ll talk through difficult topics… what’s happening in your world and what you would like to be different. Stress, fear, and carrying a heavy load of burdens has you sluggish and almost paralyzed. I’ll help you sort through the feelings and find your path to move forward with energy and confidence.
We’ll process your past… knowing that our stories have shaped who we are today. Negative beliefs aren’t born out of nothing, but rather are born out of our experiences and how we needed to adapt to survive. What worked for you in the past, though, is no longer working all the time. When you can’t escape and are tired of feeling on edge, misunderstood, and lonely, our exploration into early narratives is part of the healing journey.
I’ll help you find calm in the storm. Sometimes all you need is respite, a place to be and not to do. A place to be heard and breathe.
Therapy for therapists is a sanctuary.
You might not even know what you need right now, but you know you need something.
Find solace, understanding, and a new perspective on my couch.
Are you ready? Come join me. Call now to schedule a no-charge phone consultation: (404) 994-1034.