Therapy for Therapists
Fellow therapists come to me with a vast array of personal and professional challenges. Often, therapists can see the freight train on the tracks, so to speak. Maybe you’ve preemptively identified what your struggle is and have realized you can’t solve it on your own. Sometimes we get a gut check from a colleague, friend, or a family member because it’s easier than we think to get consumed by the competing responsibilities of life and work to the point that we lose track of ourselves—professional burnout. Here are the themes I see.
Countertransference and Vicarious Trauma
Therapists work hard to manage countertransference feelings and reactions. Countertransference can sometimes be great information and used therapeutically to help your clients develop insight. If you’re feeling bogged down by it, likely something in your past or a current stressor is mirrored in one or more of your clients. Signs that you’re experiencing this include times when you are more critical of yourself or client experiences, feel emotionally overwhelmed during certain sessions, inability to let go of reflecting on sessions after your workday, being overly helpful to a client rather than holding to boundaries or policies, being too directive in your approach, or feeling too personally identified with a client. Vicarious trauma is the bigger brother of countertransference. Repeated exposure to traumatic stories puts us at risk for becoming traumatized by our work. Helping you process through countertransference or vicarious trauma is crucial. As with anything, but especially this, stuffing it down won’t work.
Mental and Physical Health
Personal mental or physical health symptoms can lower our ability to be effective inside and outside of work. If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, identity, or chronic illness you may have found your head nodding as you read through other portions of my website. While you’re more prepared than the average person to successfully navigate those issues, you woefully aren’t immune to any of it. I whole-heartedly wish we were! Ultimately, your radical humanity is what your clients, colleagues, friends, and family need…although in a neatly packaged and intentional way. You need to “clean house” so you can use those experiences to enrich your work and personal life. This is the concept of the “wounded healer.”
Professional Identity and Trajectory
Professional identity and trajectory considerations are with us daily. Sometimes, however, those considerations can become overwhelming. Maybe you are new to the field and wondering what the heck you got yourself into. (Been there!) New and seasoned therapists often judge themselves for not “figuring it out” regarding workload management. You don’t want to feel burnt out on a career that you worked so freakin’ hard to get into! There’s a huge array of settings and client populations we can niche into. Asking yourself “what do I want to do?” can start to feel weighty if you’re feeling really unsure.
How I can help:
Having done this work for almost a decade now, in community mental health and private practice, I have a breadth of knowledge and experience to bring to sessions with you. Therapy when you’re a therapist looks the same in many ways but I’m also your peer. Come! Sit with me. Take off your “therapist hat” for a while, and talk to someone who gets it. We’ll discuss what skills and self-care you’re currently using at work and in your personal life to get a sense of your baseline. We’ll brainstorm new strategies or help you refocus on the strategies that have slipped away. You’ll benefit from the DBT and CPT therapies I’m trained in, whether a structured or unstructured approach is desired—you choose. If professional identity or trajectory is a big concern, we’ll explore what you value, what’s burning you out, and how to reinvest in your current work more sustainably or find the work environment that better aligns with your values and needs. Whatever the concern, I can help you get relief and feel re-energized at work and home. Take a deep breath…no, really…and then click that consultation button!