What Your Therapist Wants You to Know
I was recently scrolling instagram and saw a post by @theempoweredtherapist entitled Some Things A Therapist Wants You to Know. Here is the list she shared:
We think about you outside of session
We often wish we could make things easier for you
We hurt alongside you
We enjoy seeing you too
We don’t have it all figured out either
We may get it because we’ve lived it
We really care about you
We wonder how you’re doing when sessions end
We feel impacted by you
We often wish you could see yourself the way we see you
Here are a few of my own I’ve added:
You don’t have to worry about us
When things inevitably come up for us in a session we seek consultation from colleagues or go talk to our own therapist!
We hold onto hope for you when you don’t have hope for yourself
We can hold space for your feelings, whatever they may be
We see the hard work you do outside of sessions
We want the best for you, if we can’t help you get there we will refer you to someone who can
We learn from you
You are important to us
I think it’s common to be curious about the person you may spend an hour per week sharing some of your most vulnerable moments with. One of the staples of the therapeutic relationship is that it is about you, the client, and yet it is still a relationship. Although this can feel refreshing to some, to others it may feel like an imbalance. If this is the case for you just ask! We want your therapy to be the best and most effective it can be. Each of us has our own level of disclosure or privacy we like to maintain but many of us are happy to answer your questions.
Blog by: Sara Pogue, MSW, LICSW
Photo by: Deleece Cook on Unsplash