Greetings, some time ago I spoke about doing therapy and by coincidence, it occurred shortly afterward. We have therapists but there was such a need that I volunteered to start it… and shortly regretted it, but now I’m okay. Not because I didn’t want to do it, but I guess I underestimated the need. Even making the choice not to see kids, court stuff, or families, I’m getting bombarded with intakes. However, the purpose of this post is to offer some guidance and tips that lead to the new section about therapy!
Before Starting Therapy
- Know your implicit biases or things that will affect the patient/provider relationship: I’m usually transparent but this can be tricky because sometimes the patient or the provider isn’t… I have my own process of elimination and like previously mentioned it’s usually anything intensive or time-consuming like courts, DBT, forensics…or it could be a conflict of interest like your family, co-workers, or people you are already treating and their relatives.. but regardless of the reason, communicating and being clear about your own limits will help you avoid making things worse or more complicated.
- Make sure you’re in the right head space: compassion fatigue and burnout are real, so when my co-worker was asked to do therapy just to “fill” his schedule, he was even more disgruntled. People try to make people happy but that usually causes more resentment, if a person isn’t interested. I’ve had multiple conversations to try to make things better but the moral of the story is putting yourself and your needs first even if it means resigning. You can’t help others if you can’t help YOURSELF.
- Consider YOUR Terms of Agreement: so there’s a theme going on here… and again it’s making sure you know your comfort levels. You don’t want to accept anything and everything just for $$$. Consider the terms that you’ll discharge someone from your care, the process, what if someone tries to flirt with you, how will you gauge the progress or termination…etc. You will want to know if there’s a policy or process so you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. These are things I wish I had known before starting but was blind-sighted… My job assumed that another therapist would help but I was too busy for someone to show me stuff so I had to as usual self-teach myself. Quick side note, with therapy there are regulations, I was considering doing therapy for other states via telehealth but since the pandemic wavers are no longer being funded, it may no longer be covered by insurance.
Lastly, It’s Not for Everyone
And I think that’s why I love therapy so much and yes there are ups/downs, but I usually like being the oddball, a rare breed, and not limiting myself. Check out the new links and areas!
