Therapy for therapists

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Why do people become therapists?

Many therapists come to this work through their own experience of therapy. They have been so transformed, moved, or altered by the process of their own psychological journey that they have decided to continue practicing the same work, utilising the same learning, and bringing to it a flavor of their own challenges and perhaps even suffering.

What a gift.

Many people who are not therapists, but who work with them, might not - at first -appreciate that there is no such thing as “done” when it comes to therapy. No matter how much we might revere our own educators and role models, we can confidently say that none of them will ever have it all figured out forever, or even be able to say that they will never have poor mental health. That is not how it works. The experience of being a human is not a linear one, and I believe that we are so much better off for that fact - though I know that this can be an unwelcome realisation for some.
We can know all of this intellectually. We can also agree that therapists, trained listeners, counsellors, and psychotherapists are simply humans moving through the world and doing what everyone else does. And simultaneously, we can hold a false expectation that these people don’t ever need support, help, or healing. If they know how to help others, they should just do it for themselves, right?

Therapist, therapise thyself!

But, we can’t.  It doesn’t work like that.

Counsellors need support too

One of the great problems of any profession of service providers, carers or “givers” is that sometimes they need to take, access services, or be, themselves, cared for. Sometimes accessing that care can be difficult. Along with the societal and cultural expectation that these individuals do not need these kinds of help, the individual too can internalise a sense of it being a sign of them not “performing” as a professional, and that they “should” be able to take care of it themselves (I am always wary when the “shoulds” come out in my own thoughts). For these reasons, it can be hard for psychotherapists to find another professional to work with.

Sometimes therapists who don’t want to work with other therapists

It is also unfortunately not uncommon for some therapists and counsellors to shy away from working with other trained listeners. This is an experience that I have had as a client, and that others have reported to me as their therapist. I have even had clients who are professional therapists who have hidden their livelihood from our work until much further into the therapeutic relationship, explaining that they did so due to the difficulty of finding counsellors who take on other therapists as clients. The reason for this is sometimes cited by these people as this treatment of the professional client being more in-depth or complex than they like to go, or more often, I suspect, it is down to the therapist themselves feeling insecure about working with someone else who has more than a passing awareness of the potential psychological theories, counselling models and other suggestions or tools of the trade.

My work with other psychotherapists and counsellors

I am very pleased to say that I welcome this often complex and highly rewarding work in my private practice. My broad experience has given me the confidence and capability to work at a deep level. I have worked with individuals who began in one career and ended their sessions as qualified therapists. I have therapists who have come to me after feeling they could not be honest about themselves with others, and who found great relief at being welcomed into therapy, which in this career is often much needed and dearly overdue. I have worked with people at the end of their careers as therapists and those who work in therapy-adjacent positions, such as social workers, medical and care staff, and mental health practitioners.

This work is deep, layered, and vital, and I love it.

How to access support with me

So if you are one of those people who spend their days supporting others and recognise the need or wish to work on an issue in therapy, or to simply spend some time in a space that is for you rather than your clients, then do get in touch.

My diary is and always will be open to you.

Click here to make a booking for a free 30-minute introduction session.

Click here to read more about my work with other psychotherapists and counsellors.