There are many aspects of being a mental health practitioner that no one really talks about. This post is about one such aspect.
It’s about humor in the therapy room and how humor can express health, humanity, and humility like no other force.
As practitioners, we constantly find ourselves in highly challenging positions.
We try our very best to assist those in need of our services while attempting to stay as mindfully present as possible with deep and (often unnecessary) suffering.
From this universally humanistic challenge, I began reflecting on what we actually do in our therapeutic work, and my realizations actually startled me a bit. I asked a question I’ve never asked before: “What are we really doing in therapy?”
Have you ever really messed up in therapy? Did you say something that you regretted? Did you come off as way too strong or heavy handed?
Or perhaps you didn’t bring “enough” compassion to some very hurt feelings your client was experiencing.
We have all been there. Right? Yes. It’s OK. Really it is.
This post is all about the internal therapist dynamics of what happens when we mis-step. Once we’ve taking responsibility for what has happened, we can then contemplate how to repair and refresh the therapeutic relationship. We can even use this rift and repair to revitalize the work we are doing.
The therapeutic relationship can be considered the most important vehicle to helping your clients toward mental health improvements, healing, and growth. I propose in this post that the therapeutic relationship begins before you think.
It likely begins well before we have even confirmed our intake call or initial session.
Why?
Let’s explore the nuanced (and often hidden) process involved in how prospective clients come to be our actual clients. There’s much more going on than meets the eye.