How Therapy is Like a Corn Maze
Recently, I visited a corn maze and enjoyed the process of getting lost on purpose. If you’ve never been to a corn maze, here’s how it works: A farm sets it up months in advance by planting corn seeds in [...]
To Be a Therapist During COVID
This has been a hell of a year to be a therapist. I mean, it’s been a hell of a year to be a human, but we therapists have a front row seat to the ways in which it’s been [...]
An Open Letter to My Clients
Dear Clients, I am writing this letter to express my deepest admiration, gratitude, and respect to you. You are the most courageous group of people I have ever met, and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to get [...]
What Scaling a Wall Taught Me About Trust and Relationships
It takes a leap of faith to try something new as an adult, so I’m not quite sure how I found myself at Stronghold Climbing Gym, a rock wall gymnasium, this past weekend. I had signed up for a beginner-level [...]
100 Strategies to Help You Practice Self-Care
Last week, I wrote about the importance of self-care, and promised to follow it up with specific strategies for integrating it into your life. In other words, I gave you the “why.” Following is the “how.” What is self-care? Before [...]
Heroic Journeys: Healing Through Fantasy Worlds
It was clear that the client sitting in front of me was in pain. I listened to her story, I acknowledged and validated her hardships, and I nodded as she told me she sometimes wrestled with the decision of whether [...]
Why Your Therapist Won’t Have Coffee With You
A client once came into session, told me she had started selling Avon products, and asked if I’d be interested in purchasing anything. Another told me that even though she was ending therapy, she’d love to go to lunch sometime. [...]
On Fictional Therapists
Anyone who has sat with me and watched a television show or movie featuring a therapy session can tell you that I get pretty critical when a therapist breaches an important ethic. Tom and Lynette’s couples therapist in Desperate Housewives [...]