Balance and the Therapist
I have written quite a bit on the need for balance for clients to be well, but what about therapists? Therapists often hear and experience many things which are unpleasant and even downright harrowing when they do sessions with their clients. Additionally, therapists must be able to keep these things confidential to themselves and clients, with the exception of supervision (which is a major component to balance). Therapists are not like other people who can share their experiences freely with their family, friends and colleagues. This presents a unique challenge which needs to be addressed.
As I have previously stated, clinical supervision is an essential in maintaining a therapist’s balance. It is essential that therapists have places to go where they can unload and gain insights from another person. This is the essence of supervision. Also, therapists need to have other things in their lives other than therapy. It can be all too easy that therapy becomes the everything in a therapist’s life. To have balance, one need to have other interests which help to enrich the life of a therapist to keep him or her connected with the non-therapy world.
Finally, a therapist needs to keep an eye on their physical health. After all, we say that physical and mental health are equal partners. We should be models of that for our clients to learn from.
