The Relaxed Therapist

Be prepared to deal with the companions clients may bring to therapy. Dealing gracefully and helpfully with them can”t hurt your relationship with the client.

Trainees (and clients) need to know that crying is common in therapy. Experienced therapists need to remember that crying may be common in therapy, but that crying in front of a stranger is probably a rare experience for any given client: you may now be relaxed about the situation, but they aren’t!

Using supervision to plan ahead for common and uncommon events has advantages for therapist and client. Both gain when the therapist has considered their range of responses ahead of time.

Clients are likely to have questions about our services. Some may be asked, others may remain unspoken unless raised by the therapist.