Walking the Walk
As a therapist, I have considered the pros and cons of blog writing since I started seeing clients in 2018 (in good old pre-pandemic life when you knew what your mental health professional looked like from the neck down). The cons have always been clear to me: words can be easily misinterpreted, publishing what once were private thoughts can feel exposing, and miscalculating the impact that a public persona or self-disclosure can have on your practice has the potential to be threatening to business - or worse, unethical when it comes to the therapeutic work.
Beginner therapists are taught very early on to be cautious when it comes to self-disclosure. And for good reason. If a client knows too much, this could create the conditions where they feel compelled to take care of their therapist's needs rather than the obvious other way around. It can also result in client self-censorship based on what they know about the therapist’s life. All in all, it can blur professional boundaries that are in place to protect the safe and predictable container that is a therapeutic relationship.
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask, “What if I fall?”
Oh, but my darling,
What if you fly?
By Erin Hanson
I talk about the value of vulnerability with my clients all the time - the rewards available to us in working through our defenses and developing a practice between honoring them but also seeing the possibility in choosing something different. In reference to Australian poet Erin Hanson’s poem, some might say living in the “What if I fall?” mentality is a learned response as a result of trauma, where being hyper fixated on what could go wrong can offer us the very seductive illusion of control. Some might also argue that crossing the bridge from “What if I fall?” to the land of “What if you fly?” is a testament to healing. To choosing something different. To believing that life can be good and things can work out.
As I mature as a therapist, I am choosing to cross this bridge. Which is to say, I’m open to taking more risks and putting my voice out there to float in the misty nebula of the internet. After all, there are cons but also very many pros, including discussing topics that resonate with readers, putting to practice my writing skills, choosing to be vulnerable, and I imagine many more things. While the goals of this blog are a work in progress, my hope is to create content that is useful and through my words, hint at the spirit I try to cultivate with my clients when we sit in a room together to share space for 50 minutes a week.
