From Therapist to Client: Ways to Benefit from Personal Therapy Services as a Mental Health Practitioner

As a therapist, receiving our own personal therapy can be rather comforting and insightful. However, there are times when it becomes difficult to remove the therapist hat while being in the seat of the client. Read on to learn ways that you can benefit from your own personal therapy as a client while also being a practicing therapist.

Rarely are there discussions about the experience of personal therapy for therapists themselves? We dedicate our services and resources to our work and need to take time to pour it back into ourselves. One way to be able to do so is through attending our own therapy. Doing this can be an adequate form of self-care, but can also pose the problem of clinicians finding it hard to delineate their professional selves from that of their personal selves. This is a similar notion to that of “not taking your work home with you”. Given the type of work that we do, it can be really hard to “turn off” our practitioner role as we are routinely dealing with human emotion in which our own emotions are not absent. This can create an enmeshed experience of personal blending with professional which becomes apparent when we engage in our personal therapy services.

Personal therapy provides a wide array of benefits for mental health practitioners. One study indicated, “Personal therapy has been proposed as an aid in promoting the professional development of psychotherapists by increasing their self-awareness, self-reflexivity, and self-knowledge of the therapy process and of personal characteristics. Psychoanalysis/psychodynamic therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapies, humanistic/ experiential therapies, and systemic/family therapies argue that working with the personal and professional self of the therapist is valuable in this respect.” (Moe & Thimm, 2020). Understanding that personal therapy offers the space to deepen one’s

insight into their efficacy and competence as a clinician serves to motivate therapists to participate in the very process that we facilitate for our clients. Nonetheless, being mindful of how to balance receiving this professional benefit while also pursuing personal growth and improvement is fundamental to our overall well-being.

When thinking about how to benefit from your own personal therapy as a mental health counselor, here are some important things to keep in mind: - Consider your reason for seeking treatment. Even if the reason may be career-related, remember that you’re entering your own therapy as the self who shows up during your time off from work.

Be aware of how you are presenting in sessions.

Are you allowing your therapist to lead or are you? Provide the opportunity for your clinician to facilitate the session, so that you can fully embody the role of a client.

Collaborate with your therapist to identify treatment barriers.

Maybe you notice that your professional self will routinely emerge in sessions and stagnates your therapeutic progress toward personal goals. Work with your therapist to create an action plan that can sufficiently address and respond to this type of treatment barrier.

Refrain from self-diagnosing.

While this skill is rather useful in your work as a therapist, keep in mind that in your own personal therapy, you are not the therapist. Your knowledge and insight related to mental health symptoms can be helpful to alert your counselor to any concerning matters, but beyond that, it is your practitioner’s responsibility to diagnose noticeable issues.

Honor the roles in the dynamic.

Much like we establish healthy boundaries with our clients when we are providing treatment, it’s equally as important to honor healthy boundaries within our own therapies. Be mindful that by entering your personal therapy as a therapist, you could be potentially aligning yourself with your clinician as a colleague which takes you outside of the role of a client. This can make for fertile ground in which unhealthy or poor interpersonal boundaries may grow.

Change your physical environment.

It may be really hard to step into your personal self if you are engaging in therapy services from the same physical location where you work. Whether you are receiving in-person or virtual personal therapy, be sure to attend your session from a location that has no association with work. If working/ attending school from home, simply go to another room or another area in your residence and if working/attending school on-site, it might not be a bad idea to attend therapy from the comfort of your home.

Personal therapy can only take us as far as we will allow the process and our therapist to take us. No matter if you are interning, pursuing licensure, or are a licensed practitioner, we all can benefit from personal therapy services. Individual, Group, and Couples/Family Therapy Services are provided by licensed and skilled clinicians at Repose. CONNECT WITH US to learn more about anxiety THERAPY.