The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

Therapists Struggling with Darkness

Listen Later

Therapists Struggling with Darkness

Curt and Katie chat about how therapists are struggling during the pandemic. We looked at how client material impacts therapists. We also explored unique risk factors and protective factors. We talked about the stigma for therapists to admit that something is not okay as well as the tendency to move that conversation out of the public space (just go to therapy). We have some ideas about how we can better take care of ourselves and each other.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

In this episode we talk about:

  • How we are struggling during the pandemic
  • Sitting with client’s darkness and how that impacts therapists even before the pandemic
  • The impact client material can have on therapists
  • The stigma around therapists having mental health concerns
  • Anxiety contagion, energy drain of working with depression
  • Impacts on libido, mood, suicidality
  • Unique risk factors for therapists
  • Risk factors for suicidality
  • The heaviness and suicidality that can enter thought processes
  • The shame and the simplification when therapy is the only suggestion
  • “We deal with some heavy shit.”
  • Taking the conversation about therapists struggles out of the social space (“go to therapy”)
  • The lack of research about therapists as a workforce, the client impact on therapist, or therapists as clients
  • Therapists as human beings in both private and public ways
  • The feeling of being stuck and not being able to talk about it when you’re a therapist
  • How legal and ethical concerns play a part
  • Having a job, having people around you can be protective factors
  • Isolation and lack of social support
  • Boundary issues, vagueness to keep others at bay
  • How therapists support each other (and the importance of social support)
  • The danger of feeling trapped, especially if you’re isolated
  • Practices to incorporate to reinforce resilience
  • How we consume information and how the people around you are perceiving the news can impact you
  • Self-assessment of risk factors, identification of protective factors
  • What actually helps when someone is struggling
  • The group responsibility as well as our individual responsibilities
  • How to manage community care without overburdening yourself
  • The importance of assessing capacity to support and give to our colleagues and friends
  • Creating reinforcements and structure for regular support

    • Resources mentioned:

    We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below might be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!

    Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group

    Signing up for our newsletter

    Relevant Episodes:

    Quarantine Self-Care for Therapists

    Therapist Suicide

    Suicidal Therapists

    Therapists in Therapy

    Toxic Work Environments

    The Mental Load of Therapists

    Structuring Self-Care

     

    Connect with us!

    Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group

    Get Notified About Therapy Reimagined 2021

     Our consultation services:

    The Fifty-Minute Hour

    Credits:

    Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

    Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/

     

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie VernoyBy Curt Widhalm, LMFT and Katie Vernoy, LMFT
    • 4.4
    • 4.4
    • 4.4
    • 4.4
    • 4.4

    4.4

    235 ratings

    More shows like The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

    View all
    The Trauma Therapist by Guy Crawford Macpherson

    The Trauma Therapist

    529 Listeners

    Therapy Chat by Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

    Therapy Chat

    676 Listeners

    Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

    Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

    2,457 Listeners

    Counselor Toolbox Podcast with DocSnipes by Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes

    Counselor Toolbox Podcast with DocSnipes

    610 Listeners

    Therapist Uncensored Podcast by Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP & Ann Kelley PhD

    Therapist Uncensored Podcast

    1,379 Listeners

    Psychologists Off the Clock by Debbie Sorensen, Jill Stoddard, Yael Schonbrun, Michael Herold & Emily Edlynn

    Psychologists Off the Clock

    321 Listeners

    The Couples Therapist Couch by Shane Birkel

    The Couples Therapist Couch

    265 Listeners

    Attachment Theory in Action by The Knowledge Center

    Attachment Theory in Action

    152 Listeners

    Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast by David Puder, M.D.

    Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast

    1,317 Listeners

    Light Up The Couch by Clearly Clinical

    Light Up The Couch

    327 Listeners

    The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast by Tammy Sollenberger

    The One Inside: An Internal Family Systems (IFS) podcast

    275 Listeners

    Notice That by Jen Savage, Melissa Benintendi, and Bridger Falkenstien

    Notice That

    308 Listeners

    The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy by theleadingedgeineft

    The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy

    208 Listeners

    Dear Therapists with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch by iHeartPodcasts

    Dear Therapists with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch

    2,344 Listeners

    Trauma Rewired by Jennifer Wallace & Elisabeth Kristof

    Trauma Rewired

    307 Listeners