When Your Clients are Wealthy and Well Known: An interview with Dr. Holly Daniels, LMFT

Curt and Katie interview Dr. Holly Daniels about working with high profile clients. We talk about the lifestyle factors (like isolation and dehumanization) that come with celebrity as well as the differences when working with famous and powerful people who bring in more common concerns like relationship challenges. We also explore the skills and trustworthiness required to be able to succeed with these clients.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode, we talk about what it’s like to work with the rich and famous

Curt and Katie asked Dr. Holly Daniels to talk about her work as a therapist, relationship coach, and consultant for the wealthy and well-known.

 What is it like working as a therapist or a coach with the wealthy and well-known?

·      Seeing the isolation and the reality of their lives

·      Making sure to avoid being swept up in the fame

·      Understanding the countertransference tendencies (to agree, to be critical)

·      Don’t get sucked into aligning with them if it isn’t in their best interest (everyone around them agrees with them)

·      Don’t join the power struggle when clients become very dismissive

·      Therapists must be emotionally very boundaried and logistically very flexible

·      When people are this wealthy or well-known, they have to be very cautious and they have a very high bar related to trust – therapists need to know how the difficulty with trust impacts the relationship

·      Allow the client to bring the public information into the session, don’t assume their response to what is in the news

How can therapists support clients who have an influential public persona?

·      Separating your personal self from your public persona

·      Looking at these two selves as related, but not the same

·      Helping clients to let go of public approval or hate as related to who you are

·      The commodity is the public persona, not you

What are the family systems and relationship concerns that come with fame?

·      There is a closed, isolated bubble where there can be a lot of enmeshment

·      There are different challenges and dynamics unique to being part of a famous person’s life

·      Looking at the full family system, including the kids

·      Feeling guilty for having mental health concerns because they have so much

·      It is important for therapists not to bring in their own political or social agenda

·      People dehumanize famous people

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Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/