“Just because you think it

Doesn’t mean that it’s true

Your brain’s a little ~bitch~

Who likes to lie to you”

Elyse Myers

What are the differences between working at a private practice vs owning one?

having never worked at a private practice, I can’t say definitively. I think @thistherapylife has worked in private practice- any ideas? Maybe more administrative stuff (billing, scheduling, managing employees, etc) if you own but less money and flexibility if you work for some one else? 

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!!! Thank you 🎄 @thistherapylife

I was tag by @thestudentcounsellor to post my lock and home screen!

They probably need a explanation! My lock screen is a note/reminder from my therapist that says “Wake up! Its a nightmare! Its over! Now you LIVE!!!” to remind me, when i get out of flashbacks and im disoriented, that im here - now My home screen is me and my favorite boy in the world, the purpose of my life, the reason i keep going!

I tag @scoobyandjenny, @thistherapylife, @recovery-vs-relapse19 @faithhopeloveandtherapy & @katimorton

I was tagged by the lovely @scrappyforce to list my five favorite things about myself and tag ten followers, so here goes… 1. I love my adventurous side. I am an adrenaline junky for sure. 2. I like that I am always willing to try to see things from other people's perspectives. 3. I love that I can be okay traveling by myself. Some of my favorite vacations were the ones that I went on by myself. 4. I love that I can still play with my younger nieces and get on their level. 5. That I am a fighter. Even on days where I feel like I want to quit and give up I still find ways to keep fighting. I tag: @gradlife08 @thistherapylife @anothergirlrecovering @twintherapists @simlpytrying @adventures-in-therapy @southern-belle-99 @thisislifenow @therapy101 @faithhopeloveandtherapy

Welcome back to school, therapists

The last three years have been fine why do you ask 🥲

Relationship reminders:

There are no perfect relationships - not therapeutic ones, not parental ones, not romantic ones, not friendships ones, ~zero~

All relationships take work. Each person holds an end of the relationship line. Communication and caring require thought and care.

You get to set and negotiate boundaries in your relationships and approach them with intention.

Boundaries don’t have to be a cut off but can be — it’s going to depend on the situation.

Not all relationships last forever and aren’t supposed to - It’s okay to grieve the ones that end, even if “nothing bad” happened. It’s a loss.

Everyone* gets to choose to show up (or not) for relationships. You don’t get to choose for someone else & they don’t get to choose for you

* caretaking relationship with dependents (child/eldery/other), while not exempt from this, will have far flung consequences and it is your duty to figure it out. This is not “it’s okay to ghost your minor child” and if you have a duty of care ~that is different~

Is it normal to deeply grieve the loss of a therapist? My therapist is moving out of state and it feels more like she died? I feel weird and creepy for taking this so hard (my depression is really bad right now and my anxiety at finding a new therapist is at an all time high) but I dont know, is this normal? Sorry if this is too specific but I dont see many people talking about what happens when you lose a therapist.

Well hello inbox. It’s been years since I popped in but I’ll answer this

It’s been months or years since you anon sent this (#mobile4life) and I hope you are in a different spot with your grief. Therapy is a sandbox where we do all kinds of repair work. When you haven’t been safe for a long time and therapy feels safe - what a loss! Oof. The pain. The goal is that by the end, you have other spaces inside yourself or within you community you feel safe and seen. There is also an ending — I think of the lyric “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Ending are tender and sad.

Something a lot of white therapists and the field of therapy generally (found on those same racist/ableist/sexist supremacies - and perpetuate to this day) attempts to remove community and relationships from healing. And for some things, the clinical evidence shows that it does okay or even well! If you have a specific phobia? Meds and CBT are going to fix ya up. I can’t remember the psyd on here who got *big* mad when I pointed this out but the relationship is real. It’s important. And it’s okay to grieve. I have clients who still live in my heart and I miss meeting with them but I’m delighted they are out there livin their lives. Be kind to yourself

Hi! Thank you for this Tumblr! I am writing a story in which some of the characters have a discussion about random impulses (all? Most?) people get (that they would never act on, like),and was wondering if you had any stories of some unusual ones that have been reported (within ethical guidelines), and how would you answer a client who was worried about these impulses.

That’s the thing though. Intrusive thoughts feel really bananas and unique (speaking of my own experiences) but then you find out that a lot of folks with your condition have those thoughts. I would keep it more general - the unusual ones, the really intense ones are often found in specific conditions and are extremely difficult and painful for folks. They can cause intense distress and shame for something the person has no control over. They would not be discussed in a group setting in a light hearted manner. Some (and in my clinical experience most if not all) folks with the more unusual intrusive thoughts has lived most of their lives thinking that they are bad/evil/sinful/possessed/etc and then having that reinforced by family or religious systems. Because of that — ask yourself, what is the purpose of this conversation? If you are trying to write a character with ocd or adhd, make sure you do the research on those experiences, remember that no diagnosis is a monolith, and pay money to a reader or readers who have the conditions you are writing about to vet your story. Do not ask them to do this for free.

What the intrusive thoughts are centered on or what they are prompted by are important to start to look at.

If anyone reading this has these thoughts: you are not your intrusive thoughts. You are not bad because you have them. Be gentle with yourself and there are things that are help.

as a therapist, do you believe that a person's zodiac sign is representative of their personality?

No not really. It’s fun but for me, it’s a Rorschach test. You learn more from folk’s interpretation than the words or characteristics themselves: 

But it’s doesn’t matter what I believe - it matters what’s important to the client. I’ve prayed with Christian clients and I’m not Christian or supported folks in other spiritual practices when asked. Someone else’s therapy isn’t about me - my focus is on the client and what strengths can be used to support treatments.