“Think of your head as an unsafe neighborhood; don’t go there alone.” – Augusten Burroughs
- I need a safe, confidential place to go with my thoughts, feelings and dreams.
- I need another psychologist to help me understand, and work through, my countertransference (my feelings that come up when I’m with a patient).
- I can’t ask my patients to invest in their therapy if I’m not willing to invest in mine.
- I need to know what it’s like to be a patient- to tell a stranger my most intimate thoughts and feelings, to have transference, to be vulnerable, to trust the therapeutic process.
- It makes me better at what I do by giving me a valuable perspective on what works and what doesn’t seem to work.
- I care about my personal growth and development.
- I care about my well being.
- I can’t see what I can’t see.
- I’ve seen what good therapy can do for a person.
- I feel it’s my responsibility to my patients to be doing my own work.
It’s the hardest, but most important, hour of my week.