Working constantly with people in physical, mental and emotional pain, those who feel suicidal, are grieving over the loss of loved ones or severely traumatized often takes a heavy toll on practitioners. The helper can be infected with a patient’s sadness; a condition Carl Jung called “psychic poisoning.” That’s why we offer therapy for therapists as well as medical and mental health practitioners.
We are human after all. Compassion fatigue exists and it impacts our personal and professional lives. At the Relationship Center we are passionate about the therapeutic process and the importance of therapists asking for and receiving help the help you need.
This is hard work we do, and often we take on the emotions of those we help. We can easily become worn out, disorganized, feel overwhelmed, feel disconnected from others, seek unhealthy ways of coping to avoid – we are human. As clinicians, we also have unique needs.
How We’ve Helped Provide Therapy for Therapists
These are a few of the issues we have assisted psychological, psychiatric and other colleagues in the helping fields navigate:
- Emotional Depletion
- Vicarious Traumatization
- Isolation
- Helplessness and Sense of Inefficiency
- Grandiosity and Omnipotence
- Depression, Sadness and Vicarious Traumatization
- Role & Identity Confusion
- Constant Worry
- Grief Cycle
- One-way Intimacy and Voyeuristic Attitudes
- Distraction
- Inability to Shut off the Therapeutic Stance
- Life Events that Affect Effectiveness
- Conflicting Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Considerations
- The Threat of Lawsuits
- Dual Roles: Personality-Public vs. Private
Group and Individual Consultation and Supervision for Therapists
Working in this field demands that we take care of ourselves and seek support and consultation from others to avoid burnout. Group support is a powerful way to build community and to feel understood and validated in our work. We offer monthly consultation groups for clinicians who work with teens, adults and families. We value consulting with other clinicians in the community and value community support and encouragement. If you are interested in joining us contact us.
If you are seeking consultation on an individual basis, please reach out to the clinician with the specialty in which you are seeking consultation here.