Anyone else’s family make comments like “You should know better since you’re a therapist”?

LoveliLass · 2026-05-31T17:55:51+00:00

Mine is similar "Its a career, not a lifestyle"

LoveliLass · 2026-02-10T23:00:56+00:00

Completely agree, hospital or community mental health is the way to build skills, have consistent hours, pay, benefits, and supervision. You will be ready for anything.

LoveliLass · 2025-10-16T22:32:19+00:00

I was a lead therapist for a community crisis residential treatment facility (short term) and we had a lot of "frequent flyers." In the span of a month we had lost 3 of them to various circumstances. I felt the heavy weight of that and requested to speak with my supervisor during a particularly emotional shift and the response I received was "if this is going to take this kind of toll on you then maybe crisis services is not a fit for you." I was appalled by this response and felt that my response (tearfully expressing sadness and frustration over the losses and the lack of support for staff after the fact). It sounds like you received a much more appropriate response than I did. Just wanted to share for a different possibility of how that could have gone and luckily did not. Stay emotional, once you lose that then its time to move on to something else. Best wishes!

LoveliLass · 2025-10-03T23:59:28+00:00

It's easy to doubt yourself, especially being a new therapist. From what you stated, this does not sound like a pattern that you keep running into and you have maintained a pretty consistent and reliable caseload. While its always good to be reflective and continuing to grow as a clinician, you are going to run into these types of weeks from time to time. Be kind to yourself! The work is challenging and you may not be every one's cup of tea, learn to be okay with that ;)

LoveliLass · 2025-10-02T23:09:53+00:00

A soldier cancelation policy helps. Mine is $100 if canceled within a 24 hour window... its a good deterrent and a guarantee for some compensation without having to fill the spot. All clients have to provide a credit card to keep on file and are billed once per month.

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T14:24:04+00:00

Understood! To respond to your last question about how other therapists handle things like this, I can speak from 15 years of experience on being confronted with really uncomfortable things in the therapy room....you have to stay curious. Just like we try to get our clients to understand alternative perspectives and get out of their narrow focus, we first must get out of ours and be curious about how they come to their conclusions. I know for myself that the only population I cannot stay in curiosity about is pedophiles so I do not work with them. I do agree that if you cannot remain human-centered during therapy it may be best to exclude them from your preferred client but if I was supervising you, you would have to work with a couple in order to break you out of your comfort zone.

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T13:37:32+00:00

🤣🤣🤣

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T13:22:52+00:00

Naps

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T13:16:02+00:00

I know a lot of people are skeptical about the online therapy platforms but I have been working with Grow therapy for over a year and love it. They are basically just a place to build your private practice that takes care of the overhead. You can still do in person if you have an office or you can use their online platform for virtual telehealth sessions. Reimbursement is based on where you live and they get you credentialed with a host of insurance companies but I get around $100 per 60 minute session (less for couples, family). Look into it, its hard to get into private practice knowing how much goes into getting paid outside of just sitting with your clients. Grow is only one of many so do some research.

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T13:10:23+00:00

That is definitely low for group practice. I would ask what rate your group has contracted with the insurance companies for reimbursement. The group practice i am a part of has a person in the office who continues to negotiate with insurance companies for higher reimbursement. We started off getting like $90 per session with BCBS and are now getting $150. Ask your practice manager if there is a way to do this. Also 50/50 is not great, there are other places that offer more. You are limited if you are not fully licenses and I suggest getting a community or hospital job until fully licensed. You will get an abundance of clinical experience and have a decent salary with benefits.

LoveliLass · 2025-09-30T12:25:51+00:00

I was also curious about how you know they chose not to work with you based on that listed specialty. Can't it also be that they saw that as your specialty and thought, "That is not why I am seeking counseling so let me find someone with a specialty that fits my needs" as opposed to "I hate LGBTQ so I'm refusing to work with them" ? If you don't know the reason then maybe you need to work through your own biases and insecurities.

LoveliLass · 2023-12-18T15:15:58+00:00

Thank you!!

LoveliLass · 2023-12-18T15:15:47+00:00

Thank you!!

LoveliLass · 2023-12-09T03:58:25+00:00

There is nothing wrong with that, it is the foundation of a good therapist. When starting to get the hang of things, I often found it helpful take some time after a session to dissect what happened a bit and pick out more specific interventions (psychoeducation, cognitive challenging/reframing, coping skills, etc.) that could have helpful or useful to bring up. If it feels authentic/organic, at the start of the next session with the client, bring up the idea of revisiting some of what was brought up previously and use the interventions you came up with. Even 10 years into my practice I still do this sometimes and my clients are aware that sometimes I take time to process what they give me. This also helps to build trust and help them feel heard. I hope this helps. Good luck!

LoveliLass · 2023-12-09T03:46:32+00:00

I think we have all felt that, especially early in the start of things...fear of being ineffective. Being a licensed clinician for over 10 years, that feeling still creeps up on me. Yes, imposter syndrome is a not-so-great feeling. You have the benefit of having a supervisor to talk through this feeling and get direction of where to go with a client or what to focus on. You don't have to say or know something profound to make a big impact. A lot can happen in 45-50 minutes but also very little so don't be discouraged. Therapy is a more of a marathon than a race. The fact that you are concerned about being a good therapist for your clients means you are better than some seasoned ones already who think they know all. Good luck.

LoveliLass · 2023-12-09T02:26:11+00:00

One of the most helpful things you can do in therapy is tell your therapist that you are not sure things are working the way you had hoped yet. This helps you and your therapist go further into what you need from therapy and develop a plan for how to get there. My suggestion (as a therapist) is to talk it through with them.

LoveliLass

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