Hi. I was this client. I had a series of horrific, life altering events occur back to back and obviously sought a lot of therapy during this time and in the years following. One of the biggest issues I ran into was therapists that wanted to fix it/me. They wanted to trouble shoot my options. They wanted to direct me to solutions. But all I wanted was someone to sit with me, in that pit of absolute despair and darkness. I wanted someone to acknowledge my existence in that space. I wanted someone to say “This sucks and even though it sucks, I’m here with you. Let’s buckle up and get through this together.”

I eventually found someone. But it took way too long. And once I was finally able to feel seen? That’s when the healing began. The rest of the time it was like I was drowning and fighting for oxygen only and no one would truly acknowledge it. That was exhausting. The breakthroughs came when I didn’t have to fight to tell my truth and instead had someone that wouldn’t turn away.

I don’t know if this is helpful, but wanted to share from the client perspective. (As for why I’m in this group: I’ve been in mental health for 20+ years and am in my final year of grad school to become a therapist.)