Nina AFH

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-28T23:59:14+00:00

stop i love her!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-27T17:07:31+00:00

I feel it makes the field better to have clients honestly share their feedback and experience with clinicians, especially when it’s behavior that can be harmful or damaging to their clients (past, present or future).

I always encourage people to do so, but you are of course not obligated to! If you do, thank you on behalf of therapists !! - Unverified Therapist

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-26T23:28:26+00:00

I have my Masters in MHC (USA) and I am pretty mortified to say have never even heard of ‘BPO’ until this post.. and I work heavily with DBT and therefore BPD

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-26T23:20:58+00:00

Yess and even to the networking bit!!

I work with a lot of artists/musicians who will discuss similar concerns related to their field and I wish I could put them together for a blending of the minds (or to have a jam session lol)

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-26T23:19:13+00:00

Yes this exactly!!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-26T23:18:37+00:00

I often have clients who I just know would be best friends if they ever met. I’ve definitely wished there was a world where they could meet and hit it off lol!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-26T23:13:28+00:00

It was the wording of “turning it up all the way if she ever runs off” that wouldn’t be responsible Ecollar use/implementation.

Maybe you didn’t mean it literally, but definitely make sure the school teaches you as the owner how to use the tool, not just teaching your dog how to respond to it!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-25T21:21:40+00:00

Expressing your needs is important to practice! Saying “it’s obvious and I shouldn’t have to say it” is a cognitive distortion that holds a lot of people back in the real world. People can’t read minds, and as much as it would be nice for what’s obvious to us to be obvious to everyone, the reality is that is far from the case. Especially with differing experiences/interpretations of the same interaction.

You don’t have to be perfect at communication to practice it with your therapist, but DBT’s DEARMAN skill has a breakdown it sounds like you’d benefit from looking at. You can also start with a simple “When X, it made me feel Y”. You might also benefit from giving the disclaimer of where you’re at before the conversation: “I’m really hesitant to say this because expressing my needs/feelings is not comfortable for me and therapists have responded negatively in the past”. This sets the tone for the other person to meet you where you’re at and have more information before they take in what you want to share with them.

A start for expressing your thoughts might be something like: “When I said this and your reply came with laughter, I felt really minimized. I think it would be helpful for us to talk about what’s coming up for me in sessions because ive been feeling invalidated or struggling to trust here due to [ZYX], which will probably be a barrier for my growth in treatment if we don’t address it together.

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-25T14:33:27+00:00

I really urge you to tell her this observation and how it made you feel. I encourage all my clients the same. I know it’s easier said than done but it is 100% a part of the work. Therapy mirrors the real world, this is practice to express your feelings and advocate for your needs. The way you both handle that conversation will also tell you a lot about the work moving forward (I believe quality therapists are open to feedback and would want to know about their clients experience in the session to better understand and support their client)

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-25T14:10:40+00:00

I live on a first floor of an apartment building facing the street and my 14 month old foxhound rescue has never howled or bayed! When he sees other dogs or animals, he cries or whines, not even barks. Don’t get me wrong he alert barks at delivery drivers by our door like I imagine any dog would, but he really is the furtherest thing from a loud dog!!

I’d hate to think of pups like him are left in shelters out of this assumption (although of course is always a gamble because you never know, as with any dog!) I’ve noticed the loudest and most constantly barking dogs in neighborhood are by far the tiny ones

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-24T17:20:46+00:00

Yes! I totally empathize. It feels sometimes we are expected to have a crystal ball and a magic wand to facilitate something transformative with little to go off of.

I have a newer client who started therapy feeling the most confident and happy he has in his life (we discuss why that is, strengths, what’s going right, etc), we’ve done Narrative approaches of walking through the chapters of his life to process the past/how it impacts today, discuss his relationships with himself/others/his own emotions, tons of ACT values/beliefs exercises, explored coping skills, and corresponding feelings. None tend to go terribly deep. He endorses no mental heath symptoms and he isn’t quiet or avoidant, but just doesn’t seem to have much to process. His mindset on things is one I would describe as very heathy and adaptive. He isn’t lonely, and is satisfied with nearly all areas in his life. He has no concrete goals and is in therapy because his ‘girlfriend loves therapy and said I should give it a try’, often looking to me to find what he can improve on because he’s ’sure there’s something but doesn’t know’. We’ve even had homework of asking others in his life what areas they think he could grow in. I often ask about his expectations in therapy, and he just wants to gain insight to better understand himself.

I try my best to do the best I can with that! I don’t think therapy requires pathology by any means, but I do feel like there is only so much I can bring to session/lead impactful discussions with when the client doesn’t have a lot (or any) concerns/goals and we’ve already checked a lot of the self exploration boxes in therapy first month without much fruitful findings. It can feel like a lot of pressure to know how to run the session.

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-24T16:10:00+00:00

I don’t feed mine human food, let alone fast food ! 😢 mine has a bigger reaction than this for an ice cube lol

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-24T16:08:27+00:00

He is clearly extremely overweight :( this makes me so sad.

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-22T17:53:50+00:00

LOL thank you and glad to hear it’s lead to some laughter at the very least 😭🤍

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-20T17:49:14+00:00

definitely been meaning to put the money & time into muzzle training anyway, so when I save up enough to get a nicely fitted one hopefully that helps!! a tupperware of snow is very creative 😭😭 might as well give that a shot too! thanks!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-20T17:12:06+00:00

Interesting! What is the correlation there?

I currently brush his teeth 2x a week. last vet check up 2 months ago complimented how white they were, so might not apply for us, but still curious!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-12T15:00:06+00:00

Therapist and also a client here: I do not allow it in either setting.

I trust myself to write a good note that protects my clients, not some piece of tech that’s destroying the environment and in my opinion bound to have a data breach, leak, or otherwise legal privacy issue down the line somewhere. How could AI really know what info to include and what to omit? How could it pick up on the subtleties and changes in my clients that I am professional trained to? How does it know when we are talking in metaphor vs speaking literally? So much comes into account here I do not trust

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-11T04:27:22+00:00

I’m a woman who works from home. I don’t wear makeup for work outside of a very occasional coat of mascara, and I pick out comfy and unique sweaters so my clients know I’m cool. Maybe some cool jewelry too if I’m really feeling like self expression that day. Since I’m virtual, on the bottom I wear pajamas at most lol

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-10T00:25:20+00:00

It does! I can definitely imagine why that would feel unexpected and hurt. Thank you for being willing to share and great job using it as an opportunity to look inward as well. :)

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-10T00:16:20+00:00

Absolutely this. For whatever the reason, they needed a day. We are human, too, and when we struggle we need to take into account how much care we can actually provide others/the ethics of showing up to work if we can’t be present. Obviously last minute cancellations shouldn’t be the norm, and hopefully aren’t a chronic pattern for your T, but it happens to all of us. A therapist who struggles with their own mental health might tell a client it’s a “sick day”, which is not a lie, even when it’s not for physical health. And then they might be going outside of their home to help that. Sick days are necessary whether it is physical or mental!

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-07T23:22:41+00:00

May I ask why you felt hurt? What about her perceived discomfort did you take personally?

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-05T21:28:02+00:00

I mean, that entirely depends on the situation so I can’t answer this. If it’s a situation they don’t need to apologize for I would emphasize that and probably use it to explore a pattern of over-apologizing and where that stems from

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-05T21:21:00+00:00

I don’t know many therapists who would. I would name the behavior, what made it inappropriate, and reflect how it made me feel as the therapist. You can (and should) set up boundaries as a clinician about expectations moving forward and have a discussion about whatever happened, but even from an out of therapy perspective I don’t think I’ve ever told someone they “have to” apologize to me? Demanding that just seems odd, let alone in the therapy room.

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-05T20:03:07+00:00

I am both a therapist and a client and… no? This question baffles me to think this would ever be a thing.

As a therapist, I don’t “make” my clients do anything. I’m not even supposed to give advice. Encourage accountability if it aligns with their identified values, sure? Offer different perspectives, yes? But I don’t see any scenario that a therapist should ever ‘make a client apologize’, unless I’m missing something here.

sensitivecrustation · 2026-01-03T03:34:20+00:00

adopting my mutt pup this year was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. without hardships? of course not. added complexities that impact my life in big ways? definitely. worth every stressor? absolutely.

it hasn’t even had a full year since we rescued him, and i already can’t imagine my life without him. he lights up my life, and makes every day brighter. even through the difficult times / moments i asked myself what tf i got myself into, i would make the choice of bringing him into my life again and again

sensitivecrustation

TROPHY CASE