Do therapists make mistakes?

Making mistakes over the course of a counseling career is — in one word — inevitable. “You fail almost every five minutes as a therapist in session. There’s always some small failure,” Jude Austin says.

Why would a therapist drop a client?

Therapists typically terminate when the patient can no longer pay for services, when the therapist determines that the patient’s problem is beyond the therapist’s scope of competence or scope of license, when the therapist determines that the patient is not benefiting from the treatment, when the course of treatment …

Why do therapists use silence?

For the specific event, therapists used silence primarily to facilitate reflection, encourage responsibility, facilitate expression of feelings, not interrupt session flow, and convey empathy. During silence, therapists observed the client, thought about the therapy, and conveyed interest.

How many mistakes have you made with clients you wish you could take back?

Some of these mistakes I have made recently. So in the effort to be transparent and vulnerable in these blogs, I present to you 12 mistakes I have made with clients that I wish I could take back. Please don’t judge me harshly. But if you do, please don’t tell me.

Do you feel like a competent therapist?

Well, almost all of them. They give me good feedback on my counseling skills. It feels like there is a lot of trust built up between me and them. All in all, I feel like a very competent therapist. I enjoy what I do and I love to keep learning. However, I have made some truly boneheaded mistakes.

How should a therapist label a feeling?

It is crucial to listen very carefully prior to labeling a feeling. The therapist’s role is to join the client and utilize the client’s input to then label the feeling. A rush to label is a problem.

How do you feel about being a therapist?

I have been a therapist since 2005. And if I do say so myself, I think I’m pretty good. I have a solid rapport with all my clients. I see growth with all of them. Well, almost all of them. They give me good feedback on my counseling skills. It feels like there is a lot of trust built up between me and them.