Therapy for Therapists

There is a simple human truth that shows up again and again in this work:

You cannot fully untangle yourself from the inside.

You can be insightful, emotionally intelligent, clinically trained, and deeply self aware, and still feel stuck in ways you cannot move on your own. I see this often with high functioning professionals who rely heavily on insight, analysis, and competence to get through the day. It is a pattern that shows up frequently in therapists working with anxiety, overcontrol, and perfectionism.

That is not a failure of skill.

It is what it means to be human.

Why Therapists Struggle to Seek Therapy

Therapists understand, intellectually, that therapy matters.

Many still wait far longer than they should.

Not because they doubt therapy, but because they are used to being the one who holds it together. The one others rely on. The one who stays steady when things get messy.

You are functioning. Your clients are showing up. Your work looks solid from the outside.

So you tell yourself you are fine.

Meanwhile, something quieter is happening underneath.

You feel emotionally tired in a way sleep does not fix. You are less present at home. Less patient. Less connected to your own inner life. Sometimes numb. Sometimes restless. Sometimes always on. This is often the point where depth oriented individual therapy becomes less about growth and more about staying connected to yourself.

This is not a dramatic burnout.

It is an accumulation.

A Real Moment From the Room

A therapist once came to me and said, “I don’t even know what I’d talk about. I already have insight.”

By the third session, after a long pause, they said something much more honest:

“I never let myself not be the strong one.”

That was not a clever insight.

It was a lived realization that only emerged in relationship.

This is what therapy for therapists often looks like. Not big breakthroughs at first, but subtle shifts. Moments where the guard drops just enough to notice something real.

Therapy for Therapists Is Not Supervision

This matters.

Therapists do not need more models explained to them. They do not need to be taught how to think clinically. And they definitely do not need to feel evaluated.

What they need is a space where they do not have to perform competence.

Where they do not have to track the process.

Where they can speak without translating their experience into theory.

Many therapists I work with have spent years sitting with intense relational dynamics, conflict, and emotional repair. That kind of relational labor deepens sensitivity, but it can also quietly drain your own reserves if there is no place to process it.

Good therapy for therapists has depth.

It is alive. It is relational. It allows room for contradiction, uncertainty, and parts of you that do not fit neatly into a formulation.

Going Beyond Work Stress Therapy

Therapists often come in talking about work stress.

But the work rarely stays there.

We end up talking about identity. Boundaries. The parts of you that learned to be needed. The parts that equate usefulness with worth. The parts that push past limits and call it dedication.

We talk about what happens when a client does not improve. When you feel responsible in ways you never say out loud. When you carry other people’s pain home with you.

This is not about optimizing performance.

It is about sustainability and staying connected to yourself.

Mentorship, Teaching, and Training Therapists

In addition to therapy, I also spend time mentoring and teaching therapists and therapists in training.

I work with social work students, counseling interns, and early career clinicians pursuing licensure as Licensed Master Social Workers (LMSW), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW), and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT). Many are navigating the transition from student to professional while learning how to sit with real clients and manage self doubt, responsibility, and the emotional weight of the work.

Mentorship is different from therapy, but the themes often overlap. Questions of confidence, identity, boundaries, and competence tend to come up naturally. Teaching and mentoring have helped me appreciate how early these patterns form, and how important it is to have guidance that is grounded, human, and real.

That experience informs how I work clinically, especially with therapists and future therapists who are looking for depth and steadiness rather than quick answers or formulas.

Training, Fieldwork, and Shadow Work Training for Therapists

At times, I have also worked with students who shadow me as part of their professional development. These are social work students and therapists in training completing fieldwork or practicum requirements who want to better understand how individual therapy looks and feels in real time.

Shadowing is not about scripts or techniques alone. Students observe how sessions are paced, how uncertainty is handled, how boundaries are maintained, and how therapeutic relationships are built moment by moment. They see how clinical judgment develops, how mistakes are repaired, and how therapists try to stay human while doing serious work.

For many students, this experience helps bridge the gap between theory and practice, and makes the work feel more real and approachable.

Therapists Need Therapy Too

I am a therapist who has been in therapy.

I know the difference between understanding something and actually feeling it shift inside you. I know what it is like to sit in the chair and realize that insight alone does not create change.

That experience shapes how I work.

I do not rush. I do not over explain. I pay attention to what is happening in the room, not just what is being said. We slow things down until something real has space to emerge.

I also understand the pressure of leadership.

Whether you are leading a practice, a team, a classroom, or a community, there is a particular loneliness that comes with being the one others look to. You are often holding far more than people realize. That perspective comes from both my clinical work and my own leadership roles.

A Place You Do Not Have to Hold It All

Therapists spend their days holding others.

This is a place where you do not have to.

You can show up tired. Unsure. Defensive. Curious. You can speak in half formed thoughts. You can pause instead of pushing forward.

Often, that is where the real work happens.

If This Resonates

If you are a therapist, clinician, or mental health professional who feels stretched, depleted, or quietly stuck, therapy can be a place to put that down.

You do not need to justify it.

You do not need to wait until things get worse.

You can learn more or reach out here.