An Open Letter To Therapists
By: Bryan Nixon, LPC
COVID-19 has been a gut punch for the entire human collective. The gut-punch is universal, but the experience of it is nuanced on the individual level for each of us.
As a psychotherapist and the clinical director of a counseling practice of just over 20 therapists in Grand Rapids, MI, I have been deeply feeling some of the ways the impact of the Coronavirus has been nuanced specifically for mental health professionals.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote this letter to our team straight from my heart. They communicated to me that it really resonated with their experience during this time and encouraged me to consider sharing it more broadly as, “An Open Letter to Therapists.” So we at Mindful Counseling GR offer this to you who are in the trenches with your clients while also experiencing your own struggles during this unprecedented season. May you find encouragement and solidarity in it.
Dear Therapists,
These are indeed anxious times we are living in. The anxiety has literally saturated the entire collective human experience. There are certainly some bright spots peppered in as well and occasionally the clouds of my own anxiety break up enough that I can also feel a sense of hope that as a collective we will become a more compassionate, connected, resilient, and loving presence on the earth. I wanted to again express my gratitude to each of you and say that, while we are physically isolated from one another, I am grateful for the connection we share in this work we are doing in the world.
I imagine that many of you are finding the work of therapy more tiring, more taxing, and requiring more effort than usual right now. In part that has to do with a complete paradigm shift into the video sessions, but additionally, I suspect it may have something to do with the tendency of therapists to feel that we need to have it together, figured out, and with a solid game plan in order to be of help to our clients. Please allow me to take the latter off the table for us. This time has been such a profound reminder to me that we are all wounded healers and that we do not need to perfectly have our shit together in order to show up well with our clients and with one another. More than ever, I am convinced that it is human connection and relationship that heal and that we too are healed by our clients, not just vice versa. While the focus of our work is exclusively on what best serves them, I would invite you to also feel into yourselves when working with your clients and notice the often subtle ways that parts of you are shifting as well. Please, please, please remember that we as therapists are all allowed to struggle in the midst of this uncertain season as well. We can own that struggle in our sessions authentically with compassion for ourselves and our clients and in the shared experience we can both offer as well as receive healing.
With deepest gratitude and without my shit figured out,
Bryan Nixon, LPC