Unlearning Very Bad Therapy

An interview with Carrie Wiita and Ben Fineman, MFT Trainees and the co-hosts of the Very Bad Therapy podcast. Curt and Katie interview Ben and Carrie about their experience as graduate students and mental health advocates. We look at the short-falls of the educational system as well as the mythologies that stagnate the profession. We talk about how to improve therapy and the training we receive.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices.

To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Carrie Wiita and Ben Fineman, Marriage and Family Therapist Trainees and Co-Hosts of the Very Bad Therapy podcast

Very Bad Therapy gives voice to the stores that begin with an exasperated "You would not believe what happened with my therapist." Weekly episodes explore real-life stories of very bad therapy experiences as hosts Caroline Wiita and Ben Fineman seek to learn from diverse guests and experts in the field who help shed light on how things could have gone better. Supported by scientific research and a mission to bring out the best in psychotherapy through discussion of its worst moments, Very Bad Therapy is a corrective emotional experience for clinicians and clients alike.

In this episode we talk about:

• How Curt is responsible for Carrie and Ben meeting (and how proud he is of that fact)
• What is missing in therapist education and how to look at the profession of therapy critically
• What we are told when we enter into the field and what the reality actually is
• How going to grad school and listening to MTSG Podcast can be super confusing
• The research that says therapists do not get better with experience
• The mythologies in the profession that stop us from being curious
• The disappointment in the status quo and the failure to move into the cutting edge
• The stagnation of the field when we have the same people talking about the same things
• The inconsistency of the faculty and their ability/desire to teach graduate students in therapy
• Problems with graduate programs related to the bureaucracy and misinformation
• Ben Caldwell’s Saving Psychotherapy (of course)
• Feedback on the Very Bad Therapy podcast (and how Carrie and Ben have taken it in)
• The importance of research, grounding in laws, ethics, clinical excellence, when challenging the status quo
• The willingness to make mistakes publicly and be transparent with accountability to normalize mistakes and reinforce that we are not perfect and cannot be perfect as therapists
• The role of defensiveness in very bad therapy
• The problem of perfectionism in the field
• Minimizing risk and maximizing “joining” or developing the therapeutic relationship
• How harmful the communication between therapists can be
• The impact of bias on the work
• How to improve your training