Millennials as Therapists

Curt and Katie talk about generational differences in therapists, looking at perceptions (and misperceptions) about Millennials We look at how these differences impact therapy workplaces, supervision, and the future of our field.   

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. 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.

In this episode we talk about:

• Whether or not Curt is a Millennial
• Looking at how millennials show up as employees and entrepreneurs
• Generational differences in therapists
• Common complaint of millennials being entitled
• Living life now versus earning your stripes and waiting on retirement
• The Four-Hour Work Week
• Curt’s theory that Millennials have perfected the dream of the Gen X-ers
• The impact of technology on growing up in different generations
• Looking at the impact of the recession on the perspective on how to navigate work
• The “young upstart” mythology that gets under Boomers’ skin
• Gaining confidence earlier due to the access to immense amounts of data that wasn’t around when X-ers and Boomers were growing up
• Teaching as equals versus teaching as a superior, looking at collaborative learning
• The difference between therapy as work and other professions
• The further we remove the therapist from having creativity and ownership from the work, the less value they will get from the work.
• The importance of real application of concepts in our education
• The tension of enough structured guidance versus enough collaboration/empowerment
• Avoiding the helicoptering (supervision, management, etc.)
• How technology is impacting the work
• The importance of grounding innovation in laws, ethics, and clinical excellence
• How coaching might impact our profession, whether there is harm with people jumping to coaching without credentials or training
• Instagram Therapists
• Different goals for different generations, namely the scourge of selling out
• Whether or not Gen X-ers have actually sold old
• How things have changed in marketing and how that has impacted newer therapists
• When you can claim “expert” status
• How strong entrepreneurs can potentially harm the profession