Off-Duty Therapist

Curt and Katie talk about how therapists can be called into action in their off time. We look at how being a therapist can impact our relationships, how to put boundaries around your therapist role, and the risks of crossing boundaries between personal and professional roles with your friends and family members.    

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:

• The different things that therapists might complain about with their therapist friends
• How to identify what role you play with the people in your life
• How to not do therapy with your friends or others who are seeking “free therapy”
• Limit-setting, navigating your loved one’s needs
• Becoming a resource, not a therapist
• Giving referrals, supporting connection
• Specific tactics about how to avoid being the “counselor” for your friends and family members
• The importance of empowering the people around you to soothe themselves
• When it is hard to take off the therapist hat
• Determining how you engage, what emotional energy you have to give after a therapy day
• When you may decide to step across the line
• Determining which role your friend or family member actually want you to play
• How perspective-taking can start irritating the people in our lives and may even lead to you losing your sense of self and identity
• The expectations that others can have of us
• How to set the boundaries with your friends and family members
• The impact of how the role we played in our family of origin can mean a bit role shift after we train to be a therapist
• How being an emotional hub can impact you as a therapist in the room
• When it is okay to use some of your therapist skills in your relationships
• How compassion fatigue and bias can make you a less empathic to your loved ones