It has been said that a good therapist \u201ccomforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.\u201d I believe this is true in many respects. But in addition, a good therapist had many more qualities and plays many roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good therapist gives clients what they need to help themselves. This could mean any number of things \u2013 as long as those things are not immoral, illegal, or indecent! Flexibility is essential, and a good therapist can think outside the box and draw from various tools depending on what the client needs. A good therapist walks a delicate boundary line which may vary from client to client. I have always said, if I am not human, therapy won\u2019t work, but if I am too human, it also won\u2019t work. But the professional boundary is essential. The people close to a client in the client\u2019s personal life may love them, but a therapist is there at an objective distance to help a client transform his or her life for the better. Where a client may \u201clike\u201d me, it is not required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly a good therapist maintains the strictest confidentiality and ethical standards of clinical practice. A good therapist empowers the client, is a mirror for the client, and is a good listener. A good therapist is compassionate and comforting, as well as candid and challenging. A good therapist is both creative and sensitive to the values of a client and his\/her culture. A good therapist recognizes the importance of a strong therapeutic relationship and connection with the client, and as a result is not offended if a client decides to seek treatment elsewhere. If the therapeutic relationship \u201cclicks,\u201d treatment will be successful. If for whatever reason a client feels that the relationship with me does not click, I would be happy to help them find another therapist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been said that a good therapist \u201ccomforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.\u201d I believe this is true in many respects. But in addition, a good therapist had many more qualities and plays many roles. A good therapist gives clients what they need to help themselves. This could mean any number of things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P36iXA-1X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marypetersen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}