The traditional therapy office was a neutral space that belonged to neither therapist nor client. Now, you’re both navigating the complex dynamics of being guests in each other’s most private spaces while maintaining the professional relationship that makes therapy effective. Let’s explore how to manage this new intimacy without losing therapeutic effectiveness.

The Double-Edged Sword of Domestic Access

What You Gain Seeing clients in their natural environment provides unprecedented clinical insight. You witness their actual living conditions, family dynamics, and daily stressors in real-time. A client who minimizes their home stress might reveal a different story when you hear constant interruptions or see their chaotic background. You get authentic glimpses into their world that no amount of verbal processing could provide.

What You Risk This same access can blur the professional boundaries that make therapy safe and effective. When therapy happens in bedrooms, kitchens, and cars, the frame that contains the therapeutic relationship starts to dissolve. Both you and your clients may struggle to maintain the mindset that this is professional healthcare, not an intimate friendship.

Setting the Frame Before You Start

The Space Conversation During your telehealth intake, explicitly discuss space expectations with new clients. This isn’t about being controlling—it’s about creating conditions where therapy can be most effective.

Essential questions to cover:

• Do you have access to a private space where you won’t be interrupted?
• How will you handle household members who might need something during our session?
• Are you comfortable being on camera, and do you have adequate lighting?
• What’s your backup plan if your usual space isn’t available?

The Interruption Protocol Establish clear expectations about interruptions before they happen. Many therapists use language like: “Life happens during telehealth, and that’s okay. If you need to step away or handle an interruption, just let me know. We can pause the session, and you can return when you’re ready.”

This normalizes interruptions while maintaining your role in managing the session flow.

Managing Your Own Domestic Exposure

The Professional Background Dilemma Your home office setup communicates volumes about who you are as a person, not just as a therapist. That family photo on your desk or the art on your wall reveals personal information that clients wouldn’t normally access. Some therapists feel this enhances connection; others worry it compromises professional boundaries.

Practical Strategies:

• Virtual backgrounds: Useful but can be distracting if they glitch
• Dedicated therapy wall: Position your camera facing a neutral wall or bookshelf
• Strategic positioning: Angle your setup to show minimal personal space
• Embrace selective sharing: Decide what aspects of your space you’re comfortable sharing

When Your Life Intrudes Your dog barking, delivery notifications, or family members needing something urgent will happen. How you handle these moments teaches clients how to handle their own interruptions and models healthy boundary-setting.

Effective responses:

• “Excuse me for just a moment while I address this”
• “I need to briefly step away to handle something—I’ll be right back”
• “I’m going to mute myself for a moment to address that noise”

Avoid over-apologizing or extensive explanations about your personal life.

The Intimacy of Seeing Real Life

When Clients Show Too Much Clients in their home environment may forget professional boundaries. They might answer sessions in bed, wearing inappropriate clothing, or in spaces that feel too intimate for the therapeutic relationship. Address this directly but gently:

“I want our sessions to feel comfortable for you, and I also want to maintain the professional frame that makes therapy most effective. Could we talk about finding a space that feels both comfortable for you and appropriate for our professional relationship?”

The Family Interruption Challenge Children, partners, and roommates will interrupt telehealth sessions. These moments can provide valuable clinical information, but they also require careful navigation:

• Brief, polite acknowledgment: A simple “Good morning” or “Hi there” maintains basic courtesy, then immediately redirect to your client
• Avoid extended engagement: The boundary isn’t about ignoring people—it’s about not getting drawn into conversations or letting family members become part of the session without proper consent
• Process interruptions therapeutically: “I noticed you seemed stressed when your partner interrupted. How do you typically handle competing demands for your attention?”
• Maintain client confidentiality: Family members might overhear sensitive content, so address this proactively

Pets as Therapeutic Partners Animals often become unofficial co-therapists in telehealth sessions. A client’s dog providing comfort during an emotional moment can be therapeutically beneficial. However, establish boundaries around excessive pet disruptions that interfere with session focus.

Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Bathroom Sessions

Yes, clients sometimes take sessions from bathrooms—sometimes because it’s their only private space, other times due to poor boundary awareness. This requires direct but compassionate intervention:

“I understand privacy can be challenging in your living situation. Let’s talk about finding a space that works for both privacy and maintaining our professional relationship. The bathroom doesn’t feel like the right environment for our therapy work together.”

Cultural and Socioeconomic Considerations

Housing Realities Not every client has access to a private, quiet space with good lighting and internet. Some live in overcrowded housing, lack dedicated work areas, or deal with ongoing noise and interruptions. Your boundary expectations need to account for these realities while still maintaining therapeutic effectiveness.

Flexibility Without Compromise You can be understanding about challenging circumstances while still maintaining necessary boundaries:

• Work with clients to identify their best available space options
• Help them problem-solve common challenges in their living situation
• Maintain professional expectations while showing empathy for limitations

The Unexpected Therapeutic Value

Authentic Moments When a client’s toddler melts down during session, you see their actual parenting in action—not just their report of parenting struggles. When their roommate’s loud music interrupts a trauma session, you witness real-time stress responses. These moments can accelerate therapeutic progress by providing authentic material to process.

Modeling Healthy Boundaries How you handle your own interruptions teaches clients about appropriate boundary-setting. When you calmly address a delivery notification or pause to handle a barking dog, you demonstrate that boundaries can be both firm and flexible.

Technology Boundaries Matter Too

The Mute Button Protocol Establish clear expectations about muting. Some clients constantly mute and unmute themselves, creating disconnection. Others never mute, creating distracting background noise. Address this explicitly:

“I’d like us to both stay unmuted during our conversation so we can have a natural flow, but please mute yourself if there’s background noise that might be distracting.”

The Recording Question Be explicit about recording policies. Some clients assume they can record sessions for their own reference, while others worry you might be recording them. Clear communication prevents misunderstandings that can damage trust.

When Boundaries Need Reinforcement

Signs You Need to Address Boundary Issues:

• Sessions regularly start late due to client environment issues
• You frequently can’t hear the client due to background noise
• Family members regularly interrupt or try to join conversations
• Clients take sessions in inappropriate locations repeatedly
• You find yourself distracted by what you see in their background
• The professional frame of therapy feels consistently compromised

How to Address Boundary Violations:

1. Name the pattern: “I’ve noticed that interruptions have become a regular part of our sessions”
2. Explain the impact: “This makes it difficult for us to maintain focus on your therapy goals”
3. Collaborate on solutions: “Let’s brainstorm some strategies that might help”
4. Set clear expectations: “Moving forward, I’d like us to…”
5. Follow through: If agreements aren’t kept, address it directly

The Termination Question

Some therapeutic relationships work better in person than via telehealth, and that’s okay. If boundary issues consistently interfere with therapeutic progress despite multiple attempts to address them, it may be appropriate to discuss transitioning to in-person therapy or referring to a therapist who specializes in the client’s specific telehealth challenges.

Creating New Rituals for Professional Connection

Session Beginnings and Endings Without the ritual of entering and leaving an office, telehealth sessions can feel abrupt. Create new rituals that help both you and your client transition into and out of therapy mode:

• Start with a brief check-in about their current environment
• End with a moment to acknowledge the session’s completion
• Use consistent language that signals professional boundaries

The Technology Check-In Make space for a brief technology and environment check at the beginning of sessions. This normalizes addressing practical issues while maintaining focus on therapeutic work.

Training Your Household

The people you live with need to understand that when your office door is closed (or you’re at your designated workspace), you’re in session with clients. This means:

• No interruptions except for emergencies
• Keeping noise levels appropriate
• Understanding that your professional space is off-limits during work hours

The Long-Term Perspective

Telehealth boundary management is still evolving as both therapists and clients develop new norms for this hybrid of professional and personal space. What feels awkward now may become more natural with practice. The key is maintaining intentionality about boundaries rather than letting them erode by default.

Ongoing Assessment Questions:

• Are these boundary challenges improving over time or becoming entrenched patterns?
• Is the therapeutic work progressing despite environmental challenges?
• Do both you and your client feel comfortable with the current arrangement?
• Are there specific skills or resources that could help address ongoing challenges?

The Bottom Line

Telehealth creates unprecedented intimacy between therapists and clients. This can enhance therapeutic connection and provide valuable clinical insights, but it requires proactive boundary management to prevent the therapeutic relationship from becoming confused with friendship or losing its professional effectiveness.

The goal isn’t to recreate the traditional therapy office in digital space—it’s to create new professional boundaries that work within the reality of telehealth while preserving what makes therapy effective. This requires ongoing communication, flexibility, and willingness to address boundary issues directly when they arise.

Remember: boundaries in telehealth aren’t about being rigid or unfriendly. They’re about creating the conditions where therapy can be most helpful for your clients while maintaining your own professional well-being. When done thoughtfully, telehealth boundaries can actually enhance the therapeutic relationship by demonstrating that professional care can coexist with human flexibility and understanding.

Consider developing written telehealth policies that address common boundary issues, and review these with clients during the informed consent process. Clear expectations prevent most boundary problems before they start.

The post Telehealth Boundaries: Managing the Intimacy of Being in Clients’ Homes (and Vice Versa) first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post Telehealth Boundaries: Managing the Intimacy of Being in Clients’ Homes (and Vice Versa) appeared first on Where the Client Is.

Most therapists either don’t have a GMB profile at all, or they set it up years ago and forgot about it. Meanwhile, your potential clients are making decisions about whether to contact you based on outdated information, missing photos, and unanswered questions. Let’s fix that.

Why Google My Business Matters More Than Your Website

Here’s the reality: when someone searches for therapy services in your area, your GMB profile appears before your website in search results. It’s often the first impression potential clients have of your practice. A well-optimized profile can be the difference between a full caseload and struggling to fill your schedule.

Consider this: 76% of people who search for something nearby on their smartphone visit a related business within a day. For therapy, that urgency is even higher—people typically search for mental health services when they’re ready to take action.

Setting Up Your Profile the Right Way

Claim and Verify Your Listing If you haven’t already, go to business.google.com and claim your listing. Google may have already created one for you based on public records. The verification process usually involves receiving a postcard with a verification code, though phone verification is sometimes available for healthcare providers.

Choose Your Business Category Carefully Your primary category should be “Psychologist,” “Counselor,” or “Mental Health Service”—whichever best describes your credentials. You can add secondary categories like “Marriage Counselor” or “Family Counselor” if relevant. Avoid generic terms like “Health Consultant.”

Nail Your Business Description You have 750 characters to explain what makes your practice unique. Focus on the problems you solve rather than just listing credentials. Instead of “Licensed clinical social worker with 10 years of experience,” try “Helping adults overcome anxiety and depression through evidence-based therapy in a warm, non-judgmental environment.”

The Photo Strategy That Actually Works

Photos are your secret weapon, yet most therapists either skip them entirely or upload one awkward headshot from 2018. Here’s what actually converts browsers into clients:

Your Professional Headshot Use a recent, high-quality photo where you look approachable and professional. Smile genuinely—people want to see warmth, not clinical detachment. Natural lighting works better than studio lighting for conveying authenticity.

Your Office Space Show your actual therapy room, waiting area, and building exterior. Clients want to know what they’re walking into. A cozy, well-lit office photo can ease anxiety about that first visit. Avoid stock photos—Google may flag them, and clients can usually tell they’re not real.

Behind-the-Scenes Moments Photos of your bookshelf, a cup of tea on your desk, or your therapy dogs can humanize your practice. These details help potential clients imagine themselves in your space.

Managing Reviews Like a Pro

Reviews are the digital equivalent of word-of-mouth referrals, and they’re crucial for building trust. Here’s how to handle them ethically and effectively:

The HIPAA-Compliant Approach to Requesting Reviews You cannot ask specific clients to leave reviews, as this could compromise confidentiality. Instead, create a general process: include information about online reviews in your intake paperwork, mention during termination sessions that feedback helps other people find quality care, or include a note in your email signature about the importance of online reviews for small practices.

Responding to Reviews Always respond to positive reviews with a brief, professional thank you. For negative reviews, respond calmly and professionally without revealing any client information. A simple “Thank you for your feedback. I take all concerns seriously and would welcome the opportunity to discuss this privately” shows professionalism while protecting confidentiality.

Handling Fake or Inappropriate Reviews Unfortunately, some therapists receive fake negative reviews from competitors or inappropriate reviews that mention personal information. Google allows you to flag reviews that violate their policies, including those that reveal private information about therapy sessions.

The Q&A Section: Your 24/7 Sales Assistant

The Questions & Answers section is where potential clients ask things like “Do you accept my insurance?” or “What’s your approach to treating anxiety?” You can seed this section by asking yourself common questions and providing helpful answers.

Questions to Answer Proactively:

• What insurance do you accept?
• What’s your cancellation policy?
• Do you offer evening or weekend appointments?
• What’s your approach to [common issues you treat]?
• How long are sessions?
• Do you offer telehealth appointments?

Keep answers concise but informative. This section often determines whether someone calls your office or moves on to the next therapist.

Posting Updates That Actually Help Your Practice

GMB posts appear in your profile and can highlight important information. Unlike social media posts that disappear in timelines, these stay visible to people viewing your profile.

Effective Post Topics:

• Announcing new appointment availability
• Sharing brief mental health tips (not therapy advice)
• Highlighting your specializations
• Explaining your approach to common concerns
• Addressing common misconceptions about therapy

What to Avoid:

• Anything that could be construed as medical advice
• Personal details about your life
• Political opinions or controversial topics
• Client stories or examples (even anonymous ones)

The Technical Details That Matter

Business Hours Keep these updated religiously. Nothing frustrates potential clients like calling during posted business hours only to reach voicemail because your hours are wrong online.

Contact Information Use a dedicated business phone number if possible. If you use your personal cell phone, consider Google Voice to create a separate business number that forwards to your personal line.

Website Link Make sure this goes directly to your practice website, not your Psychology Today profile or a general mental health resource site.

Tracking What’s Working

GMB provides basic analytics showing how people find your listing, what actions they take, and where your views come from. Check these insights monthly to understand:

• Whether people are finding you through direct searches or discovery
• Which photos get the most views
• How many people call versus visit your website
• What questions people are asking

Common Mistakes That Cost You Clients

The Inconsistency Problem Your business name, address, and phone number must be identical across your website, GMB profile, Psychology Today listing, and any other online directories. Even small differences can hurt your search rankings.

The Ghost Profile Problem Setting up your profile and never touching it again signals to Google (and potential clients) that your practice might not be active. Regular small updates show that you’re engaged and available.

The Generic Description Problem “Providing quality mental health services” tells potential clients nothing useful. Be specific about who you help and how you help them.

Advanced Strategies for Competitive Markets

In saturated markets, small optimizations can make a big difference:

Local SEO Integration Mention your specific neighborhood or district in your business description. “Serving downtown Portland professionals” is more specific than “Portland therapy services.”

Attribute Selection Use GMB attributes to highlight what sets you apart: “LGBTQ+ friendly,” “Wheelchair accessible,” “Accepts insurance,” or “Online appointments available.”

Regular Content Updates Fresh posts and photos signal to Google that your business is active, which can improve your local search rankings.

The ROI of Getting This Right

Here’s what proper GMB optimization typically means for therapy practices:

• 25-40% increase in phone calls from new clients
• Higher-quality leads (people who call have already seen your credentials and approach)
• Reduced time spent on intake calls (clients arrive more informed)
• Better client fit (your content pre-screens for your ideal clients)

Your 30-Minute Action Plan

Ready to optimize your profile today? Here’s what to tackle first:

1. Claim and verify your listing (if you haven’t already)
2. Upload 5-7 high-quality photos including your headshot, office, and building exterior
3. Write a compelling business description that focuses on client problems you solve
4. Add 3-5 common Q&A pairs addressing insurance, scheduling, and approach
5. Create your first post about a mental health topic relevant to your specialization
6. Set up review monitoring so you know when new reviews appear

The Long-Term Maintenance Plan

Once your profile is optimized, spend 15 minutes monthly:

• Adding new photos or updating seasonal ones
• Posting helpful content related to your specializations
• Responding to new reviews and questions
• Checking that your information is still accurate
• Reviewing your insights to understand what’s working

Google My Business isn’t just a directory listing—it’s your digital storefront, first impression, and often the deciding factor in whether someone chooses to reach out for help. In a profession where trust and connection are everything, this free tool gives you the opportunity to start building that relationship before the first phone call.

The clients who need your help are already looking for you online. Make sure they can find you, understand what you offer, and feel confident about taking that brave first step of reaching out.

Remember: All marketing efforts for mental health professionals should comply with your state licensing board’s guidelines and HIPAA requirements. When in doubt, consult with your professional liability insurance provider or licensing board about specific marketing practices.

The post Google My Business for Therapists: The Free Tool You’re Probably Underusing first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post Google My Business for Therapists: The Free Tool You’re Probably Underusing appeared first on Where the Client Is.

Imagine that your partner is thanking you for cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Which statement would you rather hear?

“Thank you!”

Or: “I am grateful that you took the reins and handled all the kitchen duties tonight. I love how we take turns to give one another a break.”

Specificity matters “because it deepens our experience of gratitude,” Dr. [Joel] Wong said. “It intensifies our grateful emotions and thoughts.”

Dr. Wong has created a list of 100 questions that may serve as useful prompts when thinking about gratitude in a more specific way, whether you are thanking someone else or listing the things in your life that you feel grateful for.

The post Gratitude Science first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post Gratitude Science appeared first on Where the Client Is.

“ ‘I need to pee so bad.’ Clients don’t realize that we have five minutes between sessions and sometimes making it to the bathroom is not possible.”— Jessa White, L.M.H.C.A.

“ ‘What is her husband’s name again?’ I’m terrible at remembering names no matter how hard I try.”— Jenn Hardy, Ph.D.

“ ‘I suck as a therapist right now.’ ”— Shani Tran, L.P.C.C., L.P.C.

Familiar?

The post What Therapists Are Thinking first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post What Therapists Are Thinking appeared first on Where the Client Is.

There is evidence that less intensive and less expensive therapeutic interventions against suicide might help children, at least those at the highest risk and, by extension, put less pressure on the medical system. For a study published in 2001, more than 800 patients in San Francisco who were hospitalized for suicidality or depression and who declined follow-up care were assigned to two groups: One had no follow-up contact and the other received periodic, typewritten letters from a health care worker who had interviewed them. The letters were brief but expressed concern and a desire to keep in touch. “It has been some time since you were here at the hospital, and we hope things are going well for you,” a typical letter read. “If you wish to drop us a note we would be glad to hear from you.” Patients in the contact group received eight letters the first year, then four letters for several years. Within two years of leaving the hospital — the span of time during which suicidal patients are most likely to kill themselves — the group that received letters was half as likely to die by suicide as the control group. 

The post How to help a suicidal teen first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post How to help a suicidal teen appeared first on Where the Client Is.

Last month, to put some research heft behind his concerns, Doherty commissioned a national poll of 1,000 voting-age Americans and found that 43 percent of the respondents—not limited to people in therapy—reported experiencing emotional distress related to Trump and his campaign. Twenty-eight percent reported experiencing emotional distress related to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Ninety percent of those feeling emotional distress say it’s worse compared with any previous election. But Trump has drawn the bulk of Doherty’s attention, both because of the GOP nominee’s overt aggression and because his name comes up more often in therapy sessions, Doherty says.

Seeing the same?

The post The Trump Effect first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post The Trump Effect appeared first on Where the Client Is.

If the patient describes a nearly unbearable work situation, the therapist will tend to focus on the nature of the patient’s response to the situation, implicitly treating the situation itself as unchangeable, a fact of life. But an untenable or unjust environment is not always just a fact of life, and therapists need to consider how to talk about that explicitly.

The post Therapy + Politics first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post Therapy + Politics appeared first on Where the Client Is.

Naomi Rose, MA, is an Oakland, CA-based book developer with a specialty in helping therapists write books, and the author

What’s your background?

I was born into the kind of family that frequently produces a therapist*, but in addition both parents were writers, so I was exposed to literary ways of thinking and perceiving at a very young age. In that sense, I learned things osmotically that can’t be cognitively taught–about the kinds of rhythms, language, and atmospheres that can permeate a work of writing and actually transform the reader. Later, though, I did study literature and expository writing in college and graduate school, which formed a perfect background for my 30-year career as an editor and writer working for publishers, authors, businesses, and nonprofits. Yet the more adept I became at turning rough manuscripts into publishable books, the more it seemed to me that the social conventions regulating writing and publishing–the whole act of trying to look good on the page –was both reflective of, and actually creating, a distancing from self that simply added to the alienation that the culture as a whole suffered from. What I wanted, both in reading and in writing a book, was to see the true-but-hidden human places mirrored and given light. When I didn’t see much of this happening in the world of publishing, I made a 180-degree turn that eventually led me to the work I do as a book developer now, and the creation of the approach that I call “Writing from the Deeper Self.”

That 180-degree turn was going to graduate school and studying clinical and transpersonal psychology, and having access to the deep richness of the vast inner world. So much goes on in a human being that is nonverbal, and this inner depth was what I wanted to see brought into the books that I had a hand in making real. These influences and realizations came together in me, and over time they coalesced into the work I am doing now.  

[* And/or a writer. There was a wonderful New Yorker cartoon, years ago, showing a college student sitting at on a window seat overlooking the campus, with a pad of paper on her knees, writing a letter home. She was scowling. “Dear mom and dad,” she wrote, “thanks a lot for giving me such a happy childhood. Now I’ll never be a writer!”]

And what are you doing now?

I work with therapists as a book developer, helping them conceive, clarify, and actually write the book of their heart. The focus on heart-based writing does not preclude an intellectual approach. Mostly, it means that the book is an outgrowth of the author’s genuine passion. I have worked in many genres (e.g., self-help, non-fiction, fiction, memoir, even poetry) and formats (print books, e-books, audio books, etc.). I’m thrilled to say that some of my clients’ books are now in print, and making their way in the world, while other clients’ worthy manuscripts are still in the works-in-progress stage.

What is a book developer?

The “Writing from the Deeper Self” approach, which I created after my epiphany following my graduate studies in psychology, enables writing a book to be a process of deep self-discovery as well as a contribution to one’s readers. This makes the writer the center of the process, rather than someone trying to “produce” a piece of writing. So I call myself a book developer, rather than, say, a writing coach, because when you really give attention to what’s inside the person writing–when you honor who the person is, both what’s known and what’s not yet known–then something real inevitably unfolds (or “develops”). When a person is deeply listened to and mirrored, it’s much easier for that person to know and trust what wants to be expressed, and to give that content voice in an authentic and flowing way. You can see the parallels to doing therapy, here! Except that a book is born out of this process.  

You mention the parallel to the therapy process. Where does the book part come in?

Oh yes, of course I bring in my decades of professional book-creating and -producing experience to serve my therapist-clients. I provide guidance about aspects such as how to structure and organize their books, how to evoke and recognize their true writing voice, how to ensure that readers will identify with what’s on the page, and much more. By the time clients have worked with me for a few months, they usually are grounded in what they really want to say in their book and the essentials of how to go about it.  

Why have you chosen therapists as your specialty?

I love the process of self-discovery that is therapists’ stock-in-trade. I know that when I work with therapists, they will be interested in, and likely writing about, some facet of the inner life that I will want to support being known through a book. I think therapists’ real calling is as healers, no matter what approaches they tend to favor; and healing is what my work is really about. In addition, therapists are naturals at the “Writing from the Deeper Self” process.

They know how to process, for one thing. They understand that the end result of a book emerges out of an unfolding process that they participate in, whereas some people might just want to “churn the product out.” And they know how to look into themselves, which in my mind is at least 50% of what goes into writing a book that truly speaks to its readership, truly  heals. Plus, of course, they understand what happens inside other people, so their range extends beyond simply their own personal experience.  And therapists so often have wisdom to share–sometimes from their years of clinical practice, but also just because of who they are, the kind of person who initially decided to become a therapist to help people out of their suffering.

Why is it valuable for a therapist to write a book?

There are three basic reasons, in my view: (1) for the creative experience of writing it; (2) for career enhancement; and (3) for sharing healing wisdom with a wider population. I’ll take them one at a time:

The creative experience of writing a book: I think it can be a wonderful thing for a therapist to write a book. The therapist may not initially feel that way–most of us were raised to have issues about writing for other people–but in a way, that’s why I do the work I do. Because there is a way to write a book that does not have to reproduce the stereotypes of the tortured writer, throwing draft after draft into the trash and feeling besieged by self-doubt. That’s not to say that self-doubts don’t come; but when you are fully present to what’s in you to write, finding the words that match your inner experience becomes an absorbing, creative act–even a sacred act.

So it’s not only that it’s good to have written a book and see it in print, touching and illuminating the lives of the people who read it. It also can be good to write it–the process itself. Otherwise, you end up with a book that’s more of a “product” than a living, healing experience for the reader. When the experience of writing is alive for you, that presence shows up on the page. Just as the therapist’s full presence in the therapy session is a foundational contributor to the client’s healing, the writer’s presence in the act of writing is a great part of what heals the reader (and the writer, too). It’s a very creative, and ultimately nourishing, act.

(2) Writing a book to enhance your career and build your practice: As a therapist, having a book in print gets your name, expertise, and a sense of who you are known more widely. Being associated with your book gives you a popular credibility, a kind of magnetism. Out of this can come a broader reach of clients–that is, clients who otherwise wouldn’t know of you can discover you (especially if you include contact information–e.g., your website address–on the “About the Author” page of your book).

In addition, you gain credibility within your field. A therapeutic book for either a professional or lay readership with your name on it has clout, and you may be asked to speak and/or teach about your book’s subject at conferences, seminars, workshops, panels, and so on. You also may be asked to contribute to anthologies, as was the case with one of my clients, Larry R. Decker, PhD, author of The Alchemy of Combat: Transforming Trauma in Combat Veterans. After publication of his book, an excerpt was included in an anthology called America on the Couch: Psychological Perspectives on American Politics and Culture, put together by psychologist Pythia Peay. Peay then interviewed Decker on the subject of his book in relation to her anthology in Psychology Today (see link below). So once your book is out there, the opportunities for getting the word out about it are many.

I read the WTCI interview with Susan Giurleo, PhD, the “Biz-Savvy Consultant,” where she says, “Content marketing allows a practitioner to position herself as an expert or the ‘go to’ person in her community for a specific treatment issue or condition.”  You can see how having a book out on the subject of your specialty would augment your being positioned as the “go to” person not only in your community, but even beyond the parameters of your geographical and relational community.  So your sphere of influence becomes larger.

(3) Writing a book to relieve or transform suffering: And of course–the prime motivation for becoming a therapist in the first place–you want to relieve suffering, bring in healing perspectives, give human beings a way to become happy and live authentic, meaningful lives. So writing a book is a gift to “clients” you haven’t met in person. It takes the essence of what you care about most as a therapist, and makes it available to anyone with a $20 bill or a library card. As Sally Palaian, a Michigan-based psychologist whose clients struggle with spending, put it in her 2010 interview with WTCI, “I wrote a book on the topic [Spent: Break the Buying Obsession and Discover Your True Worth] because many folks who called me for help couldn’t afford to pay for my services.  I decided to put all my ideas into a book that was practical and affordable.”

Does a therapist’s book have to be about his or her specialty? Can it be on something else?

No, it doesn’t; and of course, it can. A book can be a vehicle for healing in so many ways. For example, one of my clients, a retired psychotherapist named Rahima Warren, used the fantasy genre to embody her insights about the healing journey, rather than writing a cognitively framed nonfiction book. Her trilogy, The Star-Seer’s Prophecy, takes much of its material from her work with clients–the experience of abuse and its many levels of ramifications (personal, psychological, physical, and societal). But instead of talking about the problem and the process of its healing, she dramatized it. So her readers get to have an imaginative and visceral experience, as well as (more tangentially) an intellectual understanding of what causes abuse, its impact on the psyche and spirit, and what may be involved in healing such a past.

Therapists can write any kind of book they are called to write; and if they are connected to themselves in the act of writing and following their true hearts, the book will have a kind of authenticity of being that readers will pick up on. We tend to think, when we think of therapeutic books for the lay public, of self-help books. These can be potent and helpful; yet there are more options on the menu of possibilities–for instance, memoirs, fiction, narrative nonfiction, nonfiction books that have an intimate feel. Rahima Warren’s book, originally classed as “fantasy,” is now being labeled as “visionary fiction.” Sometimes you write within a given genre, and sometimes you end up creating a new one.

The point is to hold the balance between (a) being true to yourself–what’s calling you to express something in a book; and (b) writing in a way that really reaches others. That is, to do both: please yourself and make a healing contribution to your reader. If you don’t include yourself in the population that gets to be communicated with, as you write, you have less to offer a reader. Both parties need to be served well.

In your experience, what tends to motivate a therapist to write a book?

You know, despite the very real advantages to a therapist’s career of writing a book, I have never yet had a therapist-client who said, “I want to write a book in order to become rich and famous.” They have always said some version of, “I want to help people. I think I have discovered something about suffering and healing, by now. I want to lighten people’s load.” When that’s the motivation, all the other aspects eventually fall into place.

Career success certainly can come from having a book in the marketplace. It’s just that, as Dr. Rachel Lacy, a Georgia-based neuro-psychologist said in her WTCI interview about becoming known for her therapeutic work: “My main message I hope to convey is … it’s about what is best for the patient. I get … the most reward from seeing people get better or providing them with a valuable service.… I want to be known as that caring doctor who a person can connect with and knows what she is doing.” It’s like that. It’s really soul-work, though it also has a commercial value.

What draws you to this work?

I want to help heal the world, too. I want people to be able to live and thrive from their deepest selves, too. By bringing my book-writing experience and my deep-listening abilities into my work with therapists, I help therapists heal to the world on a larger (but still intimate) scale. And I get to love my work.

Find Naomi Rose, MA, on the web at bookwritingfortherapists.com. She is the author of Starting Your Book: A Guide to Navigating the Blank Page by Attending to What’s Inside You (Rose Press).

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NAOMI ROSE–RECOMMENDED BOOKS

About writing:

Naomi Rose: Starting Your Book: A Guide to Navigating the Blank Page by Attending to What’s Inside You. Focuses on the person doing the writing, and how paying attention to yourself in the writing process can free up your innate creative nature, and turn the task into one of profound self-discovery. (Publisher: Rose Press.) essentialwriting.com/startingyourbook.htm

Dennis Palumbo: Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within. Stories and advice from a psychologist who is also a screen- and mystery-writer. (Publisher: Wiley.)

Dorothea Brande: Becoming a Writer. Foreword by John Gardner. One of the best books on writing; a classic. (Publisher: Tarcher.)

Adair Lara: Naked, Drunk, and Writing: Shed Your Inhibitions and Craft a Compelling Memoir or Personal Essay. Funny and wise. (Publisher: Ten Speed Press.)

By therapists who have worked with Naomi Rose:

Larry R. Decker, Ph.D.: The Alchemy of Combat: Transforming Trauma in Combat Veterans: A guide for therapists, as well as family, friends, loved ones, colleagues, and others who care. “Through this powerful alchemy, veterans are able to achieve ‘post-traumatic growth’ by discovering what they most desperately yearn for: a renewed sense of purpose to equal what they felt in military service, and the gold of meaning concealed within the depths of their suffering.”–Pythia Peay. (Publisher: Suluk Press/Omega Publications.) omegapub.com

“On the Battlefield of the Psyche:” Interview with Dr. Larry Decker by Pythia Peay in Psychology Today online. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/america-the-couch/201505/the-battlefield-the-psyche

Doreen Hamilton, Ph.D.: Essential Speaking: The 7-Step Guide to Finding Your Real Voice. Psychologist Doreen Hamilton once suffered from severe stage fright. She set out to conquer her fear and discovered that being centered in our true selves is the key to relaxed and confident public speaking. Her book teaches how to speak from the essential self and enjoy the experience. essentialspeaking.com/doreens-book/

Rahima Warren, MFT (ret.): The Star-Seer’s Prophecy (a fantasy novel of the healing journey). Book One: Dark Innocence. Book Two: Fierce Blessings. Book Three (to come). “The Soul-Drinker banished the land’s rightful Goddess and has been draining the lifeblood from the people and the land itself for generations. The Star-Seer’s Prophecy foretells that now the long-awaited Liberator has appeared. But the only hope for salvation turns out to be one of the Soul-Drinker’s blindly obedient slaves. How can a slave who knows only pain, evil, and cruelty end his master’s horrific reign, and restore the Goddess to Her land?” starseersprophecy.com

Therapeutic (psychospiritual) memoirs:

Naomi Rose: MotherWealth: The Feminine Path to Money. (Publisher: Rose Press.) “In this deeply warm-hearted and beautifully written book, Naomi Rose takes us with her on a very personal and profound journey to discover a woman’s way into the realms of money. She helps us move past our shame and learn an instinctual way to open to allowing our wealth to come to us by giving up going out to get it.”–Barbara Wilder, author, Money Is Love: Reconnecting to the Sacred Origins of Money. “After reading MotherWealth I knew I had read a finely crafted literary work which had carefully plumbed the depth of poverty mind and what it is like to be born a woman in this time….Abandoning the myth of ‘Going Out to make money,” she courageously enters the path of awakening. She is a princess weaving straw into gold…. There are very few books being written today that come close to this kind of genius.”–Judith Avalon, author, Entering into the Heart of the Mother: Spiritual Practice Embodied in Daily Life. motherwealth.com

Linda Joy Meyers: Don’t Call Me Mother: A Daughter’s Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness. The story of three generations of daughters who, though determined to be different from their absent mothers, ultimately follow in their footsteps. Myers’ commitment ultimately allows her to confront her family legacy and come full circle with her daughter and grandchildren. (Publisher: She Writes Press.)

The post Book Writing for Therapists–An Interview with Naomi Rose, MA first appeared on Where the Client Is.

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Thanks to his unique combination of being both a practicing psychoanalyst with nearly 30 years of experience and also a trained professional photographer, Dr. Mark Gerald has been able to throw open a door therapists have traditionally preferred to keep locked. Over the last decade plus, Gerald, who did his psychoanalytical training at NYU’s postdoctoral program and studied photography at Pratt, has shot some 70 analysts in both his home base in Manhattan and around the world, all in the natural habitat known as their offices. He calls the project In the Shadow of Freud’s Couch.

The post In the Shadow of Freud’s Couch first appeared on Where the Client Is.

The post In the Shadow of Freud’s Couch appeared first on Where the Client Is.

Mental health patients do not have the ready access to office visit notes that, increasingly, other patients enjoy. But Mr. Baldwin is among about 700 patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who are participating in a novel experiment.

Within days of a session, they can read their therapists’ notes on their computers or smartphones. The hope is that this transparency will improve therapeutic trust and communication.

“We’re creating a revolution,” said Dr. Tom Delbanco…

The post Sharing Notes with Clients first appeared on Where the Client Is.

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