Clinician Development Collective

Navigating the waters of mental health as therapists demands a deep understanding of oneself, the courage to face the unknown, and an unwavering commitment to growth—both personal and professional.

It goes much further than academics and clinical skills.

It takes certain characteristics and values within ourselves to truly be effective as a therapist.

We all must dig down deep to engage these values and apply them to our work each day.

If we let it, this understanding, courage, and commitment will guide us in navigating our paths towards impact, fulfillment, and growth.

What values have helped guide you in your own clinical journey? Share your top three with us in the comments below!

Take a look at our latest blog post over at www.cliniciandevelopmentcollective.com for more info, insight, and support!

What if I can't help anyone?

What if they don't like my suggestions or methods of therapy?

What if they think I'm a bad therapist?

What if? What if? What if?

No matter how much training or preparing we do in advance, nothing can truly prepare us for the real deal.

We can't know how our clients will react to us.

We can't know how to help someone right from the jump.

We can't know what something will really be like before we experience it.

But the more we practice, the more we work with our clients, the more we use various methods of therapy, the more comfortable we will become and the less we will wrestle with our feelings of inadequacy.

Everyone wrestles with feeling like they don't have what it takes, so remember that you're not alone.

Keep going, keep trying, keep moving forward even when you fail or make a mistake.

That's the only way to grow as a clinician and become a successful therapist!

Share with a fellow therapist who could use the encouragement 🤗

Need an encouragement boost or want to further develop your professional skills and strengths? Check out our blog at the link below to peruse a variety of topics on growing and becoming more effective as a therapist! https://cliniciandevelopmentcollective.com/blog/

How do you recover after dealing with a Therapy Interfering Behavior?

It's not easy to get things back on track once they've gone off the rails, but it is possible.

The most important thing is to openly communicate with your client and discuss the issues that are causing the interference.

If we don't address the issues head-on, then we cannot hope to repair the client-therapist relationship and move forward.

Creating an open and safe environment to discuss the behavioral issues that are cropping up will facilitate clarity for both you and the client, and will either mitigate the issues moving forward or will make it clear that the relationship is not working.

Being honest is key!

What are your top tips for redirecting a session after it goes off the rails? Share them with us in the comments below!

Want helpful tips, resources, and support sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for the Clinician Development Collective weekly newsletter over at www.cliniciandevelopmentcollective.com!

Just as a patient can exhibit difficult behavior that disrupts treatment, therapists can also exhibit problematic patterns that interfere in the therapeutic process.

Common therapist TIBs (or Therapy Interfering Behaviors) include:

- Arriving late or canceling appointments frequently
- Failing to return patient phone calls in a timely manner
- Making critical or judgmental statements towards the patient
- Disclosing too much personal information
- Seeming distracted, inattentive, or bored during sessions
- Responding defensively when patients give feedback about the therapy

These behaviors damage the therapist-client relationship and hinder the patient's progress.

Failing to reflect on your own behavior as a therapist and recognizing instances where these tendencies may be popping up for you will only create bigger problems that will ultimately end the therapist-client relationship, and can even damage your career.

We must be proactive in reflecting on our own tendencies, actions, and missteps to avoid these kinds of situations and to help our patients effectively.

Have you found yourself falling into these behavioral patterns at times? Let's support each other and share our own experiences with TIBs in the comments!

Check our latest blog post at www.cliniciandevelopmentcollective.com to learn more about Therapy Interfering Behaviors and how to handle them!