Therapy for therapists.
A safe space to open up, so you can go further with your own clients.
You’re the person others go to for their problems, and yet, who’s there to support you?
You’re passionate about helping others and love that you get to make a living making a difference in people’s lives. And yet the trouble with having your role, is that the threshold to reach out for support yourself may be higher. Because shouldn’t you know what to do? Shouldn’t you have the techniques to support yourself? Shouldn’t you be able to resolve any difficulties you feel or think by yourself, as a helping professional? Haven’t you, after all, read all the books? Studied for this for years?
The more you find yourself stuck in these loops, the more alone and dissatisfied you may feel. Other therapists/ coaches/psychologists seem to have it easier - or do they? After ongoing rumination and cognitive dissonance between your professional image and your inner experience, you find yourself wondering: are you a good (enough) therapist, after all?
What if you being here isn’t a problem - but an invitation to go deeper in your practice?
Not feeling good enough
Imposter syndrome as a therapist is real. While training made it seem easy, in sessions you’re crippled by doubt whether you can actually make a difference.
Maybe you’re:
Overwhelmed by techniques
When your clients suffer, all you want to do is reduce their pain and help them - but using what technique? And what if the interventions don’t work?
Struggling personally
Something in your own life is falling apart and the gap between your professional regulated self and your private hurting self is becoming harder to manage.
Feeling (too) responsible
You continue to ruminate over your clients’ struggles after hours. The boundaries between what’s theirs to carry and yours to resolve are less clear.
All of us doing this work have our own journeys of personal healing and professional learning blending together. I’ve experienced my fair share of all of the above challenges (think: going through a divorce in the busiest year of my private practice, or bringing home the emotional pain between a couple and feeling it in my body afterwards). And what I've learned from doing this work for 10 years ongoing, is that what has helped me grow the most each time as a professional - is reflecting and processing in my own therapy.
To deepen our skills as a healer, we need to embrace our own humanity & vulnerability.
Know that seeking out therapy or coaching as a helping professional isn’t a problem or a sign of your inability to have mastered these skills. I believe that, on the contrary, the best therapists / coaches / psychologists have personally struggled with the more painful sides of being human and learned more from it. How else, after all, can we understand what it’s like for our clients - if we’re unwilling to sit on the other side of the room ourselves? And how can we truly offer a healing balm for another’s suffering - if we haven’t been in the deeply vulnerable position of sharing our own with a professional?
What you can expect from a 1:1 session with me is a non-judgemental space to open up and explore those thoughts and feelings you can’t share with your partner (due to your clients’ privacy) or colleagues (because what would they think?). What I bring to our session is, of course, my various trainings and years of experience - but most importantly, my intuition and ability to create a safe connection with you. Together, we’ll reflect on what’s going on in your own life, what’s feeling difficult in your client work, or how you’d like to show up in a more authentic and empowered way in the therapy room. You'll leave feeling more integrated - as a human, and a helping professional.
Here's how:
Simply book a first session through my online calendar. During our 1-hr session, you tell me what's going on and we start our work. It's that simple and there's no on-going commitment. The fee for this is €110 (scroll down for sliding scale fee options). We meet at my lovely office in Amsterdam or over Zoom. There are no strings attached. We do our work - and you go back to your life and see how it affects you.
“The more fearless we become in the exploration of our own inner worlds, the greater our self-knowledge and ability to help our clients. ”
- Louis Cozolino, “Making of a Therapist”
FAQ:
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Go with your gut! If there’s one thing I’ve learned from working with my own therapists, and knowing what clients I do the best work with - it’s that a personal click is what matters most.
What kind of presence are you looking for / guidance are you hoping to gain?
You can read more about my style, training and life experiences here, or simply book a brief (free) intro-call to see if you feel a click here.
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Our sessions will give you a safe space to process those things you feel uncomfortable sharing in peer reflection with other coaches / therapists / psychologists, or things you are prevented from sharing with family and friends to protect your client’s privacy.
In my experience, having this safe space helps you:
soften in your client work,
trust the value of your work in sessions with clients,
more easily hold space for & be with a client’s suffering, without needing to “make it your own”, feel pressured to fix it, or feel burdened by it,
continue to do client work when you’re experiencing stressful life events yourself,
untangle, understand the cause of and work through any difficult feelings you may experience in sessions with particular clients (counter-transference).
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Good question! I’m not sure - and this is probably something you should check with the organisation you need to report any supervision with - to see what criteria they have. In my understanding traditional ‘supervision’ arrangements tend to be quite protocolised and focused on mastering a particular intervention. As our sessions won’t follow a strict structure, nor will they be focused on excelling in a particular technique, this may not be the case.
Instead, I’d like you to see our sessions as that safe place to untangle your own pain points (counter transference, imposter syndrome, your own life challenges), so that you can learn to trust your own body / intuition / personal style in doing this work.
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Payment happens automatically at the end of the booking process through my online calendar. Payment is possible via iDeal, bank transfer, creditcard and more.
Alternatively, if I manually book you in, I will send you an invoice the day of your session. Please transfer this in advance or within a few days of our session. Let me know if you have any difficulties.
If you are unable to make it to our session, please let me know up to 24 hours in advance. For cancellations within 24 hours I ask for a €25 cancellation fee to help cover my running costs, in case I can't find someone else to replace your timeslot.
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Unfortunately not.
If you'd like to work with me but can't afford my full fee, please note that I offer some sliding-scale (reduced) fee spots. See below to find out how to apply.
You may, however, be able to deduct our sessions as a professional expense. Please check with your accountant or tax advisor to be sure.
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I offer a few sliding-scale (reduced) fee spots at a time. I offer a €50 fee for students with limited income, and a €85 fee for (young) professionals with a limited income. These are valid for 60-minute session, in person or online. To apply for a sliding scale fee, please e-mail me with the following information:
What's your current household financial situation like?
What regular fee would you like to apply for?
How long are you requesting this reduced fee for? (at the end of this period - we'll re-evaluate).
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Absolutely. I think that any of us working with clients in a 1-on-1 capacity focused on healing or personal growth in some way need to do this personal work at some point, in order to “clean our windshield” towards our clients / in sessions.
“Slow down, breathe & notice…”
Book a session
Visit my online calendar to find a time that works for you.