The clinical depth you've been looking for

It wasn't because of the clients. The clients are why I got into this work. It was everything else. The learning curve felt impossible. I was isolated. What I learned in school and what I was actually facing in the room were two completely different things.

Here's what happens when you finish your master's program: you're suddenly doing some of the most complex relational work a human being can do, and your main source of support is one hour of supervision a week. You've got sixty minutes to talk through the case that kept you up last night, the client who shut down and you have no idea why, and the moment you froze because you genuinely didn't know what to say.

And supervision is only as good as a few things: your supervisor's own training, your willingness to actually be honest about what's going on, and your ability to remember what happened in session. That last one is harder than people think.

I made it through. Barely. Now I'm on the other side as a licensed therapist and clinical supervisor, and I see the same thing with every new therapist who walks in. They're scared. They're overwhelmed. They've got way more questions than they have time to ask.

Steady is the tool I wish I'd had. I'm not trying to take the human out of therapy. I'm trying to help the human be better at it. Help them feel steadier in their skills. Steadier on their path to getting licensed. Steadier in how they show up for the people sitting across from them.