5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Therapist / Counsellor (Therapist Private Practice Tips)

[@unusualpond]

Excellent discussion, and I really appreciate your perspective. Thank you.

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for saying, always good to hear

[@AngelikaDV]

Thank you John-Paul, there is so much to take in here! I will be re-listening :) Question: Do you feel that you have become mentally/emotionally stronger (or, contrarily, more sensitive) after years of counselling others? I'm quite an empathic person, and as much as I want to help other people, I fear I may just start absorbing too much of "them". Will Counselling training teach me how to circumvent that?

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

Hi there, thanks for your message and I’m glad you got something from the video, that’s good to hear. I think it’s a great question about being emotionally stronger and/or sensitive. I would say I’ve become both more sensitive to my emotional experience and also better able to regulate it and take the messages from it where necessary. So I guess you might say it’s both ‘stronger’ and more sensitive : ) As for empathy and absorbing too much of another, certainly we need to know where we end and where someone else begins and that their story is not ours, even though we can empathise and connect with them. I do think that develops over time. Thanks again for your thoughtful question : )

[@richardcampbell9283]

Yes I’d love to talk to you on your channel. Look forward to hearing from you.

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

Great, will message.

[@jeevabeckett378]

Great discussion thank you, especially as I am at the start of my counselling training journey. Many thanks - great points raised!

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

You're so welcome and thanks so much for saying, I really appreciate it. Hope the training journey is going well! I’ll be speaking to another trainee therapist in the next month or so on the channel so that may be of interest as well

[@richardcampbell9283]

Great video, John- Paul. I was particularly intersted in the bit towards the end about dealing with vicarious trauma. It's great to hear about that . Really useful video for me.

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

Thanks Richard, I really appreciate your comments and support as ever. Yes, the trauma concern is interesting. I think what we’re doing all the time is healing for trauma and that includes anything we experience through the client. By the way, it’s great to see your blog, really well done on that. I’d still love to have a chat with you on this channel and will message you over the next couple of days if you’d still like to do it.

[@bellabee741]

If I'm a young teen, what are some tips or advice you would give me as to, starting out and, what I show be worried about?

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

Hi there, thanks for your question. Can I ask, do you mean in terms of becoming a therapist or starting out in life generally? I just want to make sure I answer your question properly

[@bellabee741]

@@JohnPaulDaviesTTP Yup!

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

@@bellabee741 hi there, thanks for the reply, but I’m not sure you answered my question? As I say, just want to make sure I’m answering the right thing

[@bellabee741]

@@JohnPaulDaviesTTP ph sorry! 😭 I mean like in general!

[@JohnPaulDaviesTTP]

@@bellabee741 sure, thanks for clarifying, I think one of the most key things to life is to know who you are and have a good sense of your worth and value, including the things that are great about you and also the things that it might be helpful to work on. Generally, I also like the idea that success in life is a regulated nervous system, so always looking at how we can keep ourselves in a balanced place so far as possible with the complicated lives we all lead. I also think making sure we have good connected relationships with other people we can trust is also vital to good mental and physical health. Making sure we surround ourselves with ‘warm’ people is also I think a good idea