A Letter To My Clients: What Therapy Means To Me
Dear current and future clients (or anyone else who happens to stumble across my page),
I’ve sat a long time thinking about how to describe therapy—to describe what it is that I do. I looked it up once; there are over 300 different approaches to counselling listed in the SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in Counselling and Psychotherapy. My approach to therapy is a big mix between a bunch of these.
Some of the tools I use are based on my own experience as a client in counseling. A lot of my learning came from working in a treatment program and various support roles in my community.
Overall, I have guiding principles and goals when working in collaboration with you. Without further ado, here are my top goals as your therapist:
To provide space for you to process and explore what is going on for you.
To listen for the golden threads: these are your passions, your values, and your goals—let them be your guiding light.
To listen to and witness your story. Every moment, even the mundane, makes you who you are.
To witness and combat your shame. Shame hides in secrets and in darkness. It is an act of rebellion to resist staying in the dark.
To see you and accept you for all that you are. I have no agenda for you other than for you to live a fulfilling life.
To remind you that there isn’t anything wrong with you, regardless of what others or your internal voice might say.
To do my part to deconstruct a society that isn’t built for everyone to thrive, and to remind you of this reality.
To encourage you to inch closer to your truth.
To amplify your voice.
To help you unlearn anything that no longer serves you.
To provide a safe space. I cannot guarantee that I am a safe person—that is for you to decide—but I will do everything in my power to cultivate safety in the ways I know how.
To be aware of my own biases and let them be known.
To continue to grow, learn, and educate myself in areas where I am not as strong.
To live in alignment with my truth.
To go into the darkness together so you don’t have to do it alone. It is terrain I am familiar with and comfortable in.
To be an anchor when we are in deep waters.
To listen deeply and to reflect what I’m hearing.
To humbly accept when I am wrong.
To normalize your experience.
To encourage you when finding your own sources of healing. I am not the end; I am not the answer.
To show up as the best version of myself I can be on that day.
To remind you that your perspectives are true, valid, and real—even if someone else thinks differently.
To provide space for all of your emotions to show up, even the ones that aren’t experienced as positive.
I hope that when we work together, you can feel this. This list will expand and shift over time, and I will continue to write to you (whoever you are) about what it is that I do. I will share the books that I read, the theories I stumble upon, and maybe you will find something in there that helps you.
Please, absorb what is helpful, and leave the rest behind.
With love,
Chantelle
