Therapy is often talked about as a space where clients come with concerns to work on and find their ways through it. It is often discussed how much power does the space hold with respect to shifts it can bring in a client’s life. What catches less attention is its ability to shape the therapist’s life as well. Let’s look closely at that today. 

Therapy is also a space where therapists sit with their own life experiences, thoughts, opinions and values. Ethics clearly state how these things should not be interfering in the therapy space. Therapists ensure that it doesn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean they are not carrying these things. What doesn’t get expressed, stays with them, in their thoughts, feelings, emotions and ways of looking at the world. Absence of such spaces lead to increase in self-doubt and imposter syndrome and can even begin to impact client’s progress. Sessions are replayed in the head and emotions find no place to settle. It can also gradually lead to self-criticism and isolation. Hence, these things also need a space of their own. A space where the therapists provide space to themselves. This space can be held by talking about it, discussing it, or even just by acknowledging its existence. As therapists, it is also important to reflect on sessions and how it shapes the client’s as well as the therapist’s own world. In the therapy world, these spaces are provided in the form of Supervision, Reflection circles, Peer-support groups, Trainings, Therapy Sessions, etc. All of these spaces create room for therapists to share their feelings, seek validation, reflect on interventions and other numerous factors which shape the therapy space. That is why having these spaces is a necessity. 

Supervision offers a space to share cases, discuss apprehensions and to think and revisit the things that happened in the session for the client as well as for the therapist. Therapists gain clarity not only because they get answers but also because they are made to sit with the questions for longer. Reflection circles and Peer support offer a different kind of holding. It helps you realise you are not alone. Hearing fellow therapists relate to the challenges that you are facing offers another level of comfort. These spaces help in building another level of wisdom, one which doesn’t come from textbooks, but from lived shared experiences. Trainings, also hold a different meaning if we look at it from this lens. They are not just about adding different skills and interventions to your already existing collection, but also about integrating theory with practice, and about creating reflections and insights for therapists as well. It is essential to have learning spaces where learning happens alongside inner awareness. It then creates potential to transform not only the therapist’s professional but also their personal self. 

All of these spaces, in their own ways, ensure that the therapist continues to grow consciously. That the shaping which inevitably happens through this work does not remain accidental or unexamined. That while we hold space for others, we too are held somewhere. 

Because as much as therapy changes clients, it also changes the therapists. And how we choose to process that change determines the kind of therapist we grow into – reflective, present and deeply human.