Therapy for Therapists
Online therapy based in Aptos and supporting therapists across California through burnout recovery, secondary trauma, stress and overwhelm, grief and loss, and deep inner work.
The same empathy that allows you to show up deeply for your clients can also leave you more affected by their stories. You don’t have to lose what makes you a great therapist to make this sustainable.
You’re showing up for your clients every day doing meaningful work and holding space for them. You provide them with a safe, calm place to land.
Internally, it can feel like a different story:
You’re feeling the tension of burnout, overwhelm, or emotional fatigue from systems that don’t work for you
You have started to wonder if this job is really going to be sustainable for you long term and what might need to change
Your clients’ grief, trauma, and pain stay with you even after the session is over
You find yourself thinking about clients after work, replaying moments or imagining yourself in their situation
It’s gotten harder to fully turn off at the end of the day, and you may find yourself numbing out instead of being present in your life
You hear things most people don’t hear. And it’s precisely because you’re a caring, empathetic person that it’s hard to just let it go.
It’s not easy to hold space for others and then have nowhere to put it down. Therapy can feel isolating, especially if you’re in private practice.
Because of the nature of your work, you can’t talk about these things with friends or family. Even if you could, the intensity of what you hear might be too much for them, not the kinds of topics you could just bring up over dinner.
So when they ask “How was your day?” you have to filter out the details, soften the harsh reality, and keep a lot to yourself.
Those thoughts and feelings can build up over time, leaving you feeling anxious or preoccupied, struggling to relax when you do get down time, carrying other people’s emotions, and feeling disconnected from the people who are trying to support you.
It makes sense that you’d need an outlet to process what’s coming up in your work. You’re used to being the helper and the professional in the room. You need a therapy space that gives you the same level of care in return.
A therapy space that helps you approach your work differently without losing your empathy and compassion for your clients.
It’s not that the job changes. You still sit with people in pain, hear hard stories, and care deeply about your clients.
What changes is your relationship to the work. You will:
Be able to be fully present with each client and also let their stories stay in the room when the session ends
Develop internal boundaries that help you stay grounded and centered rather than absorbing what your clients are going through
Recognize the pull to over-identify with clients, fix things for them, or carry their pain like it’s your own
Begin to recognize and work with internal dynamics like transference and countertransference so you’re not caught off guard by them
Address the roots of your burnout which might mean changing who you work with, leaving a job that’s not supportive, or leaving systems that don’t serve you
Build up trusted professional relationships where you can consult, process difficult cases, and talk through things ethically so you’re not isolated
Process your own trauma, anxiety, grief, and emotional responses so they feel less activated in the room
You’re still empathetic and attuned, but you’re no longer carrying everything on your own.
This is a place where you don’t have to be the therapist. You get to show up as a person with your own reactions, questions, and experiences, and you can trust that you’ll be met with the same level of care you offer your clients.
My approach respects the fact that you already have insight, training, and clinical skill. We’re not starting from scratch, we’re building on what you already know while making space for the experiential work of integrating your understanding into your life.
In our work together, we might:
Explore the narratives you hold about yourself, your work, and what it means to be a good therapist
Incorporate somatic work to help you process what your body is holding without intellectualizing or explaining away your experience in clinical language
Focus on the relational dynamics that show up in your work and your life including patterns of responsibility, empathy, and self-boudnaries
Integrate EMDR or other trauma methods when they’re helpful for processing your own trauma history, reducing reactivity, and changing your relationship to your experiences
Therapy for therapists is a uniquely collaborative process where you’re supported in deepening your self-awareness, processing through emotions and memories, and developing a way of working that feels more sustainable for you and for your clients.
Here’s what that can look like in your day to day work and life:
Feel clear and grounded after sessions
Respond with intention to internal activation
Navigate complex dynamics with confidence
Hold boundaries without shutting down your empathy
Separate from work at the end of the day and be present in your life
Make decisions about your work from a place of clarity, not burnout