THERAPISTS
& HEALERS
Whether you are a therapist, another healing professional, a spiritual guide such as a pastor, a medical professional, or someone who often acts as a healer or caregiver in your personal relationships, you have unique challenges to navigate. We often enter into such healing roles out of a deep compassion for humanity and the desire to be a positive force in a world that has so much darkness; however, if we don’t consistently engage in our own healing and self-awareness surrounding how we balance, we run the risk of depleting ourselves (leading to burn out, compassion fatigue, self-betrayal) and ultimately not being effective in how we care for others. Healers desperately need to be able to connect with and sustain their own sense of peace, rejuvenation, and self-love because even the most fulfilling work itself can be heavy and depleting.
Those of us who live as healers are also more likely to have arrived here out of our own struggles. Perhaps you are a survivor of trauma, as so many therapists and healers are. Perhaps you acted as a caregiver in your own family from a very young age due to adults being unable to due to substance use, mental health issues, or other complications. Perhaps you had your own dark season, which ultimately led to clarity and growth, and you want to give back to others as a result. Perhaps you have always been comfortable living in the grey and have had people struggling naturally gravitate toward you due to your non-judgmental and understanding nature.
Regardless, we come into our roles as healers with stuff. We bring our whole selves into it — our pasts, how we’ve made sense of our own healing, our relationships to others, our relationships to ourselves, our boundaries, our ways of coping with pain. It can be a challenge to find balance in how to care for others, how to hold pain, and how to live fully. This looks different in different seasons and requires flexibility and sensitivity to needed shifts.
Benefits of Therapy for HEALERS
Some benefits of individual therapy for healers include:
Giving yourself the love and compassion you give to others by providing yourself with consistent space to focus on YOU and your emotional health.
Building insight about specific areas of pain or heaviness that arise for you in your work and finding ways to release it.
Exploring how you navigate your relationships as a healer and increasing healthy boundaries and approaches so your work can be as sustainable and effective as possible.
Exploring how to maintain hope in a world that has so much darkness, heaviness, and oppressive systems; finding meaning in what you are capable of doing while also holding the awareness of the reality.
Finding ways to consistently connect with your own sense of meaning, purpose, peace, and joy, especially when you feel discouraged, burdened, or insecure.
Increasing your own self-compassion and exploring any discomfort with receiving help from others.
Exploring your identity as a healer and distinguishing what gives you strength and meaning while also identifying anything that does not serve you; balancing your healing identity with other aspects of your identity.
Next, read about Therapy for Depression in Orange County.