Episode 10: Podcast Transcript
Podcast Intro
Curtis: Thanks for clicking on Conversations with Crosswinds Counseling. I’m Curtis Smith, and I invite you to subscribe to our podcast and to like and share it as well. I hope you enjoy today’s episode.
Podcast 10: What To Expect In Therapy
Curtis: Hi everyone, and welcome to Conversations with Crosswinds counseling, I’m your host Curtis Smith. Today joined by MaryClare Donaldson. She is one of the newest therapists at Crosswinds Counseling. We’re in Dayton, Ohio where MaryClare has been a therapist for the last couple of months. MaryClare, thank you for joining us.
MaryClare: Hey, you’re welcome
Curtis: Let’s talk about therapy. It’s kind of a scary word. It can be scary I think to someone who has never been in therapy – doesn’t know exactly what they’re getting into. Give us kind of an overview. What is therapy?
MaryClare: Therapy is when you are having a problem and you can’t seem to solve it on your own. And you feel like you need somebody to help you. And you partner with a therapist, and you work on what the issues are and set goals. And then you achieve them.
Curtis: That doesn’t sound very scary at all.
MaryClare: No.
Curtis: What is it that you enjoy about being on the therapist side of therapy? Why do you like doing this work?
MaryClare: I have been a helper person my entire life. I’m the oldest in my family and I was expected to help with the younger kids, and I loved it. And friends, when I was in high school used to come to me with their problems for me to help solve them. So, it’s kind of a natural path for me.
Curtis: And that seems like a natural thing for a therapist to want to be a helper, but there’s a lot more to actually being a therapist. What are the qualifications that you have and that a therapist should have when someone is looking for a therapist? What should they be keeping an eye out?
MaryClare: You need, it’s best to look for someone who has a master’s degree in a counseling related field. There’s a couple of them – social work and counseling, the actual counseling field. And they need to be licensed in the state in which you are attending counseling.
Curtis: Right. Let’s talk about actually getting into therapy. For someone who is ready to take that step, who thinks they have some things that they want to discuss with the therapist. What should they know about therapy? We talked about the overview of what it is, but what should they know as they prepare to come into these conversations with the therapist?
MaryClare: It’d be helpful if they understood that they’re going to need to talk about the problem. Sometimes that’s difficult. So, they would form a therapeutic type relationship with the therapist, and they need to be able to trust the person. In order to gain trust a therapist is empathetic and really listens to what the person is saying and make sure that they are understanding completely what it is being said.
Curtis: How do you do that quickly because that seems to be one of the trickier things for a therapist, just from an outside perspective. To build trust is one thing, but to do it quickly – to make someone comfortable enough to trust you right off the bat so that you can get into the work, how do you go about that? and get it done in a in a quick fashion?
MaryClare: I think it’s a lot about making sure that the client feels you understand them. So, if you have an understanding of what the client’s going through and experiencing, then they can relate better to you as opposed to someone who just doesn’t get it. So, a therapist has lots of training and experiences and work with other clients, that just further their work working with new clients.
Curtis: And if I’m thinking about therapy, if I’m looking at Crosswind Counseling, I know there are different types of therapy. What should I be looking for? What might you utilize to help somebody? I suppose it depends largely on what their issue is that brought them to counseling. What are some of the different types of therapy that they maybe should have on their radar or that you might utilize.
MaryClare: There’s something called Motivational Interviewing. There is the Gottman Theory for couples. Each one of the counselors on the website has a list of topics they’re comfortable discussing and have experience in, so that would be a good thing to look at the list. Each one of us also has a summation of what we feel about counselors and it’s really important that they can relate to the person on the list that they’re picking from. So, if you would read mine and feel like you understood and felt a connection then you would pick me. If you didn’t feel a connection, you would look to the next person.
Curtis: Have you had times where it’s just not a good fit? You get a session or two into the experience and there’s either a mutual agreement, or you might say, ‘I’m not sure I’m the best fit for you, someone else might be.’ Does that happen frequently? And if so is that something people should be scared of, or just know that’s part of the normal process?
MaryClare: It is part of the normal process. I’ve never experienced it though. If I were to experience it on my end, then I would let the client know and make a recommendation to another therapist. I tend to be able to relate to most people. If the client is not feeling it at all, then they need to ask for a referral. The therapist is not going to get upset if they ask to see somebody else. Not everybody is going to be a good fit.
Curtis: Let’s talk about something that we’ve talked about before on these podcasts. It’s a common topic in this world, which is the stigma. A lot of people don’t want to get counseling. Don’t want to see a therapist because there is this stigma they think, ‘oh something’s wrong with me’ or ‘someone will find out’ or however the stigma plays out, are you seeing the stigma go away at all, or at least is it going down? And how do you help people get over that stigma even once they’ve taken the bold step of coming in.
MaryClare: I do think people more and more people are seeking therapy. I see there if you come to therapy, I see that as a positive strength. Because it can be difficult to do. It can be difficult to share your life and if you’re willing to ask for help, then that means you want to get better as opposed to just staying where you are, or things getting worse. Most therapists – I can’t speak for everybody because I would want to say all, but most therapists will see a person seeking therapy as a positive trait about that person.
Curtis: Yeah, and then in in the room have you ever had somebody bring it up and say, ‘Gosh I was nervous about this I. I didn’t know about this. I’m still a little concerned that my best friend or my husband or my wife might find out.’ And how do you help them work through the stigma even once they’ve taken that step.
MaryClare: Yes, I think that happens a lot. Every person who does therapy is required to maintain confidentiality through HIPAA laws, and it’s a huge fine if you break it. It’s in our code of ethics – each counseling type degree, and you just don’t do it.
Curtis: Well, MaryClare thank you. I think you’ve helped to make it a little less scary. It shouldn’t be scary, but I know that sometimes it is and it is just a conversation with someone who’s trying to help you and who’s skilled at helping. So, MaryClare Donaldson, one of the great counselors here at Crosswinds Counseling. Thank you for being with us on Conversations with Crosswinds Counseling. And thank you for joining us [audience] we’ll see you next time here on the podcast. Thank you.
Podcast Outro
Curtis: Thanks for watching Conversations with Crosswinds Counseling today. I hope it was helpful for you. Don’t forget to subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode like and share it as well. We appreciate that and hope you have a great day.