ABSTRACT
M ary Pipher (2003) aptly observed that “being a psychotherapist is no Caribbean cruise with bonbons and bourbon” (p. 75). Day in and day out, as counselors and therapists, we are presented with countless variations on human suffering-it comes in all shapes, sizes, hues, and textures. We listen, we support, we challenge, and we hope for change. It’s hard work. But it’s rewarding too. Perhaps the intermittent reinforcement schedule of client progress keeps us coming back for more. Or maybe it’s something more intrinsically satisfying about bearing witness to clients’ courage and hard work. Irv Yalom (2002) touches on the meaningfulness of the work as reward itself:
Learning how to sit with others’ suffering is not easy work. Counselors grapple with a developmental process that is demanding in scope, ill-defined and ambiguous, and sometimes challenging to fundamentally held beliefs. Most people in the profession would probably say that, although the process of becoming a therapist is influenced by who they are as people, the converse is also true.
