ABSTRACT

Why do you practice psychotherapy? In this exciting volume, some of the field’s leading therapists tell true stories which evoke the pleasures, joys, and satisfactions that inspire passion for therapeutic work. Rather than focusing on the stresses and strains of being a clinician, these dramatic, poignant, wise, sometimes humorous and always soulful stories will help you gain (or regain) hope and excitement, and ultimately inspire a recommitment to a profession that, at its heart and soul, is about helping people.

chapter 1|16 pages

The Joy of Therapy

Editor's Invitation and Preview

chapter 4|10 pages

Not Quitting My Day Job

How Being a Therapist Heals Me

chapter 5|4 pages

Turning the Mind into an Ally

chapter 6|8 pages

Duende

Evocation, Quest, and Soul

chapter 8|8 pages

It Warms My Heart

chapter 11|9 pages

Life is with People

chapter 12|19 pages

On Being Black in White Places

A Therapist's Journey from Margin to Center

chapter 13|7 pages

Up the Hurry Stairs

chapter 14|4 pages

Road Trip1

chapter 15|7 pages

Blue on Blue

A Love Story

chapter 16|12 pages

Exhilarating Couple Therapy

Singing to My Soul—Holding Steady to My Science—Filling Up My Heart

chapter 17|5 pages

The Bodhisattva

Tending the World 1

chapter 18|12 pages

Herman's Wager1

chapter 20|14 pages

The Journey of a Lifetime

Or, the Adventures of Being a Therapist

chapter 21|11 pages

At My Mother's Kitchen Table

Who Are We, But the Stories We Tell?

chapter 22|8 pages

The Poetics of Practice

Becoming “Well Versed” in Loss and Grief

chapter 24|15 pages

The Tao of a Woman

chapter 25|8 pages

Creating Paths with Heart

chapter 26|11 pages

Get Off Your High Horse

Reflections of a Problem Solver in Palo Alto

chapter 27|12 pages

Finding Humanity in Darkness

chapter 28|13 pages

In Search of the Spirit

A Therapist's Journey

chapter 30|17 pages

Themes and Lessons

The Invitation Revisited