ABSTRACT
Therapists have been described as “wounded healers.” This characterization is apropos because while we try to help others heal, we ourselves can be facing serious life challenges, as described in the case scenario. Hillary will likely need to rely on additional self-care and supervision resources to navigate this stressful period of her life so that she can continue providing a high-quality service to her clients. She may need to seek therapy herself, call on family members to help support the care of her daughter, talk to financial advisors regarding the financial stability of her private practice, and adjust her work hours to more effectively complete paperwork and serve clients. She may also need to seek supervision to address and understand how her personal experiences may affect her work with clients. Monitoring signs of compassion fatigue and burnout is prudentobserving how these feelings may be impacting the quality of her clinical
work. Hillary can overcome these challenges and provide quality clinical services, but she may need to be deliberate about focusing on issues surrounding the self of the therapist to continue serving clients in an ethical manner. Perhaps most germane to maintaining a high quality of clinical services and ethical behavior is to be vigilantly aware of all the potential self of the therapist issues that may arise that make us susceptible to poor clinical decisions and behaviors.
