You can do this hard thing

Carrie Newcomer often articulates more clearly than I can. Newcomer attributes this quote of “you can do this hard thing” to an interview with Barbara Kingsolver about Montessori education.

I so often want to tell my clients, yes, you CAN do this hard thing. You are doing this hard thing by coming to therapy and surviving whatever it is/was that happened or is happening to you that brought you to my office. Whether it’s learning to add big numbers, to post-abuse growth and survival, transitions, grief…oh, folks, you are doing hard things and you can do hard things.

Letters to a Young(er) Therapist

Two years ago today, I started my graduate internship as a marriage and family therapist. One year ago, when that internship terminated, my mentor Christi gave me this book with a note of encouragement as I continued my own process as a new therapist. Christi predicted that I would have many of my own stories, such as those Pipher tells, before much longer. She was right, and I wouldn’t trade my experiences or this work for anything.  Continue reading “Letters to a Young(er) Therapist”