The Therapist's Journey From Meeting Your First Client to Finding Your Life’s Work

Psychotherapists just starting out in the field often have more questions than answers: "Am I really cut out for this job?" "Where do I want my career to be heading?" "How do I deal with my reactions to clients, or theirs to me?" In this empathic book, seasoned therapist and supervisor Robert Taibbi speaks directly to new clinicians about the world of work and the workplace, the arc of careers, and the keys to staying creative and energized. The book can be read sequentially or readers can dip into any of the 59 concise chapters on such topics as honing clinical skills, first aid when sessions go off the rails, supervision problems, transitioning into private practice, and how to be wise. Insightful reflection questions are woven throughout.

I. Starting Out 1. Why Do You Want to Be a Therapist? A Question & Answer in Two Parts 2. Reflections: My Becoming a Therapist 3. Why Doing Therapy is Hard Work 4. Transitions: From the Academic to the Agency World 5. Piling On: Common Clinical Challenges 6. Reflections: My First Year II. Your Work 7. Six Ways to Build Rapport 8. Be the Adult 9. What Cant You Do? 10. Coping with Anxiety: Approach, Avoid, or Bind? 11. The Relationship Triangle 12. Making the Most of Parallel Process 13. Shifting Focus: How Therapy is Different from Normal Conversation 14. Therapys Many Voices 15. Therapy as a Pragmatic Sport 16. Creative Formats: Thinking Outside the Box 17. Therapy as Performance 18. Handling Self-Disclosure 19. Sounds of Silence 20. Everything to Know About Resistance 21. Getting on Track and Staying There 22. Changing the Emotional Climate 23. The Challenge of Couple Therapy 24. Three Big Obstacles in Relationships 25. Children, Families, and Therapy 26. Working with Play 27. Time to Check In 28. First Aid for Those Awful Sessions 29. When a Client Is in Crisis 30. Working with Clients Who are Different From You 31. Handling Sexual Attraction: Its Gonna Happen 32. Those You Cant Help III. Your Workplace 33. So, You Dont Like Your Supervisor? 34. What Your Supervisors World Is Like 35. Time to Leave Your Therapist? 36. Clients Are not Vicarious Outlets 37. When You Dont Like Your Clients 38. Working in Challenging Environments 39. When You're Having a Hard Time 40. So, What Do You Do All Day? 41. Organization One: Taking Control of Your Day 42. Organization Two: Setting Priorities IV. Your Career 43. Your Work: A Job, a Career, a Calling 44. One Year Out: Moving from Content to Process 45. Moving On: Coming into Your Power 46. A Voice of Your Own 47. How to Use Trainings 48. When You Outgrow Your Job 49. Transitions: Clinician to Supervisor 50. Going Private 51. Reflections: Looking Back at a Career V. You 52. Are You a Builder or a Discoverer? 53. Creating a Balanced Life 54. Getting Closure: Writing to Heal Old Wounds 55. Reflections: My Big Day in Court 56. Run Toward What You Fear 57. Your Life as a Movie 58. Whats Your Relationship with Your Life? 59. How to Be Wise References Index

Robert Taibbi, LCSW, is an experienced clinician, supervisor, and clinical director who has been practicing almost 50 years. He is the author of numerous books, including The Therapist's Journey, Doing Family Therapy, Fourth Edition, and Doing Couple Therapy, Second Edition, as well as over 300 magazine and journal articles, and writes a column titled Fixing Families for Psychology Today online. Mr. Taibbi provides training both nationally and internationally in couple therapy, family therapy, brief therapy, and clinical supervision. He has a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia.