Every therapist remembers their first client. 

Many look back and cringe at what a bad job they think they did. But for me, I look back and remember the magic I felt in the room with my very first client. 

Which isn’t to say I’ve never done a bad job with clients. I have, just like we all have.

But after ten years of being a therapist, when the work I do has become part of the mundane fabric of my day, I still remember so clearly the magic of being so in it with my first client.

So today, I’m reflecting on ten years of being in this field. 

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why I believe that empathy is crucial to our relationships with our clients
• How making a new therapy with every client is about more than what tools we use
• Learning to have faith in the emergent process of doing therapy while confronting the unfixable
• The realities of balancing the amount of relational energy I have between clients and loved ones

Learn more about Riva Stoudt:

• Into the Woods Counseling
• Instagram

Resources:

• Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut
• Season 2 Ep 9: Immediacy in Therapy: Breaking the Fourth Wall with Dr. K Hixson
• Standing by Words, Wendell Berry