Obsession with Map Finding
We have an obsession with map finding. We think that if we search hard enough, we will correct the map that we have, and/or find the right map to rule them all. To see if this...
Tagged: professional development
Navigation
They is alot to learn from navigating in nature and the nature of navigation. Navigating in Nature I recently discovered the work of master outdoorsman, expert natural navigator, and global adventurer, Tristan Gooley.[1] Maybe...
To Understand? Easy. To Help Someone Feel Understood? Difficult.
Recently, someone said something to me that cast doubt on my ability as a therapist. This person said, “It’s not that hard to help someone feel understood. With good eye contact, attentive listening sprinkled...
Personal Learnings: Looking Back at 2019 in Order to Move Forward (Part II of II)
(Update 20 March 2020: Like other countries, Australia has now instituted a travel ban. COVID-19 has impacted so many families directly and indirectly. My thoughts and prayers go out to you). In the previous...
No More American Idol
American Idol and the likes of other singing contests have created a false impression that what it takes to be a musical star is to sing really well. The aim of reality television singing...
9 Distinctions of Burn Out
Despite our sophisticated understanding of various psychological mechanisms that lead to stress, anxiety, and depression in our clients, we have a tendency to conflate the signal for the fire. The alarm bells tell us that something’s burning. Unless it’s a false alarm, the sirens aren’t the problem.
The experience of burnout is symptomatic of a compounded problem. What we need to gain clarity of is what cumulated to the emotional exhaustion.
Here’s the Payoff
It all begins with an investment of faith. Organisations, supervisees, and practitioners whom I consult with know that, for the most part, they wouldn’t see immediate results. It’s a calculated gamble. I recently began...
What It Means to Be At The Frontier
When you are at the frontier, you feel alive. Being at the frontier, you experience an interplay between being awakened and a sense of surrender.
Instead of The “10,000” Hour Rule, Why Not The “60” Hour Rule?
By now, many of you would have heard about the 10,000-hour rule, made popular by Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outlier. This was largely based on K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues seminal work in 1993,...
How Do You Grow as a Clinical Supervisor?
[note: if you are reading this from your inbox, please view in your browser in order to watch the video below] We sometimes over-extrapolate the idea of “parallel process.”[1] Maybe we think that therapists often...
A System of Practice
Join our in-depth, cutting-edge learning platform, Reigniting Clinical Supervision (RCS). Registration closes this Friday, 3rd of May 2019. We begin on Monday, 6th of May 2019. If you are a subscriber to Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development,...
Which Way to Go?
Join our in-depth, cutting-edge learning platform, Reigniting Clinical Supervision (RCS). Registration closes on 3rd of May 2019. Course begins on 6th of May 2019.. If you are a subscriber to Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development, remember to...
Value What We Measure, or Measure What We Value?
Do we value what we measure, or do we measure what we value? This is not a play on words. It turns out that we often end up valuing what is easy to measure...
Our Personal Development is an Act of Professionalism
For the purposes of our professionally defined boundaries and distinctions, we separate the personal and the professional. When we say that someone is a professional, we not only imply someone who has the...
The Personal and The Professional
“The personal cannot be divorced from the professional,” says author Parker Palmer.[1] While we teach methods leading to competencies as a psychotherapist. In order to ignite the work within the walls of “professionalism”, we...
What Burns You Out?
In the previous post, I talked about therapists being pushed to the point of exhaustion. A few weeks ago I came across a recent study on burn out and job satisfaction affecting client outcomes.
The Work Before the Work
How do you prepare yourself to enter into the space of therapy? How do you make room not just for your client, but for you, to facilitate the entrance of emotional safety, the safety...
Get Tools or Get Good?
I have two obsessions. Therapy, and music.I’m a big music enthusiast and have been playing music in a band since the dawn of raging hormones.I must confess. All my adult life, I suffered from...
Blackbox Thinking For Psychotherapists (Part II of II)
“My characterization of a loser is someone who, after making a mistake, doesn’t introspect, doesn’t exploit it, feels embarrassed and defensive rather than enriched with a new piece of information, and tries to explain...
Blackbox Thinking For Psychotherapists (Part I of II)
With each plane crash, future flights become safer. With each therapy failure, we feel less safe with ourselves. We are cast into a sea of self-doubt. Our confidences plummet; our competence is called into...
The Future of Our Work Isn’t Robots. It’s Caring Humans.
The future of our work as a caring profession isn’t going to be subjugated or outsourced to artificial intelligence or driverless cars. Instead, our work is going to matter even more in the future...
10 Things to Avoid in Deliberate Practice
“Those who control their passion and make it work for them have presence. Those who fail to control their passion look like excited, nervous teenagers. Those who have no passion at all have no...
In Search for a Personalised Professional Development
The aim of Frontiers of Professional Development (FPD) became clear to me only a few months back, even though FPD has been around for a few years now. At the heart of FPD is...
Being Average is Compelling
Singer Billy Joel said, “I am, as I’ve said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.” Being a good enough[1] therapist is compelling. Besides, there are real upsides of being...
Figure Out Where You Are Before Where You Need to Go
Don’t study the end result. Study the first step. ~ Josh Shipp One of the most challenging first steps in your pathway of professional development isn’t figuring out where you need to go, but...
Everyone Needs a Coach
I was consulting with an agency just last week, and one of the therapists said this to me, “I want to get better. This is important… If I don’t know this about my outcomes,...
Does Your Mindset Really Matter?
Over the last few decades, much research has been published based on Carol Dweck’s idea of Mindset,as summarised in her book, Mindset: A New Psychology of Success, which mainly contrasts fixed mindset (“You have...
The Biggest Stumbling Block Towards Individualised Professional Development
The biggest barrier towards your professional development is not on how to get from zero to 10, but from zero to one.[1] Many therapists struggle with systematically measuring their outcomes. Because of this, they...
The Paradox of Focusing on the Therapist
Empathy has a hard time seeing a bigger picture. That is why fundraisers for charities do better when they tell a compelling story of an individual child with no access to clean water, rather...
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