Working with a Therapist-in-Training ... Bad Idea??

[RainbowSearchParty]

Hi all. Wondering about this ... and any experiences you all might have.

I'm in a bit of a tricky financial situation, so my options for therapy are limited. There is a local clinic that does a sliding scale, so I applied and a "therapist" contacted me to set up an initial meeting. But, this is a therapist in training, supervised, but still in training. At the master's level, so early, early in their career. And as much as I want therapy, I think there are some red flags and I guess I'm looking for reassurance that I'm not crazy to turn this down.

First, this person is young. They are also inexperienced, as I can clearly see from their public LinkedIn profile (second-career master's student, which is cool, but means that this is their very first foray into therapy, and I'm not sure I want to be a guinea pig). To that end, they are ALL OVER the internet, and a quick google search reveals all the blogged details of their divorce, their own therapy, their career aspirations .... on and on. It's a fascinating reality-television-show experience and I can't stop reading this blog, even though I feel like I'm crossing some sort of unspoken boundary. But they put it out there, and it feels so unprofessional to me. And young. I have far more education and years than this person, which isn't necessarily a problem, but I also don't want to just go for the lowest common denominator. I have DID and that is tricky even for really experienced therapists to handle, because sometimes things get intense in therapy, and I just don't think it's worth it to essentially train someone. And I know the school that they are enrolled in for their master's program and it's a bit of a joke, so that doesn't make me feel confident at all in their education.

I just think I would rather save my money for a more experienced therapist. I'm still on a waitlist for a psychologist with trauma experience, and maybe it's better to just wait some more? I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that saying no to this student isn't a bad idea.

 

[Movingforward10]

Sounds like you have considered it from various angles:
Their level of experience
Your diagnosis and knowledge that DID requires the ability to handle various things that come up in therapy
That their online presence and personal life evident there is something you feel is too much and not entirely professional.
Etc etc.

So, if it doesn't feel right for all those reasons, it then isn't right for you.

Trust yourself and your assessment?

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Thanks, @Movingforward10. I think you are right that I just have to trust myself.

There is also no way I could work with this person now that I know all the intimate details of their marriage and subsequent divorce, their mental health concerns and diagnoses, and all the other trials and tribulations of their life. All this posted on a public blog on a URL that is their given name. I didn’t have to look very far to find all this.

I’m back to being frustrated by finances and by how poor people are sometimes asked to accept the lowest common denominator for help. Sigh.

 

[No More]

No, firstly that’s an unhealthy level of self disclosure for a therapist.

Secondly your diagnosis requires someone much more experienced.

For sure, if you were looking for life stress, depression, anxiety etc then I would say give it a go. But it sounds like far too much potential for things to be made worse by inexperience, and it sounds like they need to do some work around their protection of personal details.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Okay, I think I've decided no. I feel badly, because I always like to help young people. I like mentoring. And this is a very broken person who needs mentoring, but it's not my role to do so. And I need good therapy.

I agonized over the email but I wrote it. Still haven't sent it, but that's for tomorrow.

 

[Movingforward10]

Well done!

Sounds especially the right decision given that you're sensing they need support and mentoring. That sort of feeling will hinder therapy if you're looking after them rather than them looking after themselves and you.

You're not doing anything wrong by saying no. And actually doing everything right: listening to yourself and advocating for yourself.

 

[arfie]

I’m back to being frustrated by finances and by how poor people are sometimes asked to accept the lowest common denominator for help.

i started psychotherapy in 1972. my teenage homeless poverty wasn't as much of a problem as the fact that many of the more experienced therapists didn't know how to classify a child sex trafficking survivor and wouldn't take on "one of THOSE kids." the optimism of beginners was my greatest hope. we figured ^it^ out together. i'm glad i didn't wait for the experts.

money is no longer an issue for me, but i still don't trust experts as much as i trust the optimism of beginners. an "ex" is a has been. a "spurt" is a drip under pressure. why would i trust my spiritual well-being to a former drip under pressure?

butttttttttttaaaaaaaaaa. . . mostly i work with what is available and i never fail. i either learn or i succeed. healing happens under either trophy.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

I have had two “therapists in training” and neither one picked up on the PTSD. Then I went to a real therapist who is part of a large medical group I get my medical care through. After 4-5 visits she told me I had PTSD. I spend 3 years with the “therapists in training” and really didn’t get anywhere. Since I moved to another state I can no longer access the therapist in that medical group and I found a PhD psychologist and she doesn’t mess around. The cost is US$150 per session and my insurance pays all but $30 of that. If I had to pay it myself I would do it in a heartbeat. Look at it this way, part of recovering establishing a healthy sense of self worth, so treat yourself as being worth quality care. Treatment is the most important thing in our lives so make adjustments as needed to cover the cost. Things like if you have car payments, get rid of the car so you can afford therapy and drive a junker.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

I woke up today flooded by memories of all the past student trainee-therapists I worked with. I don’t know why I couldn’t remember this yesterday. There were so many of them in the first days of me seeking treatment for PTSD/DID some ten years ago. Four, to be exact. #1 thought I had no problems despite the intense flashbacks I would experience in her office. #2 wanted to hospitalize me all the time and dropped me for having too high of needs. #3 was just confused and inconsistent. #4 was better, but also just so incredibly uncomfortable with me: her own anxiety was palpable and contagious to me.

I was told by all that if I just tried harder I could stop dissociating, but disavowing my experiences made everything worse and then they would just refer me out for “resisting treatment” or “not meeting the conditions of the therapy.” Of course the dissociative patterns make sense now. But with all four? They didn’t get it. And would just label me all sorts of things: bipolar, borderline, major depression, attention seeking. I’m not any of those.

I can’t believe I forgot all this. But this is exactly why I want an experienced therapist: I’m inconsistent, because memories aren’t consistent, and that means change and progress can be so slow because I just forget about things accidentally.

 

[RainbowSearchParty]

Okay, sent a thanks-no-thanks email before I forget again that I vowed never to work with another trainee.

But now it's back to trying to figure out how to afford therapy with an experienced therapist ....

 

[Little Rose]

To that end, they are ALL OVER the internet, and a quick google search reveals all the blogged details of their divorce, their own therapy, their career aspirations .... on and on. It's a fascinating reality-television-show experience and I can't stop reading this blog, even though I feel like I'm crossing some sort of unspoken boundary.

You are absolutely correct. This is a .very large boundary violation. When I was pursuing a Master's in Counseling, one of the first things we were taught was to almost never reveal anything personal about ourselves to clients. The therapist focus needs to be on the client and their situation ... keeping the relationship with the client on professional level. Trust your intuition on this one

 

[OceanSpray]

My therapist with the least experience and training was far more helpful and open to understanding the complexities of my stuff than the ones I saw who were well into their careers and “specialized”.