Therapeutic Excellence

Professional and Personal Development

By Andrew T. Austin

 

It has been my experience that the best and most skilled therapists and people helpers tend to be the people who do the most stuff.  A common mistake in the quest to be excellence at therapeutic change is for the therapist to focus on therapy training for their own personal development to the exclusion of everything else.

 

Whilst the novice talks about therapy everywhere they go and uses that “therapy voice” in the client work the effective therapist demonstrates an interest in life outside of the treatment room and is able to relate to people at parties without turning them into clients.

 

So here is a list of recommended skills I advocate to people looking to increase their therapeutic excellence.  It has been my experience that low cost or even free workshops are available in all of the following:

 

For Presentation:

 

• Improvisation and drama
• Singing and voice work
• Dance and rhythm
• Stand up comedy
• Public speaking
• Juggling
• Magic and Mentalism

 

For Business:

• Marketing and advertising
• Networking
• Accounting and taxation

 

Personal Development

 

• Meditation
• Yoga/Tai Chi
• Mysticism
• At least one martial art

 

For those without clinical backgrounds, I also recommend gaining clinical experience in care environments such as mental health wards, elderly care and long stay psychiatric units.  In addition to these I suggest gaining experience in frontline mental health such as crisis intervention settings such as mental health centres, crisis centres, emergency housing and so forth.

 

Greater understanding of the business side of things can be gained by joining business networking groups and your local Chamber of Commerce.