When "empathy" becomes expensive venting in the therapy room

Here's what I see happening in so many therapy rooms...

The client comes in upset about their boss. Or their spouse. Or their friend who canceled plans again. And you listen. You validate. You empathize.

Because that's what good therapists do, right?

Except... six months later, you're still talking about the boss. The spouse. The friend.

And nothing has really shifted.

I'm not saying the crisis of the week doesn't matter. It does.

But if we only stay there... if we never help the client see the pattern underneath the crisis... we're not actually doing trauma work.

We're just bearing witness to the same story on repeat.

The thing is, the "crisis" is just smoke.

The real fire? It's the procedural response... the unconscious, automatic pattern that keeps showing up in different costumes.

And if we don't have the confidence to gently guide our clients past the smoke and into the fire, they stay stuck. And eventually, they leave therapy because they realize nothing is actually changing.

In this upcoming class, I'll be showing the clients in my Trauma Mastery Program and our guests how to do this differently. 

How to honor the crisis AND guide the treatment.

How to stop following and start leading... not in a controlling way, but in a way that actually helps.

I'm walking you through the Advanced Treatment Framework that's helped me and the therapists I've trained move from "expensive venting" to real, lasting change.

The Details: Advanced Treatment Planning for Complex & Developmental Trauma Framework

I'd love to have you with us!

Esther

Grab your Guest Pass here: https://integrativepsych.teachable.com/l/pdp/advanced-treatment-planning-for-complex-developmental-trauma