03/03/2024
I remember the first time. It was bright Friday afternoon, the sun streaming through my floor to ceiling windows, and I was sitting with a 7th grader. She was telling me about the relentless bullying she had experienced at school and how she didn't think she was going to graduate high school. I felt a cold chill run through my body - she was telling me that she thought she would su***de before graduating high school. She slowly pulled up her shirt sleeve as tears streamed down her cheeks, revealing the countless scars on her arm. I remember fumbling my way through a crisis plan and making sure she had all the right phone numbers, and Mom knew and was willing to help keep her safe, and when to go to the hospital, and the crisis phone number, and me feeling absolutely in over my head. I had been a therapist for about eight years at this point and thought I knew how to treat most things fairly competently and had even had experience with suicidal clients, but man, this felt different. The others had been so much more straight-forward and "simple" in their presentation and subsequent treatment. Her case was much more complex, with multiple diagnosis, a communication style that was much more passive and quiet, and a tremendous amount of unprocessed trauma and self-hate. I knew that I needed so much more than what my therapy toolkit was currently filled with. I spent that next week taking a crash course in all things DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). I went into that next session so much more prepared and confident, knowing a few skills and strategies she so desperately needed to help her want to stay alive and how to tolerate the distress she was experiencing. My tool kit was expanding! I was hooked. I loved how structured DBT was, how it actually taught people how to manage, change, and accept their emotions. What they could do in a crisis to stay safe, and so much more. I had tools! Previously, I was so bored with traditional talk therapy and needed something more. More challenge, more excitement, more purpose to the work I was doing. And so the people that had been told all their life they were "too much," "overly sensitive," "manipulative" became my entire caseload. I fell down the rabbit hole that is DBT and haven't looked back, not for a second. What happened to that client, you ask? She is now 24 and a social worker. She has tough days still and feels things more intensely than others AND she has made her life into something she is excited about and no longer fights suicidal thoughts. She says that DBT saved her life. I remind her that she saved her life, and DBT gave her the skills to make it possible.
And so, if this hits a chord for you and you find yourself also wanting more - I want to talk to you. We are a community of therapists treating a community of very hurting people that need you. We are looking for LPC-MHSP/LCSWs with experience in EMDR or PE, CBT, ERP, Eating Disorders, Somatic Therapies, Yoga Therapy, Art Therapy, Family Therapy, all the therapies 🙂. We realize that while DBT might be their first step toward healing, it will not be their last and we need an entire treatment team that goes way beyond DBT. So....Wanna go on an adventure? Think you got what it takes? Let’s talk. ~Arianne
Highlights: Competitive pay, flexible hours, great referral source, supportive team environment!
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3845517698
https://www.indeed.com/job/licensed-mental-health-counselor-licensed-clinical-social-worker-f212903587492b91
