How to Handle A Plague, Introduction.
May. 30th, 2020 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gaudiorHi! So, I'm really delighted that people are referring each other to come here and read these entries! and also, I wanted to let you know what to expect, and what not to expect.
This series is a blog entry posted when something interesting came upevery workday, more or less, in the work I've done that day as a psychotherapist. It might be things I find myself saying to many different clients, or it might be a particularly cool insight someone and I figured out that day.
The reason I'm doing this, though, is self-care. I'm happy if it's useful for other people, but I started doing this because I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the pandemic, and it helped to put my thoughts down in words more permanent than the memories of the two people in a session. Even though it's phrased as a guide, this is not actually me setting myself up in this space as an authority-- it's me giving you the thoughts I've had, and it's advice as much for myself as for anyone else.
What this means is that not every entry will be relevant to every reader, because not everyone is having the same problems, and even with the same problem, different people will need different solutions. I cannot promise that everyone who reads this will find it useful every day, in fact, odds of that are very small.
It also means that I am very much not able to offer more than I put here. I haven't been answering comments, and I expect that to continue for the most part. I miss the days when I used to have a lot of time and energy and social energy to get into long dreamwidth (or livejournal, back in the day) conversations; that's really not where I'm at right now.
I do appreciate people calling me in if I've said something that hurt you, or that made you feel unseen or uncared-about. I probably won't respond in comments, but it will shape how I think about things in future entries.
If you're having a really hard time, I very, very much recommend finding your own therapist. The Psychology Today therapist finder is a quite good database, searchable by location, insurance, issue, areas of expertise, and all sorts of other things. It features pictures and brief bios of possible therapists, so you can get a sense of them before you call/email. I realize it's a tough time to find a therapist, but since we've just about all switched to working full-remote, scheduling might be a little easier than it usually is?
Wah. TL;DR: you are very welcome here! I hope it is useful for you! But I definitely cannot promise it will be useful for anyone except me. I hope that everyone who reads this has it as one of many sources of support.
It's not a cure-all, and not a substitute for your own therapist or support system; I just hope that it makes it just a little bit easier for us all to get through this mess.
--R
This series is a blog entry posted when something interesting came up
The reason I'm doing this, though, is self-care. I'm happy if it's useful for other people, but I started doing this because I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the pandemic, and it helped to put my thoughts down in words more permanent than the memories of the two people in a session. Even though it's phrased as a guide, this is not actually me setting myself up in this space as an authority-- it's me giving you the thoughts I've had, and it's advice as much for myself as for anyone else.
What this means is that not every entry will be relevant to every reader, because not everyone is having the same problems, and even with the same problem, different people will need different solutions. I cannot promise that everyone who reads this will find it useful every day, in fact, odds of that are very small.
It also means that I am very much not able to offer more than I put here. I haven't been answering comments, and I expect that to continue for the most part. I miss the days when I used to have a lot of time and energy and social energy to get into long dreamwidth (or livejournal, back in the day) conversations; that's really not where I'm at right now.
I do appreciate people calling me in if I've said something that hurt you, or that made you feel unseen or uncared-about. I probably won't respond in comments, but it will shape how I think about things in future entries.
If you're having a really hard time, I very, very much recommend finding your own therapist. The Psychology Today therapist finder is a quite good database, searchable by location, insurance, issue, areas of expertise, and all sorts of other things. It features pictures and brief bios of possible therapists, so you can get a sense of them before you call/email. I realize it's a tough time to find a therapist, but since we've just about all switched to working full-remote, scheduling might be a little easier than it usually is?
Wah. TL;DR: you are very welcome here! I hope it is useful for you! But I definitely cannot promise it will be useful for anyone except me. I hope that everyone who reads this has it as one of many sources of support.
It's not a cure-all, and not a substitute for your own therapist or support system; I just hope that it makes it just a little bit easier for us all to get through this mess.
--R
