This Work is Hard, You Should Do It Anyway

When I studied psychology in college, even when I made it to an Intro to Clinical and Counseling class about seeing patients, mental illness, treatment, all of it was talked about in a clinical, fairly removed kind of way. Which is probably how it’s supposed to be done. In order to help people process emotions, regain control of their thoughts, and their lives, you have to be the objective observer. Sure you can say “that sounds tough, I’m sorry you went through that,” but you can’t be dragged down into the depths of the emotions with them. Now that I think about it that may be part of why I decided during my stint on the rape crisis hotline that counseling was really emotionally draini