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A therapist in therapy: Prologue

Claire
6 min readNov 27, 2024

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My process journal.

Breaking the ice

I’ve not been in one to one therapy for over a year since the last one accused me of being resistant. It was session four and I was getting a sense that she was getting frustrated at me not knowing what was happening in my body.

She later admitted to having a “get on with it” process and felt unskilled at working with neurodivergence.

I, on reflection, persuaded her to stick with it because while she thinks I’m teaching her about autism I said I needed to teach her about me anyway, that was part of the getting to know you phase, so it wasn’t that I was doing unnecessary emotional labour, it was just part of the process.

Once I left the session I went for a walk to allow my body to do what it needed instinctively, creating space for my subconscious to begin processing what had happened because I felt jittery and agitated.

As I climbed muddy lumps and avoided puddles I started to feel sad, then irritated, and finally defeated. She was not the therapist for me. How could I trust her when she’d just admitted she felt ill-equipped to best hold me? And didn’t hold any space for my slow process — something I struggle with as it is.

I could see so clearly how I’d felt this possible ending coming from her and I couldn’t bear someone rejecting me so I…

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Claire
Claire

Written by Claire

Observations of people and life through an autistic lens. I'm a recovering independent that believes we're better together AND we must embrace solitude.

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