Reflaction: The importance of talking about workplace hazards

In this week’s podcast episode we discuss an incredibly relevant topic to self-care for mental health therapists yet one that most of us have likely never heard of, namely workplace hazards. Yes, that’s right, the work we do is fraught with workplace hazards and yet none of the therapists we’ve spoken to had heard about this in their training.

To be perfectly honest, I only learned of this concept when I read the book Leaving it at the Office: A Guide to Psychotherapist Self-Care (2nd Edition), in which the authors outline seven (yes, that’s right SEVEN) categories of workplace hazards. Sadly, I read about workplace hazards only several years ago, when I would have already been in the “mid-to-late career” category. How wonderful it would have been to be aware of all these hazards during my training, when I could have also been developing self-care strategies to offset these hazards.

But even though that wasn’t the case, as I reflect on my own training and career, I can remember some experiences that suggest perhaps I did have some awareness of workplace hazards, even though, at the time, I didn’t necessarily have the language or deeper understanding that I gained by reading Leaving it at the Office.

If you think back to your training, I expect there are supervisors you’ve had that really stand out in your mind: those with whom you did not have a particularly positive experience, and those with whom you felt you truly learned so much as a therapist. Fortunately, I had many more of the latter than the former.

Reflecting on my experiences, I noticed one way these supervisors differed was the level to which they shared their own challenges as therapists and the degree to which they encouraged these conversations in our supervision sessions. The former group tended to present themselves as an all-knowing therapist who only shared their great successes and never spoke of any challenges they encountered in their work.

Compare this to the latter group; supervisors who were willing to be vulnerable and share their range of experiences, including the challenges they experienced as a therapist. Although they didn’t use the term “workplace hazards” they were in fact talking about exactly that when they shared times that they felt unable to help a client, or felt emotionally drained from a session with an aggressive or chronically suicidal client.

All these conversations validated the inherent challenges we face as mental health therapists and modelled the appropriateness of sharing these experiences and feelings as part of the supervision process, which gave me the courage to discuss my own challenges as a psychologist-in-training. This, in turn, led to incredibly rich training experiences that went well beyond focusing strictly on therapeutic technique and left an impression that, I have no doubt, influenced my own approach to supervision several years later.

Although I never envisioned myself in a supervisory role, I was indeed fortunate to have a career that gave me the opportunity to supervise practicum students, pre-doctoral psychology residents, post-doctoral residents, and early career psychologists. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about “workplace hazards” until I was no longer in a supervisory role. However, I do believe my own experiences in supervision led me to have a willingness to be vulnerable and to share my own experiences as a therapist, including the many challenges I experienced along the way.

As I reflected on my many years as a supervisor, I’m reminded that supervisees regularly commented on how much they appreciated my willingness to share my own challenges as a therapist. So maybe in some small way I was addressing “workplace hazards.”

Although I’m no longer in a supervisory role, I continue to use these reflections and my more recent knowledge about workplace hazards to support my ongoing self-care. To be honest, one of the most helpful actions I’ve found is simply sharing my struggles with a trusted colleague(s). In many cases the validation and normalization those conversations promote offset the hazard. The conversations additionally open the opportunity to share other strategies to offset workplace hazards. And that’s ultimately good for both us and our clients.

Where will your reflactions take you?