A while ago, I went horseback riding in Canyon de Chey. At one point, my spirited horse, Riser, took off at a gallop, and I lost sight of my guide. I was careful to hold on tight as Riser splashed through a shallow river and leapt over a makeshift fence of piled rocks. I remember pulling back on the reins, slowly and firmly, and feeling proud of my ability to stay calm and in control despite of Riser’s detour through the brush and into unknown territory. When he finally stopped, I beamed from my saddle as my guide approached. “Nice work,” he said, “but you might want to keep moving. You’ve stopped in quicksand.”
Why do I bring this up? In some ways, a lot of therapists today are practicing atop a runaway horse. And regardless of how calm they feel or how carefully they follow this or that set of familiar rules, the terrain they’re navigating is full of surprises, some of which could seriously trip them up, or worse, pull them under. Luckily, we curated this issue of the magazine to serve as your up-to-date guide, offering knowledge and insight along with a wink and a little wry humor. We’ve called it The Hidden Dangers to Your Practice not to scare you, but to draw attention to underlying forces having a big effect not only on the individual practices of on-the-ground therapists, but on the trajectory of our field.
Are you contemplating these undercurrents as you pour yourself a cup of coffee each morning, walk the dog, or even see clients? Probably not. But they may be nagging at you, somewhere in the back of your mind, as you consider whether you should make an Instagram reel about your divorce, why a less experienced colleague landed the big book deal you’ve been angling for, how often your supervisees seem to be burning out before they’ve even gotten started, or what could possibly compel your long-time mentor to let her therapy license lapse and become a full-time life coach.
Indeed, something is afoot, right? No matter what your clinical specialty or approach to therapy, the landscape in which therapists do their work is undeniably shifting—maybe not dramatically, but in ways we need to watch, lest we find ourselves unknowingly standing in some new form of practice-related quicksand.
If you’re regularly crossing boundaries between therapy and life coaching, how do you make sure you’re doing it ethically—in ways that won’t jeopardize your license or land you in court? If you want to grow your public-facing media presence, how do you successfully build your “brand” as a therapist without sacrificing your integrity? (Nine of today’s most successful therapists told us how they did it.) If you’re considering joining one of the many mental health start-ups promising to help you earn a consistent income while making therapy more accessible to potential clients, how do you take advantage of the opportunity without becoming a line item in a venture capitalist playbook?
I promise, we’re not trying to muck up the start of spring by presenting you with dreary, unsettling questions. Quite the contrary. As the field continues to morph and adapt to the times, we see it as our duty, our raison d’être, to keep you apprised of what’s at stake, and to do so in the most engaging way possible. After all, we’ve been tracking the changes happening in the field for almost 50 years, which is why we picked this issue to rerun an illuminating collection of stories from four of psychology’s most influential thought leaders—Bessel van der Kolk, John Gottman, Dan Seigel, and Ken Hardy—on transformations they’ve observed in their clinical areas of focus.
So hold on tight and let this conversation carry you somewhere you may not have expected. Then send us your thoughts at letters@psychnetworker.org!
Livia Kent
Livia Kent, MFA, is the editor in chief of Psychotherapy Networker. She worked for 10 years with Rich Simon as managing editor of Psychotherapy Networker, and has collaborated with some of the most influential names in the mental health field on stories that have become widely read articles and bestselling books. She taught writing at American University as well as for various programs around the country. As a bibliotherapist, she’s facilitated therapy groups in Washington, DC-area schools and in the DC prison system. In 2020, she was named one of Folio Magazine’s Top Women in Media “Change-Makers.” She’s the recipient of Roux Magazine‘s Editor’s Choice Award, The Ledge Magazine‘s National Fiction Award, and American University’s Myra Sklarew Award for Original Novel.
