Safety

Safety. This is a term we hear often within clinical psychology – safety of our clients and our own safety. How safe is clinical psychology training? We have many sources of potential support – placement supervisors, clinical tutors, mentors, 'Buddys', personal and professional development groups, group processes – other courses probably have more that I haven't heard of. But what if none of these actually feel safe? These are, after all, provided within the context of a training programme – one which peoples opinions of you matter, all these people are potential employers or colleagues, now or in the future. How safe it it then really? Yes, there's therapy. But sometimes therapy can feel like the least safe place of all, always in flux, sometimes a haven, sometimes anything but. Of course, it depends on the sort of therapy you're 'in' – I've had experience of CBT and counselling which felt supportive but somehow limited (see my last post for more on this) and now see a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. I don't know you're opinions on this approach. I know it's one that can divide and polarise. I was very cynical of it before this year of training and now I'm imersed in it I hate that I'm dependent on my therapist, get anxious over breaks and all those other stereotypical stories about therapy that deep down convince me that it's working. After all, its about connecting with the emotional aspects of your way of relating and therefore forces you to face that which is painful. It breaks down defences you didn't know you had and can leave you exposed, vulnerable, raw. And then you're alone to deal with the fallout of those short 50 minutes as you continue to try and contain your clients' distress as you barely contain your own. Melodramatic? Probably. Uncertain? Definitely. Worth the emotion? I hope so.