Because it is so unique, she will probably need some time to learn all the ins and outs of how it works. Give her a little time. It's hard to hit the ground running in such a unique situation. Does anyone in the group feel empathy towards her? When I read what you wrote, I felt what it would be like to be in her shoes, and I think it would be scary and tough! I can also understand how unsettling it must be to have a newcomer T in the group's midst.

Yep I agree with this totally. I think maybe one person in the group feels empathy towards her (lol we're a tough bunch to please) I was thinking if she'd come in and tried to take charge last week I wouldn't of been happy with that either so maybe no matter how's she's approached her first week I wouldn't of liked it because change is really hard. Plus the post thats she's come into used to be a very special womens job who only retired two weeks ago. We're all trying to remember thats she's going to be different to our old T and that it'll take time for her and all of us to adjust.

That could be a big reason they chose her. It wouldn't necessarily be the best to have all the Ts be too similar. Different perspectives and approaches and personality types could help in the variety of what goes on in the therapy and who you have to identify with or play off against. I know it can feel disenfranchising that your group was given the opportunity to speak with this T before she was hired, did not recommend her, and yet she was hired anyway. But it could be that the reason she was asked to speak with the group beforehand was so that the staff could see how you all interacted with her and she with you. They may have liked what they saw.

Yeah I don't really believe that they chose her just to annoy us, there will be a very good reason why she was given the job...I get so impatient sometimes, and this is one instance where I can clearly identfy my want for everything to be "sorted" NOW

What did she say when you told her this? It seems like it would have been a good opportunity for her to share her background and training with you so you can get some reassurance.

The only thing she said was that "you were able to talk about things" I think she meant in art therapy and psychodrama, but I wasn't meaning I was scared to talk about my stuff infront of her, I was meaning that I was worried about telling her how I felt about her incase she crumbled. I think it would of been really useful for her to say more about her backround because it feels like we know very little about her, I'm not meaning her personal life because we know very little about any staff members personal life but yeah reassurrance would of been good. I constantly seek reassurance, I don't conciously do this it just happens and I know why it happens.

What boundaries would you like her to set?