Is your T in therapy?

Exactly. My T is supervised and also meets with other therapists as part of consult where they get feedback for how to help clients (I happen to be a tough case, so my T has brought me up in consult before). This way he's professionally accountable and professionally supported. The occasional crisis aside, it's just the way I roll.

Mine had therapy at least in school and once said that she appreciates both the discomfort and support therapy offers. The state licensing board requires clinical supervision at a certain rate, X hours for Y hours practice, presumably guidance on ethical treatment, clinical documentation, good business practices.

Really???

It absolutely does make the therapist better if they are in some kind of therapy outside of practice themselves, for 2 reasons: it allows them to release their own feelings & issues & baggage without it interfering with the clients they work with & they also gain perspective & insight into what it's like to be a client & they are better able to understand what we expect from them & why. That's really important, it gives them awareness into themselves & their behaviors & the client side of things in ways that they wouldn't have if they were only a therapist. I think it should be a requirement for all therapists to be in some form of it for at least a year.

As for me, I've had 3 therapists & I'm not sure about the first or third but the second one that I had told me herself that she goes to therapy as well & I think really highly of therapists who do. Everyone has their own issues in life, even therapists & especially when they're in a profession where they take on a tremendous amount of other people's emotions & feelings & I personally feel much more comfortable with someone who has been in therapy before. The quality of the therapy they give you will be better as they will be more in tune with what's going on from your perspective & not just theirs.

I very strongly disagree. It's my personal opinion and I am entitled to it just as you are entitled to your opinion which I respect, but definitely disagree with. Therapy is riddled with major problems and inconsistencies and abuse and a therapist seeing a therapist doesn't necessarily guarantee competence. I would even say it might encourage incompetence.

I don't think therapists necessarily need to be in constant therapy any more than I think anyone else needs to be in constant therapy. I do think they should have been through therapy at an earlier point for the experience.

I do think it is helpful if they have collegues or someone to use as a sounding board/support when they feel it necessary, and I suspect most do have some sort of professional support that way, but that is different than needing to be in constant, regular therapy.

If they do, that is fine and certainly their business but I don't think constant therapy necessarily makes a therapist more capable or stable; in fact, therapy can be quite destabilizing while you are in the middle of it, as we all know. I personally don't particularly want a therapist who is still actively working on their own serious issues or their own instability at the same they are working with me. I'd prefer they are pretty stable, healthy individuals at this point.

I have been fortunate enough to have therapist who I know have a professional network of support when they need it which is what is most important to me. I know they have consulted with their colleagues about me on occasion and they have been open and transparent with me about those times. Other than that, whether they are in constant therapy currently is of little consequence to me so long as they themselves are functioning with professionalism and stability.

I don't think they need, for me, to be in constant therapy - but I do want to see one who has done it before, not only to get their own issues out of the way (and everyone does have issues), but more so they know how awful it is.

I do think supervision is necessary, very necessary.

... I have not a clue what my T does in her own time. If I were to ask...although I would never think to... she might just look at me and say nothing. she does that a lot. Its kind of cute nowadays when she just looks at me with her smile.

You're entitled to your own opinion, I didn't say you weren't, I guess I'm surprised because most people think it's a good thing & everywhere I look & read it's said to be a good thing, I haven't seen many who don't think so.

I don't so much mean necessarily that a therapist would be in therapy at the same time while doing work with me, but even to have experienced it before from the other chair... I'd much rather have a therapist who has somewhere to unload their own stuff so that it doesn't end up leaking into things with me. I just think before they can help or be of use to anyone else, they need to work on their own issues, because if they have active unresolved issues then the potential exists that they bring them into therapy & it will interfere with me as the client in getting what I need... and stronger empathy for what it feels like to be a client & not just only their side of things can't possibly hurt...

I'm not saying it guarantees competence, I'm saying they can relate to us in ways people who haven't had therapy can't & ideally you would think it would be better for us as clients, it doesn't always work that way & I know that but just as you say your best one had no therapy, I'm sure there are good ones out there who have had therapy. But the world takes all kinds & to each their own.