Advice to a Therapist

Best suggestion yet

Never assume that your professors, mentors, peers and colleagues are as ethical as they preach. Keep your moral compass on alert at all times. Take the time to know who you will turn to when you need help/supervision. There are a lot of wolves and a lot of incapable/unwell people in the profession. Good luck.

Explain the process, make sure the client understands their goals and what they should expect from treatment. Don't assume clients are being resistant, ask them if they were able to talk about what they had wanted to. I always have full intentions of working through issues and twenty years later I still haven't been able to address them and then end up getting labeled "resistant" instead of scared to death. Remind your clients once and a while that you still care and haven't given up on them. If you do give up be honest and refer them out.

Don't skimp on your own therapy. Don't stop just because you've fulfilled your program's minimum requirement for psychotherapy. If it hasn't been absolutely brutal, you haven't gone deep or far enough.

Recognize the tremendous potential to do damage by being incompetent, unethical or otherwise messed up.

Reconsider your choice of career in light of the first two points.

Don't take out your issues on your clients.

Clients need to be told therapy can end up causing more harm than good. They need to know this. It's unethical to not let them know. In my opinion.

In addition to what most have said, remember that clients know more about themselves than you will ever learn, so when you and a client are at odds about what you think is motivating the client to act as they do, seriously consider what the client feels; you may learn something about yourself. And...clients miss nothing about their Ts...the facial expressions, body language, muscle tension, how you dress, what you say and how you say it. Be genuine with all of your clients and check your ego at the door.

I mean, really, seriously, THIS! ^^^^

Never breach a client's confidentiality. If you think your client does not deserve to be respected as a human being then let them go (another therapist will treat them better). Never mock your own clients. I can't even believe a therapist would do such a thing but they did to me. Don't destroy your client's life, relationships and reputation.