On Financial Countertransference
We love it. We hate it. Most of us just can't live without it—literally. So how do we approach it in the therapy room? By looking inward, of course.
Can I be honest, here?
Even after getting to a place in my business(es) where I am charging fees that feel supportive of my personal and professional wellbeing, and even after advocating for the same for everyone around me for over a year, I have a really hard time reconciling the utter havoc that money & finances have wreaked upon our society with the deep, painful, yet reality-based understanding that the vast majority of us require money to survive, thrive, and live our lives.
Yet, this reconciliation is something that I need to be able to do consistently in order to show up in this world, do the work I’m here to do, and feel supported in the process so that I don’t burn out like I have a hundred times before. Reconciling these hard truths is work, and lots of it, but the process of reconciliation and the feeling I’ve reached on the other side is monumental in more ways than one.
You see, I’ve done a lot of internal & community-based work over the past year, most of which has been done within a business coaching container with other private practice therapists who struggle with the same concepts and fears as I have. Much of that work has focused around money and the transference/ countertransference issue that comes up when we talk and think about money in our practice as mental health providers.
There are a lot of ways these conversations stir up HUGE piles of shit inside us (I’m talking big time 💩). What we do with that information can be hugely influential in how we navigate this world as professionals, friends, family members, community members, and more. So, let’s explore… but first, let me tell you a little bit about what this has looked like for me over the past several years.
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