u/s0sauc3y

My husband and I booked a trip to the Azores in late October because we love nature and hiking, and want to relax after a busy summer and early fall. We booked 6 nights on Flores because of everything we'd heard about the beautiful scenery and amazing hikes. Recently, though, we read that flights are often cancelled or delayed due to bad weather. Because of this, I got nervous and tried to cancel our accommodation but it is non-refundable. So, we will be going there and staying in Faja Grande (and will be renting a car). A few questions:

1. Is the weather really that bad in late October?

2. How likely is our flight to get canceled around this time?

3. How are the hiking trails around that time?

4. Other than hiking, are there any other activities that you recommend?

5. Are most restaurants still open on the island in October? Do we need reservations?

Any help would be so appreciated!

This is going to be a bit long because I want to include all the relevant context, so please bear with me!

I started as a therapist in private practice about 5.5 months ago, after being in the Canadian public sector for about 7 years (community mental health with children, families, and marginalized folks, and hospital settings). The clinic I'm working at specializes in bottom-up, "root cause"-oriented modalities (IFS, EMDR, somatic approaches), and while I have some basic training in those modalities, I mostly worked from a CBT framework in my past roles. I like some elements of CBT, but I find that it doesn't get to the deeper layers of a person's experience, so have been moving away from it lately.

Part of the requirements of this new position are to complete several online trainings in various modalities, while simultaneously building a case load. I'm now working with adults who are experiencing a broad range of clinical presentations (many of which I've never encountered clinically), and I'm feeling totally out of my depth. I feel like a total imposter, and I'm scrambling to learn these modalities, apply them to cases that are unfamiliar to me, and to be honest, I feel like a mess. I've noticed that sometimes I feel great and confident when working with clients, but that when I'm anxious about losing clients, I'm less present, and that sessions feel less smooth.

I've lost a few clients lately, because I'm realizing that I'm trying to apply concepts from these newer modalities without really sensing or knowing in the moment what they need. I also tend to procrastinate around preparing for sessions, and have largely been relying on AI to help amalgamate my learning and give me ideas for how to approach the next session with my clients.

I should also add that the majority of my clients do come back, and a few with particularly difficult histories have recently started telling me that they can feel they're healing. Some have explicitly named that they're healing because of me (which I try to gracefully reframe, lol), so I know that I'm not always doing terrible work.

The owner of my clinic is great, and she told me from the beginning that she senses I'm putting too much pressure on myself and that she sees my position as a long-term relationship. In the interview she said that it's okay that I don't know everything. She and I have weekly supervision, but I'm hesitant to express my insecurities to her because she's also my boss, and she holds weight over my professional life. A few weeks ago she said something in a terse tone, and it totally threw me off and made me question what she thinks of me (see: total mess!).

About me: I'm in my own therapy and always will be. I have ADHD and a diagnosis of depression and anxiety (stemming from a highly sensitive temperament, attachment insecurity, and a history of social rejection in childhood) and I struggle with perfectionism and procrastination. I'm noticing that when I lose a client, it feels like life or death. I've been working with a therapist who I love for a few years (he is like a father figure to me) but we have paused our therapeutic relationship for now (for reasons that have nothing to do with our therapeutic relationship), with plans to renew it in the fall. In the meantime, I started working with an IFS therapist, but something isn't feeling like a fit for me (it feels like it's the model, but it might be the way the therapist is DOING the model), and I don't feel better after having worked with the IFS therapist for almost 5 months. I'm really starting to consider whether IFS (especially as a therapist's one modality) is right for me.

All this being said, I'm struggling a lot, because I just received an email from a client who wants to pause therapy because the somatic work we'd been doing feels like too much for her. This sent me spinning, and has made me question whether I can do this.

The questions I have are as follows:

1. Have other new therapists struggled with these same feelings and issues?

2. Is it normal for new therapists to lose clients because they've struggled to understand their needs/formulation and have used an intervention or modality that isn't ideal for them?

3. Despite having about 7 years of experience in the public sector (with sub-par supervision, I should add), is it normal that I'm struggling this much?

4. What tools, books, or resources do you use to formulate cases? Any recommendations for how I can improve in this area?

5. How do other therapists prepare for sessions? What have you tried that helps you both formulate the client's case, think about different steps/phases in their therapy, and plan to provide more specific interventions over the next session or two?

6. For those of you who have experienced similar issues, what has helped you develop into a better clinician?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer words of advice and support to a struggling newbie. <3

Hey everyone,

I'm a therapist who is new to private practice (SW background). I've worked in the public sector in Canada for about 6 years, doing clinical work with CBT-based programs. I've transitioned to private practice because I want to do deeper work with clients than what I've found CBT can offer. The clinic I work at has a steady stream of referrals. I joined a private group practice about 2.5 months ago, and I'm struggling with a few things:

1. A few clients have booked several sessions but have then stopped booking. In one case, I felt like it wasn't the best fit and I'm sure the client did too, but it still left me feeling badly.

2. My clinic offers free consults with potential clients, and I've only booked sessions with a little more than half of these clients.

3. Another therapist was hired at the same time as me, and of the potential clients that have booked consults with both of us, all have chosen her. (She's older, with more experience, and has been described as calm and grounded, whereas I've been described as warm and friendly).

4. In my first month (of which I was only seeing clients for about 2 weeks), I booked 11 sessions. The second month, I booked 41. The third month, 48. While this IS an upward trajectory, I'm wondering if it's up "enough".

More context: While I have years of clinical experience, I feel a bit out of my depth with the modalities our clinic uses (IFS and EFT, which I have some training in, but haven't used much as a clinician; sensorimotor psychotherapy, EMDR, etc.), and I feel like there are so many things to learn and it's a bit overwhelming right now.

I am in therapy myself and will always be. My biggest wounds and issues centre around feelings of unworthiness and fear of rejection, and I know that my experience with private practice has been touching these in a big way. But I still find it hard to move past them and not compare myself to other clinicians.

All of this is to say: have any other clinicians been here too? If so, what helped? Are these issues I'm experiencing "normal" for a clinician who is new to private practice? Also, are these issues I should bring to my supervisor (who is the clinic owner, and has encouraged me to be gentler on myself), or should I keep them for my own personal therapy? Any thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!