An Evidence-Based Emotional Resilience Plan for Therapists

Why focus on emotional resilience?

As a therapist, it’s easy to be so dedicated to helping others that you forget to focus on your own emotional health. Over time, that lack of self-care is bound to come full circle, leaving you so worn down that your work begins to suffer. This can be especially true for therapists in private practice.

On top of the compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress that contribute to burnout, the everyday demands of private practice — marketing, scheduling,navigating insurance, balancing the books — can tip you into a state of overwhelm.

While some stressors are unavoidable, you can help safeguard your well-being by using evidence-based strategies for boosting emotional resilience, aka the degree to which you can positively adapt to adversity.

If you find it hard to make time for self-care, consider the ripple-effect—building resilience will support you in showing up for your clients.

4 characteristics that support therapist resilience

If you have colleagues who seem to go with the flow in even the choppiest waters, it’s likely that they have one or more of the four core characteristics linked to therapist resilience:

• Actively engaging with self
• Having a desire to learn and grow
• Being drawn to strong interpersonal relationships
• Possessing a core values and beliefs framework

These characteristics are likely to resonate with most therapists, but developing them on a daily and weekly basis can take focus and effort. How can you be more intentional?

Research has surfaced some helpful insights: a recent review of literature exploring therapist resilience surfaced ten overarching themes that enforce these four core characteristics. Building on these themes in your own life can help you develop the resilience that’s critical to your career longevity.