Each year we open submissions for our Annual Wise Therapy Spotlight, where we ask a question of particular importance to our wider therapist community. We are always moved by the depth and generosity of our community voices.
This year, we asked our community, What Is the Soul of Therapy? Read more about our inspiration for this, our 5th edition, in the letter from the editors and Academy of Therapy Wisdom founders, Brian and Ian.
Continue here to read the submission by Thilini Weerakkody, MHC-LP. We hope you enjoy it as much as we all did.
What is the soul of therapy?
To me, the soul of therapy lies in collective liberation. Indigenous activist Lilla Watson says that “if you have come here to save me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together.” I became a therapist because I wanted to learn how to heal myself; and I continued doing this work because I found that my humanity as a therapist was transformative to not only myself but my clients.
In 2020, everything in me was consumed by my work as a activist. I had started working in the field at age 14, finding a deep love and meaning in connecting with my community; but the long hours and the exposure to dangerous, stressful situations took a toll on my body and mind until I was unrecognizable. It was then that I developed a thirst for understanding the process of breaking down and building yourself up again. I began to read voraciously about the dance of healing, trying my best to optimize and hasten what recovery looked like. As an activist, and just a person in general, I was wise to the chaos of life. The world is constantly presenting obstacles and difficulties—I was desperate to be armored against the agony of pain, loss, or grief the next time life threw it my way.
This hunger for learning about the healing process is what keeps me in the therapeutic field. Every time, I work with a client, a part of me heals with them. My clients offer me a wealth of knowledge and I am so humbled to be able to learn from them.
By structuring the soul of therapy around my personal lived experience, I can come to clients with humility.
I can sit with them, looking them in the eyes and say that I have an investment in their healing. My clients know that I will show up to session with enthusiasm, engagement, and interest because of this mutualism. Collective liberation honors how we as people grieve, hurt, and feel pain in very similar ways. Collective liberation invites individuals to conceptualize therapy as a resource that is abundant and doesn’t need to guard or exist behind barriers—instead, therapy and healing can be a community endeavor that encourages people to collaborate, sharing ideas, resources and wisdom about how to weather the peaks and troughs that life promises.
The views expressed in this essay are not necessarily the opinions of Academy of Therapy Wisdom, its presenters or its staff. This is part of a series featuring the unedited voices of our community in conversation. All content is used with permission and is copyright 2024 by Academy of Therapy Wisdom. Only the author may reproduce their content.
To read more articles or download a free copy of the final publication visit Wise Therapy Spotlight.
