Therapists are tasked with being secret keepers.
The first layer of secrecy seems easy and simple. Maintaining client confidentiality. You can probably recite the limits of confidentiality off the top of your head, and you probably do it regularly during intake sessions.
Everything else goes in the vault. But the vault isn’t a what, it’s a who. The vault is us.
We mostly talk about confidentiality from the client’s perspective. The absolutely crucial nature of it, the ethical dilemmas that come up when we have to breach it, how the client’s understanding of confidentiality impacts the therapeutic process… All very important things.
But we rarely talk about what confidentiality means for therapists beyond a set of rules or ethical puzzles to navigate.
What does it really mean for us as therapists to be the bearers of all of this confidential information about other human beings?
Content note: References to interpersonal traumas
Listen to the full episode to hear:
Learn more about Riva Stoudt:
Resources:
Ep 3.3 - Unraveling Popular Ideas: Challenging Neuroscientific Narratives in Therapy with Kristen Martin
Ep 3.2 - Finding Our Place in the Lineage of Therapeutic Practice
Ep 3.1 - Between Mysticism and Modernity: Reclaiming the Jewishness of Therapy with hannah baer
Introducing The Kiln: Revolutionizing The Therapy Training Landscape
EP 2.12: 10 Things I Have Learned in 10 Years as a Therapist – Part 2
EP 2.11 - 10 Things I Have Learned in 10 Years as a Therapist – Part 1
EP 2.10 - Client Relationships in the Trenches: The Role of Self-Validated Intimacy
EP 2.9 - Immediacy in Therapy: Breaking the Fourth Wall with Dr. K Hixson
EP 2.8 - Paradox, Love, and the Therapeutic Journey
EP 2.7 - Let's Talk About Sex: A Humane Approach to Sexual Boundary Violations with Dr. Andrea Celenza
EP 2.6: The Vulnerability of the Therapist as Client
EP 2.5: Behind the Scenes: When Therapists Become Clients with Dr. Elena Herrera
EP 2.4: What Happens When Our Clients Encounter Our Humanity?
EP 2.3: Normalizing Vulnerability: The Power of Authenticity in Client Relationships with Onyx Fujii and Asher Pandjiris
EP 2.2 Deep Play: Exploring the Therapeutic Playground
EP 2.1: Balancing Goals and Healing in Therapy: Navigating the Tension with Silvana Espinoza Lau
Ep 18 - Therapists as Makers of Culture
Ep 17 - The Intimacy and Aliveness of Clinical Supervision with K Hixson
Ep 16 - Marketing With Integrity
Ep 15 - Is Ethical Marketing Possible? with Rachael Kay Albers
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Your Sleep Guru Podcast
Anxiety Slayer™ with Shann and Ananga
Men Do Talk Podcast
The Dr. John Delony Show
On Purpose with Jay Shetty