Therapists, do you ever hear “Which training have you completed?” or “Are you certified? What about up to Level A12?” How about, “Did you pay the full $4,000 fee, plus supervision, plus video review, plus paperwork review, plus life plan review???”

Or Clients: “Are you trying ZTD for your anxiety?” “Did you know about this BCLE model that totally gets rid of trauma?” “According to this influencer, doing LPT totally makes your marriage successful.” “This parenting style from Sally Suzy cured my Billy’s sneezes, I know it will work for your Bobby.”

Woah! What are these things? Why is there so much pressure to know everything, all of the time? Or to do the just right thing in just the exact right time? That’s a pretty narrow window of success!

Trainings and information can be absolutely necessary, inspirational, helpful, and enjoyable in the counseling profession and as a human. (In fact, I feel motivated to check in on a training right now…)

But let us be frank for a moment: we are just people talking with other people about how to be people when (sometimes maybe) we may not even know how to be people! To feel confident that this next training/TikTok will prepare us perfectly for every client/situation ever feels… impossible. 

Let me instead turn you to social constructivism. 

Social constructivism is the idea that people learn through social interactions. Vygotsky, the founder, suggests there is a “More Knowledgable Other” (don’t think this just means a guru!) who helps the individual stretch to their next potential level of knowing. 

I think the “right fit” counselor or resource for a client points out something in just a tad bit different of a way than how the client typically thinks, opening this client up to new self-defined options. If we are paying attention, counselors can use that little opening to create more scaffolding to build on our clients’ abilities, little by little. 

Therefore, which theory you use really, really doesn’t matter to them, as long as you understand it and can use it to help your client understand themselves and life a little more.  Please take your training, but don’t take it too seriously. You are already enough. 

If you’re curious how to create this for your clients or what it feels like to be challenged in this way, reach out.