Elliott Connie
Founder/PresidentElliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution...
Looking at the news (as much as I\’m trying to avoid it) is admittedly worrying with all the tariff changes, price increases and stock market drops. As a therapist it\’s hard not to feel like an incoming recession could close practice doors, but let\’s discuss why it could actually mean the opposite.
I don\’t know if you\’ve been paying attention to the news. I actually have been trying not to, but yet I still see that we are in an economic time that is crazy. We\’re heading towards a recession. Many people say we\’re heading towards a depression that\’s going to equal the depression that happened in the early 1900s. There\’s social upheaval going on. There\’s a lot of fear, panic, anxiety, all kinds of things flying around the internet that\’s super negative. I\’m not sure I\’ve ever lived through a time like this. And I can\’t help but think about us, mental health professionals, that have to show up and serve and be there for our people, our clients that we serve, in this really, really difficult time. So I want to make sure that you are prepared for what\’s to come, and you are prepared to do the best job you can in service of our clients, of our culture, of our community.
So here\’s what I\’m thinking about. I remember the last time it felt even close to this was in 2008. I had recently graduated from graduate school and I worked at an agency for about a year and a half. And then in the summer of 2008, I decided to open my private practice. And I got with a woman, we were gonna split the rent on this office, and we moved into that office in August of 2008. I was so excited and I was so pumped, and I was ready to go.
And then In September of 2008, we hit a recession. It was the first dip of the housing crash, triple dip recession. And people were panicking. People were going nuts. And I remember, and even me, I was super afraid, what\’s going to happen to my practice? Are clients going to show up? Are clients going to be there for appointments? Are clients going to need our services?
And living through that, I realized two really important things. And these two things are going to help you in the current environment we\’re going through now.
Number one is people need us even more now than they do when things are much more clear and much more safe. I feared at that time, that therapy was kind of a luxury and people would not want to benefit from the luxury. But I actually think people realize the importance of therapy and when they get stressed, angst and fearful, they actually needed what we do even more in that environment.
Number two, I realized I had to take care of myself, as well, as I was in service of other people. I realized it was important that I practice self care. And when I say self care, I want to be very clear about this. I don\’t mean take a vacation to the Himalayan mountains or take that trip to Disney World. I literally mean, when I got home from work, I would like, play a video game or I would take a walk. There\’s a lake near my house and I would go to this lake and just sit in peace. I really honestly just wanted to focus on myself and make sure that I was rejuvenated in a good place to show up during really stressful and strenuous times.
Very, very often we have this thing called residual trauma, which basically means when your client comes into your office and they\’re experiencing trauma, you will wear the symptoms. But more importantly, that\’s a very macro experience. Whatever the clients you talk to are experiencing, you\’re going to take more of that.
Human beings… it\’s a very contagious experience. When you\’re around happy people, you feel more happy. When you\’re around positive people, you feel more positive. When around negative people, you feel more negative. Human being-ness is contagious. So you have to take care of yourself.
So I would come home all day after talking to people that got laid off and didn\’t know what they were going to do with their lives. And their home loans had been defaulted on because of all the things going on with those home loan companies and all the things. It was crazy. And I would come home and I would just have to center myself.
I like to write, so I would write or I like to play video games. I would play video games. I like to cook, so I would cook things. But you have to do the things that are going to cause you to feel good about yourself.
So just remember as we go through these difficult times, this is not our time to panic or worry. People need us more than ever. So you keep showing up for your clients, for your communities, for the people around you. You keep showing up.
But also make sure you show up for yourself so that you can take care of you as we go through this difficult time.
Now, I started this whole thing off by saying, I don\’t know if you\’ve noticed what\’s going on in the news. I\’m actually trying not to. That\’s actually true. That\’s part of how I take care of myself. If I just sit and consume the news, then I also notice I get anxious, I get fearful, I get worried, I get scared. So I want to know what\’s going on. So I intentionally will look at certain things, but I don\’t want to be overwhelmed by what is happening now. And I tend to stay away as much as I possibly can.
So make sure that you are showing up and you know that this is a really important time for our communities. It\’s really important time for the services that we offer. I think over the past few years, we\’ve done a really good job of convincing people that mental health is really important. And right now it\’s one of the most important things that people talk about. It\’s really going viral how important it is that you focus on your mental health.
I think we\’ve done a good job and got the message out. And as a consequence of that, I no longer think people treat it like a luxury. I think people understand that they need us, but you make sure that as you show up for them, you\’re showing up for you too.
Elliott Connie, MA, LPC is a Psychotherapist that practices in Arlington, Texas. He has worked with thousands of individuals, couples, and families applying the solution focused approach to help them move their lives from the current problems towards their desired futures. As well as being the Founder and President of The Solution Focused Universe, he is recognized around the world speaking at national and international conferences and events throughout the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, England, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Holland, Canada, and Asia training practitioners to apply solution focused questions and techniques in their work. He has authored or co-authored 4 books including “The Art of Solution Focused Therapy”, ‘Solution Building in Couples Therapy”, ‘The Solution Focused Marriage’, and ‘Solution-Focused Brief Therapy with Clients Managing Trauma’.
