Therapy isn’t without humour... sometimes unintentionally

Before I started my training, it’s fair to say that I was known for being quite... blunt. Not so much in a ‘I speak my mind, me’ way, more of a ‘engaging my mouth before my brain’ type of way. I like to think that now I’ve managed to curb this impulse and/or transform it into something a bit more positive, but now and again it reappears.

Like the time I was with a long-established yet still quite recalcitrant client. I felt that some of their reluctance to open up was from a concern over being perceived wrongly, or judged. I tried to be reassuring.
‘There’s nothing you can say that would make me think any worse of you,’ I said.
Pause.
I twig that it hasn’t quite come out in the way I intended, and could in fact be taken in entirely the opposite way. Fabulous. I start gabbling about how it’s because I actually hold them in really high esteem, not the opposite, but then start laughing at myself and how I’m just digging myself a deeper hole.
Ever the professional.


Actually not my fault (honestly!) but a communication breakdown lead to a very confusing few minutes with a client once where they had meant to join the school council, and had instead made an appointment with us. They were expecting there to be more people there, I’m asking about the family background, we’re both looking at each other weirdly... it took a few minutes for the penny to drop. 

In one of our therapy rooms we have coasters that have blue owls on.
‘Is that the TripAdvisor owl?’
Yes, please leave us a five star review at the end of your therapy. Tell all your friends and family!

Client: I’d like to use the time today to think productively about how prayer can help me.
Me: Ok, let’s talk about that some more. What religion are you?
Client: I’m an atheist.
Me: .....

Trying to keep a professional appearance during some conversations is harder than others, particularly if you’re trying to reduce embarrassment, for example when talking to people about masturbation and sexuality.
Client: Please tell me I’m not the only person you have these sorts of conversations with!
Me: Oh not at all, I talk about sex and relationships and masturbation in sessions on a semi-regular basis.
Thinks: Don’t giggle at the word ‘semi’. DO NOT GIGGLE AT THE WORD SEMI. JUST DON’T...
<giggles>
I’m really sorry, the word ‘semi’ just set me off a bit there.

It broke the ice and enabled a frank discussion in a way that perhaps being serious and grown-up might not have done.