PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT FOR THERAPISTS
By David Hennessy, Clinical Psychologist
Individual psychological therapy for therapists who want a confidential space to focus on their own wellbeing, whether the concerns are connected with therapeutic work, life outside work, or both.
Therapists can need psychological support for the same broad range of reasons as anyone else. They may also face pressures associated with sustained emotional engagement, professional responsibility, difficult clinical material, boundaries and the expectation of remaining steady for other people. Appointments are available in person at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast and by secure telehealth across Australia.
Working as a therapist does not place someone outside the ordinary range of human experience. Therapists may seek therapy for anxiety, low mood, grief, relationships, neurodiversity, sleep, life transitions, trauma, health concerns or other difficulties that have little or nothing to do with professional work.
At other times, the work itself becomes part of what needs attention. Repeated exposure to distress, complex responsibility, uncertainty, professional self-doubt, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, workplace pressures or difficulty switching off can gradually affect wellbeing.
This service is for the therapist as a client. It is not clinical supervision, professional consultation or CPD. Where supervision, organisational change, medical care or another form of professional support is needed, therapy can sit alongside those supports rather than replace them.
There is no single presentation that defines when a therapist should seek psychological support. Some common reasons include:
These experiences are not unique to therapists and do not automatically indicate a mental health disorder. Assessment can help clarify the broader pattern, the person’s circumstances and what form of support may be most useful.
Therapy can provide a place where the therapist does not need to be the clinician, problem-solver or emotionally steady person in the room.
Depending on the person’s needs and circumstances, therapy may help to:
Therapy cannot remove every external pressure or make an unsafe or unreasonable workplace acceptable. Where difficulties are substantially organisational, industrial, medical or supervisory, other forms of support may also be important.
Therapy begins with an individual assessment. The focus is then tailored to the therapist’s goals, preferences, circumstances and the concerns that are most relevant to their wellbeing.
Therapists can be highly practised at noticing, understanding and responding to other people while finding it less familiar to remain with their own experience. Therapy can provide space to step out of the professional role and attend to personal needs without having to perform expertise.
Where work is part of the difficulty, therapy may explore workload, emotional labour, role expectations, recovery, availability, professional identity and the boundary between work and the rest of life. If occupational stress or burnout is the primary concern, the dedicated occupational stress service may also be relevant.
Repeated exposure to traumatic or distressing material can affect therapists in different ways. Therapy may help a person notice the emotional, cognitive and physical impact of this work, understand what belongs to their own history or current circumstances, and consider practical ways of supporting recovery. Clinical supervision remains important for case-related professional decision-making.
Therapists may hold themselves to demanding professional standards. Therapy can explore when conscientiousness is useful and when fear of mistakes, excessive responsibility, guilt or self-criticism begins to narrow choices or increase distress.
Therapists are also partners, parents, friends, family members and people with interests, health needs, losses, hopes and ordinary human limitations. Therapy can support concerns that are entirely separate from clinical work and help restore a broader sense of identity and balance.
Treatment is guided by assessment and formulation rather than assuming that one approach suits every therapist. Psychological knowledge can be helpful, but knowing a model intellectually is not the same as having space to use therapy personally.
CBT can help explore interactions among thoughts, emotions, behaviour and physical stress responses, including cycles involving worry, avoidance, perfectionism or reduced restorative activity.
ACT may support psychological flexibility, acceptance of difficult internal experiences and values-guided action when circumstances cannot simply be changed or controlled.
Mindfulness-based approaches may help strengthen awareness of stress responses, create space around automatic reactions and support deliberate recovery and self-care.
Where trauma, vicarious trauma or difficult clinical material is relevant, therapy can be paced with attention to safety, choice, collaboration and the person’s broader context.
Explore the broader evidence-based therapy approaches used at Hennessy Clinical Psychology.
Personal therapy and clinical supervision can overlap in subject matter, but they have different purposes. Therapy focuses on the therapist’s own psychological wellbeing and functioning. Supervision focuses on professional practice, client care, ethical and clinical decision-making, and development within the practitioner role. One does not automatically substitute for the other.
These pages provide closely related service and educational pathways without duplicating the purpose of this therapist-specific service page.
Explore the broader hub bringing together psychological support, therapist wellbeing, burnout, vicarious trauma, reflective practice and professional learning.
For difficulties arising primarily from paid work, including sustained workload, organisational pressure, professional responsibility, moral distress or occupational burnout.
Educational information about burnout in roles involving sustained emotional engagement and responsibility for other people’s wellbeing.
Explore reflective practice as a professional learning process that supports thoughtful, ethical and adaptable therapeutic work.
Explore the cumulative physiological and emotional demands of therapeutic work, including secondary traumatic stress and recovery.
Explore broader services and educational information relating to chronic stress, occupational burnout and sustained demands.
Common questions about individual psychological therapy for therapists.
No. Personal therapy focuses on the therapist’s own psychological wellbeing, functioning and personal concerns. Clinical supervision focuses on professional practice, client care, ethical and clinical decision-making, and professional development. They may sometimes touch on similar experiences, but they serve different purposes.
No. Therapists may seek psychological support for the same broad range of reasons as anyone else, including anxiety, low mood, grief, relationships, sleep, health changes, trauma, neurodiversity or life transitions. Support can also be useful when work pressures are becoming difficult before burnout develops.
Yes. This is individual psychological therapy, not a workplace-only service. The focus is guided by what is affecting your wellbeing and what you want help with, whether or not it is connected with professional practice.
Yes. Therapy may help with the personal emotional and psychological impact of repeated exposure to distressing or traumatic material. Case-specific clinical decision-making and professional practice issues remain matters for appropriate supervision or professional consultation.
Therapists attend as clients and the usual professional standards and limits of confidentiality apply. These limits are discussed as part of informed consent so there is clarity about privacy, record keeping and the circumstances in which information may need to be disclosed.
Yes. Appointments are available in person at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast and by secure telehealth across Australia where telehealth is clinically appropriate.
Hennessy Clinical Psychology provides psychological therapy for adolescents and adults from Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast, with telehealth appointments available across Australia.
If you are a therapist wanting a place to focus on your own wellbeing, you are welcome to make an enquiry or book an appointment. You do not need to decide in advance whether the difficulty is best described as personal, occupational or a mixture of both.