Therapy shouldn’t be like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
There are at least two reasons not to write this post. The first is that it’s dorky, the second that I’m completely dating myself! But here I go anyway.
Clients often come in for their second or third session and say, “I didn’t really work on what we talked about last week,” or, “We waited to bring this to you because we don’t feel we can address it without a neutral third party.” Other times, usually near the end of the session, they’ll say, “This is great, but I’m afraid I’ll forget it all again when I walk out that door.”
This is common enough that I think it means I need to make some changes in how I do counseling, what I say, and how we all follow up with each other from session to session. So now I encourage clients to bring a notebook (if that works for them), write in their journal after the session, or call me between sessions if they forget what we talked about, or lose momentum and motivation.
And for some crazy reason, the metaphor I struck upon was Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, that old comedy show from the seventies. If you haven’t had the pleasure, here’s a quick example of their schtick. A bunch of people (resplendent in seventies clothing!) dances to disco music, and every few seconds the music stops, the camera zooms in, and somebody tells a joke. Then the music and dancing start up again, and a few seconds later they do it all over again.
This is what therapy can be like, if we don’t pay attention to it. All week long you dance to the music, then you come in, we talk, we gain insight, we plan practical solutions, we cover important topics, you leave my office, and the music starts up again… another week of dancing, and you can hardly remember what we talked about.
My goal is to help therapy be an organic part of your life–for as long as you feel you need it, that is. I don’t want it to be an odd thing you do once every seven days that has little or no connection to the rest of your life. So let’s work together to be sure your counseling is helping you all week long.
(See, I told you it was a dorky example!)
