​I am beyond frustrated when I hear someone tell me that a therapist should “not get involved with politics.” This attitude comes from a place of ignorance about the ethical framework that regulates therapists in the United States.
 
Here is why…

Maturing is realizing that the only person who can give you true validation is yourself.
 
I say this as a psychotherapist in New Jersey (and the United Kingdom) who specializes in working with complex trauma using somatic approaches, Polyvagal theory and EMDR. I sit every day with people who are accomplished, insightful, and deeply relational, and who still feel a quiet, persistent ache for reassurance. An ache that doesn't disappear when they succeed or when they've are finally loved. Or when finally someone says that they are enough.

On day one, nothing dramatic occurred. No emotional breakthrough. No sudden sense of calm. Just an unfamiliar awareness of my body: my jaw clenched, my shoulders hovering near my ears, my breaths shallow without me realizing it had been that way for hours.