Becoming a Supertherapist

How do you become, hands-down, the most effective therapist you could have ever dreamed of becoming?

Can anyone become a Supertherapist?

To help answer these questions,  let us start with the following 12 Initial Inquires:

1. What are your success rates?
2. When was the last time you evaluated that?
3. What tools have you been using for this type of evaluation?
4. Do you have a way to measure your progress as a clinician?
5. Do you have a way to measure your progress for (or with) each of your clients?
6. Do you know any clinicians who you would consider to be top in their clinical performance?
7. Do you know what they’ve been doing to set themselves apart?
8. Have you ever thought of finding out?
9. Would you like to find out now?
10. Do you believe you can become a Supertherapist?
11. Would you like to become one?
12. Are you aware of the benefits that come with being a Supertherapist?

Now, very few of us enjoy being evaluated. Even when we ask for feedback, we don’t always welcome what we hear or we dread what we think we are going to hear. This fear is related to a number of factors [1]. What matters here is the fact that we might, at times, do whatever it takes to skip being evaluated. Yet, unfortunately, this avoidance is not without an impact [2]. The impact, in turn, is on us, on our patients and their family members, on the agencies where we practice, and on society at large. On the other hand, such a multidimensional impact has a simple and unique solution:

Becoming a Supertherapist.

That’s right. Simple and unique. Now, by simple and unique, we are actually also saying easy and straightforward. All you need is to just choose to become a Supertherapist and the rest will be up to us, at the SWEET Institute. For we will soon hand you the secrets; and they are far from what you might expect. And you will not only find them simple but you will also find an eagerness in doing them. Part of that is because they are the things you had always been wanting to do, to start with; but you simply did not know how.

Secondly, these secrets that you will be introduced to lie at the core of why we are in this field, to start with; and they, therefore, tap into our innermost intrinsic motivations [3].

Thirdly, they are some of the most practical secrets known to mankind. They are super easy to implement. They barely take any extra time, and in fact, they save us time. They save us headaches. They save aggravations, fear, explanations, justifications, or paperwork. They also save us the need to practice defensive work. And more importantly, they lead to increased patient satisfaction, enhanced clinical outcomes, increased productivity, decreased show rate, decreased dropout, more income for agencies or your practice, and decreased liability.

What’s more is that these secrets increase clinician satisfaction, and decrease burnout, including cynicism, and sense of disempowerment, and the sense of getting stuck. These secrets are the answer to why you are in this field. They will enhance your sense of self, your image as a clinician, your sense of fulfillment, and the joy of being the type of therapist that makes the biggest difference in the lives of the highest number of people throughout your career, no matter how long you may have been practicing.

It matters not whether you have been practicing for 30 years, or 10 years, or 2 years. It matters not whether your degree is in social work, or psychology, or counseling, or medicine, or nursing, or coaching. The secrets we will be giving you are designed to make you the Supertherapist that you, too, can be.

Now, unto you:

1. What do you think those secrets might be?
2. Where do you think they lie?
3. What do you think it takes to become a super therapist?

While waiting for the next article on this series, here’s what you can do:

1. Be one of the first 100 hundred clinicians to send your thoughts and you may earn a free 6-month one-on-one coaching session with SWEET
2. Click here to register for one or both of our upcoming certificate courses
3. Trauma Treatment Protocol Certificate Course: Click Here to Join Us
4. Loneliness Certificate Course: Click Here to Join Us

[1] Reichenberger, Julia, Joshua M. Smyth, and Jens Blechert. “Fear of evaluation unpacked: day-to-day correlates of fear of negative and positive evaluation.” Anxiety, Stress, & Coping 31.2 (2018): 159-174
[2] Lynd-Stevenson, Robert M., and Christie M. Hearne. “Perfectionism and depressive affect: The pros and cons of being a perfectionist.” Personality and Individual Differences 26.3 (1999): 549-562.
[3] Prendergast, Canice. “Intrinsic motivation and incentives.” American Economic Review 98.2 (2008): 201-205.