What you see is that therapists can be both easy clients and tough clients. I am an easy client in that I don’t dance around my problems and I am open, vulnerable, and prepared to work. But, I am tough because I don’t put up with B.S. like when the therapist tries to blow past my request for specifics about his license, education, and type of therapy he practices.  

Questions about training and licensure are among the most basic and ones that any client can and should ask. I never really got specific answers to my questions, but I decided to move on as I had work to do and didn’t have time to look for someone else. But, all was not lost.

What came out of that exchange was my realization that in order to speak effectively with my father about the past, I needed to come from a place of understanding about his past. Though an angry confrontation might feel good to me (and be satisfying to the viewer), I knew it would not bring any progress or understanding.  If anything, I would be doing to him what he did to me.  

It’s time to break the cycle and do something different.