Why we started GoodTherapy.org
In the fall of 2005, Charlene and I were in Nome, Alaska. One day while getting ready to go out for a hike, I got a call from a friend who was telling me a story about someone who had been hurt by a therapist. He described the behavior of the therapist as punitive and condescending. I was pretty upset after hearing the story. Ove the years, I’ve heard too many horror stories of people being mistreated in therapy... Later in the day while hiking across the tundra we made our way to a gigantic rock outcrop overlooking a spectacular view of Norton Sound. It was breathtaking. We were on the outcrop talking about what had happened to the friend of a friend when I had an inspiration. The idea was to create an organization that would advocate for collaborative and nonpathologizing forms of therapy and to form a collection of therapists who were interested in doing their own therapy, looking closely at their own stuff (to use a clinical term
) and who viewed and treated their clients as fundamentally capable and proficient, rather than fundamentally flawed and deficient.
Although I tried to shake this vision, I couldn’t. After about a year later and hundreds of hours of work, we had our first prototype website. For months we kept tweaking it into form and, finally, we started GoodTherapy.org in February of 2007. Had I known then how much work it would be, I probably wouldn't have done it.
It’s been a challenging and rewarding journey. Almost daily I am touched by different stories from professionals and non-professionals about how GoodTherapy.org has helped them in ways I wouldn't have guessed. Many visitors to our website have emailed to thank us, saying that they finally feel comfortable about going to therapy because of GoodTherapy.org. I’ve also received a handful of emails from people in therapy who have gained the confidence to talk to their therapist about something the therapist said or did that hurt them.
One individual was no longer accepting the therapist’s response, which was always to turn the concern back onto the client without taking a moment to reflect on their own inner world and the possibility that she was in error. Another inspirational email came from a therapist who was compelled to reevaluate the quality of his work and the way he may have been misusing his power by being stuck in the ‘know-it-all” position with his clients. I could relate to that, as it's said, "been there, done that."
I know it's a bit grandiose, but I hope that in addition to helping people to know the differences between healthy and unhealthy psychotherapy and helping people to find therapists, GoodTherapy.org might help the mental health field to rediscover what mental health is all about.
Noah :)
Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director
PS, enjoy these shots from our hike up the tundra:
(Above) Noah on a a rock outcrop above the Nome River facing South toward Norton Sound
(Below) A different rock outcrop and a view to the Northeast.
