{"id":26604,"date":"2015-02-05T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=26604"},"modified":"2017-06-30T13:57:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T20:57:33","slug":"the-best-advice-a-therapist-could-get-stop-giving-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/the-best-advice-a-therapist-could-get-stop-giving-advice-0205154","title":{"rendered":"The Best Advice a Therapist Could Get? Stop Giving Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"female-with-hand-up\"I remember when I first started out as a therapist. I loved offering advice. I had such<\/em> important, good advice to share.<\/p>\n

Actually, I was full of advice long before I became a therapist. I had good ideas for just about everyone in every situation starting from a fairly young age.<\/p>\n

At one point in college, I decided to try an experiment. Instead of being so free and honest with my advice, I’d wait until people asked me for it. Why should I make it easy for everyone?<\/p>\n

Strangely enough, no one asked.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that’s part of what initially led me to this profession. Imagine my surprise when, three weeks into my first internship, my boss very directly told me and the other two interns, “Your job this year is to learn to listen and to not help anyone.”<\/p>\n

What?<\/p>\n

I found that to be glib and annoying. I figured he just wanted to say something bold, shocking, something to make us think twice. I mean, my earliest exposure to therapy<\/a> was Lucy in the comic strip Peanuts. There was an advice giver if ever there was one.<\/p>\n

Well, my boss was right.<\/p>\n

Advice giving as a therapist should be a rare thing. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

\n\t

Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n