Who Takes Care of the Mental Health Counselor?
Joe Therapist is an intern mental health counselor at a high-stress, nonprofit agency in downtown Any City, U.S.A. A week after the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center Towers, he sees six or seven clients daily, often after conducting CISDs for government employees. Joe is angered when one of his regular clients, a 27-year-old single female, shows no inclination to share any feelings about the terrorist attack, and instead, spends the session talking about her inability to choose between two boyfriends. Joe is disappointed in himself because he knows very well that his client has displaced her anxiety over the terrorist crisis onto relationship issues that she finds easier to handle. Joe almost wishes he could be one of the heroic firefighters, cops, paramedics he’s watched on TV. They seem like society’s true heroes. Joe, forgive yourself for your anger. What you’ve really wanted to do the last week is stay in bed and hide under the covers. Only your sense of duty has brou
