The Expert

Photo Credit: Torren Smith

I recently went to a training facilitated by Houston Galveston Institute (HGI). They are the frontrunners of collaborative dialogic practices and has ultimately shaped me into the therapist that I am. I got a chance to hear Harlene Anderson speak about being a collaborative practitioner and what I call the "beautiful happenings" of listening and using language to make meaning.

This way of being, collaborative, is what I strive for when I meet with my clients. It means that when I'm in the same space with clients, I surrender the invisible pressures to know it all, to be the expert, or to assume I know what's best for my client. I have learned that the client is always the expert of themselves. And in each experience I have with a client, I learn more and more how to be a co-traveler and follow their lead. I bring with me openness and curiosity into the session. And the power of that curiosity allows for the expansion of perspectives, understandings, and possible solutions to problems to be discovered. Also, as a result, clients usually walk away feeling heard and validated.

The beautiful happenings of being heard, validated, and making a little more sense of the world can be a very healing conversation.