A clinical therapist is a professional with a ton of experience when it comes to youth mental issues. Children are particularly vulnerable to a myriad of unfortunate events above their control. These events end up hurting them in the long run and can determine their behavior. Thus therapists are trained to observe, counsel, and assist the young to understand their emotions. Throughout their education, they have been taught techniques that can be used to help the student open up. These skills include personal identity, empathy, active listening, humor, and trust.
One of the significant things that I learned from the therapist is the fragility of our minds. A single event such as a divorce, death of a loved one or abuse can permanently scar our lives. If not treated well through therapy, it may result to certain behaviors such as unwarranted aggression, depression, and unstable development. How do therapists cure their patients? It starts by having a firm identity of who they are. Therapists have to first understand themselves in order to help a patient understand themselves. It is important to ensure that they do not get their own defenses to get in the way of assisting a child (Duncan, 2014).
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Also, therapists have to hone their listening skills to an advanced level. To get a picture of what is happening in the child’s mind and which stage they are in their development cycle, they have to listen. Children go through stages throughout their lives that can be seen by the behavior they take on. For instance, in the adolescence stage, the struggle is between identity and role confusion (Help, 2018). The added social and academic tend to battle with their search for personal identity. Thus they end up pushing some behaviors to the limit and may encounter communication and emotional problems. For a therapist to not all these things listening is important; children have to be listened to in order to talk.
Moreover, the conversation between a therapist and a child has to be well seasoned. The therapist is expected to learn to relate to the child. Such relation comes from trust; hence, they too have to open up to the patient to show them that they are not in their situation by themselves (Help, 2018). Thus well-intentioned humor and empathy should be incorporated in the therapy sessions. One should be able to respond to their feelings and as well make them comfortable enough to be happy for life.
From these lessons, I realized the importance of such interactions in leadership. Leadership, by all means, requires interacting with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Sometimes leaders lack interpersonal skills that create synergy in a group (Schyns et al. , 2018). Therefore, it is imperative that leaders learn to be empathetic to the members in their group. A leader should realize that their feelings may be particularly different from others in the group. Hence they should practice communicating with respect and being collaborative rather than judgmental. Also, leaders should try and incorporate humor. Not in a cynical way but a therapeutic manner that can be used to motivate members towards specific goals. Humor is useful in making the members of a group feel comfortable about their leader and gain their trust (Schyns et al. , 2018).
These habits and a strong personality assist in many leadership activities. Thus, a leader should practice constancy in their leadership style. Constancy is being stable with emotions and practicing a specific method of management. It helps to deal with issues when they arise and avoid being temperamental when members make mistakes. More importantly, leaders should uphold effective listening skills (Schyns et al. , 2018). Listening attentively to members can lead to the discovery of issues that affect the group and lead to their resolution. Therefore, it is quite evident that the skills youth therapists gain quite essential in leadership.
References
Duncan, B. L. (2014). On becoming a better therapist: Evidence-based practice one client at a time . American Psychological Association.
Help, G. (2018). Child Therapy, Teen Therapy, Therapist for Teenager, Therapist for Children. Retrieved 11 September 2019, from https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/child-and-adolescent-issues
Schyns, B., Kiefer, T., Kerschreiter, R., & Tymon, A. (2011). Teaching implicit leadership theories to develop leaders and leadership: How and why it can make a difference. Academy of Management Learning & Education , 10 (3), 397-408.
