PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

WHO TREATS THE THERAPIST? By Stuart Robertson, MSc, BSc physiotherapy, BEd Hons

SO WHO TREATS THE THERAPIST? The experiences I have had, and the ideas and concepts that have grown up around them, are no more than signposts, which may or may not be followed. What is it that motivates us to seek advice about our health? If we look at health as a continuum, at one end of the scale is illness and chronic disease and at the other vibrant health.

ILLNESS VIBRANT HEALTH

Where would you place yourself on this continuum, remembering that health does not simply mean the absence of ill health!

At the end of a typical day’s work mark where you feel you would be at?

PHYSICALLY DRAINED MENTALLY TIRED EMOTIONALLY DEPLETED HIGHLY ENERGISED MENTALLY ALERT EMOTIONALLY BALANCED

If you score way out on the right hand side on all counts then pass this article on to someone who wouldn’t, and if you didn’t then maybe you need some treatment.

INSECURITIES AND UNCERTAINTIES On the continuum below, mark as a percentage how many of your clients have you ‘cured’ completely? That is purely on a physical level!

0% 100%

Have you found yourself saying or asking any of the sentences below? ■ ‘I’m never going to get this client/patient better.’ ■ ‘Oh no, not Mrs Snodgrass next, ahhh!’ ■ ‘These symptoms just don’t seem to fit any pattern.’

A THERAPEUTIC JOURNEY How do you perceive yourself as a therapist? Do you see yourself as the ‘fixer’ or the ‘facilitator’? I have been both. Neither can be said to be right or wrong, I would suggest that there is a place for both in the world of therapy, but for my own health I now choose to be a facilitator. This therapeutic journey started when I was working as the clinical specialist in chronic pain at Kingston Hospital. At that time I was a ‘fixer’. After a year I estimated that I was worse off than half of my patients. The burden of expectation, both self- induced and from those of the patients was quite literally crippling me. Something had to change and that was to become a facilitator.

Many times I have been asked for directions by someone in a car. I would reply something along the lines of ‘take the first left then right at the traffic lights and it’s the third road on the left’. If that person had asked me as a therapist, I would have asked him to get in the passenger seat and I would have driven him there myself! That is the difference between a ‘fixer’ and a ‘facilitator’. Most dri- vers would not accept the offer for me to drive them to their des-

“The real voyage of discovery consists,

not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” Marcel Proust.

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This article is based this on my own personal journey. I have undergone a transformation that has taken me from a mechanical, tired, bored, stressed and grumpy therapist to an intuitive, energised and passionate one. I now feel ready to share my experiences. The article’s main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs, or indeed convince you of any- thing, but to reflect upon a different perspective.

■ ‘Why does this technique work so well for some and not for others?’

■ ‘What on earth am I going to try next with this person?’ ■ ‘I’m in a worse state than half my clients’

Do you ever find yourself thinking about the patient/client’s prob- lem who has just walked out of the door, while you are working with the present person. As a therapist of 16 years standing I am less certain now of how to treat a patient than when I first qualified, not because I know less, but because I know more!