It’s impossible for any counseling graduate program to teach all the things.

It’s a complex undertaking at best. But it’s been increasingly impacted by our field’s investment in differentiating professional identities. Are you a marriage and family therapist? A licensed clinical social worker? A psychologist? Your education will reflect that identity.

These professional paradigm turf wars cause troubling gaps in therapist education and they impact our clinical practice when we don’t communicate amongst each other.

We want to go deeper at The Kiln and fill the gaps on topics that are routinely missed or glossed over in graduate education and bring varied perspectives to our students. Because if the knowledge or theory helps us be better therapists, does it really matter what discipline it comes from?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• What we lose when we build silos around our professional identities
• How the push for accreditation can narrow curriculum to the point of leaving out crucial foundations
• How paradigm turf wars contribute to unproductive, reductionist arguments and isolation
• How the limitations of grad schools’ ability to teach in nuanced ways about complex subjects like diagnosis impact clinical practice
• The importance of learning from others who are actively practicing the work, and from studying your own work
• Why we believe in cultivating an ethos of career-long learning and growth

Learn more about The Kiln:

• Website

Learn more about Dr. Kae Hixson:

• Website

Learn more about Riva Stoudt, MA, LPC:

• Into the Woods Counseling
• Instagram

Resources:

• The New Unconscious, James S. Uleman, John A. Bargh, and Ran R. Hassin
• Season 3 Ep 5: From Childhood Wounds to Therapeutic Wisdom with Dr. Karen Maroda
• The Analyst's Vulnerability: Impact on Theory and Practice, Dr. Karen Maroda
• Season 3 Ep 11: Redefining Psychiatric Constructs with Dr. Miri Forbes