Playgroup as Peer Group

Counseling Today just published an article I wrote about how some therapist moms and dads balance their work with busy home lives. As a part of the DCTherapistMoms group locally, I was expecting to find similar support networks for therapists around the country. While I certainly found a lot of people expressing a need for such a forum (a balance of networking, information-sharing, and commiserating), I was surprised to find no other formal groups serving this population.

It's true that most of us in the mental health community participate our own professional networks. I personally subscribe to listservs for Imago therapists both locally and nationally, have case consultations with my colleagues, and meet weekly with a peer supervision group. With email, listservs and other social media we have ways to find nearly-immediate answers to any case-related questions that might come up. But in my research I realized how lucky I am to live in a city that offers so many outlets for supervision and continuing education (not to mention many outlets that support all parent/professionals, which is another important issue). Access to these resources have become a key part of the self-care routine that helps me be available to my clients and present in the work we get to do together.