it can be tempting for early career therapists to believe that the right model of therapy, the right theory, or the next empirically validated technique will be the thing that makes them a great therapist. In their best efforts to provide the very best care for clients, and perhaps to ease their anxiety about doing good work, early career therapists may reach for something "proven," "validated" or even "magical" in order to be worth the fees they charge.

Yes, it's tempting.

Don't give in.

No one else but you can talk out of your mouth but you. Your voice, and your voice alone, will ever speak effectively in the therapy sessions wherein you are the therapist.

The purpose of theory, models of therapy, and the myriad techniques available is not to remove the therapist from the equation, but instead they exist to shape the therapist. You are not to lose your voice in these tools of therapy, but instead you are to find your voice, refine your voice, strengthen your voice, and make a contribution to the lives of your clients that you alone can provide.

If your goal is to become someone else with all the training, reading, and rehearsing, then the best you can do is a fair impersonation of someone else. You may be able to mimic Susan Johnson or Bill O'Hanlon, but you are obviously not them. Do not solve for how to be your mentor or clinical hero or how to "nail" the model of therapy, but instead seek to develop the part of you that your mentor, hero, or model of therapy calls to in their work and in those techniques. Becoming the vest best clinical version of yourself is the goal for early career therapists.

And mid career therapists.

And late career therapists.

You can do empirically validated therapy all you want, but if you are not actively becoming an empirically validated therapist, you will never be the best you can be. Do clinical work in your voice as shaped, coached, and refined by everything you learn.