To The Client Who Just Concluded Therapy

Dearest Client Who Just Concluded Therapy,

This was the goal all along - for you to feel good enough to conclude therapy.

For you to heal the painful parts.

For you to understand why everything felt so messy. For you to see how your environment impacted you and how to make choices within a complex system.

"Goodbye my dear client" Illustration by Jackie Schuld

For you to drop shame and develop self-compassion.

For you to see the myriad of beliefs heaped on you, and decide what you want your own to be.

For you to learn boundaries and how to assert yourself.

For you to practice what you learned, stumble, and practice again.

For you to feel confident. Secure. Ready.

For you to know there will be ups and downs, and you will be ok.

For you to say, “Thank you Jackie, but I got this now.”

And so, today was your last day.

We celebrated. We reviewed all that took place in the art therapy room. We looked at all your art. We created some more to hold our goodbyes. We shared our optimism about the future.

You walked out the door.

And then there was heaviness in my heart.

I am happy for you, and I am also sad.

I’ve loved getting to see you every week.

I’ve loved getting to be present with the ups, downs, and twists.

All of the laughter we shared about the absurdity of life.

I will miss you.

When your weekly spot rolls around and you do not come in, I will think of you.

It will be an adjustment for me, too.

I understand the benefits of the clear definition of roles in a therapeutic relationship. It is a paid relationship with a power differential. But I still care. I still see you more consistently and frequently than I do some of my closest friends. Every week we talk deeply about the most important things in life. It’s the best kind of conversation.

You do not know all of the ways I learned from you.

You do not know how your unique insights impacted me.

You do not know how much empathy I hold for what brought you to therapy and the darkness you needed to work through.

You do not know how I saw so much of myself in you and how that helped me develop more compassion for myself.

You do not know what fun I found our sessions to be.

So I too mourn that you have concluded.

It was the right time, but I will deeply miss you.

With Love,

Jackie

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