You’re in your comfy therapist chair, sipping your coffee (or tea), fresh morning sunlight pouring in through your window, and you’re feeling solid about the work you’re doing with this client. Things haven’t been progressing as quickly as you would like, but you’re starting to see some glimmers of change. 

As you reflect this most recent shift in how your client named their emotion, your client looks at you and says, “Yeah, but it wasn’t enough. I still went into my anxiety spiral and spent the rest of the night obsessing about what I did wrong. Then I couldn’t sleep and I feel like crap today. I just don’t know if therapy is working.”

As a highly sensitive therapist, I often feel pressure to communicate perfectly with clarity and calm. I find myself thinking, "If I only had the right words, then they’d get it.” But even when using the best timing, phrasing, and tone, we all know that communication can fall flat.

You’re sitting with a client, their tears are flowing, and they just keep saying, “I don’t know what to do!” Your body almost lurches forward, wanting to save them, physically carry the burden that’s weighing them down, or just offer some tangible solution for their problem.