Six Weeks As A Therapist

February 1, 2025 was my first day meeting with clients as a counseling student. Having started the graduate program two-and-a-half years earlier, this day was a certain milestone.

Seven semesters.

Fifteen classes.

A host of new, cherished friendships.

Freshly discovered passion and calling.

Growth unlike anything I could've imagined.

I found it all accumulated into my little minimalist office in Hollis, Maine as I—at last—sat across from people seeking the mental health support I offered.

In the first few sessions, I was wracked with nerves.

"What do I say?"

"What will they say?" "What will they think of me?"

"Hell, what will I think of them!?"

"What if I do something wrong?"

"Don't forget the C-SSRS or the crisis phone numbers."

"Am I taking too many notes? Not enough?"

But soon enough, I was warmly embraced—my fear soothed—by something called "the therapeutic alliance," otherwise known by Carl Rogers as "the helping relationship."

The experience of sharing a space so special and, dare I say, sacred left me no choice but to rest in the knowledge that relationships heal. Specifically the relationship between a client and their clinician. This is the foundation on which any scaffolding and structure of theoretical strategies, modalities, and frameworks are built.

"If I can provide a certain type of relationship, the other person will discover within [them]self the capacity to use that relationship for growth, and change and personal development will occur."

Carl Rogers

"When the therapist is experiencing a warm...nonjudgmental acceptance of the client, this facilitates change. When the therapist is sensing the feelings and personal meanings which the client is experiencing in each moment, and when [they] can successfully communicate something of that understanding to the client, then this, too, facilitates change. When the therapist is freely and deeply [them]self, with [their] own feelings and attitudes present in the relationship, then this...also enhances the likelihood of change."

Carl Rogers

I've watched this reality form before my eyes over the last six weeks. I've spent enough sessions trying to build a house on the sand. Without a firm foundation mixed of genuine relationship and active, empathetic listening, it just slides down into the sea. And that sliding shows up in myself as lecturing the client, asking leading questions, pressuring them to follow a modality's map, and, in the end, being disappointed in myself that it didn't "work."

Rather, when I cultivate a space for slowness, contemplation, honesty, and acceptance, both the client and I find our footing on solid ground.

Don't get me wrong, the only way I could be further from an expert is if I didn't have fifteen classes and six weeks under my belt. I'm new to the environment; still mistaking sandy shores for unearthed boulders and vice versa. One day I'm sure there will be wonderful structures like IFS, EMDR, and SFBT built up, but I'd rather spend these early days searching for where to build them.

Overall, I'm grateful to have experienced the magical spark of the therapeutic alliance coming alive and dancing in the space between myself and another—along with the freedom and joy that experience brings.

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Caleb Robertson, Founder

Caleb was born and raised in Hollis, Maine and is

proud to remain a resident of his beloved

community and the Greater Hollis area.

Caleb's mission is to provide holistic support to New Englanders, especially the underserved rural/suburban

communities like Hollis and its neighboring towns.

He is overjoyed to pursue this passion with the support of his wife, an invested extended family, and an exceptional circle of friends and colleagues he's made in various walks of life.