1/ I’m sorry if mental health workers are disheartened when people like me raise concerns about our experience of MH systems. I value the caring and efforts of MH workers immensely. That said, if there can’t be room for vulnerable people to share concerns I’m not ok with that

2/ It’s hard to work within flawed systems sincerely intending to do good but sometimes causing harm due to failings that are perpetuated by the system. Especially when being undervalued & under-compensated. This is true not only of MH sectors but others (hi, legal profession!)

3/ But the answer can’t be to block out, silence, & blame those who are vulnerable to those systemic harms from raising their concerns & describing their damaging experiences. The answer can’t be to preserve the comfort of the many by excluding the perspectives of the vulnerable

4/ We need to be on the same side. The side of understanding that many people are doing their best -yet failures occur that must be faced & addressed even when it doesn’t feel good. I’m so disheartened that there’s resistance to this: it makes me feel I never should have engaged

5/ This is the exact sort of harm that people like me are vulnerable to within therapy relationships: if we’re too challenging to the assumptions the therapist needs to cling to in order to cope. I’ve seen this unfold. I fear it. We need to face these dynamics not bury them.

I’m going to add this earlier thread here since it provides some context to where I’m coming from: https://twitter.com/crys_tom/status/1338232404897656834

I’m the biggest cheerleader in the world for the benefits of the right therapy. I have 2 therapists & a wonderful relationship with both. I praise my primary therapist on here a lot. But the critiques are also valid & important. Defensive reactions are the cause of so much harm

But honestly even if my favorite trauma psychiatrist were here I’d have a TON of concerns to raise with her too (eg this blog post). That’s the thing about this stuff. We don’t have it right. Difficult conversations are necessary …https://traumaandlawyersmentalhealth.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-harms-of-only-always-never-single.html

Incidentally before I even spoke to my therapist for the first time I gave him an 8000 word document outlining some of the basics of my history because it would have been impossible to have a meaningful conversation otherwise: a document I shared with only one other person

(Note this one tweet right above belonged in a different thread but I’ve left it here since it generated discussion)

This is where it belonged https://twitter.com/crys_tom/status/1338275558916911104

I should add this thread wasn’t aimed at any one person. It’s a topic that seems to be going around in all kinds of contexts & geographical locations right now in different ways. So I had stuff to say about it that blended my reaction to all those. It’s a composite of them all.

So if anyone sees it and thinks I’m reacting to them: maybe partially. But it’s a larger phenomenon that manifests itself in different ways so I’m addressing them all at once.