Flip the Script: Interview with Alysa Golden, MSW, RSW

I really love being a therapist. I love being able to help people to uncover their joy, to be able to move forward, to fulfill their potential. I feel like that is just a huge privilege to be able to enter into a space with somebody and help them to live their best life. At this point in my career, I have a great big bag of different things that I can pull out to help people. I'm pretty eclectic, so I have creative tools, I have meditation tools, I have holistic tools, and lots of different kinds of talk therapy tools. At this point, I kind of understand, and know and intuit what my clients need when. So, together we sort of pull those tools out, look at them, and see what is gonna make the most sense at whatever time.

My philosophy  of therapy is that we all have at our center at our core, a peace and sort of a quiet joy, and really limitless potential. And what happens is that we just listen to all of these messages throughout our lives, from people we love, from people we don't love, from society. And that covers up our core joy. And therapy is really about gently uncovering that center, so that then we can hear what it has to say, hear where it's guiding us, and be able to follow it, to trust it, and to be able to get to where we're supposed to be in our lives.

I'm able to fully be there with my client. I feel like I am able to really listen, I really hold a compassionate and safe space, and really form a partnership with the person who's in front of me so that together we are just moving forward with a lot of care and comfort.

My favourite thing to do with clients these days is to help clients to know that their feelings are not the enemy. We can have a feeling that's uncomfortable, and not have to spend our lives stuffing it down or pushing it away. We can actually hold it and let it come up, and you know what happens, it just sort of dissipates. And we have lots of tools to help it dissipate faster, but we don't have to spend our lives reacting and resisting those feelings. Feelings are not our enemies, they're just energy.