How is Therapy Like Doing Laundry?

How is Therapy Like Doing Laundry?

Laundry – the necessary evil to get out dirt, grime, stains and unwanted stench.   A task resulting in revitalized, fresh and clean garments to go forth into the world. Doing laundry for most involves time, sorting, detergent, water and folding skills. Manufacturers provide labels that suggest hot or cold water, low or high heat and “lay flat to dry” or the fan favorite “dry clean only.”

Who really likes doing laundry? There may be a few folks out there that enjoy this task, but for the most part it is just something that needs to get done. Like laundry, therapy is an option to get out the gunk – it may take longer than the standard seventy-minute wash cycle, but it will be well worth it!

I think of therapy like coming into a laundromat. You come in with a bag or two or three and we will start to work on the pieces together. YOU pick the order in which we proceed. Whether you want to start with:

• The most odoriferous piece – you think nobody is ready for or can stand
• The “wine stain” – you have tried repeatedly to get out or get rid of
• The “easiest” to clean with a small blemish you might feel safest dealing with first in order to build our rapport together

No matter what you pick, we will look at cycle speed (delicate vs. normal – meeting weekly or more/less often), H₂0 temperature (cold vs. warm – maintenance or deeper/targeted/specific topic sessions) and load size (small, medium, large – weight of the struggles you are feeling). When you are ready to get some laundry done, it may not be fun all the time, but together we can make the task not as daunting!

I originally wrote this as a guest blogger while working for a group practice in 2016.

© Erica Faulhaber 2016 – This blog may be shared or reprinted as long as the information is unedited and the author bio, including contact information is printed along with the blog.