Helping Profession in a Helpless World
In a world marked by violence, loss, and systemic failure, it's easy for helping professionals to question whether their work is enough. This reflective piece explores the quiet power of therapy: not as a solution to every crisis, but as an act of resistance that nurtures safety, accountability, and hope, one relationship at a time.
When there’s a worrisome or shocking event that’s happened, the news finds its way into our inboxes, social media and television sets.
It changes how we feel for the rest of the day.
If the news spreads around, societies feel shocked and impacted for a much longer time. We feel scared, disgusted, and angry. We feel uncertain about whether anything will ever change.
There never ceases to be a reminder from the world that we as humans are vulnerable.
Terrorism, genocide, pandemics, natural disasters, crime and poverty come from all corners of the world, and yet they converge into the same spaces: police stations, hospitals, therapy rooms and courts.
As helping professionals, we witness the depths of human suffering. We are also asked to undo the impacts of said suffering. We take on this overwhelming gravity as a personal and professional duty.
We sit with the strange paradox of treating social crises by addressing isolated incidents.
We are painfully aware of broader failures, and so we wonder about our abilities to change much in this world. We tout the idea of true healing within a system that allows us none of that.
Yet, we continue our work with our heads down- all because we are the shock absorbers for the world of hurting and hoping for people.
It’s easy for us to jump into the misinterpretation that our work scarcely makes a dent in this chaotic existence.
Are we pouring spoons of water into a forest fire?
Are we slapping Band-Aids on organ bleeds?
We play a fundamentally more shifting role than we think we do. Our work and our presence is a reminder to the world that safety exists.
We, with our support, humour and encouragement, build moments that create resilience and strength in survivors.
In systems that fail us, we are living proof that safe connections still exist.
These moments are fleeting, but they are profound. They are the threads of hope that our clients hold onto, and it is our privilege and responsibility to help weave them into something stronger.
Better yet, we hold systems responsible in our own unique ways.
As therapists, we break intergenerational patterns that normalise aggression, violence and complacency. We hold accountability for wrongdoings and reject culture as the end-all be-all. It is vital to fight for changes at the level of lawmakers and corporations.
Yet, we create social change in the whispers of the therapy room, in the kindness of our treatment.