The Practice of Therapy

Gordon Brewer
Okay, hi. Okay. All right, well pause. Alright, and then go ahead.

Samantha Cimo
Hi, my name is Samantha. I am a graduate student for mental health counseling. And I'm currently on the practice of therapy podcast to discuss my journey of going through the counseling program. And what that was like for me.

Gordon Brewer
Let me let me pause here. Samantha, you put out your last name SEMO Yes, SEMA? Okay. All right. Well, hello, everyone, and welcome again to the podcast. And I'm really glad for you all to get to know Samantha SEMO. Welcome, Samantha.

Samantha Cimo
Thank you so much for having me on today. I'm very excited.

Gordon Brewer
Yes. And what what's fun for me is that you're a student, you're in graduate school, and really passionate about what we're doing. And you've also started your own podcast. And we'll talk about that some too. But as a start with everyone, Samantha, why don't you tell folks a little bit about your journey and how you've landed where you've landed?

Samantha Cimo
Well, it for my short 26 years, it's been a long journey it feels but it's it's gone from every profession that you could think of. But mainly, I had initially intended on taking over my parents restaurant. And think it was the easier route for me. And that's what I just kind of made myself believe that that was what I was supposed to do with my life. I also had been working there since after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, which I was eight or nine years old when I started working as a cashier. And I worked there every year of my life, and I still even work there every now and then to get some extra cash and grad school. So when they retire, I am also retiring. But when I realized that that wasn't for me, it was after I had graduated with my undergrad in business management. And I worked at the restaurant for about two years, full time for the first time. And that I realized that this was actually really harming my mental health. Um, if anyone has ever worked with their family, it could be really hard to separate work from family issues. And a lot of those things get taken home or taken personally and or people forget that you're talking to a family member. And so, you know, I had been in counseling since I was 19. I've always been and you'll hear a lot of counselors or counseling students say this, but they've always been the person that their friends go to for advice, or to talk to be the be the mediator be the level headed person. And that was me, and I enjoy being able to help people that way. So I knew that I needed to go into counseling. And once I started getting that ball rolling, it was almost as if this was the path I was meant to take from the beginning because everything started to come immediately one after the other. Of course, there were bumps in the road, but none of them were enough to deter me from going this, this route. And now that I'm in my practicum, and actually getting to work with clients, I'm realizing more than ever, that this is where I'm supposed to be.

Gordon Brewer
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's that story. Sounds bill. Very familiar. The other thing that I think all of us have in common in this field is is that we, we recognize our own issues that we're working through and just have a passion for helping others in the same way we've been helped through our own therapy. Yeah,

Samantha Cimo
absolutely. I think about this often. And it's so funny, because in my first class at the school that I attend, is was a theories class, for the theories of counseling and I learned about Adlerian theory. And I go to my counselor, and I was like, I don't know what it is, but I really like Adlerian and she's like, it's probably because I'm an Adlerian therapist. Oh,

Gordon Brewer
yes, yes. That's, that's funny. Yeah. One one kind of strange fund back when you mentioned Adler, I just one of my therapist that works in my practice, went to the Adler Institute. So that's, she pulls, pulls in And a lot of pulls out a lot of that. Jenna, shout out to Jennifer, she she's part of my staff. But yeah, so. So for us, Samantha, what? What are you learning about? I know you've got a podcast wanted to say a little bit about that.

Samantha Cimo
Yeah, so I started my podcast back in January. It's called good you questionmark therapy podcast? I, I came up with the name, it took me a bit, but it was it's just my response when people ask how I'm doing. And I'm sure it's a lot of people's response when you get asked what your how you are. And a lot of the times, that's not the accurate response, or the response, you really want to say, but I think us as people have been taught to not burden others with those types of emotions, or your problems. And what I wanted to do with my podcast is to spread mental health awareness and, and D stigmatize seeking mental health help, because it's not seeking mental health help is for everybody. It's not just for people who have who have disorders who have more things that went on in their life. It can be for everyone everyday problems that people go through. And I truly believe that seeking mental health help is just as important as seeking physical health help from your doctor.

Gordon Brewer
Sure, sure. You know, and I think, you know, one of the things that's kind of, I think, has kind of, we've landed on at, and I say this with caution post pandemic. You know, I think everyone had a common experience of, you know, of course, being isolated and being confronted with kind of their internal stuff. And so, maybe a silver lining from the whole COVID pandemic was is that it made the topic of mental health and talking about mental health less stigmatized, because everybody was experiencing that. Yeah,

Samantha Cimo
yeah, absolutely. I see that. And, you know, I see a lot from the younger generation. And I always give them some praise, because they like when I look on Tik Tok, I'll see teenagers just talking about oh, today I talked about with my therapist, and it's so great that they feel that comfortable to say that, because I think of years ago, I mean, when I first started counseling, I, I don't think I really told too many people about it. And that's just how it was looked at. A lot of people still, unfortunately, look at having a therapist as something's wrong with you. And but really, nothing is wrong with you, you your right person with everyday problems that are going on, that just need someone to talk to about.

Gordon Brewer
Right, right. Yeah. And it's what's interesting with this whole whole phenomenon, as you're, as you're talking about this, started thinking about this, right, you know, right now we're experiencing, at least here in the United States, a big shortage of mental health providers. So like people, people like you that are in graduate school that are, you know, moving into the field, you've got some pretty good job security ahead of you with with all of this, and I guess it's a matter of deciding on the path that you want to take with all of that. But yeah, I think, you know, going back to that, I think, part of the shortage of mental health providers is, is that it's not so much that there's any less providers, it's just that more people are seeking help.

Samantha Cimo
Yes, that's exactly right. And, and now they do make things like they do make counselling more accessible through telehealth for people. However, I do know that there are platforms that are not the best to go through for it for telehealth. And I won't name any of them specifically. But make sure to do your research before looking into those things. I think if you can find someone in private practice or in a in a clinic that takes telehealth teletherapy I would definitely go with that before these these bigger corporations, because these things do get involved in your therapy. Whether you like it or not.

Gordon Brewer
Yeah, yeah, you make a very good point. And not to get too far on a tangent. I was approached by one of the the, as I like to say the tech companies that's in mental health and to be a sponsor of the podcast, and I kind of when I did my research on it, I realized that there were some questionable practices with a lot of those companies. As far as really being able to protect client confidentiality, well, and that sort of thing, so I just politely declined. Not, you know, to do that. So but yeah, so in your as you're moving through graduate school, and you're getting pretty close to graduating, is that correct?

Samantha Cimo
December 2023? We're certainly and

Gordon Brewer
yes, you are. You are, as we say, in the south, you're in the short rows now. So, yes. Yeah. So, yeah. So as you're thinking ahead about your career, what is it? What's kind of your hope, hopes and dreams? And where do you see yourself?

Samantha Cimo
Oh, man. I don't know about anything specific. I think I went into the program saying this is, this is what I want to work with. This is the population I want to work with. And, you know, they even said from the beginning, don't get yourself stuck. That because you will end up in a place for practicum, or internship that completely changes your world. And that happened to me, I definitely didn't want to work with anyone under the age of 18. Because it was, it wasn't because of them, it was because I felt uncomfortable working with their parents in that situation, because, and I think that was a lot of projection on my own. My own part that I realized later on, and I realized now to working with the teenage population than I am right now is that there aren't a lot of counselors that work with teens. And they are probably one of the most needed populations to work with. Because they are at that developmental stage that is about to become an a young adult. And, yeah, they need they need the help, they're still at home, they still are in this place where they're fighting for independence, yet they don't have the independence. And you can be their advocate. I'm where I currently am with my practicum we see a lot of mandated clients. So one that one thing that I find funny is that I didn't want to work with the parents. But now these parents really have no choice but to work with me. So it can kind of worked out in the end. But it but in the end, I know that a lot of the teens that initially come don't want to be here when they first come. But to see them get through so much in such short sessions. And one want to stay on one to keep coming back. That is such a win for me at that, like it just it speaks for itself in that. And I also ended up getting hired at my practicum site, to where Yes. Like, this was a really great semester. And I was put to lead our Teen Mentoring Program, to where we are looking at how team to team Mentoring can be very beneficial. I know you for I mean, for me, I've heard a lot of like adult to Teen Mentoring, like Big Brother programs and things like that. But this we're looking at almost like a group counseling, but take on to mentoring each other type thing. So it's it's in the works. And it's not a lot of information out there. So it's really cool that we're testing the waters with it right now. But these teens are really liking the things that we're doing with it. And they're enjoying the process as well. Obviously, some don't want to be there either. And it is part of their their treatment for their mandated treatment. But at the end, like we are seeing people have fun and coming back, they end. At the end of the day, even if someone is mandated, they don't have to come back. It is their choice. Even if they they're okay with the consequences that come with it. And so seeing people come back is awesome. And getting something from it.

Gordon Brewer
Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, what you describe I worked in kind of, before I went into private practice, I worked for a nonprofit organization that mainly worked with at risk children and youth and so it sounds like you're working with a sim similar population. And I will say that that was one of the greatest greatest learning experiment experiences. I had, particularly right out of graduate school, because I was doing it and you talked about two which resonated with me is working, working with the Parents I was worked in it, the program I work in first was an intensive in home therapy program. And so the primary work that we did to help these, these young people was really working with the parents around parenting skills, and just all of those kinds of things. So yeah, it's it's invaluable. You're getting an invaluable education, through that, that you're learning stuff that you'd never learn in the classroom.

Samantha Cimo
Absolutely. And I have the best supervisors that anyone could ask for truly, I never expected to have such amazing co workers or supervisors that, you know, we learned in ethics, how we have to be able to talk about these things that make us uncomfortable about transference. countertransference. And, and I remember thinking, because ethics was also in my first semester, and I was like, how are you going to feel comfortable telling your supervisor this, but the first day, like, I felt so comfortable, they made me feel like they would understand that these things happen. And obviously not that I'm it just completed my first semester, I know that these things happen. Where, you know, I remember a dad sitting in my session, and my heart was racing. And I was like, I had to think for a second, like, why am I feeling so uncomfortable? And I got supervision afterwards. And the first thing she asked me was, so where is your uncomfortableness around authority figures? And I was like, oh, yeah, hit the nail on the head. Yeah. So she's, she gave me a nice reframe, of looking at it, like I'm coming to help from a place of wanting to help, and I am. But thinking of it that way in, in the session in an intake has really helped me. So just things like that, like, at first, I don't know, if there's a level of self awareness, you have to have like the feeling that I had in there. I knew I had to talk about it after.

Gordon Brewer
Right. Right. Yeah, that's great. And that, you know that the other thing I would say about that, is that the importance of it, which we kind of hit on a little bit, the importance of those of us in this space, this mental health space of number one is continuing to get supervision or do consultations around the clinical stuff. You know, just as an ongoing thing, and I think, depending on where the location or the place that you're working, can can help with that. I know in in private practice, having a group practice that's been one of the things that's been nice for our group is that we're able to bounce cases off of each other and, and talk about those things. And then the other part that you kind of alluded to there, Samantha, which I think is real important, is getting our own therapy, and continuing to do that work.

Samantha Cimo
Absolutely. I am such an advocate, for therapists having therapists. I think it is so important. And it actually, I feel like should be a requirement to like we have our continued education credits that we have to get. I think it's important that we should also require therapists to see a counselor at least maybe once a month or something like that to talk about things that they're experiencing. Because I do know, a handful of counselors that do not see counselor, see, Counselor. Do you now see counselors, even my own cohorts that don't? who have never been to counseling? Yeah. And a part of that is how are you supposed to empathize with the client that's sitting across from you if you've never been in their seat?

Gordon Brewer
Right, right. Yeah, the other thing I would say about that is that we, you mentioned the transference and stuff. The other thing that can happen, particularly for those of us that work with people that are dealing with trauma, there's a phenomenon and I've had some guests on previous episodes where we talked about this, just vicarious trauma, and that people are coming to us and they're handing us some very heavy stuff. And we have to be able to process that within ourselves. I mean, part of empathy is that you have a feeling towards that and so, being able to process that the best way to do that is through another therapist. Absolutely and

Samantha Cimo
going out that if if you have been doing this for so long that you aren't. If you feel like you aren't being affected by such strong emotions and life experiences from your client, that is also a problem. If you feel like that is not affecting you that you've become completely numb to that kind of conversation that That alone should make you want to seek counseling.

Gordon Brewer
Sure, sure. Yeah. So to change gears a little bit, kind of going back to a question earlier, what do you envision for yourself over the next five, six years? Oh,

Samantha Cimo
okay. Let's see, um, well, I have one more year of graduate school. And then it'll take about two years to get licensed, which I plan to just set up a site that I am now for all that time. And you not sure where I'll go from there. I, I really, I do believe I want to stay with a population with teens. And I don't know, I feel like I've been taking my life as having these goals, but not not trying to look too far out. I think that's helped me a lot in this, in this time that I just kind of weapons come to me. And things have been coming to me when I stopped trying to plan out too far ahead. So after getting my license, we'll see kind of what opportunities are there?

Gordon Brewer
Yes, yes. Well, keep keep at it, because you'll get there. It'll go by fast to at least recollection, like, how it goes back by fast and things fall into place. So So again, this change gears a little bit. What what sort of things are you discovering through your podcast? And what sort of conversations are you hearing and what is what has stuck out for you.

Samantha Cimo
So many, even though I've only had a little over 30 episodes, it's I've had a lot of conversations and networked with some great people. I've heard personal stories of growth. I've had people that have come on and talked about their experiences a counselor and their their specialties that they work with. I think a lot of the things that always stuck out to me, and this is just how I feel like I learned best is personal stories. So anything like that is type of story is what has stuck out to me a lot. So I had someone come on and talk about their substance abuse journey and their sobriety journey, which was really, really, yeah, and absolutely awesome and heavy episode. And I had someone come on and talk about neuro divergence. She had, she is diagnosed OCD, and has autism and ADHD. And we kind of talked about the experience of what that's like and hearing people kind of throw those those terms around so nonchalantly saying, Oh, I have to have these things in order because of my OCD and how hurtful that is for her to hear. Stories like that had been so important for me to hear because it allows me I believe to empathize with the person sitting across from me. And, and not only have those personal stories helped me but the stories from clinicians just makes me so excited for growth and they taught me so much. It's honestly made me feel like I am ahead of a lot of the people in my classes during the time that I started because I was getting a lot of information beforehand from from other counselors. But it's been a really fun journey. And I hope to continue it and be more consistent soon because this semester was definitely one of the heavier loaded semesters with work in school. But I do want to keep it as a hobby because I don't want it to be something that ever gets. That affects my mental health.

Gordon Brewer
Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to listening to it. And yeah, because I think that's, you know, one of one of the things that I've learned not to, as I tell my clients, sometimes I'm gonna put my old fart hat on is, is that when people can be vulnerable and tell their stories. It creates healing on you know, in two ways. I mean for the person to this telling the story, but also the effect it has for people hearing the story and to be be able to hear it in a non judgmental way and being able to, you know, to just there's a connection that occurs. I mean, think about, I think about veterans. I've worked with a lot of veterans over the years. And one of the things that I know, works best and helping them deal with their trauma is to be able to talk to another vet who has also been through trauma, and that they understand each other in the situation at a level I could never provide. And so, yeah, so I think I'm really glad that you're doing that work of the podcasts and letting people tell their stories.

Samantha Cimo
Thank you. Yes. That that, that to that experience reminds me of the Body Keeps the Score. Yes. That, yeah, how they are able to dive into those stories and not feel almost like they're, it's too much of a shock value for this person, this person can hear it and hear me and know my experience with no judgment.

Gordon Brewer
Right. Absolutely. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Samantha, I want to be respectful of your time and tell folks that they want to reach out to you how they can do that.

Samantha Cimo
Absolutely. Yes. Thank you so much, again, for having me on. I really enjoyed talking to you today. You can follow the podcast Instagram at good you dot therapy on Instagram. And you can definitely go follow the podcast who would be great, good youth therapy podcast. It's on all available streaming networks for podcasts and give it a listen. If you have any suggestions for topics, please feel free to message me. I'd love to hear it.

Gordon Brewer
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Samantha, we're gonna we'll put all that information in the show notes in the show summary but hope to have you back. And we'll we'll also maybe talk about getting you on other podcasts, kindness and compassion podcasts because I think there's a lot you can share there.

Samantha Cimo
I wouldn't I would absolutely love that. It'd be honored. Awesome.

Take care. Thank you. You too. Bye.