Almost any therapist you talk to will tell you, there are better ways to make money than being a therapist. Yes, you often get paid a lot per hour, but you’re limited by how many people a day you can work with, and the work requires you to be present, empathetic, and responsive.
As they told me when I was training as a therapist, plumbers have a wrench, carpenters have a hammer, you have yourself.
Most healers are fueled by a sense of altruism, of wanting to help others. I know that’s what appeals to me – the knowledge that if I can help people make peace with their internal world, pretty much everything else will fall into place.
In this sense, mental health professionals are performing a community service. The more awareness and healing the world has, the better it is for all of us.
At the same time, we all need to put food on the table. I once heard of a client who complained to his therapist that she was “only listening because he was paying her to”. She replied, “you pay me for my time. My caring bout you, being present for you, having compassion for your flaws and enthusiasm for your successes, that cannot be bought.”
This is the value behind Pro Dana. It seperates the act of giving to another, from the act of paying.
You did not pay me, yet I am here for you.
Others paid for my time, but they are not receiving anything in return.
And you have the chance to do the same for others, to give, even though you will get nothing directly for it in return.
Let’s make giving an integral pat of our growth.