Quality, Safety and Ethics

Good education and experience matter, but on their own they do not guarantee good therapy.

For me, professional practice also means regularly looking at my work from the outside, knowing the limits of my competence, maintaining confidentiality and professional boundaries, continuing to learn, and continuing to work on myself.

Different professional communities have their own ethical codes. They may vary in detail, but the core principles are generally similar: confidentiality, respect for the client, professional boundaries, avoiding dual relationships, therapist responsibility, and working within one’s area of competence.

For me, these are not formalities or nice words for a website. They are principles I rely on in actual practice.

Supervision

For me, supervision is an opportunity to look at my work together with a more experienced colleague.

When I first learned about supervision during my training, it felt a little intimidating. I had the sense that someone was going to evaluate how good a therapist I was.

Over time, I came to see it very differently.

A supervisor can help me notice something I may be missing, look at a difficult case from another perspective, or better understand what is happening in me when I work with a particular client.

Therapists are people too. We have our own experiences, feelings, vulnerabilities, and blind spots. That is why I see supervision as another layer of safety for the client. It helps reduce the risk that I bring my own projections or difficulties into your therapy without noticing it.

If a client case is discussed in supervision, identifying information is not shared.

Personal therapy

I know psychotherapy not only from the therapist’s side.

My own therapy began when I was still a teenager. It has not continued without interruption throughout all these years. I have returned to therapy at different stages of my life, especially during periods of change, crisis, or situations that were difficult for me personally.

For me, personal therapy is an important part of professional practice.

To work with another person, it is important to know yourself well enough. The better I understand my own reactions, sensitive areas, and familiar patterns of behaviour, the lower the risk that I will confuse your story with my own.

Beyond its professional value, my own experience of therapy also remains a very personal confirmation of how much psychotherapy can change the quality of a person’s life.

Professional boundaries and responsibility

Supporting a person does not mean living their life for them.

I do not make decisions for my clients, decide how they should live, or try to rescue them from every difficult feeling or consequence of their own choices.

Therapeutic relationships have professional boundaries. These include the format and timing of sessions, the roles of therapist and client, and the fact that the relationship remains a therapeutic one.

For this reason, for example, therapists do not work with close friends or people with whom they already have another personal relationship. When roles become mixed, it can interfere with therapy and create confusion that is unsafe for the client.

For me, boundaries are not about being cold or distant. On the contrary, they help make the therapeutic relationship clearer and safer.

The limits of my competence

I do not believe that psychotherapy can solve everything or that one therapist can be helpful in every situation.

If I see that your request is outside my area of competence, or that you need another type of support in addition to therapy, I will tell you directly. In some situations, this may mean consulting a psychiatrist, neurologist, family doctor, or another specialist.

My goal is not to keep someone in therapy at any cost. If I understand that I am unlikely to be sufficiently helpful, or that another professional would be more appropriate, I believe it is more professionally honest to say so.

I also do not see value in prolonging therapy simply for the sake of making it last longer. Therapy should remain useful to the client rather than continue out of habit.

Confidentiality

What you share during a session remains confidential.

I do not discuss my clients’ stories with friends, family members, or other people.

If a particular case is discussed in supervision, I do not share information that could identify the client.

It is important to me that a person can speak about very personal, difficult, or uncomfortable things knowing that this space is protected.

Ongoing professional development

Psychotherapy is not a profession where you receive a degree once and decide that your learning is finished.

I continue to study, complete specialised training, take part in supervision, and deepen my knowledge in the areas that are relevant to my practice.

Over the years, professional approaches change, society changes, and the issues people bring to therapy change as well. For me, it is important not only to rely on experience, but also to keep reflecting on and developing that experience.

Education and Professional Training →