Ep 18 - Therapists as Makers of Culture

A Therapist Can't Say That

As I've been reflecting on the conversation Dr. K Hixson and I had about clinical supervision and reflecting on the past season of this podcast, I keep coming back to the piece we stumbled upon about clinical supervisors as culture makers, culture replicators, and culture changers.

It feels very fitting that we got there because this podcast itself was born out of the desire to change the culture of our profession.

And as I've been sitting with that over the past few weeks, I’m becoming more aware of how important I think it is that as therapists–all of us, clinical supervisors or not–we cultivate an understanding of ourselves as makers of culture.

And while it may not come naturally to us to think of ourselves as makers of culture, human culture is made by humans.

We are all producing or reproducing that every day within our spheres of influence. And of course, the bigger that sphere and the greater your influence within that sphere, the more power you have as a maker or unmaker or reproducer of culture.

And we know from Spiderman that with great power comes great responsibility.

So the question remains, what kind of culture do we want to make?

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why all therapists need to recognize the power and influence we wield, no matter the size of our practices
• How to think of culture in terms of lineages of interpersonal influence
• The shifts in therapists’ professional culture that I hope we will make

Learn more about Riva Stoudt:

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Resources:

• The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients, Irvin Yalom
• Maxine Hong Kingston