Personal Reflection | Therapist Reflection on Growth

Why does someone choose to become a therapist?

In this deeply personal reflection, licensed therapist Helen Bass shares the story behind her journey into therapy—from sitting in a dusty therapy office as a struggling teenager to building a private practice as a licensed clinical social worker.

This isn't just a story about becoming a therapist. It's about losing sight of your calling, rediscovering purpose, learning to be present, and realizing that healing begins long before we help others heal.

Along the way, Helen reflects on anxiety, depression, generational trauma, spiritual formation, deep work, and the books that have shaped her thinking—including How to Know a Person by David Brooks, Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard, and Water from a Deep Well by Dr. Gerald Sittser.

If you're a therapist, counseling student, helping professional, or someone searching for meaning and purpose, this reflection is for you.

timestamps:0:00 Why I Became a Therapist

1:10 Grad School and Feeling Behind at 22

2:03 My Own Therapy Journey at 18

3:11 The Sacrifice of Becoming a Licensed Therapist

4:08 Grad School Through COVID and a Changing World

4:44 Losing Myself While Chasing Ease

5:24 Finding Meaning in Struggle

6:19 eturning to My Calling

9:09 Outro

#Therapist #MentalHealth #Therapy #Healing #Purpose #LCSW #Psychology