National Network for Equitable Library Service

Set boundaries to sustain yourself and your counselling practice. Setting healthy boundaries. It's a central theme in many counselling sessions, yet something that therapists often struggle to do for themselves. In a profession that is motivated by a desire to help others and relieve suffering, the pressure is always there for therapists to put others' needs before their own. For registered psychologist Nicole Perry, the conversation around therapists' own needs is conspicuously missing. When these needs are not addressed, therapists are left vulnerable to potential career- and life-altering outcomes like burnout and vicarious trauma. It's time to think about boundaries that contemplate the therapist in a wholistic way, addressing not only their professional responsibilities, but their limits, needs, and values. Taking a somatic and feminist approach, Nicole leads readers down a self-reflective path to practical boundaries that nurture them as people first, therapists second: boundaries that are essential for building and sustaining a long and vibrant career in counselling.