everybody it's Thursday you know what
that means that means I much Witter and
if you haven't followed me on Twitter
you have to find me at Kati Morton
and then you use the hashtag Kati FAQ
and Twitter is amazing with hashtags you
can really easily find them search for
them sometimes I'll even go way down and
be like well how that one was asked like
two weeks ago but I'm answered today so
don't lose hope keep asking your
questions so today I have three and I
have a journal topic slash activity I
want you to do so stay tuned for that
okay let's get going
so the first question is describe the
good and bad things about counselling
and why you choose to do what you do I
thought this was really interesting
because many of you I know have spoken
to me about wanting to become a
therapist or want to become a counselor
or psychiatrist or cycler sore any
number of mental health professionals
and there are good and bad things about
our job so let's do the bad first we end
with the good how's that sound okay the
bad is that we don't get paid much like
pennies feels like and I don't think I
felt fully prepared for that when I was
paying for my own school and took out
student loans so be very aware of how
much the average person in your state
usually they break it down by state
makes because that's something that you
want to consider when you go into it
because I think the average amount in
California when I was in school was
count therapists makes like fifty five
thousand dollars a year so you just want
to be aware of that and the cost of
living where you are and how you're
gonna manage that cuz it you know that's
important what we make the second bad
thing is unless you're fully prepared to
be a therapist it can be kind of
exhausting you need to make sure you're
taking time for your own self-care like
I tell many of you I go to my own
therapy I do yoga and meditation and
spend time with Sean when I'm you know
completely offline I have to take breaks
right I don't work on the weekends I've
told many of you when I first started I
used to work all the time online and it
just was where that really really
wearing me down so you have to have a
lot of self-awareness so that you can
properly take care of yourself and I
think that's about it oh the the other
one that I don't want to forget is
honestly that I would encourage all of
you if this is something you want to do
to make sure that you work
a group like setting where their other
therapists who share offices around you
because the one thing that some people
don't realize is when you have your own
office you're the only one there it can
feel really isolating and you feel like
you're not really interact with a lot of
other people on a social peer level
obviously you're interacting with your
clients but you have to be on you have
to be thinking and in helping them work
through your treatment plans and
everything so that's a very focused
tight kind of way to be all day without
any outlet of just you know shooting a
[ __ ] with your friends while you're
making lunch and taking your breaks or
whatever so I guess those are the three
kind of bad parts to it but the good
completely outweigh the bad the good
being watching patients do really well
and recover and get in touch to you
later and you find out what what's
happened their life their travel in the
world they got married they had babies
they have they bought a home they
whatever they wanted to do they do their
dancing you know in this ballet company
in New Yorker they're doing whatever and
it's really great to see it also I mean
it can just be so rewarding catching up
with clients seen where they've been and
that fact alone that one good thing it
just outweighs all the bad so I mean
that's that's really it for me and I
also just find the way that our brains
work fascinating and so figuring out not
only figuring in myself out but figuring
out with my clients kind of where they
got where they are and all of a sudden
feeling like oh we have that kind of aha
moment we're like oh my god that's why
this has been happening and that is so
rewarding and then we're like yeah okay
now we're on the right track and it's
exciting to work with your clients and
see like come to these conclusions
together that it just makes it so
exciting so I am doing this hello I love
doing this and reaching out to all of
you and spreading awareness for mental
health this in itself has been more
rewarding than I ever anticipated so
it's it's really a great job guys it's
just taking into consideration the other
things so that you make sure you're
properly prepared for it okay question
number two when you have those negative
thoughts in your head if you do talking
about me what how do you fight them off
of course I have negative thoughts I'm a
human we
have good and bad thoughts about
ourselves about what we're doing about
it my body about how things are and the
way that I honestly fight them back or
fight them off or however you want to
talk about it is just honestly having
self awareness I noticed when I'm
talking bad about myself or like oh
you're stupid or you didn't do that
right or oh that was a stupid spelling
mistake I put on a video or Bubba or if
I'm like man I'm just not feeling like
good in my body today and this isn't
good cuz everybody has those feelings
that's completely normal
having the awareness is the biggest
factor and I noticed it honestly I'd
like to say right away I'm pretty good
at noticing what I'm telling myself
because I believe I need to practice
what I preach right and I talk back to
it I'm like stop it Katie you're being
really judgmental would you tell someone
else that would you say that to Liz you
know my best friend what I say that to
her blah blah blah no it's always the
answer and the thing about my body if
I'm not feeling good in my body a lot of
times when I'm doing yoga or when Sean
and I are going for a walk or a hike or
something I think about all the parts of
my body that are working together to get
me doing this even just walk into my car
and get into my car like how grateful I
am that that it is working I can walk I
can get around I can do yoga if I want
to I can sit and do meditation and I
don't have back pain er there are so
many things to be grateful for and so
that's the way that I turn it around I
turn it into I'm grateful for my body
because and I just go on and on until
those negative thoughts about like
you're fat you're steady this doesn't
fit right it'd be they go away so fight
back I mean that's just the best thing
for me that's what helps me the most
okay question number three Kati anorexic
criteria states that you have to have an
extreme fear of gaining weight how would
a therapist determine what's extreme I
thought this is an interesting question
because I know many of you worry about
criteria and you really ruminate on it
you think if I'm not diagnosed then my
eating disorder isn't real and that's a
bunch of [ __ ] so you tell your
eating disorder voice to shut up because
it doesn't matter what we're diagnosed
with if it's Edie nos it's just a
serious and severe as if it's anorexia
if it's bulimia and if it's binge eating
disorder they're all unhealthy coping
skills for us and there
all just as serious and just as
important to get treatment for now in
this case if we're gonna say an extreme
fear of gaining weight it's just like to
me any eating disorder when I first get
that bubble and I'm like ooh this must
be an eating disorder what kind do we
think it is and you know I have to ask
more questions and probe for more
answers is it taking over all of your
time all day do you think about this any
any amount of free time where you're not
like having to do work or something
does the bubbles in your head you're
like how am I gonna do this I have that
thing I can't eat there and I've got to
do this don't know how I'm gonna get the
food for this and it's like food food
eating exercise binging and purging
whatever it is if it is like running in
your head all day you probably have an
eating disorder because that's really
not normal and so an extreme anything
that they would state would just be like
is it taking up most of your brain space
are you wasting a lot of your time every
day thinking about it to me that's
extreme and obviously the words that
they use in the DSM are something that
as a clinician we take into our own
consideration and it's at our discretion
that we give out diagnosis so that's
just my take on it but I'm sure
everybody else has something a little
different but pretty much that's what it
means okay now my journal topic for you
isn't even a journal topic technically
it's more like a challenge
challenge I want you all to get out this
weekend get outside do something good
take pictures of it share it with me on
instagram tag me in the photo or tag me
in comments share it on Twitter I want
you to get outside I want you to meet
with friends I know for some of you this
is extremely anxiety provoking but fight
it even if it's just one friend that
you're really close with get out do
things be outside enjoy this three-day
weekend if you're in the States happy
fourth of July I want you all to get
outdoors I want you to challenge
yourself get out of your house don't
don't sit inside and watch Netflix all
weekend get outdoors get some vitamin D
walk your dogs or whatever and then let
me know how it went okay I love you all
I'll see you tomorrow on Facebook
because it's finally Friday um it may be
a little early slash late I'm not sure
when I'll fit in the video time but I'll
do my best okay see you then
bye