Rubi Morgan’s slam poem “Therapist” details the experience of working as a helping professional while managing one’s own mental health. Morgan compares therapists to superheroes, as she describes the cape and mask that is put on to help others. She describes that this also acts to conceal one’s own personal challenges. 

As she provides us an understanding of the person underneath the superhero costume, Morgan shares moments with a client who has been engaging in self-harm, something she has also struggled with herself. 

This wonderfully written piece explains the weight of supporting others through the moments when therapists themselves are not feeling okay. Through her honesty in both her words and performance, Morgan conveys that helping professionals are humans who also need support and care themselves. 

For more information on self-harm and to find resources for support: https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/understanding-and-finding-help-for-self-harm/

“When you’re a therapist, you go to work with a cape and a mask, meet the hundred or so souls who are looking for a superhero to save them, give you an arm full of problems and ask if you can change them, lay the coldest words the world has ever told them at your feet and hope you can rearrange them to say something else.”

Watch Morgan’s slam poem:

Image Credits:
Feature Image: Annie Spratt, On Unsplash, Creative Commons