“It’s all just one long song, man” – Keith Richards on the Rolling Stone’s cannon of 373 songs.
I get a lot of questions about how I work. It’s not easy to define. I am not a therapist. Though I was trained, and have worked as one. For me, the therapeutic relationship has too many conventions, and too many formalities. The best work I ever did as a therapist was unconventional. I also like to joke that I’d like to wear a T shirt that says, “I’m not your fucking shaman,” because the notion of someone being a shaman is ridiculous to me. Shamans are not even from the Amazon. They’re from Mongolia. But these days, a lot of them are from Brooklyn.
The experience I have with each client seems to be informed by the experience I’ve had with my previous one. I can’t overemphasize how miraculous this is to observe. What I work out with one person for their benefit, also directly benefits the client who follows them. I choose to work with individuals, not groups, because groups diffuse attention and are not as effective. Yet, it seems even though everyone works one on one, we are all part of an imperceptible(except in retrospect) group experience. What I learn from working with one client usually directly applies to the very next one. A client comes to work after I have worked out how to be helpful to them with someone else.
When I was educated and worked as a therapist, I found myself feeling like most therapists were too process oriented, and were not as creative as I wanted to be. When I worked in creative endeavors, I felt the people I worked with often didn’t value personal development as I did. The creative process, in its most successful agents, is often enough. But, in my experience didn’t offer the kind of transformation I imagined it would. The work I do now, seems to bridge these worlds. I work with, and not for my clients. Our work much more resembles writing a song together, then it does any kind of therapeutic dyad. Together we write a song of transformation that is unique to, and for them. But this song, exists in a canon of transformative experience that is available to all who follow, and will be added to by all as well…