Rowan Buckley PsyD, PhDc

My training and clinical experience have prepared me for work with many symptoms, experiences, and clients' aspirations. But there are some concerns that I am either not prepared to treat or I believe will be better addressed in other clinical environments.

Here are a few of the concerns I do not know enough about to spare a prospective client frustration or help facilitate the outcomes they deserve:

I'm not prepared to work with people of any age with disordered eating.

Issues related to chemical dependency, addictions, or compulsions, require a host of skills that I do not possess.

Likewise, if a prospective client has trouble holding a consistent sense of self, lives a life marked by dramatic shifts in relationships, finds emotional regulation difficult, or feels they must test people around them before making even a tentative commitment to shared clinical work - I am not the right clinician.

I am not the right person to help with body dysmorphia, gender identity, concerns for sexual function, or fidelity to one's partner and their shared agreements.

When couples choose me, the work we do together is animated by fears of changes that uniquely affect people who live with progresssive neurological conditions. These are people whose devotion to one another is not in doubt. They want to live the rest of their lives in the partnerships that have enriched them. So our work is never to try to examine whether they belong together. If either person in the partnership is "leaning out" - I'm not the right therapist for that work either.

It can be frustrating to work to change, make the commitment in time and money and energy, and feel that there's something missing or maybe there's too little traction. Clinicians are almost always kind people who sincerely want to help. Anyone with whom you choose to work should help you feel comfortable and heard. But support is not enough in my view. I believe it is important to talk with someone who understands what it means to feel they don't like who they see in a mirror. Clients should expect the clinician who wants to help them get free of rumination, or cravings, or self-doubt, knows how to support the therapy alliance and knows a lot about the experience of all those symptoms - where they came from, what makes them feel better or worse, how to live without those burdens once recovery feels more lasting. The clinician does not need to have personal experience with those symptoms but they should be subject matter experts and always learning.