Dear Therapist #5: Google Docs Therapy
Dr. Ham,
I've been listening to Stephanie Foo's book What My Bones Know. Just this morning I began the section with your sessions and the process the two of you use. I was wondering, as a clinician have you continued to use the transcription process used in the book to review the experiences and interplay of your time with other clients since then. She compared it to playing back video of sports to critique and improve. I'm wondering if the experience of reading the transcription allowed Stephanie to become an outside observer to her trauma and experience that moved her to extend compassion in a way she might have had more difficulty doing if she were both the giver and receiver of that compassion. As a therapist myself, I work with clients dealing with shame, trauma, and addiction. Seeing your approach made me wonder whether the use of AI to transcribe (with the client's consent) sessions and then playing it back via a Google Doc with comments and insights would help clients who are stuck in their shame and/or trauma. I've read some research that reading our trauma impacts us differently than talking about it. I was curious if you've seen this in your work as well. If you know of anyone that is researching this technique more fully, I'd love to know! I really appreciate the vulnerability you had in your work with Stephanie! It's very inspiring as a clinician! I'll keep an eye out for trainings you might have in the future.
Hi!
I don’t often use what Stephanie called “Google Docs Therapy” with my other clients. Some of them ask for it as a way to review what we discussed, and every once in a while I think it may be helpful to use, especially for clients who might get lost in reenactments and don’t see that it happens. But, even for these clients, shame and discomfort often makes it too uncomfortable to review sessions.
What I do do in therapy is to invite the client to reflect on what’s happening between us as it’s unfolding. There’s something really special and magical that can happen when two people can reflect on the moment, in the moment, in a way that is loving, compassionate and open. It creates a level of safety, authenticity, and intimacy that is at the heart of transformational relational healing.
I don’t know of any research on this technique, because Google Docs Therapy was just something that arose out of the uniqueness of who Stephanie is as a writer, the process she was in while writing her memoir, and the way she and I found to work.
I find that with other clients, we come up with other ways of working that is right for them. Then, I collect all these interesting techniques and try them out with other clients and rework them to fit them and fit who I am as a therapist. In this way, the Work between me and my clients keeps evolving, and it feels like I just shepherd it along.
I’m glad you appreciate the vulnerability. In my view, the vulnerability is a tool too, like the other tools I’ve discovered and honed through the decades of my willingness to let the Work teach me. I’ve found that the vulnerability often represents something in my body and heart that is wiser than me that my trailing mind can only make sense of as it unfolds in front of me. Then, when I look at what’s arising, AND I invite the client to wonder about what’s arising in them too (and between us), we are back again at the magical moment of compassionate awareness that I mentioned earlier, and I am left delighted and surprised by the creativity and spontaneity of the living moment.
There’s a handful of therapists who’ve been asking about trainings. I’ll put you on this list. I may be soft-launching a training community sometime in the near future…
