The role of a therapist in life is very important. They help with body and mind problems. They help patients dealing with different issues, such as mental issues, physical issues, and body issues. Therapists meet with patients regularly to help them cope with different issues they are struggling with. They advise the patient’s family members, relatives, and friends on what they can do to help the patients cope with their problems. For example, a patient might be struggling with a particular phobia or habit they need to get rid of as quickly as possible. Therapists can help with that. But how do they do it? Well, there many different strategies therapists can do to fix a patient’s problem. Assessments are one of them. Now, by an assessment, I don’t mean a math assessment or something like that, by assessment I mean a protocol assessment. These types of assessments are way different than school-based assessments. These assessments are used to see what level the patients are at right now. A therapist might show pictures and ask the patients to tell them what they see. This can also help the therapists understand what the patients are coping with and how they can help them. Although a therapist’s job seems pretty simple there are some required skills therapists must-have. Having the skill of communicating well is a mandatory skill. Talking to patients in a way they can understand you is very important.

Being a communicative person can help patients with what they are coping with. Another skill that is extremely important is time-management. You and your patient have to agree on which day and time will work for you and them. So prioritizing tasks and managing time plays a strong role in therapy. Listening and connecting with patients is another important skill to have. Patients need to vent out and they need a person they can trust to tell them how they are feeling and what they want to do so their problem can be fixed. And although it might seem pretty simple, it’s not. A patient needs to get someone’s trust so they can feel healthy and happy instead of troubled and miserable. A therapist needs to be positive and optimistic so their patients can feel the same way and maybe even better. And although a therapist might go through some obstacles they know their changing lives. 

by Megha Krishnan