10 years of blogging: Jeff’s favorite posts

Nicole de Khors / Burst / Used under licenseI can hardly believe that Psychotherapy Notes has been around now for a decade! For 10 years, we’ve challenged you (and ourselves) to think differently, reconsider professional boundaries, and actively work to improve the field of psychotherapy. Since long before I started here, Psychotherapy Notes has had a positive impact on my professional career and the way that I interact with both clients and colleagues.

I want to start my list of favorite Psychotherapy Notes posts by highlighting some of those that were also covered by Ben and Emma. First is “Why we’re launching #PostThePay,” which advocates for employers to post the salary or salary-range for perspective jobs. The #PostThePay campaign continues to have a significant positive impact on employment postings on social media. That launch post serves as a useful reminder of how easy it can be to create meaningful change in our field.

Second is “How Facebook knows you’re a therapist – and who your clients are,” which discusses the data that Facebook collects and ways that you can improve confidentiality on social media. That post is a great reminder about the dangers of social media and the importance of staying vigilant with your online presence.

Those said, here are my own personal favorites:

1. The Last 100 Hours: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (2016)

This collection tops the list of my favorite Psychotherapy Notes blog posts, and that’s not just because I wrote them. The posts are intended to help provide greater insight into my experience of the licensure process, and to offer suggestions to others who have not yet gone through that process. They include information about different strategies to consider when completing education requirements, completing and submitting paperwork, and studying for the California Law and Ethics exam. To me, it highlights many of the reasons that the Psychotherapy Notes blog was originally created.

2. Three easy ways to collect outcome data (2018)

This post details three different assessments that are free and can be used to collect regular outcome data when working with clients. Although I probably shouldn’t be, I am still consistently surprised by how few therapists actively collect outcome data on their work. The hope with this post was to encourage more therapists to collect that data. It’s useful to both prove and improve the effectiveness of individual practices and supports the overall strength and credibility of psychotherapy as a field.

3. How to get the divorce rate wrong (2011)

My all-time favorite misquoted statistic is, “The divorce rate in the US is 50%.” This post details the reasons why that statistic is inaccurate, as well as what the real US divorce rate likely is. This post illustrates how common certain myths about couplehood can be, even among couple therapists. I still hear the incorrect notion that half of all marriages end in divorce pretty often — you probably do too — so it’s helpful to have a post I can refer folks to on this, rather than hopping on my soapbox to argue the point.

As you can see, these favorite posts of mine over the past 10 years cover two themes: Data and advocacy. I believe those should be high priorities in our field, and I’ll keep writing articles to help us get there.