Last week I stood in front of 80 licensed counselors at the LPCA conference in Georgia.

I was there to talk about stigma.

I have done this presentation at least a few times.

This time felt different.

Because this time the room was full of the people we trust to fight stigma every single day.

And what happened next surprised me. 😳

They did not politely applaud and leave.

They stayed.

They asked questions. They pushed back. They pulled me aside after to say nobody had ever framed stigma this way for them before.

These are licensed professionals. People with master's degrees and doctorates. People who sit with trauma, depression, and crisis every single week.

And they were telling me their own training left them hungry for more.

Let that sink in for a second.

Here is what I have learned after 23 years of clinical work and years of presenting on stigma:

Stigma is not just a public problem. 🚨

It lives inside the profession too.

Clinicians carry assumptions about who deserves help. Who is trying hard enough. Whose diagnosis is real and whose is an excuse. We do not talk about this openly. But it is there.

And when we do not talk about it, it grows.

NAMI said it best this Mental Health Awareness Month:

Stigma grows in silence.

They were not just talking about the general public.

They were talking about all of us.

And if the helpers are undertrained on stigma, imagine what that means for everyone else.

The person who finally worked up the courage to call a therapist. The veteran who decided to ask for help for the first time. The teenager who told a school counselor something they had never told anyone.

They walked into that room trusting that the person on the other side was fully equipped to meet them without judgment.

Sometimes they are right.

Sometimes they are not.

That is not an indictment of individual clinicians. It is an indictment of a system that sends helpers into the field without the tools they need.

And the people who pay the price for that gap are the ones already carrying the heaviest load. 💔

So, what do we do with this?

Here are three things every person can do right now. 💪

One -- Name it. Whether you are a clinician or not, the next time you notice a judgment about mental health creeping in, say it out loud to someone you trust. Not to shame yourself. To disrupt the silence.

Two -- Keep learning. One awareness campaign is not enough. One graduate course is not enough. Stigma reduction is a practice not a credential. For all of us.

Three -- Model it. The people around you are watching how you talk about mental health. Your language shapes how safe they feel sharing their own story. Choose words that heal not words that diminish.

The gaps in our training do not stop at stigma.

Here is the part nobody says out loud. 🎤

For clinicians that gap extends to everything nobody taught them about the business side of therapy. How to set fees. How to talk to clients about money. How to choose between insurance and self pay. How to know their own worth and charge accordingly.

Same problem. Different manifestation.

Undertrained clinicians cannot fully serve their clients. And clinicians drowning in financial stress cannot show up the way their clients deserve.

That gap hurts everyone in that room. The clinician and the client both.

That is why I built something new, a digital course I’m offering mental health professionals who want to know more about business! 🎉🎉🎉

The Business of Therapy: Get Paid.

Early access is open now through July 5th at $197. Price goes to $297 on July 6th.

If you are a clinician who is ready to finally learn what nobody taught you, this is for you.

See more info about the course here: 👉 keithmyerslpc.com/store/p5/business-of-therapy.html

Until next time, come back...be here.

Keith