Set boundaries to sustain yourself and your counselling practice

Setting healthy boundaries. It’s a central theme in many counselling sessions, yet something that therapists often struggle to do for themselves. In a profession that is motivated by a desire to help others and relieve suffering, the pressure is always there for therapists to put others’ needs before their own.

For registered psychologist Nicole Perry, the conversation around therapists’ own needs is conspicuously missing. When these needs are not addressed, therapists are left vulnerable to potential career- and life-altering outcomes like burnout and vicarious trauma. It’s time to think about boundaries that contemplate the therapist in a wholistic way, addressing not only their professional responsibilities, but their limits, needs, and values.

Taking a somatic and feminist approach, Nicole leads readers down a self-reflective path to practical boundaries that nurture them as people first, therapists second: boundaries that are essential for building and sustaining a long and vibrant career in counselling.

Nicole Perry is a registered psychologist with a general private practice in Edmonton, where she specializes in shame resilience, healing trauma, and setting boundaries. She also helps people who are struggling with burnout and learning to say no. Perry holds a master’s degree in counselling psychology from Yorkville University and an undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in creative writing from the University of Alberta. She maintains a blog, Embodied Psychology, where she regularly discusses mental health issues from a feminist lens.

Nicole Perry's profile page