This was Collin’s therapist’s last week. As Mychi says, “It is an end of an era.” She has been with Collin for almost 2 years and we were just reflecting on the tremendous difference it has made in his life and ours.

She spent hours at the house in the morning developing his routine, and giving him tools to manage his emotions when he would get triggered. Along the way she would train us as well. Then, she would come to the preschool to support and often facilitate social interactions with other children.

The last couple months we started home therapy where she would work on things that would cause social anxiety like practicing dance moves at home to prepare for Friday’s dance class. (Collin is a great dancer it turns out!) On top of all that, she would facilitate bilingual English and Vietnamese social interaction and games with grandma!

As neurotypticals (NTs), we take for granted the many units of work that go into ANY one social interaction. (side note: NT need a lot of help too.)

We sometimes believe we are superhuman and forget that we need therapy or any kind of support for our own development. Not to mention, in the era of Trump and Trumpism, the system is nimble and fluid in a toxic way and seeps into all facets of our lives.

If we want to take care of others, we need to learn to take care of ourselves. This can happen simultaneously as well. This is what it takes to grow our souls. It is about the individual and everyone around them. Therapy has a collective and material impact.

“If we want to take care of others, we need to learn to take care of ourselves. This can happen simultaneously as well. This is what it takes to grow our souls. It is about the individual and everyone around them. Therapy has a collective and material impact.”

But how?

Some of us provide therapy or receive it without even knowing. Some of us need therapy because we are so used to giving it. Some of us want it but don’t have access to it. I’m defining therapy more broadly here to include healers, mental health workers, and coaches, who bring us closer to our purpose.

I know I’ve personally benefitted from it and we, as a family unit, have too. After getting some profession support myself, I can’t imagine putting that on anyone else. Especially as a cis hetero man, we have a LOT of work to do and sometimes we just don’t see it.

In fact, I’m pretty convinced that we all need some therapy to truly grow our souls.

For Collin, we see this happening every single day. He will continue to get ABA therapy and I’m honored to be part of this amazing journey as we grow our souls together.

This art piece came after one of the home therapy sessions with Grandma. It was Collin’s first time drawing with Grandma. It is a picture of the house with our apple tree and the four of us standing in front. He was very proud of the sun he drew.

This art piece came after one of the home therapy sessions with Grandma. It was Collin’s first time drawing with Grandma. It is a picture of the house with our apple tree and the four of us standing in front. Grandma drew most of it. He was very proud of the sun he drew.

(NOTE: “Growing our souls” is from Grace Lee Boggs with some of my own tweaks)