How About a National Psychotherapy Day?

Not a flower, not an alien, just a chair

Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Monday was Father-In-Law Day, and Saturday is National Mustard Day. I have no problem with celebrating any of these days, but it causes me to wonder, how about a National Psychotherapy Day? With one in four adults experiencing a significant mental health issue each year, and around 30 million Americans currently in therapy, it's relevant for many of us.

So let’s try it. We’ll pick a date, say, two months away, on September 25th, and call it National Psychotherapy Day. It will be both an awareness day and a day of giving. Why? It seems to me that psychotherapy has a few problems we might want to address:

• We still have a stigma about going to therapy. We’ve made some progress, but I don’t think we’ve quite beaten the “you must be crazy if you’re in therapy” rap. This stigma prevents a lot of people from seeking the help they need.
• The public has a distorted view of therapy and therapists. Therapy takes place behind closed doors, as it should, but that makes it a mystery to many people. Portrayals of therapy on TV and in movies don’t help.
• Psychotherapy has no unified promotional campaign. Sure, many therapists promote their own practice, but have you ever seen a commercial or an ad for therapy in general? Me neither.
• Low-income counseling options are sparse, underfunded, and overwhelmed. Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC’s) need our financial and volunteer help. Let’s make that happen.
• Consumers aren’t aware of therapy’s proven, lasting effectiveness. Many people look to medication first, while therapy provides a viable option with fewer physical side effects.

So what will we do?

We'll start by spreading the news. Visit the website, like the facebook page, join the LinkedIn group, and email this post to your friends and family. Then talk to your friends about it. Tell your therapist, too. You are our PR firm. Flex your social networking muscles and let’s see how big we can make this.

Then we’ll move to awareness. We’ll make this a day where we all talk about therapy. Bloggers can blog about how therapy works and how to get the most from it, therapists can give talks and write op-ed pieces about the effectiveness of therapy, and we can all draw attention to the work of low-fee counseling centers. You can tell someone about your experience in therapy and recommend therapy to someone. You can take a therapist or someone who’s been in therapy to lunch.

Finally, we’ll have the charitable angle. For one day, therapists can donate their time to promote the profession, not their individual therapy practices. We can give talks and write about why therapy is an effective option, offer pro-bono therapy spots, and volunteer our time or money to low- or no-fee community mental health centers. For people or companies with big hearts, we’ll accept donations to distribute to needy CMHCs. More ideas are available on the website.

Speaking of acts of charity, therapists are humans with their own blindspots, so let's also make this a time to help therapists grow and improve. That week we'll empower clients to give constructive feedback to their therapists, which benefits everyone.

Want to be a part of something? This is the ground floor. With a little effort, you can help change the way people view therapy and address emotional problems. We'd appreciate your help with our social networking efforts, and if you can lend a hand (graphic design, marketing, NPO issues, etc) or if you know a low-fee clinic in need of support, let us know. We've laid the foundation, but we hope your creative brains will take it to the next level. How will you give?

This is a big undertaking. I hope anyone who has experienced growth and acceptance through therapy will appreciate that one day to promote and support the profession is worthwhile. Ice cream bars are great, and I’ve had some pretty tasty mustard, but therapy is almost as important, right?

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Please visit the National Psychotherapy Day website, facebook page, or LinkedIn group to lend a hand.