Therapists Learning from
and Enriching Each Other

Dear Millennial and Gen X Therapists,

Thinking back to the days of words and language such, groovy, hip, groupies, hauling ass, getting your kicks, flake off, hang loose, neato, sock it to me, and The Fab Four, we remember that our world has changed so much!

From all of you we’ve learned about memes, tweets, periodt (the word used at the end of a sentence), snatched (a compliment for looking good), wig (something that is amazing . . . a favorite of Beyoncé’s) the painful reality of being ghosted and if we are lucky, the ability to conquer FOMO! We puzzle and laugh about the texting words like LMIRL (Let’s meet in real life). POS (Parents over shoulder), TBH (To be honest), IWSN (I want sex now), LMK (Let me know), ILY (I love you), YOLO (You only live once), NYM (Never mind), and BBL (Be back later). This is the wonderful and challenging new world we, as therapists, live in during the spring of 2020. How lucky, how grateful, how challenged we are to know that the practice of new world psychotherapy is expanding and growing now more than ever!

Thank you, Millennial and Gen X Therapists for all you are doing in the decade of the 2020s. You are lighting the way for many of us trained in previous decades! As Members of The Silent Generation and the Boomer Generation, we continue to love our work thanks to all of you who inspire us. We have a wide range of experience in anything and everything psychology. It’s our work, our hobby, our book clubs, our friend groups, our binge reading and our obsession . . . We love questioning, learning, reading, and reminiscing. We watch the GLBTQAI communities (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Asexual, and Intersex) evolve before our eyes and hope that the children of tomorrow will grow up with far less judgement and criticism than our generations did.                                     

In the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, many of us could not wait to be adults, major in psychology, and figure out what was wrong with our families. For many years we also had, very, very secretly our own psychotherapy. It might have been Gestalt Therapy, Transactional Analysis, group therapy and/or Encounter groups! It was all secretive, very secretive! We never divulged to anyone that we were “in therapy.” Now years later as seasoned therapists, it’s not that we have so many answers, but that we continue to resonate with questions, challenges, new and old skills we value, changes we need to make, and generational differences we honor as we move around in the world of Black Lives Matter, Covid-19, and the Protest Movement.

As members of the Silent Generation and the Boomer Generation we love, admire and stand in awe of you and all your industriousness, perseverance and creativity. We are moved and touched by how you are keeping so many of us inspired and eager to learn and question more and more. Together as therapists we continue to learn and enrich each other as we work to find a new way through this decade and beyond!

Leslie C. Tuchman, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is in currently in private practice in Los Angeles using Teletherapy. Leslie has worked with all ages as a psychotherapist, uses a wide variety of modalities, and specializes in healing anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties. She has worked in educational settings, rehab centers, homeless shelters, has been a supervisor in clinical agencies, and completed a certificate program in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Website: www.leslietuchman.com.