Cohabitation: modeling meets therapy (part 2 of 3) (#7)
5 Minute Read
End of 2nd Year Supervision Group
Is being a therapist more meaningful than being a model? Whenever I tell people in the modeling industry that I am also a therapist, they usually do a double-take and express some interest about the field. I get comments ranging anywhere from “how did that happen?” to “tell me how you got into therapy.” While I agree that getting my master’s was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, modeling is by no means a frivolous career. Just like learning therapy requires experience, research, and analysis, modeling requires dedication, persistence, and hard work. Establishing myself as both has allowed me to ascend exciting heights while also navigating difficult lows, mapping out a new territory of hills and valleys to be explored.
Hill of First Impressions: First impressions have a tremendous impact, regardless of how I “feel” about them. Outside of the therapy room, we all lead independent lives that occasionally affect our professionalism. Because everything is communicated through a medium in modeling, the way you express yourself can greatly influence your market value. Before I go into any casting, I will take a few deep breaths to settle myself and appear more confident; doing the same actions before meeting new clients has also helped me to keep better composure as a therapist, further enabling me to hold space for tough conversations.
The Valley of the Fishbowl: So much of modern branding and exposure comes from how we present on social media. Balancing two vastly different professions means I triple check and overthink every single revelation about myself on Instagram and Facebook, knowing that a single post could be the reason why someone chooses not to work with me in either capacity. Given that I use a lot of my face for my own marketing purposes, I have become hyper-aware of anything that could be associated with my private identity, professional identity, and public identity.
The Valley of Ambiguous Disclosure: A common but nonetheless challenging dynamic is when sexual or romantic interest appears between the client and the therapist. Ethically, it is ALWAYS the therapist’s responsibility to address that elephant in the room, so having a side profession that demands physical attractiveness can be quite jarring. I worry a lot about the reasons behind any self-disclosure that happens in session, because the client knowing more about me should not detract from the attention put into their own therapy process. Through active mindfulness and constant examination of the space I move through, I get to establish firm boundaries while also checking my privilege, even when the waters appear murky.
The Hill of Self-Care: Therapy trains my mind for resilience, and modeling shapes my body for healthy living. Working through my own shortcomings as a model has encouraged me to challenge my thought processes about self-worth to recognize the humanity within. Over time I feel like I have become more approachable as a therapist because I understand the effort that it takes to take care of ourselves. Self-care is not easy and requires dedicated energy on a regular basis. Modeling has allowed me to take nuanced turns in my therapist career, develop outside-of-the-box ideas for growth, and stay grounded in the here and now when big dreams require small steps forward.
Living a balanced life starts by creating a working model within your existing structure. Right now as I work to build up my caseload, I have a little more flexibility when it comes to attending castings and scheduling my clients. I truly believe that an engine needs gas to run, otherwise, it will far apart: in my own life, I had to put in significant work to ensure that I was in the right headspace before taking on multiple enterprises with unknown outcomes. The last thing I want is for the health of my body or my relationships to crumble under the pressure of “trying to have it all.” There will always be valleys of stress and confusion in the process, but by taking a long-term perspective towards past experiences, I can be confident that turbulence will only stretch my capacity for success. “We’re in the end game now.” – Dr. Strange.