For the Love of Therapy: Cultivating Deeper Joy, Passion, and Authenticity in Your Practice

by Nicole Arzt, Jeremy Arzt

Are you a therapist who’s grown disillusioned with the therapy profession? Why do you feel so lost with your clients? Are you good enough to be a therapist? What do your clients actually need from you, and how can you best support them?

If you feel overwhelmed, insecure, or uncertain about this career, you are not alone. In For the Love of Therapy, psychotherapists Nicole Arzt, LMFT, and Jeremy Arzt, LMFT, aim to answer the challenging and nuanced questions therapists regularly ask themselves. This heartfelt guide chronicles the good, bad, strange, and beautiful parts of being a mental health professional. Nicole and Jeremy offer compassionate blueprints for therapists to experience more fulfillment and settle into a deeper sense of love within this work.

This book introduces the CHAIR framework, an intuitive model that encourages providers to embrace the following core

Maintaining a predictable and beneficial sense of stability Holding on to and harnessing hope, even in dire situations Accurately interpreting and responding to your client’s needs Heightening emotion, delivering insight, and facilitating change Recognizing mistakes and mending ruptures within the therapeutic relationship Nicole and Jeremy also provide practical guidance for relevant modern-day concerns, including harnessing perfectionism, managing decision fatigue, strengthening clinical competence, treating professional burnout, and more.

Genres: Counselling

258 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2024

About the author

Nicole Arzt is a practicing psychotherapist, speaker, and the author of Sometimes Therapy is Awkward and For the Love of Therapy.

Practicing for over a decade, she primarily treats complex and developmental trauma and existential stressors with a specialized focus on supporting newer therapists. She's held previous positions in school-based settings, non-profit healthcare, and inpatient mental health and substance use treatment.

Nicole is the founder and owner of Soul of Therapy LLC, a boutique writing and SEO business for therapists. Her work has been featured in Choosing Therapy, Psychology Today, WebMD, Forbes, Fortune 500, and The Today Show. Soul of Therapy provides expert-level byline, ghostwriting, copy, and consultation services for mental health professionals seeking to grow their practices.

In 2018, Nicole founded Psychotherapy Memes, a global community with over 160,000 followers worldwide. Check it out on Instagram at @psychotherapymemes.

Nicole enjoys consulting and speaking with new therapists about working in mental health. She has been interviewed for several mental health podcasts and has been privileged to be a keynote speaker for numerous conferences throughout the United States.

Learn more at www.nicolearzt.com

Reviews

[Lisa Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be completely honest, I hesitate to review this right now because you are going to be so disappointed it doesn’t come out until December!! But, you can pre-order it so go do that right now and then come back here. You’ll be so happy you did in December! This doesn’t happen to me very often with non-fiction, but I wish I hadn’t read this just so that I could read it again for the first time. I feel so inspired and like I re-fell in love with being a therapist. This book takes an honest look at our profession, warts and all. It discusses dealing with impostor syndrome & inadequacy but ALSO discusses how to actually improve your competency. It discusses what is actually helpful to clients, how to know if what you are doing is helpful, what to do when you make mistakes. Lastly, it talks about how to cope when you’re struggling in your own life: bad experiences, feelings of burnout and just coping with the parts of this career that are just inequitable. I honestly couldn’t love this book more, I think I will buy a copy for each of my interns for the holidays - EVERY therapist should have this. I loved Nicole Arzt’s first book “Sometimes Therapy is Awkward”, but this one hit it out of the park.

[Brianna Leavitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. I highly recommend Nicole Arzt’s first book Sometimes Therapy is Awkward to new therapists and I will add this one to my recommended list. Wonderful reminders and broken down ways to remind yourself of why this work matters and how to cultivate more love and appreciation for this career. Loved the last sentence in the book. Highly recommend.

[Halley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a re-read for me, as I got to read this book in the process. Compared to her first book, this book is more of a how-to and feels relevant for beginner therapists. Perhaps I’m saying that because it feels less relevant to me right now at this point in my career. While it is relatable and I did resonate with things the authors wrote, it just didn’t give me the same thing the first book did. I understand it’s not fair to compare, so I’ll say it was an overall good read. I think it would be very helpful to someone feeling anxious, lost or hopeless in the field. It’s a nice how-to, as well as a gentle reminder of how special this job is. Maybe I’ll pick it up another time and get something different out of it.

[Chloe Hardwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a therapist for over a decade and have read so many books about this profession- some good, some bad, and many in-between.

I read this in one sitting and stayed up all night to finish! It really was that compelling. It's rare to find a book that feels so genuine, thought-provoking, and relatable all at once. Even though I'm an experienced therapist, there was still so much to take away.

Most of all, I appreciate how the authors didn't waste time writing long-winded vignettes (that don't actually translate to real life) and instead gave actual feedback about what does and doesn't work in therapy. What a gorgeous read!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Love of Therapy is an excellent book that addresses so many modern day issues that therapists of all levels face. This book touches on topics that I often convey to my graduate level students and post-grad supervisees in a way that is relatable, understandable, and practical. There are many great takeaways and summaries provided throughout for guidance and reflection. Overall, I recommend this book for any therapist/mental health professional, whether you are struggling with the profession or not. It serves as a great reminder of the importance and the beauty of the work we do.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So timely and made me feel way less alone in a lot of my counselor anxiety/imposter syndrome, while also giving practical ways to focus on what I can actually control - my presence with clients.

“Your expertise makes you a therapist. Expertise lends a hand to conceptualization and applicable skills. This can’t be overstated. But your humanness makes you a safe therapist. If you are not safe, your expertise is irrelevant.” 🤍

Brb gonna reread so I don’t forget

[Ashley Amicarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic! I read it at the perfect time - it reminded me of the foundational principles of this work and how important they are. We can often get caught up in certifications, trainings and treatment modalities and lose sight of what the authors outline in their CHAIR framework. The concepts and themes are discussed in a way that is easy to understand, digest and reflect upon. I would recommend this book to any therapist regardless of the stage of their career. I must read!

[Sharon Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been following @psychotherapymemes for a few years now and love Nicole's honest take on this field. This book felt both compassionate and powerful, and I can see myself referring to it over and over again. Section 2 was phenomenal. Buying a few copies for my group practice associates!

[Kayla Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a seasoned therapist, I felt I could skip the first couple parts, but did enjoy the section on what makes therapy impactful. It was a good reminder of how to stay engaged and connect with clients.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 ✨

[Steph Ricci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d recommend this to every therapist I know. A much needed read.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any therapist should read this! I wish for my younger self it came out 10 years ago. Mandatory read for anyone in the profession.