You Can Run but You Will Just Die Tired or...How Being a Therapist is LIke Being a Marine Sniper.

From time to time, I have these girls sit on my couch doing the standard cagey teenaged "my parents are making me come to therapy and you can fuck off" look.  I have a lot of these girls- they have boyfriends that their parents disapprove of, often rightfully so.  These girls are moody, irritable, lash out at their families, most especially their well-meaning but anxious mothers, sometimes they harm themselves or experiment with substances.  These are girls who are hurting and who really do need to be in therapy.  They think that when they come see me that I am going to be like every other adult and gear up to fight me.  But, like a Marine Sniper, my skills by far outpace their futile attempts to evade me.  The sniper motto, "You can run but you will just die tired" has many applications.  By the end of the first session, or the second, tops, they are crying on my couch.  Resistance is futile, they have no idea what to do with an adult that comes along side them.  A little empathy, refraining from telling them what to do, taking their perspective and not nagging about the use of curse words are my weapons.  If I have to pull out the big guns I use curse words, which coming from a lady in a cardigan and glasses, usually shatters any defenses they have left.  If they weren't so distressed it would be humorous.  Eventually, they will view me as an ally and my voice will be in their head encouraging them to make healthy choices.   "What would Dr. Clark say?" becomes their motto.  Maybe I can have t-shirts made.