In this solo episode of the "Pain, Passion, and Purpose" podcast, host Shakeeta Torres answers a direct Instagram DM from a rising therapist asking for the most important piece of advice for becoming an effective therapist. Torres emphasizes that the single most critical step is to "do your work"—meaning to engage in personal healing and process one’s own trauma before entering the therapeutic relationship. She explains that unresolved pain can spill over into client sessions, compromising both therapist effectiveness and client safety. Torres shares a personal anecdote about being triggered in her own practice, illustrating the necessity of self‑reflection. She broadens the principle to all service‑oriented professionals, noting that business coaches, salon workers, and others who have unprocessed issues may project negativity onto clients or customers, damaging relationships and reputations. A concrete example describes a salon employee who, despite a polished Instagram presence, treated a client rudely due to personal unresolved issues. Torres repeatedly urges listeners to seek therapy, counseling, or mentorship (including through her sponsor, Empowered Purpose Academy) to address their own wounds, promising that this work leads to clearer perspective, better leadership, and healthier professional interactions. The episode closes with standard podcast calls to subscribe, review, and support the ministry.
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Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ. You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
Hello, welcome back to an episode of Ask Shakeeta Torres. So this week on my Instagram DM, I was asked by a, um, rising therapist, he asked As far as, you know, becoming a therapist, what is the greatest advice that I can give him? What is some wisdom I can give him to help him to reach, you know, his goals of being a great therapist? My response to him was, make sure you do your work. Of course, I could have said, you know, make sure that you study trauma, make sure you study all these things, right, when it comes to the different therapy modules and the different techniques that we learn, you know, in school, and we learn in our internships, and we learn, you know, at our sites that we do our internships at and things like that. But the greatest lessons you're going to be able to learn and pull from are your own. And, you know, I was telling him that we all have things that we are still, you know, healing from. But if your pain is holding you hostage, and if your past, you know, trauma and pains is dictating how you function from day to day, that's definitely a clear sign that you need to go do your work. Because I can promise you, some of that will begin to spill over into your clients and into your sessions. And that's not fair to them or fair to you because you're not, you know, doing the best that you possibly can. And I shared on a previous episode before, you know, how, you know, I was triggered even as a therapist myself. You know, I have moments, you know, where I still get triggered But I had to ask myself, okay, Shakeeta Torres, why are you being triggered? And really explore that and really process that, because it's normal. We're normal, you know, we're humans. I'm human, right? But I'm talking about that deep-seated stuff that happened to you, you know, when you were younger. If you've battled any kind of trauma, trauma of any kind, and you've never been to counseling before, I'm telling you, it will change your life. Please go, go to therapy, seek wise counsel, you know, do your work, do your work, okay?
And this also goes not just for therapists but even for other, you know, um, people who are in areas where they're providing a service to people. Because I have heard of, you know, business coaches and things like that who are working with people, and because of their own rejection, because of their own stuff that had been dealt with, they look for other people for validation, or whenever people get on a certain platform, you know, they begin to act arrogant and be rude to people. And that's a no-go for me, okay? It's a no for me.
I had one of my friends tell me recently that she had went to a hair salon and the lady was like, you know, very, you know, great that people had said so many great things about her.
Her Instagram page was lit, unquote lit, and you know, she had all these followers, all these great reviews, but when she went to her salon, the girl literally treated her like she owed her something and was very disrespectful and very rude. And that clearly lets me know that this person is dealing with some stuff that they haven't processed. And so you were spilling all that over onto other people which affects your business. Now, some people, they will accept it.
They will deal with your stuff.
They will take you as you are. And you have some people who will blast you, and trust me, you don't want that. So from colleague to colleague, you know, as far as my therapist, business owner to business owner, do your work.
Do your work, okay?
And I promise you, you'll feel a lot better. And you'll be able to lead with a clear perspective and not your own perspective out of your hurt and out of your pain. So that's it for today. Hope you guys are having a great week and stay tuned for more content.
Bye!
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App, $shakeetatorres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.
