Dani

with my hands on the table where the security guards could see them.

And my patient, my client would sit across from me with their hands on the table and we would interact with each other while the security guards like walked by and stared at us.

And it was just such a bizarre environment to be in.

And that's where I was on this day, having a conversation with one of my kids that I had been working with at that point for about four or five months.

And to get to the point where a drug addicted teenage boy is comfortable being vulnerable with you

is a heavy lift.

That is a lot of work, but I was there and he was open with me.

And he had been using this session time to start reflecting on some of the shame that he was feeling now that he was incarcerated and sober and able to like reflect on some of the things that he had done while he was in pursuit of his addiction.

And so he was kind of processing the shame of stealing from his grandmother and selling her stuff for drug money and stealing from his friends and

selling their stuff for drug money.

And then he was telling me about how when he ran out of things to steal and sell from his various family members, how he and his best friend, who ironically was also one of my clients, they resorted to breaking into cars.

He then starts telling me about all of the stuff that he was stealing out of cars.

And again, he was really processing some shame.

So he was describing things like he got like a Cheetos puffs jar full of loose change that said Disneyland money and kids handwriting on it.

Doesn't feel good.

But he was doing a really good job of sitting in the shame.

And if I had been a good therapist at that point, I would have known to keep him there because that's where the work is, right?

I was not a good therapist.

I was a crappy little baby intern.

So when he wanted to immediately pivot and start telling me stories that made him look cooler and feel better about himself because that was safer for him, I let him, which is why he started telling me stories about cool halls that he got.