[fusion_builder_container type=”flex” hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” align_content=”stretch” flex_align_items=”flex-start” flex_justify_content=”flex-start” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” container_tag=”div” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” border_style=”solid” box_shadow=”no” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_blend_mode=”none” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” absolute=”off” absolute_devices=”small,medium,large” sticky=”off” sticky_devices=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_transition_offset=”0″ scroll_offset=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”5_6″ type=”5_6″ align_self=”auto” content_layout=”column” align_content=”flex-start” valign_content=”flex-start” content_wrap=”wrap” spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” type_medium=”” type_small=”” order_medium=”0″ order_small=”0″ dimension_spacing_medium=”” dimension_spacing_small=”” dimension_spacing=”” dimension_margin_medium=”” dimension_margin_small=”” dimension_margin=”” padding_medium=”” padding_small=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” hover_type=”none” border_sizes=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_radius=”” box_shadow=”no” dimension_box_shadow=”” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” background_type=”single” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_image_id=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_blend_mode=”none” render_logics=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” border_position=”all”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]

When the Therapist Is Ill: Navigating Vulnerability, Self-Care, and Self-Disclosure in Clinical Practice

A relational guide to vulnerability, self-disclosure, self-care, and ethical presence in clinical practice

 

When the Therapist Is Ill

A groundbreaking relational book for psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, and healing professionals navigating illness, accident, impairment, self-disclosure, continuity of care, and the profound convergence of personal and professional life.

What happens when the therapist—not only the client—is altered by illness, uncertainty, loss, or mortality?
This book brings warmth, clarity, and relational depth to one of the least addressed realities in our field.[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Invite Roberta to Speak[/fusion_button][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Join the Book Interest List[/fusion_button][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]

Why This Conversation Matters

We are extensively trained in beginnings, process, rupture, repair, boundaries, and ethical care. Yet most therapists receive little guidance about what to do when illness enters their own lives and begins to affect the therapeutic relationship.

When the Therapist Is Ill addresses the relational, ethical, practical, and deeply personal questions that emerge when a therapist must face:

  • whether, when, and how to disclose illness
  • how trauma history and attachment shape client responses
  • how one’s own attachment patterns and protective parts affect decision-making
  • how to balance privacy, self-care, relational truth, and professional responsibility
  • how to prepare for interruption, incapacity, transition, and ending
  • how to preserve continuity and relational integrity when the unexpected happens

This is not a peripheral issue. It is one of the missing conversations in our profession.

What Makes This Book Different

A Relational and Human Approach

This book does not approach therapist illness as a technical problem alone. It understands illness as a relational event—one that affects the therapist’s inner life, the therapeutic field, the client’s attachment system, and the meaning of the work itself.

Drawing from qualitative interviews, lived experience, clinical reflection, relational psychotherapy, parts work, attachment theory, and the real stories of therapists and clients, this book offers a compassionate roadmap for navigating:

  • healthy vulnerability
  • Self-led disclosure
  • shame, grief, fear, and protective parts
  • relational privacy versus secrecy
  • therapeutic continuity and bridge care
  • the professional will
  • the good goodbye

This is a book about how therapists can remain deeply human, relationally grounded, and ethically clear when life does not unfold according to the plan.

Inside the Book

Suggested visual format:

2-column or icon grid

Content blocks:

Vulnerability Reframed

A richer understanding of existential, wounded, and relational vulnerability.

Self-Led Disclosure

How to discern what to share, when to share it, and what serves the client’s best interests.

Attachment & Trauma

How clients’ attachment histories shape their responses to therapist illness, change, and absence.

The Therapist’s Inner Work

Trailheads for shame, caretaking, unmet needs, grief, privacy, dependency, and identity

Professional Wills & Continuity

How to prepare relationally and practically for the unexpected.

Endings & The Good Goodbye

How to navigate transition, closure, and meaningful relational endings.

[/fusion_text][fusion_imageframe image_id=”148|full” max_width=”” sticky_max_width=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align_medium=”none” align_small=”none” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” lightbox_image_id=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″]https://necessarychoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dariusz-sankowski-56727-1-scaled.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]

 

 

Who This Book Is For

This book is for:

  • psychotherapists in private practice
  • clinical social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, psychoanalysts, counselors, and coaches
  • therapists living with illness, disability, or medical uncertainty
  • clinicians/colleagues
  • supervisors, consultants, and training institutes
  • therapists seeking a more relational, compassionate, and ethically grounded framework for disclosure and self-care

It is also for those who have already lived this terrain and know how lonely it can feel.

Core Themes

Suggested bullets or short cards:

  • illness narrows the distance between the personal and professional
  • disclosure is not merely informational; it is relational
  • clients are affected not only by what we say, but by what we leave unspoken
  • healthy vulnerability is not weakness; it is grounded openness
  • self-care is not abandonment of the client
  • the therapeutic bond deserves preparation, continuity, and thoughtful endings
  • our humanity is not outside the work; it is part of the ground of the work

 

A More Personal Invitation to Therapists

This book is a companion for therapists entering difficult terrain. It does not offer rigid rules. It offers relational guidance, ethical discernment, practical frameworks, and a humane language for what happens when the therapist’s own life is changed.

If you have ever asked:

  • What do I disclose?
  • How do I know what is relationally appropriate?
  • What do I owe my clients if my health changes?
  • How do I care for myself without compromising the work?
  • What if I need to pause, transfer, or stop?
  • How do I prepare for what I hope never happens?

This book was written with you in mind.

[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Join the Interest List[/fusion_button][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Contact About the Book[/fusion_button][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” font_size=”” line_height=”” letter_spacing=”” text_color=”” content_alignment_medium=”” content_alignment_small=”” content_alignment=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]

Endorsement / Testimonial



Bring This Conversation Into the Field

The profession is ready for a more relational, more truthful, and more compassionate conversation about therapist illness, vulnerability, disclosure, continuity, and care.

[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Join the Book Interest List[/fusion_button][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Invite Roberta to Speak[/fusion_button][fusion_button link=”” text_transform=”” title=”” target=”_self” link_attributes=”” alignment_medium=”” alignment_small=”” alignment=”” modal=”” color=”default” button_gradient_top_color=”” button_gradient_bottom_color=”” button_gradient_top_color_hover=”” button_gradient_bottom_color_hover=”” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” type=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”” border_radius=”” border_color=”” border_hover_color=”” size=”” stretch=”default” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=””]Explore Consultations & Workshops[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]