Have you ever frozen mid-massage because a patient opened up about something heavy—trauma, grief, or deep anxiety—and you had no idea how to respond?

In this raw and honest episode,I share the story I rarely like to tell: the day I completely failed a patient after he shared a horrifying moment from his past. I unpack a cringeworthy mistake I made—centering myself in his trauma—and explain why the conventional advice to keep "mental health out of your scope" is actually causing harm to both you and your patients.

Inside this episode, you’ll hear:

• The Moment of Panic: I detail the intense story David shared and the immediate panic that caused me to shut the conversation down entirely.
• Unpacking the Failure: The specific, yet common, mistake I made by comparing experiences, apologizing, and ultimately rejecting the connection.
• Challenging the Old Belief: Why mental health conversations are NOT out of your scope of practice, and how avoiding them leads to guilt, exhaustion, and patient rejection.
• The Need for a Framework: You can't rely on empathy alone. I introduce the idea of a systematic approach—a set of steps that allows you to show up with confidence, compassion, and clear boundaries without overstepping.
• The Cost of Winging It: Learn how not having a system puts you at risk of burnout and professional liability, and prevents you from building the deep trust that leads to better patient outcomes.

If you're tired of feeling guilty, unprepared, or burnt out by the emotional weight of your practice, this episode is your wake-up call.

Learn More: Join the waitlist for Jamie's Mental Health First Aid for Massage Therapists course to get the framework that trades panic for presence: https://go.themtdc.com/mhfa-waitlist

Next Week: Jamie discusses the time a patient had a full-blown panic attack on the table, and how the subsequent mental health conversations transformed their therapeutic relationship.