As a mental health therapist, do you ever secretly think, “How did I even get here… and do I actually know what I’m doing?” 👀

This episode is for every new, provisionally licensed, early-career therapist or even someone who's been doing this a while, who’s quietly spiraling over imposter syndrome, boundaries, and “faking it till you make it.”

In this episode, we welcome our very first guest, Jamie Adler, a therapist at The Cord who went from intern, to provisional, to a fully licensed clinician and practice leader at our Fremont location.

Jamie gets honest about:

• What it was really like going from grad school to the therapy room.
• The moment she told her supervisors, “Just tell me what to do,” and got both a loving cheerleader and a gritty reality check.
• Why “fake it till you make it” was actually grit in disguise.
• How her primal question, “Am I wanted?”, fed her imposter syndrome as a new therapist
• Cringey, funny early-therapist moments (hello, doing dishes and teaching double-boiling on telehealth 👋).
• Learning to invite rupture and repair instead of avoiding conflict with clients, colleagues, and supervisors.
• How she learned to protect her time and set boundaries with work, email, and after-hours crisis texts.
• Finding “her one person” for mentorship and how that changed everything.
• Using RO-DBT work to understand herself and support her clients.

If you’re a therapist who:

• Feels like a rookie and is terrified someone will “find out” you don’t know enough.
• Wants mentorship, consultation, and real-talk more than another theory chapter.
• Struggles to turn work off when you get home to your partner, kids, or pets.
• Is trying to balance being a “good therapist” with being a whole human with a life.

…this episode will help you see that you’re not failing, you’re growing, and that discomfort is actually your confidence showing up.

You’ll walk away with:

• A new way to think about success vs. failure (hint: it’s really about growing vs. staying stuck).
• Practical language for talking about rupture and repair with clients.
• Permission to set boundaries around your time without abandoning your clients.
• Encouragement to seek mentorship, supervision, and community instead of white-knuckling it alone.
• A grounded reminder that you belong in this field, even on the days you feel like you don’t.

✨ Check out our freebies and our NEW Grit School:

• Therapist AF: Grit School for the Real World, practical skills, nervous system grounding, and the reps grad school skipped
• The Gritty Therapist freebies, tools, and support: thegrittytherapist.com
• The Cord Where Science Meets Connection attachment/trauma-focused therapy.

Follow along on Instagram @grittytherapist and go get your gritty on. 💛