Today's post comes from Summer Rose, a former psychologist at Momentous Institute.

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Any therapist will tell you that the work we do is difficult. It’s not easy to help clients through really serious problems day in and day out. But any therapist will also tell you that there are certain moments that make it worth it. I had one of those moments earlier this week.

A client I have been working with for a few months came in this week. She shared with me that a member of her family had experienced a tough time and had attempted suicide over the weekend. I asked her what she had done when she found out. I was so proud to hear her response.

She had taken all of the lessons she had picked up from therapy and just went to work with her family. First, she called a local hospital that she knew did outpatient treatment that could help him. Next, she helped him locate a therapist, and also encouraged the other affected members of her family to go to therapy. Everything in her family was crashing around her, yet she remained strong. In the midst of the chaos, her mom asked her how she was able to think clearly and make calm decisions. Her response was, “I have been going to therapy. I know how valuable it is and I know that you can benefit from it too.”

As her therapist, of course this made me feel proud. But more importantly, it left me feeling so inspired. She was able to find hope in the midst of chaos.

I wanted to share this story on the blog, especially along with the recent posts about optimism, because it was really inspiring to me. When I think about optimism, I think of this client. How can anyone be optimistic in such a tenuous time? How can she remain hopeful that things will improve? Her answer: therapy. And that is why we do what we do. Little moments like this make it all worth it.