Director's Letter

I am writing this on September 11th. 

It has been almost six months to the day since everything changed: Modern Path temporarily closed its physical doors on March 13, 2020. Today we continue to work via telehealth with no clear vision for when it will end.

I am 47; I hoped I would only experience one and-the-world-changed-as-we-knew-it event in my adult life. Today, I am heavy with the reality that not only is the pandemic the second event of this magnitude but it is compounded by the call for justice for Black Americans and the overall pain and fatigue our planet and society are experiencing. 

As a therapist and business owner, I am not immune to the realities of today’s world. Myself, members of our team, and the majority of our clients hold marginalized identities. We are fatigued. Together. 

One thing we know about folks with marginalized identities is that they are resilient and have learned, both fortunately and unfortunately, that fear and exhaustion can also be motivators for change and success. 

So, in typical Nick fashion, I took a step back and asked myself, “How will we walk through on the Modern Path and come out wiser and stronger on the other side?” 

My first step was to ensure the safety and security of our team, which included re-negotiating rental agreements, securing small business grants, and revisiting our mission, values, and business goals to ensure it aligned with this new world. 

On the clinical end of the spectrum, we shifted clinical supervision from being almost solely client-centered to a more balanced framework that focused on both the clinician and the client’s experiences. First looking back at the unprecedented situation we were in, we helped others feel secure when we ourselves did not feel secure. From that complicated space, we shifted further into processing concepts of power, bias, racism, ableism, and cis-genderism and how each impacts the therapeutic relationship. This is a path we have always been willing to walk and explore, but 2020 has brought so much more depth and urgency to that exploration. 

Assessing the emotional and physical drain on our team and our communities, I saw the need for more flexibility and access during these times. I decided the next step on the path was to significantly decrease teaching live courses and shift to an on-demand online learning platform. 

With the support of an amazing virtual assistant and production team, we are proud to announce that https://ondemand.modernpath.net is now live and features our first ethics course, Ethical Counseling of LGBTGEQ+ Individuals, which focuses on competent care for gender and sexuality minorities. We have additional courses planned for this upcoming fall and winter, so we’ll be announcing them in the coming months through our newsletter and social media. 

By shifting my teaching to an on-demand platform, I now have the ability to collaborate with other great clinicians around the country and expand the impact that Modern Path’s team has within the GSRM community. 

During these last few months, the path I’m working on was sometimes smoothed and challenged by my experience as a partial scholarship recipient of the Atlanta Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy Core Skills series. Without going into great detail, I never could have imagined the personal and professional gains I was going to receive by being a recipient of this opportunity. 

At a time when the world felt so unsettled, this opportunity helped me to engage and communicate with professional colleagues and loved ones in ways so vulnerable that I never could have imagined. The skills and insights I am gaining from this experience are helping me work through blocks that previously would have lead to anger, quitting, and walking away. Instead, I have found very tender spots, not only for myself, but for my peers and colleagues. 

So many of us are doing the very hard work of self-examination, exploring where harm has been done by us, to us, and around us - questioning not only how we got to this place but what steps do we take to shift the path to one that is compassionate and centers equality and equity. For me, the opportunity to engage in the EFT Core Skills series meant that instead of running, I am turning inward to face pain and seeking to repair where repairs can be done. Where they cannot, I am looking for the lesson so that I can adjust my gait and using these new skills and tools as I continue down the Modern Path.