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Have you made a clinical will? |
| "You think it’s never going to happen to you, but in the event of your death somebody’s going to have to attend to the clients, supervisees, trainees and colleagues you leave behind" |
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I was impressed with Sally Despenser’s article ‘Have you made a clinical will?’ (Therapy Today, September 2008). The subject of death is one that permeates
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
I was impressed with Sally Despenser’s article ‘Have you made a clinical will?’ (Therapy Today, September 2008). The subject of death is one that permeates my working life as counsellor, supervisor and trainer with a local bereavement charity, yet it continues to amaze me how squeamish we can be about considering our own mortality.
Talking or thinking about our own death tends to carry with it a certain level of superstition, as if the mere mention of it might cause it to happen. Too sensitive an issue to contemplate, thoughts of our demise are forced into oblivion and often only reconsidered when they surface in a different context such as the death of a friend or loved one.
It might also seem arrogant to believe our sudden absence would make such an impact on our clients and supervisees as to plan for it, but this false humility surely belies our human failing in not acting ethically and professionally. My sense of responsibility towards the wellbeing of my clients, supervisees and trainees is paramount while I am alive, and this article’s suggestions have allowed to me to replicate this after my death. I think it likely that those counsellors who do not consider following the recommendations of this article have not made a personal will either, and perhaps even believe they are invincible. Would it were so! I therefore urge everyone to do as I did immediately after reading this article.
Take out a pen, or sit at your keyboard, and do not stop writing until you too have written your own clinical will.Trish Staples MBACP
