Why Leadership and Therapy Belong Together

Yesterday I had my regular therapy appointment. And it reinforced something I’ve come to believe more every year:

More leaders should be in therapy.

Not because something is wrong with them. Because leadership carries weight.

There’s also something important that many leaders forget:

Your boss is not your therapist. Your coach is not your therapist. Your HR business partner is not your therapist.

Yet many leaders treat them like they are.

Bosses help guide priorities and decisions. Coaches help you improve performance. HR partners help you navigate people and organizational realities. 

But none of those roles exist to carry the full emotional weight leaders often bring into the room. Leadership is demanding. 

You make hard decisions that impact real humans. You hold confidential information. You absorb pressure from every direction.

That weight needs somewhere appropriate to go.

A trained therapist is equipped to help you understand your patterns, your triggers, your fears, and your reactions under pressure.

Coaching can help you perform better. Therapy helps you understand yourself. 

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you have healthcare. And if you have healthcare, there’s a good chance your plan already includes mental and emotional health benefits like therapy that most people never use.

Leaders invest heavily in improving how they perform. Far fewer invest in understanding why they show up the way they do.

The best leaders eventually realize they need both.

A question I’m sitting with this morning: Where do you do the work of understanding yourself as a leader, so you can better lead the humans on your team and in your organizations? 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin is passionate about helping people and organizations understand and foster belonging. Drawing on both personal experience and professional expertise, he helps leaders design cultures and experiences where individuals, teams, and communities can thrive and feel they truly belong.