Advice and inspiration for the real-life challenges of being a mental health professional. Graduate school and professional training for therapists often focus on academic preparation, but there's a lot more that a therapist needs to know to be successful after graduation. With warmth, wisdom, and expertise, Jeffrey A. Kottler covers crucial but underaddressed challenges that therapists face in their professional lives at all levels of experience. PART I , "More Than You Bargained For," covers the changing landscape of the mental health profession and the limits and merits of professional training. PART II , "Secrets and Neglected Challenges," explores important issues that are often overlooked during training years, including the ways our clients become our greatest teachers, the power of storytelling, and the role of deception in psychotherapy. And in PART III , "Ongoing Personal and Professional Development," Kottler focuses on areas in which even the most experienced therapists can continue to hone their talents and maximize their potential, laying out effective tips to navigate organization politics, write and publish books and articles, cultivate creativity in clinical work, maintain a private practice, present and lecture to large and small audiences, sustain passion for the work of helping others, plan for the future, and much more. As honest and inspiring as it is revealing, this book offers therapists and counselors at all levels of experience key ideas for thriving after formal education.