If you’re reading this, you’ve likely wondered whether it’s appropriate or even acceptable to incorporate social media content into your therapy sessions. The short answer? Absolutely! In my experience as a therapist, I’ve had clients utilize social media like TikTok, Instagram, and others to enhance their engagement in their therapeutic journey. Social media has become inextricably woven into the fabric of our daily lives and modes of expression. So, why should it be any different when working through our mental and emotional landscapes?
Table Of Contents
Can I Bring A PowerPoint Presentation To Therapy?
Can I Share TikTok Videos Or Reels During A Session?
Can I Bring A PowerPoint Presentation To Therapy?
Yes, you absolutely can – and in many cases, should! The foundational goal of therapy is for me as your therapist to develop a deep, nuanced understanding of your inner world – how you view yourself, your relationships, and your experiences. Creating a thoughtful PowerPoint can be an excellent tool for organizing and articulating your thoughts/story in a cohesive way.
The very exercise of curating a presentation encourages you to reflect on your circumstances, mindset, and the people in your life who have had an impact on you. It’s an opportunity for structured self-exploration that can illuminate areas ripe for discussion. In that sense, your PowerPoint can function similarly to creating a genogram , which is a commonly used therapeutic technique for visually mapping one’s family system and relational patterns.
By representing your perspectives and dynamics through a PowerPoint, you’re effectively constructing a framework to understand yourself better in the context of your larger life and relationships. It’s a reflective exercise that primes you to share openly and insightfully once we’re face-to-face.
I understand, however, that the idea of bringing a PowerPoint to therapy may feel a bit unorthodox or awkward at first. I’ve had clients express trepidation, worried that I might perceive the approach as “weird” or bizarre. That’s a natural fear when considering something new and outside personal behavioral norms.
If this notion originated from a therapy trend you noticed on TikTok, Instagram, or another social platform, feel free to provide that context to your therapist. It is likely your therapist may be familiar with the concept or has already had a client come in and share that trend before you. In our modern era, therapists often work to stay on top of the latest topics and approaches proliferating through these influential online spheres.
The best way to address any uncertainties is simply to ask about it directly to your therapist. Whether during an intake session as we’re establishing our working dynamic or in a subsequent session once you’ve had time to prepare materials, simply ask if you could share your PowerPoint. If that still seems too daunting in the moment, no problem! Shoot me an email once you have my contact information to give me a heads up about your intention to incorporate this medium.
Ultimately, my role as your therapist is to create a open, affirming space where you feel empowered to engage with the therapeutic process in whichever way resonates most authentically for you. If constructing a PowerPoint is what enables you to consolidate and convey your inner experiences most effectively, then let’s absolutely lean into that approach. My main objective is facilitating your growth and healing – judging or stifling the mechanisms that serve that aim would be counter-productive.
Can I Share TikTok Videos Or Reels During A Session?
Similarly, I wholeheartedly encourage you to bring any TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, YouTube clips or other digital content into our sessions that you feel captures elements of your psychological state or experiences in an insightful way. As one of my clients once aptly expressed, “It’s like they reached into my brain and put words to what I was feeling.”
Social media has played an incredibly powerful role in validating people’s mental and emotional journeys, flooding these platforms with candid expressions of the full human condition. Someone else’s poignantly relatable video may crystallize ineffable feelings you’ve been grappling with, providing you with an “Aha!” moment of self-recognition and spurring you to finally pursue therapeutic support.
These bite-sized digital artifacts can be profound conversational springboards, illuminating themes and patterns that may have remained nebulous or difficult to articulate. If you encounter a particular video that resonates with you, reflecting your hurt, your hopes, your self-perceptions – please, bring it in! Having that third-party multimedia illustration can enrich our dialogues immensely and expedite our mutual understanding.
Now, a word of caution: While social media has been revolutionary for destigmatizing mental health and fostering effusive vulnerability online, the content should also be consumed critically. The inherent brevity and open-endedness of these bite-sized video posts mean they often require more contextualizing and nuance when applied to our specific lived experiences.
My role is to help you metabolize and appropriately locate these resonant materials within the frame of your unique psychology, circumstances and therapeutic goals. What may be an accurate, if overgeneralized truth-bomb for the creator, may need some extra assistance with added dimensionality regarding your personal situation.
But please, never hesitate to share these digital therapeutic artifacts with me! Social media has become inextricably intertwined with how we process our humanity in the modern world. By embracing its rich insights while applying discerning seasoned guidance, we can harness its profound potential for psychological growth and cathartic meaning-making.
There should be no hierarchies of legitimacy when it comes to the modes and mechanisms for illuminating our mental landscapes and paving pathways toward your flourishing. If a PowerPoint, a TikTok video, spoken word poetry, or even interpretive dance (hey, I don’t judge!) gives you voice and facilitates self-understanding, then that’s not just acceptable in our work together – it’s wholeheartedly welcomed.
Written By: Hannah Jaeger MA, LPCC
Edited by: Madison Vargas, BS
Medically Reviewed By: Dr. Kyle Zrenchik, PhD, LMFT
Published : 04/02/2024
Disclaimer: ALL IN Therapy Clinic aims to improve people’s lives. We do this through providing effective mental health counseling by passionate professionals. Inspired by this, we write content for your own education. Also, our content is researched, cited, reviewed, and edited by licensed mental health professionals. However, the information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Additionally, it should not be used in place of the advice of a qualified healthcare provider.
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