Private Finished First Session: Alma

"Public is best, yes, but give me one moment," Valli said, pushing himself upright as he headed back towards his desk. While his desk was organized, it still had a lot of stuff, and Valli had to pull open several drawers until he found what he was looking for.

When Valli returned, he held out his hand, offering Alma something quite mundane--a mottled green stress ball, the kind you were supposed to hold in your hand and squish.

"A few years ago I had a patient with a rather devastatingly powerful aura. They couldn't disable it, and their powers made using a power bracelet impossible. I became concerned I wouldn't be able to provide therapy for them because of it. How could I, when I had to second guess everything I said? There was no easy way to tell if it was me saying it, or if it was the effects of the aura."

A problem that Alma herself was now facing. How to tell? How to draw a line in the sand between being effected and being controlled.

"One of my colleagues gave me this advice, and now I'm passing it on to you. Any time I was worried the aura was going to affect me, I was supposed to take this ball and start to squeeze it. I was to keep it in mind as I talked. I was to think about how I'd tell him if it worked or not the next time we spoke, the same way you should think about telling me if it worked at our next session. And I would keep doing that, over and over. I would never set it down, or drop it--so if I did--if I found myself letting go of it--then it would be a slap of reality in my face. That I was no longer in control of myself and I had to leave the situation immediately. Because, once the ball has been dropped, no matter what happens next, I would know it was the result of the aura, and not something I'd chosen."

He hoped it would work for her. The line was perhaps not so clear cut, but it was still the best possible line he could provide for her. If she dropped the ball, whether she managed to leave or not, she'd still know how bad it effected her.

Valli actually had a strict no hugs policy. While some might have felt it was cruel, the fact was that there was an inherent power imbalance between him and his clients. He didn't want anyone to ever feel like the hugs were a reward which might have been withheld, and while he knew some therapists provided hugs at the end of sessions, Valli was not one of them. There were too many complications--both ethically and power wise--and Valli always kept his hands to himself.

Valli nodded.

"Very similar, yes. This one was tailored specifically for auras, but there are similar methods used in other kinds of therapy. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd modeled it against existing grounding techniques, since they also deal heavily in trauma." That was Valli's specialty, but he certainly wasn't alone on that.

"I hope it will help," Valli said, "but how about we call it done with... three or so minutes left, and book a session for the day after tomorrow? Normally I suggest a week, but in this case it might be pertinent to strike while the iron is hot."