When Therapy Feels Heavy: Vicarious Trauma, Cumulative Grief, and Moral Distress

After the Last Client · Jul 14, 2026 · 53m

When you spend your days supporting others through grief, trauma, and crisis, what happens to the weight you carry yourself?

In this episode of After the Last Client, Melissa Reid and Hilary McCulloch have an honest conversation about the emotional realities of therapy, including vicarious trauma, cumulative grief, and moral distress. They explore what it means to witness pain every day, how world events inevitably enter the therapy room, and the practices that help them continue showing up for clients without losing themselves in the process.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How therapists…