Ask a Therapist: Spotlight Interview with Nora Munson
How long have you been working at City Therapy?
I have been at City Therapy for a little over 2 years now. I really love the team and the clients that I work with.
What do you like most about being a therapist?
I think it’s such a privilege to get to know people in the way that therapists do. It’s such a unique relationship; one we don’t really see replicated anywhere else. It’s really an honor to get to know people in a super vulnerable way and to be there with them as they explore their lives and figure out where they are going, too.
Do you think you always wanted to be a therapist?
That definitely came later in life. I’m a career changer so I had been working in recruiting for a number of years and before that I managed a looseleaf tea shop. I think a lot of my work in recruiting the parts about it that I really loved, lend themselves to therapy. When I was trying to figure out what my next steps were through conversations with my friends, family, and my own therapist, it sort of became clear that this was going to be a really great next step for me. So, I went back to social work school.
You were recently in a program for somatic therapy. We’d love to know a little bit more about that program and what interested you in it.
It was a really cool asynchronous learning platform. It was a four-month intensive, but you could go at your own pace if you wanted to make it a little bit longer. It was somatic exercises for trauma therapy. The woman who ran it, Dr. Abi Blakeslee, SEP, CMT, MFT, PhD., was actually working with clients. For this specific training, she only met with these clients once; it wasn’t an ongoing relationship with them. You were learning about the skills of using the body in therapy and some exercises that are really helpful, especially for trauma processing. You got to see her apply those exercises with real clients and see some results live. I thought it was a wonderful program and I’m glad I did it and had access to it. I think the next step is working to implement those exercises and some psychoeducation around the body and how that can be used in therapy.
Do you hope to use some of these techniques with your clients that you have now?
I really do. There are some clients who do talk about the body a lot. Whether they have access to that from past therapeutic experiences or if they are really in touch with their bodies through their own hobbies, interests or jobs, we can definitely use the body within therapy and check in with the felt sense of emotions. [Another thing to explore is] how some of our experiences and things that we’re talking about show up in the body, too, while processing.
When you’re not working at City Therapy, how do you enjoy spending your time?
I am also a yoga instructor and have been doing that for a long time now. I’m lucky to be a part of a really great yoga community so I teach a couple classes a week and I like to take classes in that same community and spend time there. I’m lucky to have a ton of friends from all different walks of life in New York, too, so spending time with loved ones and lots of walks around the park. Lots of exploration around New York!
Do you have a favorite NYC restaurant?
That’s tough. French Louie, a restaurant in Brooklyn. American/French fusion with fantastic flavors. It’s so good.
Do you have a favorite museum or New York space?
I’ve lived here a long time so I feel I’ve gotten to do all the museums at this point in one way or another. I think one of my favorites is the Whitney because they bring in so many cool contemporary artists and it always starts really interesting discussions depending on who you are going and visiting the museum with.