On being a young therapist

“Aren’t you a bit young to be a therapist?”

I’ve felt this question more often than I’ve heard it. While not everyone says it outright, there’s often an implicit perception that being young somehow means being less capable of understanding or helping.

Despite the qualifications, training, and passion that brought me here, my age has often been seen as a limitation, as if empathy and understanding are skills that only arrive with time.

For me, starting young has meant having a focused, single-minded commitment to this profession. It’s also meant confronting the perception that youth equals inexperience, or worse, naivety.

But do you really need to have lived through every human experience to empathize with someone? None of us can possibly know what it’s like to live every life, to experience neurodivergence, fertility challenges, sexual difficulties, eating disorders, chronic illness, bereavement, or any number of deeply individual struggles. What matters most is the capacity to attune, to listen without judgment, and to hold space with compassion.

Research backs this up. Beutler et al. (2004) found that clients of older therapists did no better or worse than clients of younger ones. In other words, effectiveness in therapy isn’t determined by age, it’s determined by skill, empathy, and the quality of the therapeutic relationship.

And while life experience can certainly offer perspective, age alone doesn’t guarantee maturity or insight. Some people accumulate years; others cultivate awareness. It’s the latter that shapes how we show up for others.

So yes, I may be young but I’m deeply invested in this work, in lifelong learning, and in creating a space where understanding isn’t measured in years, but in presence.