Supporting Clients in Tumultuous Times: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals

As the dust settles after the election, the nation finds itself deeply divided. While some are celebrating, others are grappling with despair, fear, and uncertainty. For many, this moment feels like a reflection of systemic injustices and a troubling step backward, leaving clients with big questions, heavy emotions, and a sense of powerlessness.

As mental health professionals, you’re tasked with walking alongside clients through this turbulence. They need space to process their emotions, tools to navigate their responses, and support to find hope and meaning amidst the chaos. But let’s be real—this work isn’t easy. You’re likely carrying some of this collective pain yourself, and balancing that while holding space for your clients is a delicate act.

This guide offers strategies, tools, and ideas to educate, equip, and empower you in supporting your clients during this time. But let’s also acknowledge the reality: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The strategies here are starting points, and the magic happens when you adapt them to meet the unique needs of each client—and take care of yourself along the way.

Normalize and Validate Feelings

Let’s face it: some of the feelings your clients are bringing into sessions might mirror your own. Anger. Fear. Exhaustion. Hopelessness. These emotions can feel like an overwhelming tide in the wake of societal upheaval. The first step is simple but powerful: help your clients feel seen, heard, and validated.

Validation doesn’t mean agreeing with everything a client says. It means holding space for their emotions, helping them feel understood, and letting them know it’s okay to feel what they’re feeling.

What Validation Sounds Like

When a client says, “I feel like the world is falling apart,” or, “It’s just too much,” meet them with empathy. You might say:

“It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed right now. These are big, scary things to sit with.”
“Your anger tells me how deeply you care about justice and fairness. That says a lot about who you are and what matters to you.”
“Hopelessness is a heavy feeling, and it’s okay to sit with that for a while. We can unpack it together.”

Using ACT to Deepen Validation

ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) can help your clients get a little breathing room from their big emotions. A good place to start is by inviting them to name what they’re feeling—without judgment. It could sound like this:

“I notice I’m feeling sad right now.”
“Anger is showing up for me.”

Once they’ve named it, there’s space to get curious. You might gently ask:

“What do you think this feeling is trying to tell you about what matters most to you?”

Sometimes, that simple act of noticing and naming can feel like a huge relief.

Provide a Safe Space for Exploration

Clients need a judgment-free zone to process their emotions, ask big questions, and seek meaning during tumultuous times. The therapy room can serve as a sanctuary where they can unpack their fears, frustrations, and hopes without fear of judgment or dismissal.

Fostering Reflection

Encourage clients to explore their emotions and experiences with curiosity, rather than judgment. This creates a space where they can connect with their thoughts and feelings more deeply, even if they don’t have immediate clarity.

What to Ask:

“What does this moment bring up for you?”
“How does this impact how you see yourself or your role in the world?”
“What’s the most challenging part of this for you personally?”

What to Say:

“You don’t have to have the answers right now. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
“This space is for you to wrestle with the uncertainty and the big questions—it’s okay to not know where to start.”

Enhancing Existential Exploration

In chaotic times, clients may grapple with profound questions about their purpose, identity, and role in the world. Helping them explore these existential themes can offer clarity and meaning, even amidst uncertainty. By creating space for reflection, therapists can guide clients in connecting their emotions to a larger sense of purpose.

Questions to Foster Meaning-Making

Use open-ended, reflective questions to invite clients to explore their thoughts and emotions in deeper, existential ways:

“What do you want your legacy to be during this time of upheaval?”
“What lessons do you think this period in history is teaching us?”
“What role do you feel you’re being called to play right now?”
“How do you define ‘authenticity’ for yourself in this moment?”

These questions allow clients to connect their present challenges to their broader values and purpose, helping them find direction even in the midst of uncertainty.

Integrating Existentialism and ACT

When clients feel stuck in emotions like despair or hopelessness, combining Existentialism and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) can open the door to exploration and meaningful action. Both approaches encourage clients to acknowledge their emotions as part of the human experience while staying rooted in their values.

Existentialism: Exploring the Meaning Behind Emotions

Invite clients to look deeper into their emotions, connecting them to what matters most in their lives. You might say:

“What do you think this sadness is trying to tell you about what’s important to you?”
“How do you think this feeling connects to your sense of purpose or your values?”

This kind of exploration can help clients reframe difficult emotions as signals pointing toward something meaningful.

ACT: Accept and Act in Alignment with Values

ACT focuses on accepting emotions as they are and taking small, intentional steps guided by values. For instance:

ACT Tool: Labeling Emotions and Connecting to Values

Notice and Name the Emotion:
- “I’m noticing sadness.”
- “Fear is showing up for me right now.”
Explore the Value Behind the Emotion:
- Ask: “What do you think this emotion is signaling about what’s important to you?”

This simple practice helps clients create space for emotions while reconnecting with what drives them forward.

Engage in Psychoeducation

Understanding how stress impacts the mind and body can give clients a sense of control in overwhelming times. By normalizing their reactions and offering tangible tools, you empower them to navigate tough emotions with self-awareness and confidence.

Educate on the Stress Response

Stress is your body’s way of sounding the alarm when it feels unsafe, and it helps to explain this to clients in relatable terms. You might say:
“Your body is doing what it’s designed to do—protecting you. It’s gearing up to fight, flee, or freeze, which is why everything feels heightened. This isn’t a personal failing; it’s how we’re wired to handle threats.”

Once clients understand this, you can shift to exploring ways to work with their stress response, rather than against it.

Tools for Regulation

One go-to tool for calming the nervous system is mindful breathing. Here’s a simple exercise you can practice with clients:

The Two-Breath In and Long Exhale Technique

Take a deep, steady breath in through the nose, filling the lungs.
Before exhaling, take a quick second breath to top off the lungs.
Slowly exhale through the mouth, making the exhale longer than both inhales combined.
Repeat for 3–5 cycles, focusing on the sensation of the breath and the release of tension.

How to Introduce It:
“Let’s try a calming breath exercise together. Start with a deep breath in, then add a quick second breath. Now slowly let all the air out through your mouth, making the exhale nice and long. Feel your body soften as you do this. Let’s try a few more rounds.”

This simple practice can be a powerful way for clients to center themselves in the moment, wherever they are.

Addressing Diverse Client Experiences

Not all clients experience societal stress the same way. For marginalized communities—such as BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities—the weight of systemic inequities can amplify fears, trauma, and uncertainty. As therapists, approaching these conversations with cultural humility is essential.

Tailoring Support for Marginalized Clients

Acknowledge Systemic Realities:
Validate the unique burdens clients face. You might say:
- “I imagine that hearing this rhetoric feels personal and painful for you.”
- “It’s okay to feel exhausted—it doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’ve been carrying a heavy load for a long time.”
Honor Intersectionality:
Explore how overlapping identities shape their experience.
- “How does this moment affect you personally, and how might it feel different for someone with a different identity?”
- “What kind of support feels most meaningful to you right now?”

Adapting Practices to Cultural and Community Contexts

Meeting clients where they are means tailoring your approach to their unique cultural and community backgrounds. This requires curiosity, intentionality, and a commitment to learning.

Practical Examples for Adapting Practices

Understand Community-Specific Challenges:
Learn about the stressors clients face in their cultural or community contexts. For instance:
- For immigrant clients: Explore how immigration policies or xenophobia affect their mental health.
  - Example script: “It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed when policies make your daily life feel uncertain. Let’s explore what support feels most meaningful for you right now.”
- For BIPOC clients: Acknowledge the long-term impact of racism.
  - Example script: “This anger makes sense—it’s rooted in experiences that go beyond this moment. Let’s find ways to honor your resilience as we process it together.”
Engage in Cultural Humility:
Approach therapy as a collaboration guided by the client’s lived experiences.
- “How does your cultural background shape how you’re feeling right now?”
- “Are there cultural or community practices that bring you comfort or strength?”
Incorporate Culturally Relevant Interventions:
Integrate healing practices that resonate with the client’s culture. For example:
- Storytelling and rituals: Explore oral traditions as a way of processing emotions.
- Community strengths: Lean into collectivist cultures’ focus on family or group support.
- Mindfulness practices: Use culturally informed approaches like Indigenous grounding techniques or movement-based meditation.

Community-Centered Advocacy

For clients deeply connected to their communities, engaging in advocacy can be empowering. You might suggest:

Connecting with local cultural organizations tackling systemic issues.
Joining community-based networks like mutual aid groups or healing circles.
Exploring manageable activism, like volunteering or sharing their voice in small but impactful ways.

How to Frame Advocacy:
“Advocacy doesn’t have to be all or nothing. What’s one small way you can support your community that feels sustainable for you?”

Tools for Expanding Therapist Awareness

Expanding your cultural sensitivity is an ongoing process. Here are actionable steps to deepen your understanding:

Explore Cultural Genograms:
Use these to map how a client’s heritage and traditions shape their identity and coping mechanisms.
Map Community Resources:
Identify organizations that align with your clients’ cultural needs for seamless referrals.
Commit to Continued Education:
Stay curious about the historical and systemic inequities shaping your clients’ experiences. Attend workshops, read widely, or engage with your local community.

Reflection: Staying open to learning isn’t just good practice—it honors the unique stories your clients bring into the room.

Identity-Affirming Practices

For clients whose identities have been devalued by society, the pain can feel personal and overwhelming. Therapy offers a space for them to process this pain, reclaim their power, and reconnect with the strengths that define them.

Connecting with Strengths

Encourage clients to reflect on the unique strengths their identity or community brings to their lives. You might ask:

“What about your identity makes you feel proud?”
“Are there cultural or personal values that have helped you through tough times before?”

This exploration reminds clients of the resilience and richness inherent in who they are.

Turning Pain into Advocacy

For some clients, channeling their experiences into advocacy or meaningful action can feel empowering. To guide this process, you might ask:

“How could your story or voice inspire change, even in a small way?”
“What does advocacy look like for you when it feels authentic and manageable?”

Even small steps—like joining a support group, volunteering, or sharing their experiences—can foster a sense of agency and purpose.

Offering ACT Strategies

ACT techniques are practical tools for helping clients connect their emotions to meaningful actions. By focusing on values and small, intentional steps, clients can align their behaviors with what truly matters to them.

ACT’s Values Compass

The Values Compass is a simple but powerful way to help clients reflect on what’s most important in their lives right now.

How to Introduce It:
You might start by asking:

“What feels most important to you in this moment?”
“Is there a value you’d like to focus on more? What’s one small way you could honor that today?”

From there, brainstorm values-aligned actions together. These don’t have to be big; even small, meaningful steps can create momentum. For example:

Sending a thoughtful message to a loved one.
Taking time to reflect on a personal value through journaling.
Going for a walk to clear their mind and connect with nature.

Encouraging Words to Share:
“It’s amazing how even the smallest actions—like showing kindness or standing up for what you believe—can help you feel more connected to what matters most.”

The Choice Point Exercise

The Choice Point Exercise helps clients evaluate their behaviors and whether they’re moving toward or away from their values.

How to Guide Clients:

Explore Values-Aligned Behaviors:
Ask:
- “What kinds of actions make you feel like you’re living in line with what matters to you?”
  For example, if a client values fairness, this might include participating in advocacy or having open, honest conversations.
Identify Away Moves:
Ask:
- “What habits or actions seem to pull you further from your values?”
  This might include avoiding tough conversations or getting stuck in unhelpful thought patterns, like doom-scrolling.
Brainstorm Small Steps:
Help clients identify simple, meaningful actions they can take to move closer to their values.

Encouraging Words to Share:
“It’s all about the little things. Even one small step in the direction of your values can make a big difference over time.”

ACT Defusion Techniques

When clients feel stuck in overwhelming thoughts, ACT’s defusion techniques can help them create distance and see their thoughts as temporary rather than absolute truths.

How to Introduce It:

“That’s just a thought, not a fact.”
“You can notice this thought without letting it take over.”

Grounding Script for Action:
“Take a deep breath and focus on the here and now. Let’s explore one small, meaningful step you can take from this place of calm.”

Reflection Prompts to Try:

“What would you say to a friend who felt like everything was hopeless?”
“How could you offer yourself that same level of care and compassion?”

Expanding Faith in Humanity

When clients lose faith in humanity, the world can feel bleak and disconnected. Help them reconnect with hope by guiding them to notice the goodness that still exists—often in small, everyday moments.

Daily Evidence of Goodness Exercise

This simple practice helps clients focus on the positive by actively noticing acts of kindness or connection around them.

How to Introduce It:
Ask:

“What’s one small thing you noticed today that reminded you people are good?”

Even minor moments—like a stranger holding the door or a kind word from a friend—can help shift their perspective.

Encouraging Words to Share:
“When we focus on even the tiniest sparks of goodness, they start to add up and remind us of the connection we all share.”

Over time, this exercise helps clients build a habit of finding hope in their everyday lives.

Finding Strength in History: Lessons of Resilience and Hope

When clients are overwhelmed by the weight of the current moment, it can be helpful to zoom out and look at the bigger picture of history. Humanity has faced dark and uncertain times before—moments of division, oppression, and seemingly insurmountable challenges. Yet, through these trials, people have found ways to resist, rebuild, and create a path forward.

As therapists, we can guide our clients in exploring the resilience and courage shown in historical events. By reflecting on these moments, we can inspire hope and remind them that change, though slow, is possible.

Historical Parallels and Resilience

Here are a few examples of challenging periods in history and how humanity navigated them:

The Civil Rights Movement (1950s–1960s):
A time of systemic racism and inequality, the Civil Rights Movement saw individuals like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and countless others lead nonviolent resistance to dismantle segregation and fight for equality. The movement reminds us that collective action and persistence, even in the face of immense opposition, can lead to transformative change.
The Women’s Suffrage Movement (late 1800s–early 1900s):
Women fought tirelessly for the right to vote, often facing ridicule, violence, and imprisonment. Despite these challenges, their efforts paved the way for expanded rights and representation. This shows the power of determination and unity in overcoming systemic barriers.
The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement (Stonewall and beyond):
The Stonewall Uprising in 1969 sparked a global movement for LGBTQ+ equality, turning years of invisibility and oppression into a fight for recognition, rights, and dignity. This movement demonstrates how marginalized communities can transform pain into power, reshaping cultural attitudes and laws over time.
Global Crises like World War II and the Holocaust:
These were some of humanity’s darkest hours, marked by violence, hate, and genocide. Yet, stories of resistance—like those of the White Rose movement, Oskar Schindler, and countless unnamed individuals who risked their lives to protect others—remind us of humanity’s capacity for courage, even under immense pressure.

How to Bring Historical Resilience into Therapy

Reflecting on history isn’t about minimizing present struggles but about reminding clients that resilience is part of the human experience. Here’s how you can integrate these lessons into therapy:

1. Explore Stories of Hope and Resistance

Share historical examples that resonate with your client’s concerns or identity. For example:

For a client facing racial injustice, explore the perseverance of Civil Rights leaders.
For a client struggling with LGBTQ+ identity, discuss the bravery of activists like Marsha P. Johnson.
For women worried about their rights, reflect on the persistence of suffragettes.

2. Discuss the Power of Collective Action

Highlight how societal change often comes from individuals banding together, even when it feels like progress is slow. You might say:

“If we look at movements like civil rights or women’s suffrage, we see that change didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of sustained effort by people who refused to give up—even when it felt impossible.”

3. Highlight Everyday Acts of Courage

Not all acts of resilience are grand or widely recognized. Remind clients that small, values-driven actions—speaking up, showing kindness, supporting someone else—can ripple outward.

4. Foster Hope Through Reflection

Invite clients to reflect on what these stories mean for them personally. Ask:

“What does this teach us about humanity’s ability to navigate difficult times?”
“What lessons can you take from these moments into your own life?”

A Message of Hope

History teaches us that while the road to justice and healing is never linear, humanity has a remarkable ability to persevere. Movements that once seemed insurmountable—like ending segregation, securing voting rights for women, or fighting for LGBTQ+ equality—eventually led to meaningful progress.

You can remind your clients:

“If there’s one thing history shows us, it’s that people are capable of incredible resilience. Even when the odds feel stacked against them, individuals and communities have found ways to create change, support each other, and keep moving forward.”

By connecting your clients to these larger stories of hope, you can help them see themselves not as passive observers of history, but as active participants in shaping the future. Even in difficult times, their actions, no matter how small, matter.

Addressing Therapist Burnout and Secondary Trauma

Holding space for clients during tumultuous times can be emotionally exhausting. It’s essential to recognize the toll this work takes and prioritize your own well-being.

Self-Care for the Therapist

Here are a few ways to care for yourself while supporting others:

Set Boundaries with News and Social Media:
Limit your exposure to distressing news cycles or social media posts that heighten your stress.
Create Space for Reflection:
Take time to journal, meditate, or go for quiet walks to process your emotions and recharge.
Seek Support:
Connect with peers for consultation, participate in supervision, or consider therapy for yourself.

Script for Self-Talk:
“It’s okay to acknowledge that I’m holding a lot of pain right now. Taking time to process it isn’t selfish—it’s necessary.”

Call to Action for Therapists

This work is undeniably challenging, but it’s also deeply meaningful. You’re not just helping clients process emotions—you’re guiding them toward hope, purpose, and meaningful action.

While the weight of this work may feel heavy, your presence matters. The safe space you create and the tools you share ripple outward, often in ways you may never fully see.

Inspiring the Profession

Take a moment to reflect on the impact of your work:

Script Example:
“By holding space for your clients’ pain and helping them find purpose, you contribute to a broader healing process. Your work matters more than ever in these challenging times.”

Take care of yourself, lean on your professional community, and trust that even small moments of connection and guidance can lead to profound change. You’re not alone in this work—and together, we can create a stronger, more compassionate world, one step at a time.

In these challenging times, your role as a mental health professional is both vital and transformative. The strategies and tools in this guide are here to support you in offering clients the empathy, space, and direction they need to navigate their emotions. Remember that each conversation, each moment of validation, and each tool you share can help clients feel more grounded and resilient amid the chaos. And just as you guide clients in caring for themselves, take time to care for yourself as well. Embrace the impact of your work and find strength in the community of fellow professionals dedicated to fostering hope, healing, and connection. Together, you are helping to create a world that is not only more understanding but also more compassionate and resilient—one client and one session at a time.

Written by Jen Hyatt, a licensed psychotherapist at Storm Haven Counseling & Wellness in Temecula, California.

Disclaimer: The content of this blog post is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It provides general insights into therapeutic strategies and approaches but should not replace professional training, supervision, or individualized clinical decision-making. Mental health professionals are encouraged to use their clinical judgment, consider their clients’ unique needs, and consult with supervisors or colleagues as appropriate. The scenarios and examples discussed are illustrative and may not be applicable to every therapeutic situation. Readers are responsible for adhering to their professional and ethical guidelines when implementing any practices or strategies mentioned.