Wounded Healers

"Affix your own oxygen mask before turning to your child." We've heard that endless times. Those of us caring for others, whether teachers, therapists, or parents, are human, hence, imperfect, and invariably still smarting from our own past hurts. That makes us "wounded healers." A contradiction? Not if we are ethical, seeking to walk in the present. Heal yourself first, then turn to your charges. Accomplishing both at once is a tricky proposition. This is  where we can get confused and cross boundaries. In reality, in the present, teachers, therapists, and parents do not require their students, patients, and children, respectively, to treat their own past hurts and needs--clearly an impossibility, except in fantasy or delusion. This, indeed, is confusion, and leads nowhere but to abuse. Seek your oxygen and then breath life into your charges.