As our session was soon ending, I told him, “So we come to the end of the end.”
He looked at me and said, “This is sad.” Then he took a breath and asked, “Is it sad for you too?”
I was touched by his question and replied,
“Of course, it is”. The night before, I was thinking about it. I’m carefully preparing every farewell meeting I have with a client, reviewing my notes of our sessions and thinking of a nice symbolic gift that reflects what I wish for him.
We have met almost every week for the last two years for a deeply intimate conversation about his life. The connection has developed. Naturally.
But as a therapist, I mainly focused on his feelings, and here, he allowed me to give space for my feelings, too. He needed to hear that it was meaningful for me and that I was sad, too.

At this time of the year, I am having Goodbye meetings with my students in the 6th year, graduating from their medical studies. I know this is a goodbye forever, as they come from different places around the globe and will now return to their home country or continue their medical practice elsewhere.

For me, the fact that he came here for one hour of a goodbye session to talk about the ending is so brave. Ending for most of us, is mostly not a nice topic It means loss, separation from something/ someone meaningful to us. Some of my students try to skip that part, and I understand them. It’s easier to go without the pain of separation. But if they are brave enough to come, they can have the opportunity to experience a different ending, an ending where they can acknowledge the way they have done and look forward to starting their adult lives as young doctors.
As they go out to conquer the world, I trust that the “tools” we added to their toolbox during our sessions will serve them effectively outside the therapy room.

And yes, it is also sad.
Growing up can be painful.
It can be both exciting and frightening at the same time.