The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy Planning for Death or Incapacitation - What Therapists Need to Do: An interview with Dr. Robyn Miller, Ph.D.
May 12, 2025
Dr. Robyn Miller, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and founder of TheraClosure who helps therapists create professional wills. She discusses why planning for sudden incapacity or death matters. Short talks cover common planning mistakes, the role and tasks of a practice executor, and practical steps to protect clients and records.
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Learning By Stepping In
- Robyn Miller stepped in unexpectedly for two colleagues and learned the scope of work by trial by fire.
- Those experiences motivated her mission to help therapists plan and prevent patient harm.
Planning Prevents Traumatic Abandonment
- Therapists often ignore planning for death or incapacitation, which risks harming patients through traumatic abandonment.
- Robyn Miller argues planning brings peace of mind and prevents avoidable patient trauma.
Clinical Framing Matters
- Clinical thinking must guide closure planning, not only administrative checkboxes.
- How the absence is communicated shapes whether patients experience sad loss or traumatic abandonment.