People trust us. In many cases, this trust goes beyond the treatment of their physical ailments to the more personal aspects of their lives. If you're a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant who offers wellness services to clients, engaging in some personal discussions is pretty much a given. These individuals are coming to you, after all, for guidance in how best to live a healthier life. Because of that, you may know these clients better, at least in some ways, than do some of their family members and friends.

Here's a caution, though. That doesn't necessarily—or even probably—mean that you have a bead on what's really going on in any given individual’s life. Often, there's a lot going on behind the scenes—some of it incredibly, powerfully difficult—that never comes to the surface.

Recently, a friend my wife and I had known for more than a decade ended his own life. We had just spent more than 3 hours on a hike with him, and another 2-plus hours at a wedding reception the following day. Over the years, he and I swam together, rode together, raced together, went on double-dates with our spouses together. As the details of his death unfolded, it was clear that there was a lot that nobody—including those closer to him than I—really knew about what was going on inside of him. He had obviously, in retrospect, been leading 2 separate yet simultaneous lives—one in the public eye, the other in the private world of his mind.