I May Destroy You is one of a growing number of shows that employ on-set therapists

The New York Times

Therapists who work with shows and movies are starting to become a fixture on British sets. Michaela Coel says she and her team knew in advance they wanted to have a therapist working with the writers. So she hired Lou Platt, a former actress turned therapist. Initially, the expectation was that Platt would just work with Coel and her writer if “shooting some of the darker scenes that reflected my own life became emotionally taxing,” Coel said. But then a producer decided to make the therapist available to everyone. “She is very clearly on the side of the person who is in need,” Coel said of Platt. She puts that person “before producers, directors and money, and television itself. And actually she may have been the only person on set able to do that,” she added. As The New York Times Alex Marshall points out, "client confidentiality means Platt can’t say exactly what happens in her sessions, and nondisclosure agreements mean she can’t even reveal most of her productions’ names. People often misconstrue what her work is about, she said in an interview, thinking she’s there to spot — and put a stop to — story lines or scenes that might upset actors and technicians." But Platt says “my role is to actually help the art take greater risks."