Therapeutic Presence (TP) and Self-Compassion (SC) are essential factors in effective therapeutic relationships and outcomes. In this masterclass, we delve into their foundational role within the context of Emotion-Focused Therapy, exploring how these elements serve as pillars for creating transformative therapeutic alliances and emotional change.

Therapeutic presence is a way of being that optimizes the doing and techniques of therapy. TP provides clients with a sense of safety, allowing them to be seen, heard, understood, and “feel felt,” while also strengthening the therapeutic alliance. This allows clients to access and express their core pain and emotions and engage in the deeper work of therapy. This type of relationship helps regulate clients’ emotions and supports their movement towards emotional health and neurophysiological integration. TP also invites therapists to work on their own balance of presence and compassion with self and clients, ensuring they remain centered and effective even in the face of difficult emotions. Practicing TP also sustains clinicians’ vitality, connection, and effectiveness.

Self-compassion is a key resource in maintaining therapists’ presence and working with the barriers to presence. SC involves meeting our emotions and difficult experience with mindfulness, common humanity, kindness, and warmth. Research shows that self-compassion is also strongly associated with emotional well-being, healthy habits, and more fulfilling relationships. Together, therapeutic presence and self-compassion are powerful resources for counsellors to maintain emotional balance in the midst of challenging clinical work, to enjoy their work and their clients more fully, and to prevent caregiver fatigue and burn-out.

In this masterclass, we will explore an empirically validated model of TP and how to create safety using neurophysiological principles based on concepts such as co-regulation and neuroception of safety stemming from Polyvagal Theory (Geller & Porges, 2014). We will incorporate evidenced based practices from Dr. Geller’s books, ‘A Practical Guide for Cultivating Therapeutic Presence’ (2017) and ‘Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapeutic Relationships 2nd Edition (2022) co-authored with Leslie Greenberg, including mindfulness, self-compassion, and experiential practices. There will be a number of take-home techniques offered for cultivating presence during therapy and life for clinicians, students, and clients.

Learning Objectives:

In this training you will:

• Explore an empirically validated model of therapeutic presence along with key skills for cultivating presence
• Discover the neurophysiological mechanisms of therapeutic presence
• Practice presence and self-compassion techniques for clinical settings and in life to sustain emotional connection with clients and working through therapeutic ruptures
• Learn practices and skills for attuning in the moment with clients
• Apply presence and self-compassion skills for self-care and to prevent and alleviate burnout

Intended Audience:

This training was developed for licensed psychologists and accredited counselors/psychotherapists, regardless of prior knowledge of EFT. All backgrounds, license types, and therapeutic orientations are welcome. Pre-licensure therapists in training are also welcome.

Regular Rate:

$200 (USD) plus tax

Cancellation Policy:

Training policies are detailed on EFTpnw’s website. Eventbrite’s fee is nonrefundable.

Trainer:

Dr. Shari Geller is an author, clinical psychologist, certified Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teacher and leader in the field of therapeutic presence.

Shari offers training modules in therapeutic presence internationally as part of a longer-term vision of having presence be a foundational training across psychotherapy approaches. With over thirty years’ experience weaving psychology and mindfulness, Shari co-authored the book, Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapeutic Relationships – 2nd Edition (2022) with Dr. Leslie S. Greenberg. Shari’s book: A Practical Guide For Cultivating Therapeutic Presence (2017), offers hands on tools and guidance for cultivating and strengthening presence in therapy. Shari is a co-editor on a new book: Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy: A Clinical Handbook (in press). Shari created the Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness Program (TRM™), a group modality integrating mindfulness, rhythm practices and emotion-focused awareness to enhance wellbeing and presence. Shari serves on the teaching faculty in Health Psychology at York University and is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, in association with Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC).

Shari is on the steering committee and part of the core faculty of the Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy (SCIP) certificate program and is Membership and Networking Committee Chair for the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy (isEFT).

Shari is the co-director of the Centre for MindBody Health, in Toronto, where she offers training, supervision and therapy in Emotion-Focused therapy (EFT) and Mindfulness and Self-Compassion modalities for individuals and couples.
www.sharigeller.ca | www.cmbh.ca

Host:

Dr. Narayan Singh is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of the Emotion Focused Therapy Institute of the Pacific Northwest (EFTpnw). He is a current member of the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy (ISEFT) and is currently engaged in research collaborations on Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals and couples. He maintains a private practice out of Seattle, Washington, USA and is the host of the YouTube channel EFT Psychologist.