I open the door of my home and feel the warmth that is taking me over. I sense the sweet smell of incense sticks and hear my children calling my name out loudly. Another day at University has gone and once again I return to my sacred and safe place. Personally, I crave and pursue safety. “I enjoy being safe. Having a place where I can hide from everything, escape from reality. My little world, unspoilt and sheltered” (Personal Journal, 11th October, 2016). During the past weeks I found myself questioning the meaning of these feelings as I have realised they were the main theme of my self-reflection since the start of this journey of self-discovery and change. I sense that I would like to think I have found a new safe
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Her tone of voice was expressing her tension and worry. She shared an experience from the placement when she felt unsafe. At this point I sensed my body temperature rising, my face burning, I was anxious. After self-reflecting on that particular moment, I have realised that I do have a great potential to be an empathic practitioner. However, I actually recognised her feelings as mine and my body sensations interfered with my rational thinking. I have also become aware of this during one of the skills sessions, where I recognised I was making assumptions about the other person’s feeling and thoughts only due to the fact that I was not able to detach mine from the colleague’s emotional experience. I was able to identify the countertransference. Ferenczi argues (as cited in Heimann, 1950, p.81) that countertransference could be useful, as only the therapist who is emotionally reactive can promote emotional development of the client. However, if unnoticed countertransference can only damage the treatment. Therefore, it is therapist’s responsibility to recognise and manage it though self-reflection and supervision (Gil & Rubin, 2005). In order to interpret the countertransference I will need to work harder on making judgements in light of my own emotional state and at the same time, not allowing myself to be influenced by this state (Laine,
Her tone of voice was expressing her tension and worry. She shared an experience from the placement when she felt unsafe. At this point I sensed my body temperature rising, my face burning, I was anxious. After self-reflecting on that particular moment, I have realised that I do have a great potential to be an empathic practitioner. However, I actually recognised her feelings as mine and my body sensations interfered with my rational thinking. I have also become aware of this during one of the skills sessions, where I recognised I was making assumptions about the other person’s feeling and thoughts only due to the fact that I was not able to detach mine from the colleague’s emotional experience. I was able to identify the countertransference. Ferenczi argues (as cited in Heimann, 1950, p.81) that countertransference could be useful, as only the therapist who is emotionally reactive can promote emotional development of the client. However, if unnoticed countertransference can only damage the treatment. Therefore, it is therapist’s responsibility to recognise and manage it though self-reflection and supervision (Gil & Rubin, 2005). In order to interpret the countertransference I will need to work harder on making judgements in light of my own emotional state and at the same time, not allowing myself to be influenced by this state (Laine,