Response‐ability: therapist's ‘I’ and role

The professional therapist, like an actor, has a role. Inside, in between, and beyond the role is a person without a clearly defined script in the therapeutic interview. This paper looks at the interplay between the therapist's role and personhood. As with the professional actor, the T can be an effective consultant to the role. The ‘I’ or visceral responses of the therapist can increase the therapist's sensitivity to the family members' emotional experience in the familial and therapeutic relationships. This information can help the therapist be more ‘response‐able’– a position where the therapist is more flexible and ‘able to respond’ to the emotional experience of the family interview. Thus, by increasing therapeutic options, the interface between the ‘I’ and the role can help the therapist be more professionally ethical and ‘responsible’.