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Training for Connection: Students' Perceptions of the Effects of the Person‐of‐the‐Therapist Training on Their Therapeutic Relationships
Author(s) -
Niño Alba,
Kissil Karni,
Cooke Laura
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/jmft.12167
Subject(s) - empathy , therapeutic relationship , countertransference , psychology , perception , psychotherapist , transference , training (meteorology) , unconditional positive regard , medical education , social psychology , medicine , psychoanalytic theory , physics , neuroscience , meteorology
The Person‐of‐the‐Therapist Training ( POTT ) is a program designed to facilitate clinicians' ability to consciously and purposefully use their selves to effectively connect, assess, and intervene with clients. This study explored CFT students' perceptions of the effects of POTT on their ability to create positive therapeutic relationships. Course papers and final reflections were collected from 70 CFT students. Directed content analysis looking for evidence‐supported elements of positive therapeutic relationships revealed 5 elements: empathy, management of countertransference, balancing multiple alliances, positive regard, and bond. Findings support the idea that a structured program focused on the training of the personal aspects of the therapists, like POTT , can promote the evidence‐supported elements that make a therapeutic relationship effective.